Blacklock, Thomas, Dd

Blacklock, Thomas, D.D., a divine and poet, was born at Annan, Scotland, in 1721, and lost his sight by the small-pox when he was about six months old. To amuse and instruct him, his father and friends used to read to him, and by this means he acquired a fund of information, and even some knowledge of Latin. Through the kindness of Dr. Stevenson, of Edinburgh, he studied several years at Edinburgh, and became well acquainted with Greek, Latin, French, and Italian. In 1762 he was ordained minister of Kircudbright, but, being opposed by the parishioners, he retired after two years on an annuity, and received students at Edinburgh as boarders, and assisted them in their studies. He died July 7,1791. His poems will be read or referred to on account of the peculiar circumstances under which they were written; but, although marked by a vein of placid elegance, they are wanting alike in vigor of thought and force of imagination. Dr. Blacklock published An Essay toward Universal Etymology (8vo, 1756):-Paraclesis, or Consolations deduced from Natural and Revealed Religion (1767):-A Panegyric on Great Britain, a poem (8vo, 1773):-The Graham, a heroic poem, in four cantos 4to, 1774). In 1793a posthumous edition of his poems was published by Mackenzie, author of the "Man of Feeling," with a life. There is also an edition of his poems, with life, by Professor Spence (Lond. 1756, 4to, 2d ed.).-Allibone, Dict. of Authors, i, 196.