Life of Sir John Moore. real state of Spain. Under this ignorance, added to the enthusiasm natural to a free people, England not only hoped, but with certainty expected, the entire deliverance of the Spanish people, and the total expulsion of the French. Even the English minister at Madrid caught this unhappy contagion. Such were the circumstances under which Sir John Moore acted; such were those to which he fell a victim; and such, happily indeed in diminished degree, still obscure somewhat of the lustre of his glory. Time, however, which destroys every thing else, only strengthens and confirms a just reputation. Such a reputation is raised upon truth and nature, and the superstructure, therefore, is as eternak as the basis. Sir John Moore was born on that private floor to which society has so often owed its best ornaments. He was educated with the example of industry and of its success before his eyes. His grandfather, the Rev. Charles Moore, was a clergyman of the church of Scotland. He was one of the ministers of the church of Stirling about the year 1730; at a time when the income of that office was about 100%. per annum. Upon this income Mr. Moore contrived not only to live réspectably, but to give a good education to his son, Dr. John Moore, the father of Sir John. On the death of the Rev. Charles Moore, about the year 1735, John Moore, afterwards Dr. Moore, then a boy about five years old, was removed by his mother to Glasgow, to the neighbourhood of which her family belonged, and where she had a small patri mony. This lady, the grandmother of Sir John, was the daughter of John Anderson, esq. of Dowhill, in the neighbourhood of Glasgow. If family tradition may be trusted, she was a worthy and rather remarkable woman. In a brief memoir of the family, written, I believe, by one of the members of it, and from which some of these particulars are taken, she is thus mentioned :"This lady (Mrs. Moore) was eminently distinguished by hes understanding, which enabled her to conduct her own affairs, and to superintend the education of her son with becoming propriety; she was at the same time eminent for her piety, which she very early infused into the mind of her only child, as well as for the benevolence of her heart, that enabled her to cherish a love of hu◄ Life of Sir John Moore. manity in others, whilst she herself exhibited a living example of its effects." It is pleasing thus to trace to the source some of those excellent qualities which so eminently characterised Sir John Moore. They thus seemed to have passed from the mother to her child, and from the father to his son. How enviable must be the family in which virtue itself is the inheritance! Yet such is the certain fruit of parental example and care. I think it is Horace that says, and says it with as much true poetry as nature, "Were it given me again to go behind the curtain of the world, and chuse the father who should bring me into life, yea, verily, it should be that honest man, that freeman of Arpinum, who was my father." I have fortunately a Horace at hand, and therefore may at once justify my memory and translation. The passage is as follows: it speaks at once to the heart and the head, and therefore I shall give it at length. "Nune ad me redeo libertino patre natum : (Ut me collaudem) si et vivo carus amicis: Ipse mihi custos incorruptissimus omnes (Qui primus virtutis honos) servavit ab omni Non solum facto, verum opprobrio quoq; turpi ; Nil me pœniteat sanum patris hujus : -Nam si natura juberet A certis annis ævum remeare peractum, Atque alios legere ad fastum quoscunque parentes ; Fascibus et sellis nolim mihi sumere" May it be permitted to the writer of this to mention, that in indulging in the above long extract, descriptive of an excellent parent, he has yet another object in his "mind's eye" than the father of Sir John Moore. The writer of this is himself yet smart ing under the green-wound of the loss of his father;-and of such a father! Will the reader have the goodness to pardon his egotism; let those who would ne pitate it, throw the first stons. 4 Life of Sir John Moore. Mr. Moore, the father of Sir John, was educated in the University of Glasgow; and knowing that he had nothing to look to but to his talents and knowledge, cultivated them with a careful attention. He selected for himself the profession of physic. His mother placed him under the tuition of Dr. Gordon, a physician of much eminence. Mr. Moore, however, was likewise a constant attendant on Drs. Hamilton and Cullen; the latter of whom, we believe, was the founder of a new school of physic and chemistry. Mr. Moore, however, had too much activity of mind to remain satisfied with the ordinary medical education. He shortly obtained an appointment of much advantage. The Duke of CumberJand was about to leave England to take the command of the allied army in Flanders, and Mr. Moore, being introduced to his notice by one of the Argyle family, he was immediately appointed one of the surgeons or physicians to the expedition. He accordingly embarked upon this service about the year 1747. He here went through a long course of surgical experience. His first quarters were at Maestrecht, where he acted as mate. From Maestrecht he was moved to Flushing, in consequence of the recommendation of Mr. Middleton, the director-general of the military hospitals. He obtained by the same recommendation the patronage of the Earl of Albermarle. Shortly afterwards, he was detached to the assistance of the Coldstream regiment of guards, which was at that time under the command of General Braddock. From Flushing he accompanied the Coldstream regiment to Breda, and peace being shortly afterwards concluded he returned to England. In the memoir of the life of Dr. Moore, to which we have above referred, it is mentioned, that during the greater part of the above service abroad, Mr. Moore was between his 17th and 19th year of age. He acted as assistant-surgeon to the Coldstream when he was only in his 17th year. Upon his return to London he at tended the anatomical lectures of Dr. Hunter for two years; after which, accompanied by Mr. Fordyce, afterwards Sir William, he set out for Paris, in order to superadd the knowledge of the French medical school to that of the English and Scotch. Very fortunately for Mr. Moore, Lord Albermarle, the colonel of the Cold Life of Sir John Moore. stream, to which Mr. Moore had been assistant-surgeon, was at that time ambassador in France. Lord Albermarle immediately recognised and adopted his young countryman. He appointed him surgeon to his household, which was of itself an introduction to company and notice. Mr. Moore, from early life, was an observer of men and manners, and no situation could certainly be more favourable to administer food to this curiosity. Mr. Moore, however, was not so seduced by the pleasures of company, and by the splendour and luxuries of an ambassador's table, as to forget the main point, his improvement in medical knowledge. He had accordingly the strength of mind to forego all these pleasures when they interfered with his more serious purposes. Accordingly, leaving the hotel de Mirepoix, he selected some lodgings nearer to the hospitals. Here he gave himself up entirely to his medical pursuits. He remained at Paris two years; after which he returned to Scotland upon an invitation from Dr. Gordon, his former tutor. The doctor invited him now to become his partner; and Mr. Moore, by the advice of his friends, immediately accepted an invitation as lucrative as it was liberal. Mr. Moore was now established; his reputation had been previously fixed, and the means of opulence were now in his power. Mr. Moore was thus fixed at Glasgow as a surgeon and physician. Seeing himself sufficiently established, he married Miss Simson, the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Simson, professor of divinity in the University of Glasgow. By this lady he had one daughter and five sons; the eldest of whom was John Moore, afterwards Sir John. Sir John Moore was born at Glasgow in the year 1760. This town, as we have above mentioned, was the seat of his mother's family, as likewise that of his grandfather. Sir John, therefore, always considered it as peculiarly his own town. No life, perhaps, was more migratory than that of Sir John Moore. After he had entered the army, he was scarcely, perhaps, two years in one situation; a kind of life which is supposed to divest the mind of any strength of local attachment. Sir John, however, always fondly Life of Sir John Moore. remembered the town of Glasgow, where he received his birth and the first rudiments of his education. Sir John Moore had attained the eighteenth year of his age, when a circumstance occurred which opened new prospects to his family. The young Duke of Hamilton, a nobleman of great promise, being afflicted with a consumptive complaint, was attended by Dr. Moore. This young man's malady, however, baffled all the efforts of medicine; and, after a lingering illness, he died in the fifteenth year of his age. Dr. Moore is said to have written a very pathetic eulogy on this youth; a circumstance which led to a more intimate connexion with the family. The late Duke of Hamilton, being like his brother, of a sickly constitution, his mother, the Duchess of Argyle, determined that he should travel in company with some gentleman, who, to a knowledge of medi cine, added an acquaintance with the continent. Both of these qualities were united in the person of Dr. Moore, who, by this time, had obtained the degree of M. D. from the University of Glasgow. They accordingly set out together, and they spent a period of no less than five years abroad; during which they visited France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. On this occasion, John, the eldest son of Dr. Moore, accompanied his father: and thus, besides the advantages of paternal instruction, had a most excellent opportunity of obtaining a facility in the languages, The same early introduction into the world, and into the variety of foreign manners, tended, no doubt, to give to his own manners that po lish and refinement which so eminently characterised him. With such a preceptor as Dr.'Moore by his side, there was no apprehension but that travel would produce its proper effect. Accordingly, with respect to mere manners, those of Sir John Moore had the ease and grace, without the levity and frivolity, of those usually formed by travelling. Sir John Moore very early obtained a commission in the army. The Hamilton and Argyle families exerted themselves in assisting him upwards; and accordingly he became a lieutenant-colonel in the 52d regiment, almost as soon as the forms of office, mote relaxed than they are at present, could allow. |