letters are worthy of admiration and honorable mention.

_Hugh Blair_, 1718-1800: a Presbyterian divine in Edinburgh, Dr. Blair
deserves special mention for his lectures on _Rhetoric and
Belles-Lettres_, which for a long time constituted the principal text-book
on those subjects in our schools and colleges. A better understanding of
the true scope of rhetoric as a science has caused this work to be
superseded by later text-books. Blair's lectures treat principally of
style and literary criticism, and are excellent for their analysis of some
of the best authors, and for happy illustrations from their works. Blair
wrote many eloquent sermons, which were published, and was one of the
strong champions of Macpherson, in the controversy concerning the poems of
Ossian. He occupied a high place as a literary critic during his life.

_William Paley_, 1743-1805: a clergyman of the Established Church, he rose
to the dignity of Archdeacon and Chancellor of Carlisle. At first
thoughtless and idle, he was roused from his unprofitable life by the
earnest warnings of a companion, and became a severe student and a
vigorous writer on moral and religious subjects. Among his numerous
writings, those principally valuable are: _Horae Paulinae_, and _A View of
the Evidences of Christianity_--the former setting forth the life and
character of St. Paul, and the latter being a clear exposition of the
truth of Christianity, which has long served as a manual of academic
instruction. His treatise on _Natural Theology_ is, in the words of Sir
James Mackintosh, "the wonderful work of a man who, after sixty, had
studied anatomy in order to write it." Later investigations of science
have discarded some of his _facts_; but the handling of the subject and
the array of arguments are the work of a skilful and powerful hand. He
wrote, besides, a work on _Moral and Political Philosophy_, and numerous
sermons. His theory of morals is, that whatever is expedient is right; and
thus he bases our sense of duty upon the ground of the production of the
greatest amount of happiness. This low view has been successfully refuted
by later writers on moral science.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE NEW ROMANTIC POETRY: SCOTT.

Walter Scott. Translations and Minstrelsy. The Lay of the Last
Minstrel. Other Poems. The Waverly Novels. Particular Mention.
Pecuniary Troubles. His Manly Purpose. Powers Overtasked. Fruitless
Journey. Return and Death. His Fame.