Blair

Blair, ROBERT, author of The Grave, was born in 1699 at Edinburgh, where his father was a clergyman. There and in Holland he was educated for the church, and in 1731 he was ordained minister of Athelstaneford, Haddingtonshire, where he lived in easy circumstances till his death 4th February 1746. He was an accomplished and thoughtful man, devoted considerable attention to natural science, particularly botany, and corresponded on friendly terms with several eminent contemporaries, among others, Watts and Doddridge. To them in 1742 he submitted the MS. of his poem, which Watts offered to two publishers. They thought it too heavy for the times, and it did not appear till 1743. It speedily attained an honourable place in the esteem of those capable of appreciating a masculine, though somewhat gloomy force of thought and imagery, applied to a profoundly suggestive and serious theme. In William Blake it found a congenial illustrator. Blair was succeeded in his ministerial charge by Home, the author of Douglas. His third son, Robert Blair, of Avontoun (1741-1811), became Lord President of the Court of Session.