MOON MOORE. 



53 



an immediate supply of light after sunset, which is 

 very beneficial in gathering in the fruits of the earth; 

 and hence it is, that this lunation has been termed 

 the harvest moon. In order to conceive this pheno- 

 menon, it must first be considered, that the moon is 

 always opposite to the sun when she is full; that she 

 is full in the signs Pisces and Aries in our harvest 

 months, these being the signs opposite to Virgo and 

 Libra, the signs occupied by the sun about the same 

 season ; and because those parts of the ecliptic rise 

 in a shorter space of time than others (as may 

 easily be shown and illustrated by the celestial globe), 

 the moon when she is about her full in harvest, rises 

 with less difference of time, or more immediately 

 after sunset, than when she is full at other seasons 

 of the year. 



Moon dial is a dial which shows the hours of the 

 night by the light of the moon. 



MOON, MOUNTAINS OF THE, or DONGA MOUN- 

 TAINS ; a chain of mountains in the central part of 

 Africa, S. E. of Nigritia, which it divides from un- 

 known regions. It is supposed, with much proba- 

 bility, to be connected with the Abyssinian moun- 

 tains, and was formerly thought to stretch across the 

 continent, and form a junction with the mountains 

 of Kong ; but the Niger is now known to flow be- 

 tween them. Travellers have reported that the 

 summits were covered with perpetual snow, which, 

 in that latitude (about 7 or 8 N.), would require 

 an elevation of 14,500 feet. This range was known 

 to the ancients, and is mentioned by Ptolemy, under 

 the name of mountains of the moon, which has been 

 retained by the moderns. 



MOOR, To ; to confine or secure a ship in a 

 particular station by chains or cables, which are 

 either fastened to the adjacent shore, or to anchors 

 in the bottom. A ship is never said to be moored 

 when she rides by a single anchor. 



MOORE, EDWARD, an English poet and dramatic 

 writer of the last century. He was the son of a dis- 

 senting- clergyman at Abingdon in Berkshire, where 

 he was born in 1712. He was brought up to the 

 business of a linen-draper, which he carried on for 

 some time in the metropolis. In 1744 he published 

 Fables for the Female Sex ; and having been noticed 

 by lord Lyttelton, he complimented that nobleman in 

 a poetical piece, entitled The Trial ofSelim. His 

 dramatic works are, The Foundling, a comedy, 

 1748; Gil Bias, another comic drama; and The 

 Gamester, a tragedy, 1753; all acted at Drury-lane 

 theatre. The two former had little success; but the 

 last became a stock piece, and it is perhaps one of the 

 best examples of a domestic tragedy which our litera- 

 ture affords. Mr Moore engaged in conducting a 

 periodical paper, called The World, to which 

 lords Lyttelton, Chesterfield, Bath, and Cork, Mr H. 

 Walpole, R. O. Cambridge, and Soame Jenyns, 

 became contributors. The last number of the World 

 was published on the day of the editor's death, Feb. 

 17th, 1757. The literary reputation of Moore rests 

 on his tragedy and his fables, the latter of which have 

 less humour and point than those ofGay,and are also 

 inferior to his other compositions, in ease and elegance 

 of style; but they exhibit lessons of morality in pleas- 

 ing language, and have become deservedly popular. 



MOORE, JOHN, a physician, distinguished as a 

 cultivater of polite literature, was the son of an epis- 

 copal divine, and born in 1730, at Stirling in North 

 IVitain. He became a student at the university of 

 Glasgow, and having obtained a knowledge of medi- 

 cine and surgery, he went to the Netherlands in 

 1747, and served as a mate in the military hospitals. 

 Peace taking place, he became household surgeon 

 to the British ambassador at Paris ; and afterwards 

 returning to Scotland, he practised as a surgeon till 



1772, when he took the degree of M.D. at Glasgow, 

 He was soon after engaged by the duchess of A rgyle, 

 as medical attendant to her son, (the late duke of 

 Hamilton,) who was in a delicate state of health, and 

 whom he accompanied to the continent, and spent 

 there five years in travelling. In 1778 lie returned 

 to London, and in the following year published A 

 View of Society and Manners in France, Switzerland, 

 and Germany, 2 vols. 8vo, which passed through 

 numerous editions, and has been translated into sev- 

 eral foreign languages. In 1781 appeared his View of 

 Society and Manners in Italy, 2 vols.; and in 1785, 

 a volume, entitled Medical Sketches. The next 

 production of his pen, was Zeluco, a novel, con- 

 taining interesting delineations of Italian character 

 and manners. In 1795, he published A View of 

 the Causes and Progress of the French Revolution, 

 2 vols. 8vo, describing scenes which he had witnes- 

 sed during a residence at Paris. The following year 

 he produced a novel, entitled Edward, or various 

 Views of Human Nature; and in 1800, another, 

 called Mordaunt, or Sketches of Life, Character, 

 and Manners in various Countries. He also pub- 

 lished a collective edition of the works of his coun- 

 tryman Smollett, with the life of the author. Dr 

 Moore died at Richmond in Surrey, February 20th, 

 1802. 



MOORE, SIR JOHN, a distinguished military com- 

 mander, was a son of Dr Moore, the subject of the 

 preceding article, and born at Glasgow on the 13th 

 of November, 1761. Being destined for the military 

 profession, he was educated chiefly on the continent; 

 and whilst his father was abroad with the duke of 

 Hamilton, the interest of that nobleman procured 

 him admission to the service, in the capacity of en- 

 sign to the 51st regiment of foot. It was at Mi- 

 norca, in 1776, that Moore first entered the army ; a 

 lieutenancy in the 8gd regiment was the next step of 

 his promotion, and he seems to have held this station, 

 during the several campaigns of the American war, 

 in which he served till the arrival of peace, when his 

 regiment was reduced in 1783. 



A seat in parliament, as member for Lanark and 

 the adjoining burghs, obtained apparently by the 

 influence of the patron above referred to, did not long 

 interrupt his advancement. About the year 1788, 

 the office of major in the 4th battalion of the 60th 

 regiment of foot was exchanged for a similar post in 

 his original regiment, the 51st, and followed by the 

 commission of lieutenant colonel, which he purchased 

 in that corps two years aftenvards. From Gibraltar, 

 where his military duties had placed him, he was 

 ordered to Corsica in 1794 ; and the esteem of Gen- 

 eral Charles Stuart, formed an epoch in his military 

 life. The siege of Calvi was the scene of this dis- 

 tinction ; and his first wound was received in storm- 

 ing the Mozzello fort. 



When a disagreement with the Viceroy had pro- 

 duced the recall of general Stuart, Moore succeeded 

 him in the character of adjutant- general ; but as the 

 subject of dispute with the viceroy still subsisted, the 

 new commander remained not long in good terms 

 with him. His return to Britain, in the year 1795, 

 seems not to have proceeded from dissatisfaction on 

 the part of government ; and his appointment to the 

 rank of brigadier-general in the West Indies, which 

 followed immediately, opened a new and more conspi- 

 cuous field to his military talents. At Barbadoes, in 

 consequence of his appointment, he met Sir Ralph 

 Abercroinbie, commander of the expedition destined 

 to act against St Lucie; and in this hazardous service, 

 of which an important department was assigned to 

 general Moore, he acquitted himself with that steadi- 

 ness and gallantry which excited the warm applause 

 of his superior officer. The conqueror of St Lucie, 



