MEMOIR. CHAPTER I. BIRTH, BOYHOOD, AND YOUTH. DAVID MACBETH MOIR was born at Musselburgh on the 5th of January 1798. His parents were respectable citizens. He was the second of four children. His father died in 1817, and his mother in 1842. It is a very common belief that intellectual qualities come by the mother's side. Whether or not the belief be well founded, it is a fact that our poet's mother was a woman of good understanding and general refinement, and of sound taste in matters of literature; so much so, that, in the earlier part of his poetical course, young Moir was in the habit of consulting her about his pieces in manuscript, and had confidence in her judgment to the last. As she encouraged him in all his studies, it is pleasing to know that she lived to enjoy what is dearest to a mother's heart-the fame of her son. Our poet got the first rudiments of his education at a school of minor note in Musselburgh. He was then VOL. I. A |