MOO 



672 



MOO 



Moore. 



fir. John, 



Moore, 



Sir John. 



From politics Dr. Moore again turned his attention 

 to novels. But his ' Edward' (1796), and his ' Mor- 

 daunt* (1800), added little to his literary character. 

 Though they retain some traces of his early vigour, 

 they both exhibit symptoms of exhaustion and decay. 

 They were the last effort of his genius : he died at 

 his house in Clifford Street, on the 20th Feb. 1802. 



As an author, Dr. Moore was more distinguished by 

 the range of his information, than by its accuracy or 

 extent upon any particular subject ; and his writings 

 did not owe their celebrity to any great depth or even 

 originality of thought. As a Novelist he shewed no 

 extraordinary felicity in the department of invention ; 

 no great power of diversifying his characters, or ease in 

 conducting his narrative. The main quality of his 

 works is that particular species of Sardonic wit, with 

 which they are indeed perhaps profusely tinctured, but 

 which frequently confers a grace and poignancy on the 

 general strain of good sense and judicious observation, 

 that pervades the whole of them. (T. c.) 



MOORE (SiR JOHN,) a son of Dr. Moore, the sub- 

 ject of our preceding article, was born at Glasgow on 

 the 13th of November, 17G1. Being destined for the 

 military profession, he was educated 'chiefly on the con- 

 tinent ; 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 ensign 

 to the 51st regiment of foot. It was at Minorca in 1776 

 that Moore first entered the army; a lieutenancy in the 

 82d regiment was the next step of his promotion, and 

 he seems to have held this station without much dis- 

 tinction, or any censure, during the several campaigns 

 of the American war, in which he served till the ar- 

 rival of peace, when his regiment was reduced in 

 1783. 



A seat in the Parliament, as member for Lanark and 

 the adjoining burghs, obtained apparently by the influ- 

 ence of the patron above referred to, did not long in- 

 terrupt 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 afterwards. From Gibraltar, where his mi- 

 litary duties had placed him, he was ordered to Corsica 

 in 1791; and the esteem of General Charles Stuart, 

 formed an epoch in his military life. The siege of Cal- 

 vi was the scene of this distinction ; and his first wound 

 was received in storming the Mozzello fort. 



When a disagreement with the Viceroy had produc- 

 ed the recal 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 com- 

 mander remained not long in good terms with him. 

 His return to England, in the year 1795, seems not to 

 have proceeded from dissatisfaction on the part of go- 

 vernment ; and his appointment to the rank of briga- 

 dier-general in the West Indies, which followed im- 

 mediately, opened a new and more conspicuous 

 field to his military talents. At Barbadoes, in conse- 

 quence of his appointment, he met Sir Ralph Aber- 

 crombie, 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 steadiness and 

 gallantry which excited the warm applause of his su- 

 perior officer. The conqueror of St. Lucie, who had 

 already designated General Moore as " the admiration 

 of the whole army," committed to him the prosecution 



of his enterprise, together with the government of the 

 Island; and this charge, undertaken with reluctance, and 

 rendered full of clanger and labour from the hostility of 

 the natives and the number of Maroon negroes, who 

 constantly infested the country, was managed with a 

 decision and activity that overcame every obstacle. 



Two successive attacks of the yellow fever soon 

 forced General Moore to leave the West Indies, but, in 

 company with Sir Ralph Abercrombie, he was destined 

 to earn still higher distinction. The first scene in which 

 they again acted together, was the Irish rebellion ; and 

 during those unhappy contests, notwithstanding the 

 disorganised state of the army, General Moore's conduct 

 was such as to obtain universal approbation. 



After Sir Ralph's expedition to Holland, (1799,) in 

 which General Moore was severely wounded, a wider 

 and more brilliant theatre was soon afterwards present- 

 ed for their united exertions in the expedition to Egypt. 

 During this celebrated campaign, General Moore fully 

 supported the reputation for bravery and coolness 

 which his former services had acquired. An important 

 charge in disembarking the troops was assigned to him ; 

 and the battalion which he led was among the fore- 

 most in the far-famed enterprise of storming the French 

 batteries, erected on a neighbouring eminence of sand 

 to oppose their landing. His subsequent efforts ably 

 seconded the Commander's arrangements, and contri- 

 buted materially to the happy issue of their undertak- 

 ing. That victory which was purchased with the life 

 of Sir Ralph Abercrombie, disabled General Moore for 

 a time from farther exertion : a dangerous wound in his 

 leg confined him first on board one of the transport?, 

 and afterwards in the neighbourhood of Rosetta, till 

 the conclusion of the expedition. His merits were re- 

 warded on his return to England by the order of 

 knighthood ; and public opinion seemed to point him 

 out as a fit person for conducting any military ope- 

 ration in which the country might require his ser- 

 vices. . 



The period for verifying those ideas was not long in 

 arriving. After a few years of repose, General Moore 

 (1808) was called to take upon him the command of 

 an armament which the British Government had pre- 

 pared in aid of the Spanish Patriots, now engaged in 

 hostilities with Napoleon. It is not our business to 

 relate the particulars of this expedition. It is enough 

 to observe, that after an advance to Salamanca, in which 

 he was chagrined by every species of disappointment, 

 cramped by restrictions, perplexed by misinformation, 

 and after a fruitless attempt to penetrate into Por- 

 tugal, General Moore commenced a retreat to the 

 coast, conducted it successfully in the face of an enemy 

 greatly superior, and by his masterly dispositions at 

 Corunna, repelled the formidable attack in which a 

 cannon-ball deprived him of life, though not till his 

 last moments were consoled by intelligence that vic- 

 tory had secured a safe embarkation for his troops. He 

 died with the equanimity which became him, on the 

 16th of January 180Q. 



Succeeding achievements of a more extensive and 

 important nature have already eclipsed Sir John Moore's 

 reputation. But the intrepidity and manly uprightness 

 of his character, manifested at a time when the British 

 army was far from being distinguished in these re- 

 spects, are qualities more endearing and estimable than 

 military fame. They extorted admiration even from 

 his enemies : and the monument erected by the French 

 officers over his grave at Corunna, attests the worth of 

 both parties. (T. c.) 



3- 



Moor*, 

 Sir Job*. 



