Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/488

 MORRIS

MORRIS

from the harbor. In January, 1807, he was pro- moted lieutenant, and in July, 1812, was made executive officer of the Constitution, Capt. Isaac Hull. He had charge of the ship in the cele- brated sixty-hour race pursued by a British fleet, and in the engagement between the Constitution

£NGACtMLNl BETWttN THt CONSIITuriON AND QUtRRlERE

and the Guern^re was shot through the body, but recovered. He was promoted captain March 5, 1813, and in 1814 was given command of the U.S. frigate John Adams, in which vessel he captured many valuable prizes. While repairing his ship on the beach at Hampden, Maine, he was attacked by a fleet of sixteen British vessels. He at once constructed fortifications on land, behind which he mounted the guns from the ship, and called in the militia from the country. Lieutenant Lewis arrived from Castine with a detachment of twenty-eight of the U.S. artillery. The attack occurred Sept. 3, 1814, before which the militia fled, and but feeble resistance was made by the ship's crew and the artillery. To prevent the capture of the John Adams Captain Morris set her on fire, after spiking the guns. The crew were separated into small parties and retreated through the woods to Portland. Morris was in command of the Gulf squadron, 1816-:17, and of the squadron on the coast of Buenos Ayres, 1819- 20 ; was naval commissioner, 1823-27 and 1832-41 ; commanded the Brandywine dunng the special commission of that vessel in conveying General Lafayette as a guest of the nation back to France in 1825 ; was on special duty as inspector of navy yards in England and France ; supervisor of the naval academy, Annapolis, and chief of the bureau of ordnance and hydrography, Washington, 1851- 66. He died in Washington, D.C., Jan. 27, 1856.

MORRIS, Charles, editor and author, was born in Chester, Pa., Oct. 1, 1833 ; son of Samuel Pear- son and Margaret (Burns) Morris; grandson of Jonathan and Rachel (Pearson) Morris and of Joseph and Hannah (French) Burns, and a de- scendant probably of Welsh ancestors, who came to Philadelphia at the time of its early settle- ment. Charles Morris was educated in public and private schools, taught for a few years in Chester

and Philadelphia, removing to the latter city in 1856, and was connected with a manufacturing industry there, 1860-78. He wrote much for periodicals during this period, and after 1878 de- voted his time to literature. He compiled and edited Half Hours with the Best American Au- thors and several similar collections (18 vols., 1886-96) ; edited Tlie New Science Review (1895) ; The Encyclopcedic Dictionary, American edition (1896); The Imperial Refei^ence Library (1898) ; the 1900 edition of LippincotVs Pronouming Dic- tionary of Biography, and was one of the editors of the American Supplement to the Encyclojxedia Bntannica. He is the author of : A Manual of Classical Literature (1880) ; 27*6 Aryan Race (1887) ; Broken Fetters, a history of the temperance movement (1888) ; Civilization, an Historical Revietv of its Elements (1890) ; King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, being Malory's "MorteD' Arthur" modernized (1891); Tales from the Dramatists (4 vols., 1892) ; Historical Tales (9 vols., 1893-98) ; Our Nation's Nav^ (1898) ; The War with Spain (1898); Our Island Eminre (1899); Famous Men and Great Events of the Nineteenth Century (1899) ; Man and his Ancestry (1900) ; Handy Dictionary of Biography (1901), and other works including three graded school histories of the United States.

MORRIS, Clara, actress, was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1848. She was a member of the ballet in the Academy of Music at Cleveland, Ohio, before she was thirteen, and advanced rap- idly in her profession. In 1868 she became lead- ing lady at Wood's theatre at Cincinnati, Ohio, where she appeared with John E. Owens and other comedians and remained until 1869. In the winter of 1869-70 she was a member of Au- gustin Daly's company, then at the Fifth Avenue theatre, and was engaged to play Blanche in Agnes Ethel to appear in the leading role of the play it was given to Miss Morris, whose success was assured after the first performance, and she was promoted by Mr. Daly to leading lady. Her most successful roles were emotional ones. After an extended run at the Fifth Avenue theatre she severed her engagement with Mr. Daly, ap- peared as a " star" at the Union Square theatre and at Daly's new Fifth Avenue theatre in New York, and toured throughout the south and west. Her more successful r61es include : Anne Sylvester in " Man and Wife", Jezebel, Fanny in "Divorce", Cora in "Article 47", Camille, Miss Moulton, Alixe in the " Countess de Sommer- ive", Mercy Merrick in "The New Magdalen", Evadne, Lady Macbeth, Jane Shore, Leah the Forsaken, Denise, and Renee. She was married in 1874 to Frederick C. Harriott of New York. She contributed to many of the leading magazines
 * ' Man and Wife ; " but upon the refusal of Miss