Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Moore, Thomas (d.1735)
MOORE, Sir THOMAS (d. 1735), playwright, said to have been a native of Surrey, is probably the Thomas, son of Adrian Moore of Milton Place, Egham, who matriculated from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on 19 June 1674, aged 22, having previously, on 13 May 1670, been admitted a student of Gray's Inn (Foster, Register, p. 309, and Alumni Oxon. 1500-1714). He was knighted by George I in 1716, 'on what account we know not, but believe it could hardly be for his poetry.' He wrote 'Mangora, King of the Timbusians, or the Faithful Couple,' 1718, 4to, a tragedy in blank verse, which was played at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, 14 Dec. 1717. The scene is laid in Paraguay, and the action being full of battle, murder, and sudden death, Rich probably thought that the bustle of the piece would carry it prosperously through five acts of absurdities. Moore, it is said, stimulated the actors during rehearsals by inviting them to supper, and the audience proved too hilarious to hiss. Genest asserts that there is no particular fault to be found with the plot of the play, which, nevertheless, provoked ferocious 'Reflections on Mangora' (1718). A reply, probably by Moore, was entitled 'The Muzze Muzzled, in answer to Reflections on Mangora' (1719, 4to). All these pieces are rare. Moore died at Leatherhead on 16 April 1735.
[Lowe's English Theatrical Lit. p. 243; Lit. of all the English Dramatic Poets to the year 1747, p. 262; Genest's Hist, of the Stage, ii. 28; Baker's Biog. Dram. i. 524; Doran's Annals of the Stage; Victor's Hist, of the Theatre, ii. 144; Notes and Queries, 1st ser, ii. 297; Brit. Mus. Cat.]