Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/404

 of Religion on the Mind,’ York, 1787, 20th edit. 1842, was twice translated into French. To the 8th edit. (1795) was added ‘Extracts from the Writings of divers Eminent Men representing the Evils of Stage Plays, &c.,’ published separately 1789 and 1799. His attention was then drawn to the want of suitable lesson-books for a Friends' school for girls in York, and in 1795 he published his ‘English Grammar.’ The manuscript petition from the teachers requesting him to prepare it has been religiously preserved. The work became rapidly popular; it went through nearly fifty editions, was edited, abridged, simplified, and enlarged in England and America, and for a long time was used in schools to the exclusion of all other grammar-books. In 1816 an edition corrected by the author was issued in 2 vols. 8vo. An ‘Abridgment’ of this version by Murray, issued two years later, went through more than 120 editions of ten thousand each. It was printed at the New England Institution for the Blind in embossed characters, Boston, 1835, and translated into Maráthi, Bombay, 1837. ‘English Exercises’ followed (1797), with ‘A Key’ (27th edit. London, 1847), and both works were in large demand. Murray's ‘English Reader,’ ‘Sequel,’ and ‘Introduction,’ issued respectively 1799, 1800, and 1801 (31st edit. 1836), were equally successful, as well as the ‘Lecteur Français,’ 1802, and ‘Introduction to the Lecteur Français,’ 1807. ‘An English Spelling Book,’ 1804, reached forty-four editions, and was translated into Spanish (Cadiz, 1841). Of a ‘First Book for Children’ the 150th thousand, with portrait and woodcuts, was issued in 1859. The sales of the ‘Grammar,’ ‘Exercises,’ ‘Key,’ and ‘Lecteur Français’ brought Murray in each case 700l., and he devoted the whole sum to philanthropic objects. The copyright of his religious works he presented to his publishers. By his will, a sum of money for the purchase and distribution of religious literature was vested in trustees in America. When the Retreat for the Insane was founded at York by William Tuke [q. v.] in 1792, Murray did his utmost to second Tuke's efforts to introduce a humane system of treatment.

He was a recorded minister of the York ‘monthly meeting’ for eleven years, when his voice failed and he asked permission to resign. For the last sixteen years of his life he never left the house. He died on 16 Jan. 1826, aged 81. Westoby, a miniature-painter who first saw him after death, produced an excellent portrait, which was engraved by Dean. Murray married, on 22 June 1767, Hannah Dobson, who died 25 Sept. 1834. They had no children.

Besides the works mentioned Murray was author of ‘Some Account of the Life of Sarah Grubb,’ Dublin, 1792; a ‘Selection from Bishop Horne's Commentary on the Psalms,’ 1812; ‘A Biographical Sketch of Henry Tuke,’ York, 1815; ‘A Compendium of Religious Faith and Practice,’ 1815; ‘The Duty and Benefit of a daily perusal of the Holy Scriptures in Families,’ York, 1817. In 1795 he also assisted the Friends confined in York Castle to prepare and publish ‘The Prisoners' Defence’ and the ‘Prisoners' Defence supported.’

Murray was tall, slender, and of a ruddy complexion. In spite of bad health he was always cheerful, and his manner was conspicuously modest. He has been styled the father of English grammar, and his work, although not free from error and soon superseded, undoubtedly helped more efficiently than any contemporary manual to teach the Englishmen of his day to speak and write their language correctly. He introduced system into the study of grammar where chaos had existed before, but it is noticeable that his own style of writing frequently illustrates the defects which he warns his readers to avoid. There may have been some truth in the jest of his friend John Dalton [q. v.] the chemist, ‘that of all the contrivances invented by human ingenuity for puzzling the brains of the young, Lindley Murray's grammar was the worst.’

 MURRAY, MATTHEW (1765–1826), engineer, born in 1765 near Newcastle-on-Tyne, was apprenticed to a blacksmith, and on the expiration of his indentures found work, about 1789, at Marshall's, the great flax spinners, at Leeds. He introduced the use of 'sponge weights' for damping the front rollers of flax-spinning machines, which ultimately led to the important innovation of wet spinning, flax having previously been spun dry. In 1790 he took out a patent (No. 1752) for spinning and drawing-frames, and in 1793 another patent (No. 1971) for preparing and spinning flax, hemp, tow, wool, and silk, in