802 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



Athelstaneford, in the county of 

 East Lothian, Jan. 5, 1731, where 

 he resided during the remainder of 

 his life. 



As his fortune was easy, he lived 

 much in the style of a gentleman, 

 and was greatly respected by Sir 

 Francis Kinloch, baronet, of Gil- 

 jnerton, patron of the parish, and 

 by all the gentlemen in that neigh- 

 bourhood. He was a man of learn 

 ing, elegant taste, and polished 

 manners ; he distinguished himself 

 as a botanist and florist ; and was 

 conversant in optical and microsco- 

 pical knowledge, on which subjects 

 he carried on a correspondence with 

 some of the most learned men. He 

 was a man of sincere pic(y ; assi- 

 duous in discharging the duties of 

 his clerical function; and, as a 

 preacher, he was serious and warm, 

 and discovered the imagination of a 

 poet. 



He married Isabella Law in 1738, 

 daughter of Mr. I^aw of Elvingston, 

 and sistei* to the sheriff-depute of 

 East-Lothian, a lady of uncommon 

 beauty and amiable manners. With 

 her father, who had been professor 

 of moral philosophy in the univer- 

 sity of Edinburgh, who was his re- 

 lation, and had been left one of his tu- 

 tors, he had been long and intimately 

 connected ; and, upon occasion of 

 his death in 1728, which happened 

 several years before his marriage 

 with his daughter, he wrote and 

 printed a funeral Focm to kis' Me- 

 inorij^ which is thought worthy of 

 being preserved ; and is accordingly 

 . inserted in his collection. 



By his lady, who survived him 

 several years, and died in 1774, he 

 had five sons and one daughter, 

 David, William, Francis, Robert, 

 .Archibald, and Anne; ofthese sons, 

 Kobcrt Blair, esq. of Avjngtouj 



solicitor general to his majesty for 

 Scotland, is the fourth. 



Mr. Blair died of a fever, on the 

 4th of February, 1746, in the 47th 

 year of his age ; and was succeeded 

 in his living at Athelstaneford by 

 another poet, Mr. John Home, the 

 celebrated author of " Douglas ;'' 

 and who has recently published an 

 interesting history of the rebellion 

 in 1745. 



The poet's brother, Mr. Archi- 

 bald Blair, was minister of Gawald, 

 in the presbytery of Haddington, 

 whose son, Robert Blair, M. D. is 

 regius professor of astronomy in the 

 university of Edinburgh. He was 

 surgeon, during the last war, on 

 board the ship in which Lord Robert 

 Manners was killed ; and, at the 

 solicitation of the noble family of 

 Rutland, was presented with the 

 professorship, as a reward for his 

 services. He resides at Merchiston, 

 near Edinburgh, and is the author 

 of some ingenious papers on optics, 

 in the transactions ot the royal so- 

 ciety of Edinburgh. 



The friends of Blair were friends 

 of science and of virtue ; his love of 

 poetry and politelitcrature procured 

 him the friendship of Watts, a polite 

 scholar, and devout poet ; no less 

 remarkable for his genius and learn- 

 ing, than the mildness and fervency 

 of his piety : his passion for na- 

 tural history obtained him the cor- 

 respondence of the famous natu- 

 ralist, Henry Baker, esq. fellow of 

 the royal society, an intelligent, 

 upright, and benevolent man, who 

 was attentive to all the improve- 

 ments in natural science, and solici- 

 tous for the prosecution of useful 

 discoveries. Besides the papers 

 written by himself in the " Philoso- 

 " phical Traiisactions," he was the 

 means, by his extensive correspou- 



deiice. 



