The Blacklock Manuscripts at Annan. li)7 



When the MSS. were received I examined them carefully, 

 and I have since gone over them twice. It is therefore unlikely 

 that anything in them of interest has escaped my observation. 

 I found among them three unprinted poems of some value; and 

 these I published— one of them in " The Scottish Historical 

 Review," and two in a book of my own. I diligently searched 

 among the MS. poems and essays for references to Burns, but, 

 unfortunately, did not discover any. The two rhyming epistles 

 by Blacklock to Burns which every admirer of the chief Scottish 

 poet knows by heart are not included. 



According to Henry Mackenzie, Blacklock "obtained high 

 reputation as a preacher." It need not surprise us, therefore, 

 that five of the ten volumes in the collection are made up of 

 sermons. The able and orthodox discourses preserved deal with 

 such subjects as: — "The Character and Fate of Hypocri-sy," 

 " The Pernicious Tendency of Enthusiasm," " The Advantages 

 arising from a Proper Estimate of Human Life," " The Un- 

 satisfactory Nature of Sublunary Enjoyments," and "The 

 Nature and Duration of Future Punishments." Two of them are 

 marked "Delivered at Dumfries, 1761." In one of the volumes 

 of sermons there are numerous erasures and additions, proof 

 being thus afforded that the blind preacher recognised the value 

 of frequent revision. 



Dr Blacklock's qualifications as a Christian teacher are also 

 attested by " Practical Ethics." This carefully written treatise is 

 doubtless the work which Dr Anderson, in his biographical sketch 

 of the poet, alludes to as a "Treatise on Morals." 



Of more varied interest is the volume which bears the 



title: — 



" Letters 



and 



Observations 



on 



Men, Books, and Manners. 



By George Tennant, 



Farmer in the Lands of Grim gribber." 



The contents of this volume consist largely of reviews of 

 theological and poetical works publi-shed between 1770 and 1785. 

 In an article written at the beginning of 1784, there is a reference 

 to Samuel Johnson, who had offended the literary men of Edin- 



