BLACKWELL, THOMAS (1701-57), Scottish classical scholar, was born at Aberdeen on Aug. 4 1701, and was principal of the Marischal college from 1748 till his death in 1757. His first work, An Inquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer, published anonymously in 1735 (reprinted 1736), shows con siderable research but lacks method. His other works were Letters Concerning Mythology (1748), and Memoirs of the Court of Augustus