# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Morgann, Maurice

​MORGANN, MAURICE (1726–1802), commentator on the character of Sir John Falstaff, born in London in 1726, was descended from an ancient Welsh family. He was under-secretary of state to William Fitzmaurice Petty, earl of Shelburne, and afterwards first marquis of Lansdowne [q. v.], during his administration of 1782, and was secretary to the embassy for ratifying the peace with America in 1783. He was also one of the commissioners of the hackney coach office. Morgann, a man of rare modesty and uncommon powers, was highly esteemed by Lord Lansdowne, at whose seat at Wickham he once entertained Dr. Johnson during his lordship's absence. He and Johnson sat up late talking, and the latter as usual provoked a verbal encounter, in which Morgann more than held his own. The next morning at breakfast Johnson greeted him with 'Sir, I have been thinking over our dispute last night you were in the right.' Morgann wrote several pamphlets on the burning questions of his day, all of which are distinguished for their philosophic tone and distinctively literary style. They were issued anonymously, but the following have been identified as his: 'An Enquiry concerning the Nature and End of a National Militia' (London [1758], 8vo); 'A Letter to my Lords the Bishops, on Occasion of the Present Bill for the Preventing of Adultery ' (London, 1779, 8vo); 'Remarks on the Present Internal and External Condition of France' (1794, 8vo); and 'Remarks on the Slave Trade.' He appears to have written solely for his own gratification, and on his death at Knightsbridge on 28 March 1802 he directed his executors to destroy all his papers. 'Thus,' says his friend Dr. Symmons, 'were lost various compositions in politics, metaphysics, and criticism which would have planted a permanent laurel on his grave' (Life of Milton, 1810, pp. 122^).
The admirable 'Essay on the Dramatic Character of Sir John Falstaff' (London, 1777, 8vo) by which Morgann is remembered has been very generally praised. The vindication of Falstaff's courage is the ostensible object of the work, and evoked Johnson's criticism. 'Why, sir, we shall have the man come forth again; and as he proved Falstaff to be no coward, he may prove Iago to be a very good character,' but the special plea, entertaining as it is, is really subordinate to a consideration of the larger problem of the whole character and to 'the arts and genius of his poetic maker ' (cf. London Mag. 1820, i. 194; Fraser, xlvi. 408; White, Falstaff's Letters, admired of Charles Lamb, and the 'Essay on Falstaff' appended to Mr. Birrell's ' Obiter Dicta'). For style, intellectuality, knowledge of human nature, and consequent profound appreciation of Shakespeare, Morgann's essay has not been surpassed. The author was too fastidious to reissue his book during his lifetime; it was, however, republished in 1820 and 1825. William Cooke's poem 'Conversation' (1807) was dedicated to Morgann, and in a second edition Cooke testified in the most enthusiastic terms to his friend's wide knowledge, pervading humour, and personal charm.
[Gent. Mag. 1802 i. 470, 582, 1807 ii. 643; European Mag. xli. 334; Boswell's Johnson, ed. G. B. Hill, iv. 192; Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice's Life of Shelburne, ii. 50, iii. 16; Halkett and Laing's Anon. and Pseudon. Lit. cols. 487, 765, 804, 1386; Monthly Review, lx. 399; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. 1612–13; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit. p. 1368.]
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