MOORE (DR. Jorix,) a noted miscellaneous writer, the son of Charles Moore, episcopal clergyman at Stir ling, was born in the year 1730. Mrs. Moore, upon the death of her husband in 1735, having removed to Glas gow, where she possessed some property, John, ber only surviving son, enjoyed the benefit of being educated in the Grammar school and College of that city. After ob taining a considerable acquaintance with classical litera ture, he was placed under the charge of Mr. Gordon, a practitioner in surgery ; and at the same time attended the lectures of the medical professors in the university, among whom Dr. Cullen was already distinguished for his original ideas regarding the practice of physic.
The knowledge acquired from these teachers was not long in finding employment. By the kindness of the Duke of Argyle, Moore, in the 17th year of his age, was appointed mate to the military hospital established at Maastricht, during the war which Great Britain at that time carried on for the Empress Maria Theresa. He afterwards served in a similar capacity at Flushing ; and next year he became assistant surgeon in the Coldstream guards, and passed the winter of 1748 under the command of General Braddock, afterwards so unhappily remarkable for his fate in North America.
The arrival of peace, which put a stop to Moore's advancement in the army, afforded him the opportunity of attending Dr. Hunter's course of Anatomy in Lon don ; and soon afterwards the Earl of Albemarle, our ambassador at the French court, to whom Moore had been introduced in Flanders, invited him to undertake the duties of Surgeon to his family at Paris. During the two }ears of his residence in that city, Moore dili gently employed all the facilities which his situation afforded, to improve his medical knowledge; atid so ar dent was his desire of attaining this object, that he de clined residing at the ambassador's house, in order to have more frequent opportunities of witnessing the prac tice at the hospitals, by living in the neighbourhood of those establishments. Constant application naturally in creased his professional skill, and gave a favourable.
opinion of his assiduity ; and Mr. Gordon was sufficiently impressed with the character and abilities of his former pupil, to propose admitting him to a share of his practice at Glasgow.
In partnership with this gentleman, and afterwards with Mr. Hamilton, professor of Anatomy, Moore en joyed considerable success for a number of years. The University of Glasgow had honoured him with a degree ; the cares and pleasures of a family were now added to his other engagements ; and in the bosom of domestic comfort, his life seemed to give promise of being re spectable and happy, but not distinguished by any thing superior to the lot of those around him ; when, in 1769, an event occurred which imparted a new colour to his future pursuits. Among the patients who at this time came under his care, was James George, Duke of Ham ilton ; a young man possessed of talents and virtues, which were only prevented from doing honour to his ex alted station, by the attack of a consumption that baffled all the arts of medicine, and cut him off in his fifteenth year. Dr. Moore's services, though ineffectual, were gratefully acknowledged by the family to whom they had been rendered. He wrote the epitaph, which records the fate and character of his patient, in Hamilton church yard ; and as the surviving brother of this nobleman was of a weakly constitution, his mother, for that reason, felt desirous that he should visit the continent in company with a person qualified at once to direct his observations, and watch over his health. Dr. Moore, in whom both these requisites were united, was prevailed on to accept the charge. He left Britain with his pupil in 1773, and spent five years in visiting the most remarkable coun tries of Europe.
The fruit of those travels, ' A View of Society and Manners in France, Switzerland, and Germany,' pub lished at London in 1779, and followed, in 1781, by a simi lar account of Italy, procured the author some emolu ment, and a considerable literary reputation. These works were speedily translated into French, and read with applause by the people whom they professed to de pict. They were read with equal applause in England, and are still deservedly admired for their spirited de scriptions, their perpetual flow of lively, if not profound observation, and above all, for the vein of pungent, yet on the whole, good-natured humour, which lends a charm to their other merits.