Hugh Blair FRSE (7 April 1718 – 27 December 1800) was a Scottish minister of religion, author and rhetorician, considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse. As a minister of the Church of Scotland, and occupant of the Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at the University of Edinburgh, Blair's teachings had a great impact in both the spiritual and the secular realms. Best known for Sermons, a five volume endorsement of practical Christian morality, and Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, a prescriptive guide on composition, Blair was a valuable part of the Scottish Enlightenment. Life Blair was born in Edinburgh into an educated Presbyterian family. His father was John Blair, an Edinburgh merchant. He was great-great-grandson of Rev. Robert Blair of St. Andrews and great nephew of Very Rev. David Blair the Moderator of the General Assembly in 1700. From an early age it was clear that Blair, a weakly child, should be educated for a life in the church. Schooled at the High School, Blair studied moral philosophy and literature at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.A. at the age of twenty-one. His thesis, "Dissertatio Philosophica Inauguralis de fundamentis et obligatione legis naturae", serves as a precursor to the later published Sermons in its discussion of the principles of morality and virtue.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“It frequently happens that where the second line is sublime, the third, in which he meant to rise still higher, is perfectly bombast.”
— Commenting on Lucan's style. Borrowed from Longinus, Treatise on the Sublime, sect. III. Reported in Notes and Queries, vol. 5, no. 118 (31 January 1852) pp. 100–101, and in Hoyt's (1922) p. 674. See also: Marmontel
“Between levity and cheerfulness there is a wide distinction; and the mind which is most open to levity is frequently a stranger to cheerfulness.”
— Reported in The Saturday Magazine‎ (September 28, 1833), p. 118.
“That discipline which corrects the baseness of worldly passion, fortifies the heart with virtuous principles, enlightens the mind with useful knowledge, and furnishes it with enjoyment from within itself, is of more consequence to real felicity, than all the provision we can make of the goods of fortune.”
— P. 109
“The great standard of literature as to purity and exactness of style is the Bible.”
— P. 386
“Embellish truth only with a view to gain it the more full and free admission into your hearer's minds; and your ornaments will, in that case, be simple, masculine, natural.”
— P. 481
“The slave who digs in the mine or labors at the oar can rejoice at the prospect of laying down his burden together with his life; but to the slave of guilt there arises no hope from death. On the contrary, he is obliged to look forward with constant terror to this most certain of all events, as the conclusion of all his hopes, and the commencement of his greatest miseries.”
— P. 550

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Not who you're looking for? Others named Hugh Blair: English musician, composer and organist (1864–1932)

Overview

Hugh Blair FRSE (7 April 1718 – 27 December 1800) was a Scottish minister of religion, author and rhetorician, considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse. As a minister of the Church of Scotland, and occupant of the Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at the University of Edinburgh, Blair's teachings had a great impact in both the spiritual and the secular realms. Best known for Sermons, a five volume endorsement of practical Christian morality, and Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, a prescriptive guide on composition, Blair was a valuable part of the Scottish Enlightenment. Life Blair was born in Edinburgh into an educated Presbyterian family. His father was John Blair, an Edinburgh merchant. He was great-great-grandson of Rev. Robert Blair of St. Andrews and great nephew of Very Rev. David Blair the Moderator of the General Assembly in 1700. From an early age it was clear that Blair, a weakly child, should be educated for a life in the church. Schooled at the High School, Blair studied moral philosophy and literature at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.A. at the age of twenty-one. His thesis, "Dissertatio Philosophica Inauguralis de fundamentis et obligatione legis naturae", serves as a precursor to the later published Sermons in its discussion of the principles of morality and virtue.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Hugh Blair FRSE (7 April 1718 – 27 December 1800) was a Scottish minister of religion, author and rhetorician, considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse.

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Notable quotes

“It frequently happens that where the second line is sublime, the third, in which he meant to rise still higher, is perfectly bombast.”
— Commenting on Lucan's style. Borrowed from Longinus, Treatise on the Sublime, sect. III. Reported in Notes and Queries, vol. 5, no. 118 (31 January 1852) pp. 100–101, and in Hoyt's (1922) p. 674. See also: Marmontel
“Between levity and cheerfulness there is a wide distinction; and the mind which is most open to levity is frequently a stranger to cheerfulness.”
— Reported in The Saturday Magazine‎ (September 28, 1833), p. 118.
“That discipline which corrects the baseness of worldly passion, fortifies the heart with virtuous principles, enlightens the mind with useful knowledge, and furnishes it with enjoyment from within itself, is of more consequence to real felicity, than all the provision we can make of the goods of fortune.”
— P. 109
“The great standard of literature as to purity and exactness of style is the Bible.”
— P. 386
“Embellish truth only with a view to gain it the more full and free admission into your hearer's minds; and your ornaments will, in that case, be simple, masculine, natural.”
— P. 481
“The slave who digs in the mine or labors at the oar can rejoice at the prospect of laying down his burden together with his life; but to the slave of guilt there arises no hope from death. On the contrary, he is obliged to look forward with constant terror to this most certain of all events, as the conclusion of all his hopes, and the commencement of his greatest miseries.”
— P. 550

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.