Morgan, Williain, a learned British prelate, was born at Gwibernant, in Carnarvonshire, Wales, in the second half of the 16th century, and was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge. We know but little of his progress in the Church, but we find that in 1595 he was elevated to the episcopate of Llandaff, and in IGOl was transferred to the see of St. Asaph. He died in 1604. Bishop Morgan is worthy of immortal honor as the au- thor of tlie translation of the Scriptures into Welsh, pub- lished in 1588; also tlie translation of the Psalms in the same year. See Soames, FAizabethun Rel. Ilisi. p. Gil.
Morgan, "William N., a minister of the Method- ist Episcopal Church, South, was born in Mecklenburg County, Va., June 1, 1806. His early educational advan- tages were limited. In 1836, being impressed with a call to preach, he joined the iMemphis Conference of the then Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 1844 went over with the Separatists into the Church South. He was actively engaged in the work for twenty years, preaching in Tennessee and Mississippi. For thirteen years he sustained a supernumerar\^ relation, and final- ly died Oct. 18, 1869, in Sommerville, Tenn., wliere he had settled because of impaired health. He occupied an important position in the Conference. He was a good preacher, sound in doctrine, clear and practical in tlie exhibition of divine trutli, and earnest and forcible in his appeals to the Church and to the world. Many gracious revivals were the result of his pastoral visita- tions of the people and the faithful preaching of the Word. See Minutes of Conf. of M. E. Ch., South, 1809, p. 344, 345.
Morganatic marriage (Goth, morgjan, to cur- tail, limit), sometimes called left-handed viarriage, a lower sort of matrimonial union, which, as a civil en- gagement, is completely binding, but fails to confer on the wife the title or fortune of her husband, and on the children the full status of legitimacy or right of succes- sion. See CoNXUBiNE. The members of the German princely houses were for centuries in tlie jiractiee of entering into marriages of this kind with their inferiors in rank. Out of this usage has gradually sprung a code of matrimonial law by which the union of princes with i)ersons of lower rank in other than morganatic form involves serious consequences, especially towards the lady. Li the 16th and 17th centuries a fashion be- gan among German princes of taking a morganatic wife in addition to one who enjoyed the complete matrimo- nial status — landgrave Philip of Hesse setting the ex- ample, with a very qualified disapprobation on the part of the leatling Keformers. In the present century mor- ganatic marriages arc on the decline among the Ger- man reigning houses. They are recognised not only among the princely families, but among the higher aristocracy of the empire; and in Prussia even the " Niedcre Adel," or inferior gentry, may contract unions of tliis kind. There is, however, a strong public opin- ion against the practice, and as the people begin to en- ter into the control of state affairs, the jiracticc is sure
I to be opposed bj' special legislation. No such alliance is now permitted to any one having another wife, and the State as well as the Church hold the parties as hav- ing entered the strictly matrimonial state. A sort of left-handed or "hand-fasted" marriage was recognised i in early times in the Highlands of Scotland and in Ire- I land: the hand-fast«d bride could be put away, and a fresh union formed, with the full status of matrimony. j Unlike the case of German morganatic marriages, the j issue were often accounted legitimate, even to the prej- udice of the children of the more regular union that fol- lowed. The Koj'al Marriage Act, 12 (Jeo. Ill, c. 11, re- duces to a position somewhat like that of morganatic unions every marriage in the royal family of (.Jreat Britain not previously approved by the sovereign under the Great Seal, provided the jirinee entering into it is under twenty-five, and every such marriage of a prince above twenty-five which is disajiproved by Parliament. In the United States no such marriages are lawfid. See Mauuiage.
Morghen, Eaffaelle Saxzio, Cavaliere, one of the most celebrated engravers of modern times, who devoted himself largely to sacred art, was born at Florence, Italy, June 19, 1758. His father, Filippo Morghen, was also an engraver, and instructed his son in the princii)les of the art with such success that at the age of twelve Kaf- faelle could engrave a very tolerable plate._ At twenty his father, believing liis son's genius worthy a more cul- tivated master, sent him to the celebrated Volpato at Home, whose daughter he afterwards married. In 1771 he engraved Rapliacl's allegorical figures of Poetry and Theology, from the Vatican. In 1792 the Neapolitan court, wishing him to reside in Naples, offered him a sal- ary' of 600 ducats; but he accepted in preference an in- vitation from the grand-duke of Tuscan}' to Florence, where he established himself in 1793, with a salary of 400 scudi and free apartments in the city, under the con- dition that he might found a public school for engrav- ing, and the privilege of engraving what he deemed fit, also retaining all his prints as his individual property. His first work in Florence was the Mado/ina delhi Seg- giola. In 1795 he commenced the celebrated Madonna del Sacco, after Andrea del Sarto, and Kaphacl's Trans- figuration. The first picture is in Florence, but the Transfiguration he engraved from a drawing l)y Tofa- nelli ; the latter was completed in 1812, and dedicated to Napoleon I, by whom !Morghen was invited to Paris and honored with valuable presents. This print was originally sold at four guineas, or twenty scudi, but the price afterwards realized for some impressions Avas £20 and £30. The engraving is a work of immense labor and great skill, and though not altogether satisfactory in the way of aerial perspective, being in parts hard and metallic, is highly valued as a work of art. 3Ior- ghen's masterpiece, upon which he was engaged three years, is a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, the early impressions of which (1800) are among the most precious engravings of the work. He died at Florence April 8, 1833, having engraved, according to a list pub- lished by his pupil, Palmerini, 73 portraits, 47 Biblical and religious pieces, 44 historical and mythological pieces, 24 views and landscapes, and 13 vignettes and crests. See Engl. Cgdop. s. v. ; Spooner, Biog. /list, of the Fine A rts, s. v. ; Nagler, Kiinstkr Lex. s. v.