which contains a short, but masterly discussion of this important subject, and exhibits, in elegant Latin, an outline of the moral principles, which have been since more fully unfolded and illustrated in his Ser. mons.

The University of Edinburgh, about this period, numbered among her pupils many young men who were soon to make a distinguished figure in the civil, the ecclesiastical, and the literary history of their country. With most of them Dr Blair entered into habits of intimate connection, which no future competition or jealousy occurred to interrupt, which held them united through life in their views of public good, and which had the most beneficial influence on their own improvement, on the progress of elegance and taste among their contemporaries, and on the general interests of the community to which they belonged.

On the completion of his academical course, he underwent the customary trials before the Presbytery of Edinburgh,and received from that venerable body a license to preach the Gospel, on the 21st of October 1741. His public life now commenced with very favourable prospects. The reputation which he brought from the University was fully justified by his first appearances in the pulpit; and, in a few months, the fame of his eloquence procured for him a presentation to the parish of Colessie in Fife, where he was ordained to the office of the holy ministry, on the 23d of September 1742. But he was not permitted to remain long in this rural retreat. A vacancy in the second charge of the Canongate of Edinburgh furnished to his friends an opportunity of recalling him to a station more suited to his talents. And, though one of the most popular and eloquent clergymen in the Church was placed in competition with him, a great majority of the electors decided in favour of this

young orator, and restored him, in July 1743, to the bounds of his native city.

In this station Dr Blair continued eleven years, discharging with great fidelity and success the vari. ous duties of the pastoral office. His discourses from the pulpit in particular attracted universal admiration. They were composed with uncommon care; and, occupying a middle place between the dry metaphysical discussion of one class of preachers, and the loose incoherent declamation of another, they blended together, in the happiest manner, the light of argument with the warmth of exhortation, , and exhibited captivating specimens of what had hitherto been rarely heard in Scotland, the polished, well-compacted, and regular didactic oration.

In consequence of a call from the Town-Council and General Session of Edinburgh, he was translated from the Canongate to Lady Yester's, one of the city churches, on the 11th of October 1754: and on the 15th day of June 1758, he was promoted to the High Church of Edinburgh, the most important ecclesiastical charge in the kingdom. To this charge he was raised at the request of the Lords of Council and Session, and of the other distinguished official characters who have their seats in that church. And the uniform prudence, ability, and

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success, which, for a period of more than forty years, accompanied all his ministerial labours in that conspicuous and difficult station, sufficiently evince the wisdom of their choice.

Hitherto his attention seems to have been devot. ed almost exclusively to the attainment of professional excellence; and to the regular discharge of his parochial duties. No production of his had yet been given to the world by himself, except two sermons preached on particular occasions, some translations, in verse, of passages of Scripture, for the Psalmody of the Church, and a few articles in the Edinburgh Review; a publication begun in 1755, and conducted for a short time by some of the ablest men in the kingdom. But standing as he now did at the head of his profession, and released by the labour of former years from the drudgery of weekly preparation for the pulpit, he began to think seriously on a plan for teaching to others that art which had contributed so inuch to the establishment of his own fame. With this view, he communicated to his friends a scheme of Lectures on Composition; and, having obtained the approbation of the University, he began to read them in the College on the 17th of December 1759. To this undertaking he brought all the qualifications requisite for executing it well ; and along with them a weight of reputation, which could not fail to give effect to the lessons he should deliver. For, besides the testimony given to his talents by his successive promotions in the Church, the University of St Andrew's, moved chiefly by the merit of his eloquence, had, in June 1757, conferred

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on him the degree of D. D. a literary honour which, at that time, was very rare in Scotland. Accordingly, his first Course of Lectures was well attended, and received with great applause. The patrons of the University, convinced that they would form a valu. able addition to the system of education, agreed in the following summer to institute a rhetorical class, under his direction, as a permanent part of their academical establishment: and on the 7th of April 1762, his Majesty was graciously pleased “ To erect « and endow a Professorship of Rhetoric and Belles « Lettres in the University of Edinburgh, and to the materials of Fingal, and of those other delighte ful productions which bear the name of Ossian. To these productions Dr Blair applied the test of genuine criticism, and soon after their publication, gave an estimate of their merits in a Dissertation, which, for beauty of language, delicacy of taste, and acuteness of critical investigation, has few parallels. It was printed in 1763, and spread the reputation of its author throughout Europe.

The great objects of his literary ambition being now attained, his talents were for many years consecrated solely to the important and peculiar employments of his station. It was not till the year 1777 that he could be induced to favour the world with a volume of the Sermons which had so long furnished instruction and delight to his own congregation. But this volume being well received, the public approbation encouraged him to proceed : three other volumes followed at different intervals ; and all of them experienced a degree of success of which few publications can boast. They circu. lated rapidly and widely wherever the English tongue extends; they were soon translated into almost all the languages of Europe ; and his present Majesty, with that wise attention to the interests of religion and literature which distinguishes his reign, was graciously pleased to judge them worthy of a public reward. By a royal mandate to the Exchequer in Scotland, dated July 25th, 1780, a pension of L.200 a-year was conferred on their author, which continued unaltered till his death.