| Administrative History | Thomas Blacklock [1721-1791] Poet and writer. He was blind from smallpox at the age of 6 months, but in spite of his handicap he showed an early taste for poetry. He published his first volume of verse in 1746, and another in 1756. He became a Church of Scotland minister in 1759, but he later gave up and took pupils. He introduced himself to Beattie in 1765 by sending him a copy of his 1756 poems. For some time he was an important confidant and poetic adviser to Beattie. Beattie secured a honorary DD of Marischal College for him in 1767 |
| Description | Woeful health and college business have prevented him to answer Letter MS 30/2/249. Shameless assertation of Goldsmith ridiculing a person who was an honour to this country and dear to evey lover of virtue and true science. This is a reference to Goldsmith's rough handling of Thomas Burnet, author of Sacred Theory of the Earth, in his History of the Earth, and Animated Nature (1774). Goldsmith's says Burnett's book that he is 'well known for the warmth for which it is imagined and the weakness with which it is reasoned, for the elegance of its style, and the meanness of its philosophy.' Beattie has disposed of the corrected leaves in the only two copies of Goldsmith's book that have come to Aberdeen. Essays finished and to go to press in a few weeks. 'Poetry and Music' essay first written in 1762, 'Laughter and ludicrous Writing' in 1768. Originally rude sketches that Beattie never thought of publishing. Friends in England commanded that he should revise and publish. New essays will make octavo volume somewhat larger than Essay on Truth. Preparing new edition of Essay on Truth - has taken liberty to mention Blacklock. Refutes a passage in Spectator concerning imagination and sight. Beattie points out that men who cannot see can dream and invent. |