Blair, Hugh

Scottish critic and Presbyterian clergyman

1718 - Born on the 7th of April in Edinburgh, Scotland.

1741 - Blair received his license as a Presbyterian preacher.

1743 - Elected as the second charge of the Church of Canongate.

1754 - Appointed to the charge of Lady Yester's Church.

1757 - Presented with an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity by the Church of St. Andrews.

1758 - Promoted to the High Church of St. Giles.

Blair appointed the first Regius Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres by George III.

1763 - Blair published A Critical Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian.

1777 - Published the first of his five volume series Sermons.

1783 - Retired as Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at the University of Edinburgh.

1800 - Hugh Blair died on 27th of December.

Defended authenticity of James Macpherson's poems attributed to Ossian.