CARDINAL JOHN, was born at Bere in Dorsetshire in 1410. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and became principal of Peckwater Inn, now merged in Christ Church. His learning and talents introduced him to Cardinal Bourchier, and thus set him on the path to preferment. He was recommended to the notice of Henry VI., and was appointed a member of the Privy Council. Not less successful in the reign of Edward IV., he was nominated Bishop of Ely and Lord Chancellor of England in 1478, and was finally appointed one of the King's executors. His tried probity, however, did not fit him for the lawless service of the next King, Richard III., and he was imprisoned in the Castle of Brecknock. But contriving to escape, he fled to the Earl of Richmond on the Continent, and is said to have been the first who proposed a marriage between that prince and Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Edward IV. At the death of Richard III., and the accession of Henry VII., a succession of preferments awaited Morton. He was appointed a privy-councillor; he was raised to the see of Canterbury in 1486; the chancellorship was again conferred upon him in 1487; and Pope Alexander VI. created him a cardinal in 1493. His death took place in September 1500.

MORRIS, THOMAS, a successful writer of comedy, was born at Durham in 1764. After attending school at London, he enrolled as a student of Lincoln's Inn; but his love for dramatic amusements led him to spend his evenings in the theatres, and to study the drama more than the law. The knowledge of stage effect which he thus acquired was employed in the production of numerous plays. By their skilfully-arranged scenes, their strongly-contrasted characters, and their sudden transitions of feeling, these dramas secured the attention of mixed audiences. The acting of Lewis, Munden, and Emery greatly increased their effect. Accordingly, several of them, such as The Way to get Married, A Cure for the Heart-Ache, Speed the Plough, The School of Reform, and The Invincibles, secured a footing on the stage, which they still retain. Morton died in 1838.