MOORE'S FATHER AND EARLY YEARS 3

he visited during the tour with the Duke of Hamilton and his son John, of which more presently. By our generation he will probably best be recognised as the " witty Dr. Moore/' quoted by Carlyle as describing the scene when the Swiss defended the Tuileries against the Paris mob and the Girondists.1 His "Journal during a Residence in France/3 from which this scene is taken, covers much of the most exciting period in Paris, and is often quoted by Carlyle, who in the Tuileries incident makes a dramatic point by contrasting the keen observation of Dr. Moore on the spectacular aspect of the event with that of another eye, Napoleon's, who was noting for future use the fact that had the Swiss had a leader they would have won the day. John's mother was a daughter of Professor Simson of the University of Glasgow. John Moore had passed some time at the High School of Glasgow; but, when he was only eleven years of age, his father was given the charge of Douglas, the young Duke of Hamilton, then in his sixteenth year, so that the Duke might complete his education by European travel. He took John with him. This tour, in many ways, largely determined John Moore's whole career. From 1772 to 1776 John and the young Duke were travelling under the father's guidance through France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. He learnt French so thoroughly that his father, when John was only thirteen, reported to his mother, who had remained at home in charge of the family, "He speaks, reads, and writes French admirably well;" and, as to other accomplishments, "he draws tolerably well He has a very good notion of geography, arithmetic, and the easier parts of practical geometry." As

1 " French Revolution," vol. i. p. 503.