BLACKLOCK  ,

THOMAS son of a bricklayer, was born at Annan, in Dumfriesshire, in 1721 . When not quite six months old he lost his sight by small-pox, and his career is largely interesting as that of one who achieved what he did in spite of blindness . Shortly after his father's death in 1740, some of Blacklock's poems began to be handed about among his acquaintances and friends, who arranged for his education at the grammar-school, and subsequently at the university of Edinburgh, where he was a student of divinity . His first volume of Poems was published in 1746 . In 1754 he became deputy librarian for the Faculty of Advocates, by the kindness of Hume . He was eventually estranged from Hume, and defended James Beattie's attack on that philosopher . Black-lock was among the first friends of Burns in Edinburgh, being one of the earliest to recognize his genius . He was in 1762 ordained minister of the church of Kirkcudbright, a position which he soon resigned; in 1767 the degree of doctor in divinity was conferred on him by Marischal College, Aberdeen . He died on the 7th of July 1791 . An edition of his poems in 1793 contains a life by Henry Mackenzie .