BLACKWELL, THOMAS, an eminent Scottish
writer, was son of a minister at Aberdeen, and born
there 1701. He had his grammatical learning at a
school in Aberdeen, studied Greek and philosophy in
the Marischal college there, and took the degree of
M. A. in 1718. Being greatly distinguished by un-
common parts, and an early proficiency in letters, he
was, Dec. 1723, made Greek professor in the college
where he had been educated; and continued to teach
that language with applause even to his death. In
1737, was published at London, but without his name,
"An Enquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer,"
8vo; a second edition of which appeared in 1736;
and not long after, "Proofs of the Enquiry into Ho-
mer's Life and Writings," which was a translation of
the Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, and French notes,
subjoined to the original work. In 1748, he published
"Letters concerning Mythology," 8vo; without his
name also. The same year, he was made principal of
the Marischal college in Aberdeen, and is the only lay-
man who hath been appointed principal of that col-
lege, since the patronage came to the crown, by the
forfeiture of the Marischal family, in 1716; all the
other principals having been ministers of the church of
Scotland. March 1752, he took the degree of doctor
of laws: and the year following came out the first
volume of his Memoirs of the Court of Augustus, 4to.
The second volume appeared in 1755; and the third,
which was posthumous, and left incomplete by the au-
thor, was fitted for the press by John Mills, Esq. and
published in 1764. At the same time was published a
third edition of the two former volumes: Which is a
proof of the good reception the work met with from
the public; though it must be acknowledged that the
parade with which it is written, and the peculiarity of
its language, exposed it to some severity of censure.
Soon after he became principal of his college, he
married a merchant's daughter of Aberdeen, by whom
he had no children. Several years before his death, his
health began to decline: his disorder was of the con-
sumptive kind, and thought to be forwarded by an
excess of abstemiousness which he imposed upon him-
self. His disease increasing, he was advised to travel,
and accordingly set out in Feb. 1757; however, he was
not able to go farther than Edinburgh, in which city
he died the 8th of March following, in his 56th year.
He was a very ingenious and very learned man: he had
an equable flow of temper, and a truly philosophic
spirit,
Blackwell, spirit, both which he seems to have preserved to the last; for on the day of his death he wrote to several of his friends.