Hugh Blair

Hugh Blair ( * April 7, 1718, † December 27, 1800 ) was a Scottish clergyman, writer and orator. He is considered one of the most influential writers of the Scottish Enlightenment ( Scottish Enlightenment ).

Biography

Blair was born in Edinburgh in a Presbyterian family. At the University of Edinburgh he studied moral philosophy and literature. 1739, he obtained a Master of Arts with the work " De fundamentis et Obligatione Legis Naturae ".

From 1741 to 1743 Blair taught in the church school service. In 1743 he was parish priest in Collesie in Fife. From here the ascent began in his ecclesiastical career, the 1754 finally brought him to the highest clerical office of the Church of Scotland, in the High Church (ie, the St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh). From 1759 to 1783 he taught literature at first, then rhetoric at the University of Edinburgh. In particular, his three-volume " Lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres " experienced many editions.

His friends included other influential figures of the Scottish Enlightenment such as David Hume, Alexander Carlyle, Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson.

Blair died in December 1800, several years after his longtime wife, Katherine Bannatine.

Works

• Blair, Hugh: A critical dissertation on the poems of Ossian ( 1763)
• Blair, Hugh: Essays on rhetoric (1784 )
• Blair, Hugh: Lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres ( 3 vols, numerous editions )
• Blair, Hugh: Sermons (5 vols )
• Blair, Hugh: On tranquility of mind ( 1857)