THE REV. THOMAS BLACKLOCK, D.D.

THIS very ingenious, intelligent, and pious clergyman, was born at Annan, in the county of Annandale, near Dumfries, in 1721. He was of an ancient family in Cumberland. When he was not six years old he became totally blind, by the smallpox. From his early years his mind was remarkably enlightened by quick perception, and most retentive memory. If his eyes were in complete darkness, his mind was full of light. Many eminent gentlemen who knew him at the College of Edinburgh, when he was sixteen and seventeen years of age, declared that he was a prodigy, by literary attainments and wonderful memory. Divine Providence had made ample compensation for his loss of sight, by the mental vivacity and cheerful ideas of his imagination, by which he was distinguished in works of both prose and poetry. He composed good verses at twelve years old. He lost his mother in infancy; but his father doted fondly on his blind son, who was very handsome, and grew up to good middle-size, well formed in person, mild and interesting in countenance; he was very fond of music, and played well upon the flute.

Such was the blind boy, whose father read books

to him, and especially the Bible, with great perseverance; by which means young Blacklock acquired the most sincere and cheerful piety, united with an extent of information which was wonderful at fourteen years of age, when he composed verses fluently, and repeated great part of Milton's Paradise Lost most correctly, with other poems. In history and geography he had made astonishing progress, while his grateful feelings to his father, by whose attention he had gained great advantages, made his heart appear as good as his memory and understanding.

The sudden death of his father, when the young man was eighteen years of age, affected him greatly. But divine Providence gave him many advantages, by the friendship of the most learned and respected gentlemen of the College of Edinburgh; the great historian, Principal Robertson, Dr. Blair, Dr. Stevenson, an eminent physician, and Dr. Hamilton, Professor of Divinity, all were the kind patrons of Mr. Thomas Blacklock. He determined to study divinity, and made quick progress in it. He was very intimate with the Rev. John Ewart, the author of the Lectures on the Psalms, who had great esteem for Mr. Blacklock, and corresponded with him. The latter got an amanuensis every where. The ladies, young and old, were glad to write for him.

After he had studied divinity, and preached at Edinburgh with approbation, he married a very respectable lady, Miss Johnson, of Dumfries. Soon

after, he was made Doctor of Divinity, and got the presentation to the Church of Kirkcudbright, in Galloway. He went to the General Assembly of the Scotch Clergy, at Edinburgh, in 1770, to meet with many old friends. He was able to speak the Latin, Greek, and French languages. His remarkable memory made them all easy to him. Dr. and Mrs. Blacklock were urged by friends at Edinburgh to reside there, in a circle of most learned and agreeable men. He was induced to leave the parish and small town of Kirkcudbright, and got a good house at Edinburgh, close by the University, and took two or three young gentlemen, students, to board with him. He had genteel competence. He got young students from the West Indies and Bermuda. Mr. Thomas Tudor Tucker, from Bermuda, was a favourite scholar of Dr. Blacklock; also two young men from Barbadoes.

Mr. Hume, the historian, came to the evening parties at Edinburgh, and met Dr. Blacklock, and was much surprised to hear him speak of various subjects, not like a blind man, but as if he saw, heard, and read all perfectly. His Poems, in one octavo volume, were remarkably good. He described rural life, hay-making and harvest-work, also woods, trees, flowers, plains and mountains; the rivers navigable, or the little stream in the valley, with sheep and shepherds. Mr. Hume said of Dr. Blacklock, "His talents, his taste, genius, and memory, are all wonderful, as if Wisdom had found that eyes were not necessary. With all this

learning and original genius, Dr. Blacklock is void of any self-conceit or pedantry. He is indeed a prodigy."

Dr. Blacklock had faithfully loved and honoured his father. He had never forgotten the fifth commandment, Honour thy father, &c. His mother died when he was an infant. But he got the blessing from God to all who keep that important commandment, viz. " Long life, health, peace, and competence."

He went to visit the relations of his lady at Dumfries occasionally, with some of his good poems. The Editor of this memoir has seen him often walking, (he was always a great pedestrian), and played on his flageolet good songs with good taste. He would talk of politics with much interest and patriotism. He spoke of the progress of the spring, and the approach of winter and the autumn, not like a blind man, but like one awake to behold every change of the sky or the moonlight.

Dr. Blacklock published one volume octavo of good interesting Poems, dedicated to his valuable friend at Edinburgh, Dr. Stevenson, M.D. in an Ode, written in imitation of Horace, where he addresses Dr. Stevenson as his Mæcenas.

His genius and memory were evidently a gift from Divine Providence; by which all mankind may see that all things are possible with God Almighty. He also can give happiness to the blind man, or to Mr. Hanway, or Mr. Howard, in the barren deserts of Russia, or in the dark damp

prison. We may say with Thomson, "On the Omnipresence of God:"

"He is ever present, ever felt,

In the wild waste, or in the city full,

And where his presence is there must be joy."

"The body and all its beauty and strength will descend to the grave; but the spirit, the good soul of man, shall never die. The whole gospel of Christ is full of divine consolation. We cannot forget these words of St. John, so brief and so powerful, This is the promise he has promised us, even eternal life."

In 1758, a quarto edition of Poems by Dr. Blacklock, D.D. was printed at Edinburgh, under the particular patronage of Lord Kaimes, a Lord of Session, and Andrew Crosbie, Esq. Advocate. The latter was remarkable at the bar of Edinburgh for eloquence, and knowledge of law. He was cousin of Mrs. Ewart, and was frequently at Dumfries and Troquire, with the Rev. John Ewart. There did Dr. Blacklock and his lady come in the autumn, to spend some weeks, and eat the good fruit with friends at Dumfries, in a beautiful country, seventy miles from Edinburgh, and thirty miles from Carlisle. Dr. Blacklock, with his poetry, and his good conversation, and music, was always a most agreeable and interesting companion. He walked in the garden as if he saw all around him of nature. Mr. Crosbie met Dr.

1 1 John i. 25.

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