During the whole of his time at Leeds, his knowledge of his subject,
both on its literary and linguistic side, was constantly deepening and
his efficiency, as teacher of it, constantly increasing. With so keen a
mind as his, this was only to be expected. It was equally natural that,
as his knowledge expanded and his advice came to be more and more sought
by those engaged in the study of such matters, he should make the
results of his researches known to a wider public. After several smaller
enterprises of this kind,(3) he broke entirely fresh ground with two
books, which at once established his right to be heard in both the
fields for which he was professionally responsible: _Yorkshire Place
Names_, published for and by the Thoresby Society in 1911; and a study
of the life and poetry of Robert Herrick, two years later. The former,
if here and there perhaps not quite rigorous enough in the tests applied
to the slippery evidence available, is in all essentials a most solid
piece of work: based on a wide and sound knowledge of the linguistic
principles which, though often grossly neglected, form the corner-stone,
and something more, of all such inquiries; and lit up with a keen eye
for the historical issues--issues reaching far back into national
origins which, often in the most unexpected places, they may be made to
open out. The latter, to which he turned with the more zest because it
led him back to the familiar setting of his native county--to its moors
and rills and flowers, and the fairy figures that haunted them--is a
delightful study of one of the most unique of English poets(4); a study,
however, which could only have been written by one who, among many other
things, was a thorough-paced scholar. Many qualities--knowledge,
scholarship, love of nature, a discerning eye for poetic beauty--go to
the making of such a book. Their union in this _Study_ serves to show
that, great as was Moorman's authority in the field of language, it was
always to literature, above all to poetry, that his heart went naturally
out. The closing years of his life were to set this beyond doubt.