Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-08-11
rom Moore and his Family.

Over q shop, No. IL Aungler street,
Dublin, may be seen the bust Of Ire
lands lyric poet. In that house, on the
Sth of May, l779, Thomas Moore was
born. His father John Moore, who
came from Kerry carried on the bust
ness of grocer, and had previously
kept a small wine store in Johnston s
court, Grafton street. His mother was
Anastasia Codd, daughter of Mr. Thomas
Codd, also tradesman. This was the
lowly home and humble beginning of
one who, in a few years after-thanks to
his own genius-was the courted of the
fashionable and brilliant society of Lon
don, the honored friend of Lord Mora at
bennington, the associate of Princes
and Peers, and the hattered guest at the
houses of the nobility. The literary life
of the author OF "The Irish Melodies has
been already told by Earl Russell, and
would be out of place here have
only to carry down his domestic story to
its close. While engaged in private
theatricals in ireland, he formed the
acquaintance of a young lady, Miss
Bessie Dyke, who had recently made
her debut on the stage, and he married
her on the 25th Of March, 1871, at st.
Martins Church, London. Of this
union there we're FIVE children, who
all preceded their parents to the
grave. The last survivors were Thomas
Lansdowne Parr Moore and John Rus.
sell Moore, who both obtained commits
sions in the army, and both died in
early manhood. The climate of India
broke down the health of the younger
He returned home to breathe his last in
November, l842. Moore's journal
of the following month has this entry;
December.-I have not had the heart
to return to this journal for some weeks
past. All is over. Our dear boy expired
on the 23d OF last month; and the calm
ness, sweetness and manliness Of his
last moments were such as to leave, even
in the mothers heart, not only comfort,
but almost pleasure" In less than four
years after Moore's last surviving child.
Tom, who had left the British army and
Joined the foreign legion of Algiers,
also died. He had long caused deep
anxiety to his father. High.spirited,
thoughtless and extravagant, he con-
tracted debts which Moore was no longer
able to pay, and the sale of the young
mans commission was rendered obliga-
tory. He then Joined, as | have said,
the French service, and in broken health,
and with enieebled constitution, soon
succumbed to exposure and fatigue. In
March, 1916, his father makes this entry
in his journal: About the middle Of
March we received strange and omi-
nous looking letter, which we opened
with trembling hands, and it told
us that my son Tom was dead
The shock was at first almost too
much to bear; but, on reading the
letter again, we saw reason to doubt the
account it contained, and sent immedi-
ately to London and Paris TO know if
there was any truth in the rumor. 1t
was, alas but too true. The last of our
five children is now gone, and we are
left desolate and alone. Not a single
relative have | now left in the world.
Moores spirits never recovered this
afflicton; his heart was wellnigh broken.
He survived, however, until the 26th of
February, 1852, when he was laid, by
the side of four of his children, in the
little church-yard of Bromham, Willis.
His wife was placed next him in 1865
Sir BernarG Burke