h he contributed poems, tales,
and essays, and in 1858 he _pub._ _Defence of Guenevere and other Poems_.
_The Life and Death of Jason_ followed in 1867, _The Earthly Paradise_ in
1868-70, and _Love is Enough_ in 1875. In the last mentioned year he made
a translation in verse of Virgil's _AEneid_. Travels in Iceland led to the
writing of _Three Northern Love Stories_, and the epic of _Sigurd the
Volsung_ (1876). His translation of the _Odyssey_ in verse appeared 1887.
A series of prose romances began with _The House of the Wolfings_ (1889),
and included _The Roots of the Mountains_, _Story of the Glittering
Plain_, _The Wood beyond the World_, _The Well at the World's End_
(1896), and posthumously _The Water of the Wondrous Isles_, and _Story of
the Sundering Flood_. In addition to poems and tales M. produced various
illuminated manuscripts, including two of Fitzgerald's _Omar Khayyam_,
and many controversial writings, among which are tales and tracts in
advocacy of Socialism. To this class belong the _Dream of John Ball_
(1888), and _News from Nowhere_ (1891). In 1890 M. started the Kelmscott
Press, for which he designed type and decorations. For his subjects as a
writer he drew upon classic and Gothic models alike. He may perhaps be
regarded as the chief of the modern romantic school, inspired by the love
of beauty for its own sake; his poetry is rich and musical, and he has a
power of description which makes his pictures live and glow, but his
narratives sometimes suffer from length and slowness of movement.

_Life_ by J.W. Mackail (2 vols., 1899), _The Books of W. Morris_, Forman,
etc.

MORTON, THOMAS (1764-1838).--Dramatist, _b._ in Durham, came to London to
study law, which he discarded in favour of play-writing. He wrote about
25 plays, of which several had great popularity. In one of them, _Speed
the Plough_, he introduced Mrs. Grundy to the British public.

MOTHERWELL, WILLIAM (1797-1835).--Poet, _b._ and _ed._ in Glasgow, he
held the office of depute sheriff-clerk at Paisley, at the same time
contributing poetry to various periodicals. He had also antiquarian
tastes, and a deep knowledge of the early history of Scottish ballad
literature, which he turned to account in _Minstrelsy, Ancient and
Modern_ (1827), a collection of Scottish ballads with an historical
introduction. In 1830 he became ed. of the _Glasgow Courier_, and in 1832
he _coll._ and _pub._ his poems. He also joined Hogg in ed. the Works of
B