MOORE, DR JOHN

MOORE, DR JOHN, the author of Zeluco, was born in December 1729 at Stirling, a minister's son. Educated at Glasgow, he there studied medicine, and there began to practise, with Smollett's and his own old master, Dr Gordon, for his partner, after spending some time in Holland (as army surgeon), in London, and in Paris. As medical attendant to the young Duke of Hamilton he travelled six years on the Continent, and on his return (1778) settled in London. His View of Society and Manners in France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy (4 vols. 1779-81) was well received; but the novel Zeluco (1789), which suggested Byron's Child Harold, is to-day the least forgotten of his works. These include two other novels, Medical Sketches, and a couple of books on the French Revolution. Dr Moore died at Richmond, 21st January 1802. See the Memoir by Dr R. Anderson prefixed to his Complete Works (7 vols. 1820).