Poems by the Late Reverend Dr. Thomas Blacklock :: :: University of Virginia Library

Poems by the Late Reverend Dr. Thomas Blacklock

Together with an Essay on the Education of the Blind. To Which is Prefixed A New Account of the Life and Writings of the Author

Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)

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To Mr. THOMAS BLACKLOCK.

AN EPISTLE FROM Dr. BEATTIE, TO THE Reverend Mr. THOMAS BLACKLOCK.

POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS.

HORACE, ODE I. IMITATED.

PSALM I.

An HYMN to the SUPREME BEING,

PSALM CXXXIX.

An HYMN to DIVINE LOVE.

An HYMN to BENEVOLENCE.

An HYMN to FORTITUDE.

THE WISH SATISFIED.

To HAPPINESS.

On EUANTHE's ABSENCE.

To a Young Gentleman bound for Guinea.

An IRREGULAR ODE.

To a COQUETTE.

On the Refinements in Metaphysical Philosophy.

To Mrs. R--- On the Death of a promising Infant.

An ODE.

To HEALTH:

To a little Girl whom I had offended:

To LESBIA.

A TRANSLATION of an Old SCOTTISH SONG.

SONG

The RAVISH'D SHEPHERD.

A PASTORAL SONG.

On the Death of STELLA;

A PASTORAL.

The PLAINTIVE SHEPHERD.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

The WISH: An Elegy.

On the Death of Mr. POPE.

ELEGY:

A SOLILOQUY

Miss ------ to the AUTHOR.

To Miss A. H. on her Marriage.

To the Reverend Mr. Jameson.

An EPITAPH, on his Father.

To Mrs. Anne Blacklock, the Author's Mother.

PROLOGUE to OTHELLO

PROLOGUE to HAMLET

To a Gentleman, who asked my Sentiments of him.

The Author's PICTURE.

ADDRESS TO THE LADIES,

HORACE, Ode XIII. Book I.

To a LADY, With HAMMOND's ELEGIES;

ODE to AMYNTA.

An ELEGY.

To John M'Laurin, Esq; (now Lord Dreghorn, one of the Senators of the College of Justice).

EXTEMPORE VERSES,

To the Reverend Mr. Spence, late Professor of Poetry at Oxford.

To Dr. BEATTIE.

To the Rev. Dr. OGILVIE.

To a FRIEND, of whose Health and Success the Author had heard, after a long Absence.

The GENEALOGY of NONSENSE.

ODE, on Melissa's Birth-day.

ODE to AURORA.

To Dr. EVANS.

To Mr. DALZEL, Professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh.

To Dr. DOWNMAN, in London.

To the SAME.

To MELISSA.

On Dr. BLACKLOCK's Birth-day.

From Dr. DOWNMAN to Mrs. BLACKLOCK.

From Dr. DOWNMAN to Dr. BLACKLOCK.

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xxxi

To Mr. THOMAS BLACKLOCK.

To fame and to the muse unknown
Where arts and science never shone,
A hamlet stands secure:
Her rustic sons, to toil inur'd,
By blooming health and gain allur'd,
Their grateful soil manure.

What means my heart;—'Tis nature's pow'r:
Yes, here I date my natal hour,
My bursting heart would say:
Here sleep the swains from whom I sprung,
Whose conscience fell remorse ne'er stung;
For nature led their way.

Simplicity, unstain'd with crimes,
(A gem how rare in modern times;)
Was all from them I bore:
No sounding titles swell'd my pride;
My heart to mis'ry ne'er was ty'd,
By heaps of shining ore.

Heedless of wealth, of pow'r, of fame;
Heedless of each ambitious aim,

xxxii

Here flow'd my boyish years.
How oft these plains I've thoughtless prest;
Whistled, or sung some fair distrest,
Whose fate would steal my tears!

Thus rude, unpolish'd, unrefin'd;
While, plung'd in darkest night, my mind
Uncultivated lay;
With pity mov'd, my fate you view'd;
My way to light, to reason shew'd,
And op'd the source of day:

You loos'd and form'd my infant thought;
Your skill, your matchless goodness taught,
Where truth and bliss to find:
Painted, by thee, in all her charms,
Each gen'rous heart fair Virtue warms,
And swells the ravish'd mind.

Hail bright cœlestial, all divine!
O come! inspire this breast of mine
With all thy heav'nly pow'r:
Lead, lead me to thy happiness;
Point out thy path to that blest place,
Where grief shall be no more.

Richard Hewitt.