author
Known today for a single surviving work, this little-known early 19th-century writer published a dramatic narrative poem about innocence, blame, and a very inconvenient magpie. The scarcity of biographical details only adds to the book’s curious charm.
Very little reliable biographical information appears to survive about Charles Moreton. Public-domain library records and ebook catalogs consistently identify him as the author of The Maid and the Magpie: An Interesting Tale Founded on Facts, a work published in London by G. Stevens, 10 Borough Road, Southwark, around 1815 or 1816.
That poem is a compact moral tale written in verse. It centers on a maid named Annette, a stolen spoon, a false accusation, and the eventual discovery that a magpie caused the trouble. The story blends romance, suspense, and a clear lesson about justice, making it feel close to the cautionary children's literature of its time.
Because so little else can be firmly confirmed, Moreton is best approached through the work itself rather than through a full life story. For modern listeners, that gives the book an added appeal: it offers a small, vivid window into the language, storytelling, and moral imagination of early 19th-century popular verse.