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the Latin language from his more fortunate companions 

 who attended the grammar-school, and in his twelfth year 

 he produced verses which indicated considerable talent. 

 When he had reached his twentieth year his sister was 

 united to a man above her own rank of life, and young 

 Blacklock now enjoyed the advantage of mixing with more 

 intelligent society. His father's death, which occurred not 

 long afterwards, appears to have affected him in an extra- 

 ordinary degree. During his life he had exerted himself in 

 the most tender manner to prevent his son from feeling 

 the utmost extent of his privation ; and by never suffering 

 him to go out of his sight without a guide, he had unfor- 

 tunately encouraged a timidity of disposition to which, under 

 different management, he would most probably have been a 

 stranger. In a poem entitled ' A Soliloquy,' written after 

 the death of his father, Blacklock expresses himself with 

 much feeling, but with piety and resignation, on his helpless 

 condition. Having been introduced to Dr. Stevenson, a 

 physician of Edinburgh, this gentleman was so much struck 

 with Blacklock's talents that he offered to take upon him- 

 self the charge of his education ; and in consequence of 

 this liberality he commenced his studies at the Edinburgh 

 Grammar School in 1 74 1, but they were interrupted in 1 745 

 by the Rebellion, when he returned to his friends at Dum- 

 fries. He had in this interval made gratifying progress, 

 had published a volume of poetry, and having been intro- 

 duced to the family of the lord provost, whose wife was 

 a native of France, be had acquired the French language 

 during the intercourse to which it led. When affairs had 

 resumed their ordinary course, he returned from Dumfries, 

 where he had advantageously spent his time in the society of 

 individuals of more than ordinary intelligence and acquire- 

 ments, and continuing his studies for six years longer, 

 made himself master of the Greek, Latin, and Italian lan- 

 guages. He was, in addition, a proficient in music, of 

 which he was particularly fond. In 1754 a second edition 

 of his poems was called for, and a 4to. edition was published 

 in London by subscription in 1756, when David Hume and 

 Mr. S pence, professor of poetry at Oxford, particularly ex- 

 erted themselves to promote his interests. 



Having completed his studies at the University, he was 

 licensed in 1759 as a minister of the Gospel. In 1762 he 

 married, and immediately after was ordatned minister at 

 Kircudbright in consequence of a crown presentation. Owing 

 however to the hostility of his flock to this mode of church 

 patronage, and also to the style of his preaching, which was 

 too refined and philosophical for uncultivated tastes, he 

 gave up the living after having held it two years amidst cir- 

 cumstances very painful to his sensitive mind. The small 

 annuity which he accepted in its place was scarcely suffi- 

 cient for his support, and in retiring to Edinburgh in 1764, 

 he opened his house for the reception of a few young gen- 

 tlemen as boarders, to whose studies and improvement he 

 directed his attention with much success. In this posi- 

 tion he continued for twenty-three years, until 1787, when 

 the state of his health induced him to withdraw from these 

 duties. He died after about a week's illness July 7, 1791. 

 The degree of Doctor of Divinity had been conferred on him 

 in 1766 by the University of Aberdeen. 



In private life Dr. Blacklock was distinguished by the 

 great mildness and gentleness of his disposition, which not 

 even the nervous irritability to which he was subject could 

 affect, by his ardent love of knowledge, and by the simplicity 

 and modesty of his character. Singular as it may appear, his 

 poems abound with faithful descriptions of natural scenery. 

 Dr. Blacklock himself could not account for this ; and having 

 put it as a question, ' How shall we account for the same 

 energy, the same transport of description, exhibited by those 

 on whose minds visible objects were either never impressed, 

 or have been entirely obliterated?' he confesses his in- 

 ability to reply to it satisfactorily. This anomaly has since 

 been explained by Professor Alison in his ' Essays on 

 Taste,' Essay 2, chap. 3. 



Dr. Blacklock was. not only a poet but a writer on philo- 

 sophy and theology. The following is a list of his works : 

 ' An Essay towards Universal Etymology, or the Analysis 

 of a Sentence,' 8vo. 1756. 'The Right Improvement of 

 Time,' a sermon, 8vo. 1760. ' Faith, Hope, and Charity 

 Compared,' a sermon, 1761. ' Paraclesis, or Consolations 

 deduced from Natural and Revealed Religion,' in two Dis- 

 sertations ; the first supposed to have been written by Cicero, 

 now rendered into English ; the last originally composed by 

 Thomas Blacklock, D.D, 1767. ' Two Discourses on the 



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Spirit and Evidences of Christianity,' translated flora the 

 French, and published in 1768 without his name. A 

 Panegyric on Great Britain,' a poem, 8vo. 1773. ''The 

 Graham,' an heroic poem, in four cantos, 4to. 1774. In 

 1 793 a posthumous edition of his poems was published bv 

 Mackenzie, author of the ' Man of Feeling,' with a Life o'f 

 Blacklock. In addition to Spence and Mackenzie, the life 

 of Blacklock has been written by Dr. Anderson and Mr. 

 Gordon. [See BLIND, EDUCATION OF THE.] 



BLACKMORE, SIR RICHARD, a physician, poet, 

 and miscellaneous writer, was the son of an attorney at 

 Corsham, Wilts, and was horn about the year 1650. In 

 his thirteenth year he was sent to Westminster School, 

 whence he proceeded to Oxford, where he remained thirtttn 

 years. After this it is said that he was for some timo 

 employed as a schoolmaster. He then made a tour on 

 the continent, in the course of which he took the degree 

 of M.D. in the University of Padua. On his return to 

 England he was chosen Fellow of the Royal College of 

 Physicians, and commenced practice in the metropolis. 

 His attachment to the principles of the Revolution pro- 

 cured him the appointment of physician to William III., 

 and he was for some time one of the court physicians in Iho 

 succeeding reign. He wrote several medical treatises, none 

 of which are in any way remarkable, except perhaps one 

 on the small-pox, in which, unfortunately for his profes- 

 sional fame, he combated the practice of inoculation. He 

 also published an historical work : ' A true and impartial 

 History of the Conspiracy against King William in 1695.' 

 The numerous poems which he wrote are now nearly for- 

 gotten. His ' Prince Arthur,' an heroic poem in ten books, 

 reached a third edition in 1696. The following year he 

 published ' King Arthur,' another heroic poem in twelve 

 books. Both these poems were published in folio. Besides 

 the above, he wrote ' Eliza,' a poem in ten books, also 

 printed in folio ; ' the Redeemer,' a poem in six books; and 

 ' King Alfred,' a poem in twelve books. Dr. Johnson re- 

 marks that ' the first of his epic poems had such reputation 

 as enraged the critics ; the second was at least known enough 

 to be ridiculed ; the two last had neither friends nor ene- 

 mies.' In 1700 he published ' A Paraphrase on the Book of 

 Job, and other parts of Scripture ;' in 1716, two volumes of 

 ' Essays ;' in 1718, a ' Collection of Poems,' in one volume ; 

 and in 1 721, ' A new version of the Psalms of David, fitted 

 to the Tunes used in Churches.' In a paper addressed to 

 the king, and signed by the two archbishops and fifteen of 

 the bishops, this work was strongly recommended on account 

 of its ' agreement with the original Hebrew, and its clear- 

 ness and purity of English style.' In 1721 and 1725 he 

 wrote in opposition to Arianism; and in 1728 he published 

 a work entitled ' Natural Theology, or Moral Duties con- 

 sidered apart from Positive ; with some observations on the 

 desirableness and necessity of a Scriptural Revelation.' 

 The ' Accomplished Preacher, or an Essay upon Divine 

 Eloquence,' was published at his express desire after his 

 death, which took place October 8, 1 729. 



Never perhaps was any writer the object of such general 

 attack by his contemporaries as Sir Richard Blackmore. 

 Nearly all the wits of his day seem to have joined in this 

 confederacy. One topic of abuse against him was tnat he 

 lived in Cheapside, whence he was sometimes called ' the 

 Cheapside Knight,' and ' the City Bard.' Sir Samuel Garth 

 addresses him as ' the merry poetaster at Sadler's Hall in 

 Cheapside.' He was considered, par excellence, as the poet 

 of dullness. In spite of these railleries he continued to put 

 forth his ' heroic poems, 1 which display little art either in 

 their plan or composition, and as little imagination. His 

 professed object being ' to engage poetry in the cause of 

 virtue,' he seems to have imagined that the graces of 

 language were unworthy of his attention. The age had 

 begun to show strong symptoms of distaste for the bulky 

 folios and heavy writings of a preceding period ; nnd this 

 tendency Sir Richard himself had pointed out in one of 

 his ' Essays,' where he remarks that ' even voluminous 

 romances, the delight of the past age, are no longer de- 

 manded, but lie by as neglected lumber in the shops, while 

 short novels and tales are become the common enter- 

 tainment of those who are pleased with fictions of that 

 nature." Yet he must have imagined that his works would 

 be exempt from the consequences of this revolution ; and, 

 confident in his own powers, he continued his course, re- 

 garding the attacks of his opponents with comparative equa- 

 nimity. The intention of his ' Satire upon Wit ' was to 



