804 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



*' part of it was composed several 

 *' years before I was clotlied with 

 *' so sacred a character. I was 

 *' urged by some friends here, to 

 " whom I showed it, to make it 

 *' public; nor did I decline it, pro- 

 " Tided I had the approbation of 

 *' Dr. Watts, from whom I have 

 " received many civilities, and for 

 " whom I had ever entertained 

 *' the highest regard. Yesterday 

 *' I had a letter from the doctor, 

 '^ signifying his approbation of the 

 " piece in a manner most oblig- 

 *' ing. A great deal less from him 

 *' would have done me no small 

 *' honour. But at the same time 

 *' he mentions to me, that he had 

 ^' ofiered it to two booksellers of 

 *' his acquaintance, who, he tclis 

 *' me, did not care to run the risk 

 *' of publishing it. They can 

 *' scarce think (considering how 

 *' critical an age we live in, with 

 " respect to such kind of wii- 

 *' tings) that a person, living three 

 " hundred miles from London, 

 *' could write so as to be accept- 

 " able to the fashionable and 

 *' polite. Perhaps it may be so ; 

 *' though, at the same time, I must 

 *' say, in order to make it more 

 *' generally liked, 1 was obliged 

 *' sometimes to go cross to my own 

 *' inclination ; well knowing, that 

 " whatever poem is wrilten upon a 

 " serious argument, must, upon 

 *' that very account, be under pe- 

 *' culiar disadvantages ; and, there- 

 *' fore, proper arts must be used to 

 *' make such a piece go down with a 

 *' licentious age, which cares for 

 *' none of those things. I beg par- 

 *' don for breaking in upon moments 

 " precious as yours, and hope you 

 *' will be so kind as to give me your 

 *' opinion of the poem.'' 

 Thjs jj all that is known of Blair ; 



an accomplished scholar, and an 

 elegant poet, whose genius and vir- 

 tue, though celebrated by some of 

 the most eminent of his poetical 

 contemporaries, have suffered such 

 unmerited neglect, that his name is 

 not to be found in any collection of 

 literary biography. 



Had the interesting correspon- 

 dence of Watts been given to the 

 world by his friend and biographer 

 Dr. Jennings, it would probably 

 have furnished many particulars re- 

 lating to Blair, which might have 

 gratified curiosity ; though they 

 could hardly have added to the ho- 

 nour which his talents and virtues 

 have received from the esteem of a 

 man, who has left behind him such 

 purity of character, and such monu- 

 ments of laborious piety. 



He printed the Grave at London in 

 1743; it was reprinted at Edin- 

 burgh in 1747, with his poetic 

 translation of a pious ode of V'olu- 

 scnus. The Grave was altered into 

 rhyme by PIcnryLemoine, and print- 

 ed at London in 1790, iu 8vo. to 

 Avhich a life is prefixed, but errone- 

 ous in every particular. The sub- 

 sequent editions are too numerous 

 to be specified. To the edition in 

 8vo. 1786, is added, Gray's " elegy 

 " in a country church-yard, with 

 " notes, moral, critical, and expla- 

 " natory." The notes are in gene- 

 ral trilling and insipid. It is now, 

 with the poew to the memorij of Mr. 

 Law, received, for the first time, 

 into a collection of classical English 

 poetry. 



The variations from the common 

 editions arc printed from the original 

 MS, 174 1 -'2, in the possession of 

 Mr. solicitor general. The read- 

 ing in the printed copies has in ge- 

 neral so much the appearance of im- 

 provementj and so consonant to the 



style 



