Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Moore, Dugald

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1332785Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 38 — Moore, Dugald1894Thomas Wilson Bayne

MOORE, DUGALD (1805–1841), Scottish poet, son of a private soldier who died young, was born in Stockwell Street, Glasgow, 12 Aug. 1805. After receiving some rudimentary education from his mother he was apprenticed to a tobacco manufacturer, and then entered the copper-printing branch in the business of Messrs. James Lumsden & Sons, booksellers, &c., Glasgow. He had early begun to write verses, and Lumsden helped him to secure subscribers for his first volume, 'The African, a Tale, and other Poems,' 1829. A second edition appeared in 1830. Two years later, on the strength of profits accruing from this and subsequent publications, Moore started business in Glasgow as a bookseller, and was largely patronised. In the midst of his success he died, after a short illness, 2 Jan. 1841, leaving a competence to his mother. A stately monument marks his burial-place in the Glasgow necropolis.

Moore's other publications were: 1 . 'Scenes from the Flood, the Tenth Plague, and other Poems,' 1830. 2. 'The Bridal Night and other Poems,' 1831. 3. 'The Bard of the North, a series of Poetical Tales, illustrative of Highland Scenery and Character,' 1833. 4. 'The Hour of Retribution and other Poems,' 1835. 5. 'The Devoted One and other Poems,' 1839. Moore has a genuine gift of lyrical expression. Professor Wilson considered his 'African' and 'Bard of the North' 'full of uncommon power.'

[Rogers's Modern Scottish Minstrel; Grant Wilson's Poets and Poetry of Scotland; Men of the Reign, p. 640.]

T. B.