BLAIR, Robert, author of the well-known poem entitled "The Grave," was the eldest son of the Reverend Robert Blair, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, and the grandson of that Robert Blair who figured so conspicuously among the Scottish clergy in the civil wars. Of his personal history very few particulars are known. He seems to have been born at Edinburgh about the beginning of the last century, and to have received the elements of a classical education at the university of his native city; after which he was sent abroad for improvement, and spent some time on the Continent. Upon his return he took orders, and on the 5th of January 1731 was ordained minister of Athelstaneford, in East Lothian, where he spent the remainder of his life. He died of a fever on the 4th of February 1746, in the forty-seventh year of his age; and was succeeded in his living of Athelstaneford by another poet, Mr John Home, the author of "Douglas." By his lady, who survived him several years, he had five sons and one daugh-
ter; the late Robert Blair of Avington, Lord President of the Court of Session, being his fourth son. Being in easy circumstances, Mr Blair lived very much in the style of a gentleman of fortune, and was greatly respected by all who knew him. He was a man of learning and accomplishments as well as a poet, and evinced a peculiar predilection for the natural sciences, particularly botany, in which he was considered as a great proficient. He carried on a correspondence with some of the learned men of England, and numbered among his friends Mr Henry Baker of the Royal Society, Dr Watts, Dr Doddridge, and other eminent persons of his time. He appears to have written several other pieces besides "The Grave," and we may particularly mention "A Poem dedicated to the Memory of Mr William Law, Professor of Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh," which was first published in Dr Anderson's collection; but the former constitutes his best and indeed only title to rank as a poet. It consists of a succession of descriptions and reflections which have no other connection or dependence except what they may be supposed to derive from their relation to a common subject; but these are interspersed with striking allusions, picturesque imagery, touches of a rude though effective pathos, and a vein of sentiment at once so natural and so just that it is almost certain to find its way to the heart through the medium of the understanding. The rhythm is often harsh, and the versification frequently devoid of correctness, harmony, and grace; but it has nevertheless a masculine vigour and freshness about it, which more than atone for these defects in the finishing; while, in certain moods of the mind, the air of deep and almost misanthropical melancholy diffused over the whole, proves highly touching and impressive. Accordingly there are few poems indeed which have become so thoroughly infixed in the general memory; none, perhaps, except the "Cottar's Saturday Night," which is so universal a favourite with the people of this country. Mr Campbell, in his "Pleasures of Hope," has borrowed, with a slight variation, which seems scarcely an improvement, a well-known line of this poem. His "like angel visits, few and far between," is an almost tautological substitution for the more correct and precise comparison of Blair,
_____ its visits,
Like those of angels, short and far between.