ROBERT

See also:

• BLAIR, FRANCIS PRESTON (1791–1876)
• BLAIR, HUGH (1718-1800)
• BLAIR, JAMES (1656`1743)
• ROBERT BLAIR (1699—1746)

BLAIR (1699—1746)  , Scottish poet, eldest son of the Rev . Robert Blair, one of the king's chaplains, was born at Edinburgh in 1699 . He was educated at Edinburgh University and in Holland, and in 1731 was appointed to the living of Athelstaneford in East Lothian . He married in 1738 Isabella, daughter of Professor William Law . The possession of a small fortune gave him leisure for his favourite pursuits, gardening and the study of English poets . He died at Athelstaneford on the 4th of February 1946 . His only considerable work, The Grave (1743), is a poem written in blank verse of great vigour and freshness, and is much less conventional than its gloomy subject might lead one to expect . Its religious subject no doubt contributed to its great popularity, especially in Scotland; but the vogue it attained was justified by its picturesque imagery and occasional felicity of expression . It inspired William Blake to undertake a series of twelve illustrative designs, which were engraved by Louis Schiavonetti, and published in 1808 . See the biographical introduction prefixed to his Poetical Works, by Dr Robert Anderson, in his Poets of Great Britain, vol. viii .