[Moon, Mountains of the], a range of mountains supposed by Ptolemy and early geographers to stretch across Africa from Abyssinia to Guinea, now variously identified as the Kenia, Kilimanjaro, Ruwenzori, &c.
[Moonshee], in India a teacher of languages, especially Hindustani and Persian.
[Moore, Frank Frankfort], novelist and dramatist, born at Limerick, both his novels and his dramas are numerous; commenced his literary career as a journalist in connection with the Belfast News Letter as literary and art editor, a post he relinquished in 1893 to settle in London; b. 1855.
[Moore, John, M.D.], author and novelist, born at Stirling, studied medicine in Glasgow, and practised there, in Holland, Paris, and London; he published books on the countries of Europe which he visited, an essay on the French Revolution, and among several novels, one of some note, "Zeluco" (1789); he died at Richmond (1730-1802).
[Moore, Sir John], general, eldest son of above, born at Glasgow; served in Corsica, the West Indies, Ireland, Holland, Egypt, Sicily, and Sweden; his famous and last expedition was to Spain in 1808, when with 10,000 men he was sent to co-operate in expelling the French; Spanish apathy and other causes weakened his hands, and in December he found himself with 25,000 men at Astorga, a French force of 70,000 advancing against him; retreat was necessary, but disastrous; he was overtaken by Soult at Coruña in the act of embarking; the victory lay with the English, but Moore was killed (1761-1808).
[Moore, Thomas], the Bard of Erin, born in Dublin, the son of a grocer, studied at Trinity College; went to London with a translation of "Anacreon," which gained him favour and a valuable appointment in the Bermudas in 1803; fought a duel with Jeffrey in 1806, began his "Irish Melodies" in 1807, and published "The Twopenny Postbag" in 1812; in 1817 appeared "Lalla Rookh," a collection of Oriental tales, and in 1818 a satiric piece "The Fudge Family," and published a Life of Byron in 1830; Moore's songs were written to Irish airs, and they contributed much to ensure Catholic emancipation (1779-1852).
[Moors], a general term for tribes in North Africa descended from Arab and Berber stock; they were Christians for several centuries, but on their conquest by Arabs in 647 embraced Mohammedanism; the town Moors do not hold before European settlers, but the nomad tribes show more vitality; Moorish peoples seized and settled in Spain early in the 8th century, and, introducing a civilisation further advanced than that in Europe generally with respect to science, art, and industry alike, maintained a strong rule till the 11th century; then the Spaniards gradually recovered the peninsula; Toledo was taken in 1085, Saragossa in 1118, Valencia in 1238, Seville in 1248, Murcia in 1260, and Granada in 1492; Turkish successes in the East came too late to save the Moors, and the last were banished from the country in 1609.
[Moraines], masses of rock which become detached from the hill-side and find lodgment on a glacier are so called, and are further described as lateral, medial, terminal, or ground moraines, according as they lie along its edges, its middle, are piled up in mounds at its end, or falling down crevasses, are ground against the rock underneath.
[Moralities], didactic dramas, following in order of time the miracle plays and mysteries, in which the places of saints and biblical personages in them were taken by characters representing different virtues and vices, and the story was of an allegorical nature; were the immediate precursors of the secular drama.
[Moravia] (2,277), a crownland in the N. of Austria, lying between the Moravian and the Carpathian Mountains, with Silesia on the N., Hungary on the E., Lower Austria on the S., and Bohemia on the W.; is mountainous, with lofty plains in the S., and is watered by the March, a tributary of the Danube; the valleys and plains are fertile; grain, beetroot, flax, hemp, and vines are grown; cattle and poultry rearing and bee-keeping occupy the peasantry; sugar, textiles, and tobacco are the chief manufactures; there are coal and iron mines, graphite and meerschaum are found; the capital is Brünn (94), which has woollen and leather industries; associated with Bohemia in 1029, Moravia passed with that country to Austria in 1526, its association with Bohemia terminating in 1849; the inhabitants are two-thirds Slavs and one-third German, and are mostly Roman Catholic.