chair in 1783. His chief fame, however, rests upon his _Sermons_, in 4
vols., which had an extraordinary popularity, and obtained for him a
pension of £200. Time has not sustained the opinion of his
contemporaries: they have been described as feeble in thought though
elegant in style, and even as "a bucket of warm water." B. was amiable,
kind to young authors, and remarkable for a harmless, but rather
ridiculous vanity and simplicity.


BLAIR, ROBERT (1699-1746).--Poet, _b._ at Edin., where his _f._ was a
clergyman, became minister of Athelstaneford, Haddingtonshire. His sole
work was _The Grave_, a poem in blank verse extending to 767 lines of
very various merit, in some passages rising to great sublimity, and in
others sinking to commonplace. It was illustrated by William Blake
(_q.v._) B.'s _s._, Robert, was a very distinguished Scottish judge and
Lord President of the Court of Session; and his successor in his
ministerial charge was Home, the author of _Douglas_.


BLAKE, WILLIAM (1757-1827).--Poet and painter, _b._ in London, was from
earliest youth a seer of visions and a dreamer of dreams, seeing "Ezekiel
sitting under a green bough," and "a tree full of angels at Peckham," and
such he remained to the end of his days. His teeming imagination sought
expression both in verse and in drawing, and in his 14th year he was
apprenticed to James Basire, an eminent engraver, and thereafter studied
at the Royal Academy. Among his chief artistic works were illustrations
for Young's _Night Thoughts_, Blair's _Grave_, "Spiritual Portraits," and
his finest work, "Inventions to the Book of Job," all distinguished by
originality and imagination. In literature his _Songs of Innocence_
appeared in 1789, _Songs of Experience_ in 1794. These books were