January 10, 1783, Cadiz, Spain.
October 3, 1864, Spain.
January 10, 1783, Cadiz, Spain.
October 3, 1864, Spain.
De Mora initially studied law, and was a professor at the University of Granada. He later joined the army, but was taken prisoner, and lived in France from 1809 to 1814. It was there he met and married a highly educated French woman, Delauneux Françoise. After the war he returned to Cadiz, immersing himself in literature and translating Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe. In early 1815 he moved to Madrid, intending to practice law, but the lure of literature was too strong. He translated several works from French and English, became a journalist for Crónica Literaria y Científica, which he founded in 1817 and lasted until 1820. Its sequel, El Constitucional, in La Minerva Nacional and other publications, continued to explore literary and political issues in prose and verse. He wrote for and helped direct numerous liberal newspapers in Madrid, earning the nickname of Luca fa presto for the speed with which he produced articles.
De Mora emigrated to London in 1824, settling with with other liberals in the Somerstown district. With the editor Ackermann he founded No Me Olvides, a sort of almanac in prose and verse, six volumes of which were published between 1824 and 1829. The first four had poems with translations by Mora, and the last two by Paul Mendibil. De Mora was the sole director and editor of Universal Museum of Arts and Sciences (1824-6) and the Literary and Political Mail of London, aimed primarily at Hispanic Americans.
De Mora went to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in late 1826, and in 1827 led the Crónica Política y Literaria y El Conciliador of his friend President Rivadavia. De Mora was in Chile between 1828 and 1831, where he he organized the Liceo de Chile, founded El Mercurio Chileno (1828-9), a scientific and cultural journal in collaboration with Spanish doctor Jose Passamán and Italian botanist Carlos Bertero. He also helped draft Chile’s 1828 constitution.