Moir's first professional publication was 'Outlines of the Ancient History of Medicine' (1831), intended as the first instalment of a complete history. Pressure of medical duties, caused partly by the serious outbreak of cholera in Musselburgh in 1832, and partly by the retirement of Dr. Brown early in 1833, interfered with his design. He wrote a pamphlet entitled 'Practical Observations on Malignant Cholera' (1832), being a general answer to the inquiries which he received as secretary of the board of health of his heavily stricken town. Shortly afterwards he published 'Proofs of the Contagion of Malignant Cholera,' 1832. In the autumn of that year he attended the meeting of the British Association at Oxford, and visited Cheltenham and London, where his friend Galt was then living. In 1843 appeared 'Domestic Verses,' a volume of elegies prompted by the deaths of three of his children and of a number of the 'Blackwood' circle. In the following year he contracted a serious illness by sitting all night in damp clothes by the bed of a patient, and in 1846 his health was further broken by a carriage accident. His remaining years were devoted to social functions and to intercourse with literary friends. He had already edited Mrs. Hemans's works in seven volumes, and in 1848 prepared a single volume edition. In 1849 he made an excursion to the highlands with Christopher North. He was a member of several scientific societies, including the Medico-Chirurgical, Harveian, Antiquarian, and Highland Societies, and he was the author of the account of the 'Antiquities of the Parish of Inveresk,' published in the 'Statistical Account of Scotland' in 1845, and separately in 1860. In the spring of 1851 he delivered a course of six lectures at Edinburgh on 'The Poetical Literature of the past Half Century,' published in the same year. In 'Blackwood' of July 1851 appeared his last literary effort, 'The Lament of Selim.' On 22 June he received further injury when dismounting from his horse, and died at Dumfries on Sunday, 6 July. He was buried at Inveresk. A statue by Ritchie was erected in 1854 on the bank of the Esk, within his native town.
He married Catherine E. Bell of Leith on 8 June 1828, and had eleven children; a son Robert was house-surgeon of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in 1851, afterwards in St. Andrews.
His literary works, other than those already noticed, are:
- 'School Recollections' (published in 'Friendship's Offering' in 1829).
- 'Memoir of Alexander Balfour' (as Preface to Balfour's' Weeds and Wild Flowers,' 1830).
- 'Memoir of Galt' (in the 'Literary Life'), 1834.
- 'Life of Macnish' (in 'The Modern Pythagorean'), 1837 and 1844.
- 'Memoirs of Rennie of Phantassie and Sir John Sinclair' (in the 'Journal of Agriculture'), and a sketch of Admiral Sir David Milne [q. v.]
A list of his contributions to 'Blackwood,' nearly four hundred in number, will be found on p. 128 of the General Index to vols. i-l. 'The Poetical Works of David Macbeth Moir, Δ. Edited by Thomas Aird. With a Memoir of the Author,' appeared in 2 vols. at Edinburgh in 1852.
The eulogies of 'Delta' by the 'Blackwood' coterie will probably not be accepted by present-day critics. His verse will be commended for its study of nature and its pleasing rhythm. His humorous pieces, though sprightly, have, for the most part, a solely contemporary interest. His reputation now rests on his novel, 'Mansie Wauch,' written in the manner of Galt.
[Memoir by Aird (see above); Blackwood's Magazine, pp. lxx, 249, and passim; Fraser's Magazine, viii. 290, and passim; Noctes Ambrosianæ. This biography has been kindly revised by Dr. Robert Moir, St. Andrews, and Dr. Thomas Scott, Musselburgh.]
MOIR, GEORGE (1800–1870), advocate and author, son of George Moir, was born in 1800 at Aberdeen, and educated there. Migrating to Edinburgh, he entered a lawyer's office, but devoted considerable time to literary pursuits. In 1824, when engaged on an article on the ancient ballad poetry of Spain for the 'Edinburgh Review,' a common friend suggested to Moir that he might seek information from Sir William Hamilton [q. v.] They met in the Advocates' Library, and this was the commencement of 'a warm and lifelong friendship' (Veitch, Memoir of Sir W. Hamilton). On 2 July 1825 Moir was admitted advocate. In 1827 he published a verse translation of Schiller's 'Piccolomini' and 'Wallenstein;' it was dedicated to Hamilton, who revised the proof-sheets, and it met with a favourable reception. This was followed in 1828 by a translation of Schiller's 'Thirty Years' War,' with a short life of the author. Moir had been a whig, but now threw in his lot with the tories, and became a regular contributor to 'Blackwood's Magazine.' About the same time he made the acquaintance of Carlyle. 'Moir,' writes the latter from Edinburgh on 3 Feb. 1833, 'has been here, in all senses a neat man, in none a strong one;' and again on 10 Feb., 'George Moir has got a house in Northumberland Street, a wife, too, and infants; is become a conservative, settled everywhere into dilettante, not very happy, I think; dry, civil, and seems to feel unheimlich in my company' (Froude, First
