BLAIR, Hucir, D. D. and F. R. S.E. an emi nent Scottish divine, was born in Edinburgh on the 7th of April 1718. Descended from the ancient fa mily of Blair in Ayrshire, which, at different periods, has given to the world individuals remarkable for their talents and learning, he seems to have inherited from his ancestors those abilities that entitle him to be amongst the ornaments of his country. His great grandfather, Mr Robert Blair, minister of St Andrew's, and chaplain to Charles I., was a man eminent in a barbarous and bigotted age for the ele gant acquirements of the scholar, and the mild and dignified virtues of the Christian. His grandfather and father were respectable merchants in Edinburgh, and both of them had the honour to fill high situa tions in the magistracy of that city. The latter of these, John Blair, having, in common with many of his countrymen, imprudently engaged in the South 'Sea scheme, had the misfortune to suffer consider ably in his pecuniary circumstances, and, retiring from mercantile business, obtained an office in the excise. This event had probably a considerable in fluence on the character, as well as the prospects of young Blair. Being thus deprived of a paternal in heritance, he found. it necessary to depend for his fu. Lure maintenance on his own personal exertions ; a circumstance which would serve to stimulate his in dustry, and to give a more determined direction to the efforts of his genius. Having early imbibed a predilection for the clerical profession, to which the fame of his ancestor Robert May. perhaps have con. tributed, his education was conducted with a view to this object. After the usual grammatical course at school, he became, at twelve years of age, a student in.the university. of Edinburgh. At this.seminary he spent eleven years, employed•with- industry and suc cess in preparing himself for the duties of the sacred office, for which he was destined. During this pe riod, the talents which were afterwards to render him to conspicuous were not wholly concealed. Whilst attending the logic class, then ably taught by Dr Stevenson., he composed, as an exercise, an essay on The Beautifid, which was received by his professor with the most flattering marks of approbation, and appointed to be read in public at the end of the ses sion. This honourable distinction made a deep im
pression on his mind, and he ever after spoke of it as the circumstance which determined the bent of his genius to the study of polite literature, and fixed in his mind at once the laudable ambition and the hope of future eminence.
The talent for accurate arrangement, which forms so conspicuous a part of Dr Blair's literary charac ter, was about this period displayed in the formation of a plan of study which greatly contributed to faci litate his labours. He had felt the difficulty of fix ing in the mind the series of useful insolated facts which may occur in the course of desultory reading, and, to assist his memory, he thought of communi cating them to paper, arranged under some distinct and appropriate heads. This idea he afterwards di gested and improved ; and applying it particularly to the study of history, he at last constructed a very comprehensive scheme of chronological tables.- This scheme, has since been given to the world in a more extensive and correct form, by his learned friend Dr John Blair, prebendary of Westminster,- in his excel lent treatise on the Chronology.and History of the World.
Whilst Dr Blair was thus, by his judicious and per severing exertions, improving the powers of his mind, and laying up a store of useful knowledge, he was fortunate enough to form some connections of friend ship which tended to stimulate his ambition, and to call his talents into action. The university of Edin burgh contained, at that period, a bright constellation of rising genius, which was soon to illuminate and adorn this northern hemisphere, and to•give to Scot. land a distinguished place in the world of letters. The acknowledged abilities,.and.the amiable manners of the young student in theology, were sufficient to gain him the esteem of. his fellow students ; and amongst those whom a similarity of talents and dis positions had particularly attached to him, he could number many who afterwards made a conspicuous figure in the. civil, the ecclesiastical, and the literary history of their country. The friendship of a Wed derburn, a Robertson, a Smith, and a Hume, must have contributed, in no common degree, to form his.. taste, and mature his judgment.