BLACKLOCK. 



561 



Blacklock. dity, leaving him constantly dependant on the good 

 offices of others for the power of moving even to a 

 trifling distance. The death of his father, however, 

 subjected him to many privations ; and he now found 

 it necessary to make exertions to which he had for- 

 merly been unaccustomed. When he, at any time, 

 was induced to go from home alone, he had a favou- 

 rite dog, which was his constant companion, and ser- 

 ved to alleviate the forlorn and solitary feeling which 

 his present condition inspired. Having one day wan- 

 <l.red from the door, he lost his way, and was on the 

 point of stepping into a draw-well of considerable 

 depth, covered carelessly with rotten boards, where 

 he must have been irrecoverably lost, had not his lit- 

 tle attendant, by the sound of its feet on the cover, 

 warned him of his danger. This accident forcibly 

 called to his mind all the miseries of his helpless si- 

 tuation, and gave rise to a production, which, for 

 pathos, tenderness, and sublimity, rivals the most 

 happy efforts of the British muse. The piety 

 and resignation to the will of heaven so beautifully 

 expressed in the concluding part of this poem, 

 and which formed a striking trait in his charac- 

 ter, did not pass unrewarded. He remained with his 

 mother for about a year after his father's death, and 

 began to be distinguished, even beyond the circle of 

 his own immediate friends and acquaintances, as a 

 young man of uncommon parts and genius. At the 

 end of this period, Dr Stevenson, an eminent physi- 

 cian in Edinburgh, being accidentally at Dumfries, 

 became acquainted with young Blacklock's talents, 

 and formed the benevolent design of giving to his na- 

 tural abilities the advantage of a liberal education. 

 Under this respectable patron, he commenced his stu- 

 dies at the grammar school of Edinburgh in the year 

 1741, where he continued till the breaking out of the 

 rebellion in 1745. During this period, he was intro- 

 duced to Mr Alexander, the lord provost of the city, 

 a gentleman who was connected with Mr M'Murdo 

 in some commercial speculations. In this family he 

 had an opportunity of making himself master of the 

 French language, which was the vernacular tongue of 

 Mrs Alexander. Before leaving the metropolis, he 

 became an author, by publishing a volume of poems 

 in octavo. Soon afterwards he retired to Dumfries, 

 where he resided during the national disturbances of 

 that period in the house of his brother-in-law Mr 

 M'Murdo. Dumfries was at this period fortunate in 

 being the residence of several enlightened and inge- 

 nious men, in whose society Blacklock had an oppor- 

 tunity of tasting the charms of friendship, of impro- 

 ving his acquaintance with the world, and of consi- 

 derably increasing the store of his ideas. Amongst 

 these, besides the circle of this amiable family, in 

 which he was an inmate, it may be proper to mention 

 Mr Jameson, the episcopal clergyman, a worthy and 

 ingenious man, with whom he contracted an intimate 

 friendship ; collector Gordon of Halbeths, himself a 

 poet, who afterwards wrote an account of his life ; and 

 Mr Carlyle of Drungans, a gentleman who was bred to 

 the law, but whose acquirements extended far beyond 

 the limits of his profession. On the restoration of 

 public tranquillity, Blacklock returnedto the metropo- 

 lis, where he continued his studies for six years longer. 

 la the year 17.54, a second edition of his poems in 



VOL. Iff. PART III. 



octavo was published at Edinburgh, and two years Blacklock. 

 afterwards, a quarto edition came out by subscription ' -V- 

 in London. In the publication of the London edi- 

 tion, the celebrated David Hume, and Mr Spcnce, 

 professor of poetry at Oxford, took a warm and ac- 

 tive interest. This latter gentleman prefixed to that 

 edition a very elaborate and ingenious account of 

 Blacklock's life, character, and writings, which he had 

 published separately two years before. 



After going through the usual course of studies at 

 the university with more than common success, he 

 was in the year 1759 licensed by the presbytery of 

 Dumfries to preach the gospel, and in this capacity 

 soon obtained a high reputation. In 1762, he mar- 

 ried Miss Sarah Johnston, daughter of an eminent 

 surgeon in Dumfries; a connection which Providence 

 seems to have intended as the solace and blessing qf 

 his future life. A few days after this event, he was 

 ordained minister at Kirkcudbright, in consequence 

 of a crown presentation obtained for him by the Earl 

 of Selkirk, a benevolent nobleman, who took an inte- 

 rest in his welfare. Besides the natural prejudices of 

 the people against a pastor deprived of sight, there 

 were some other circumstances which combined to 

 render his ordination unpopular amongst the inhabi- 

 tants of the parish. At that period the disputes con- 

 cerning patronage ran high throughout the kingdom ; 

 and the aversion of the lower classes to the exercise 

 of that right, frequently, as in the present instance, 

 prejudiced them against the presentee. Besides, it 

 was known that the living had been bestowed on 

 Blacklock through the'interest of Lord Selkirk, with 

 whom the town's people were at that period unfortu- 

 nately involved in some political animosities, which 

 made them look on his interference with a jealous eye. 

 Add to all this, that the poet's language and style of 

 preaching, though in themselves extremely good, and 

 well adapted to the taste of an enlightened congrega- 

 tion, were too refined and philosophical to be relish- 

 ed, or perhaps understood, by that description of peo- 

 ple of which his hearers were chiefly composed. It 

 will not appear surprising, therefore, that much dis- 

 satisfaction should have prevailed at his nomination to 

 that living ; and those who are acquainted with the 

 habits and feelings of the Scottish peasantry, will 

 easily conceive the violent lengths to which siich a 

 combination of irritating circumstances would natu- 

 rally lead then:. The fact is, that he entered the 

 town amidst the hisses and hootings of the populace ; 

 that his passage to the church, where the ceremony 

 of ordination was to be performed, was obstructed ; 

 and that it was not without imminent danger to the 

 persons of himself and his friends, that a way was 

 made for him through the enraged crowd. The lively 

 sensibility of Blacklock's mind was deeply wounded 

 by this undeserved hostility, and the scenes of happi- 

 ness which his benevolent heart and ardent imagina- 

 tion had pictured to him in the discharge of his cle- 

 rical duties, vanished from his view. Instead of find- 

 ing himself, as he had fondly hoped, installed in a,n 

 office, every duty of which was to be a labour of love, 

 he saw nothing before him but unavailing wishes, 

 thankless toils, and endless contentions. After dining 

 with some friends who had accompanied him from 

 Dumfries, finding rest necessary to recruit his harav 

 4 B 



