will here exhibit, because I think it better
imagined, and better expressed, than could be expected from the common
tenour of his prose:

"As the several combinations of splenetick madness and folly produce an
infinite variety of irregular understanding, so the amicable
accommodation and alliance between several virtues and vices produce an
equal diversity in the dispositions and manners of mankind; whence it
comes to pass, that as many monstrous and absurd productions are found
in the moral, as in the intellectual world. How surprising is it to
observe, among the least culpable men, some whose minds are attracted by
heaven and earth, with a seeming equal force; some who are proud of
humility; others who are censorious and uncharitable, yet self-denying
and devout; some who join contempt of the world with sordid avarice; and
others who preserve a great degree of piety, with ill-nature and
ungoverned passions! Nor are instances of this inconsistent mixture less
frequent among bad men, where we often, with admiration, see persons at
once generous and unjust, impious lovers of their country, and
flagitious heroes, good-natured sharpers, immoral men of honour, and
libertines who will sooner die than change their religion; and though it
is true that repugnant coalitions of so high a degree are found but in a
part of mankind, yet none of the whole mass, either good or bad, are
entirely exempted from some absurd mixture."

He, about this time, Aug. 22, 1716, became one of the elects of the
College of Physicians; and was soon after, Oct. 1, chosen censor. He
seems to have arrived late, whatever was the reason, at his medical
honours.

Having succeeded so well in his book on Creation, by which he
established the great principle of all religion, he thought his
undertaking imperfect, unless he, likewise, enforced the truth of
revelation; and, for that purpose, added another poem on Redemption. He
had, likewise, written, before his Creation, three books on the Nature
of Man.

The lovers of musical devotion have always wished for a more happy
metrical version than they have yet obtained of the Book of Psalms: this
wish the piety of Blackmore led him to gratify; and he produced, 1721, a
new version of the psalms of David, fitted to the tunes used in
churches; which, being recommended by the archbishops and many bishops,
obtained a license for its admission into publick worship: but no
admission has it yet obtained, nor has it a