The Poetical Works of Beattie, Blair, And Falconer. With Lives, Critical Dissertations, And Explanatory Notes

By Gilfillan, George

Book Id: WPLBN0000629779
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 0.9 MB
Reproduction Date: 2005

Title:	The Poetical Works of Beattie, Blair, And Falconer. With Lives, Critical Dissertations, And Explanatory Notes
Author:	Gilfillan, George
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Literature, Literature & thought, Writing.
Collections:	Classic Literature Collection, Blackmask Online Collection
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	Blackmask Online


Citation APA MLA Chicago Gilfillan, B. G. (n.d.). The Poetical Works of Beattie, Blair, And Falconer. With Lives, Critical Dissertations, And Explanatory Notes. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.cc/

Description
Excerpt: POETICAL WORKS OF JAMES BEATTIE. The LIFE AND POETRY OF JAMES BEATTIE. James Beattie, the author of the ?Minstrel? was born at Laurencekirk, in the county of Kincardineshire?a village situated in that beautiful trough of land called the Howe of the Mearns, and surmounted by the ridge of the Garvock Hills, which divide it from the German Ocean?on the 25th day of October 1735. His father, who was a small farmer and shopkeeper, and who is said to have possessed a turn for literature and versifying, died when James was only seven years old; but his brother David, the eldest of a family of six, undertook the superintendence of his education till he was fit to go to the parish school. That school which had been raised to celebrity by Thomas Ruddiman, the grammarian, was now taught by one Milne, whom his pupil describes as also a good grammarian and an excellent Latin scholar, but destitute of taste, and of all the other qualifications of a teacher. Milne preferred Ovid to Virgil; but Beattie?s taste, already giving promise of its future classical bent, was attracted by the less meretricious beantics of Virgil; and this author, in Dryden?s translation, as well as Milton?s ?Paradise Lost,? and Thomson?s ?Seasons,? were devoured with eagerness, and copied with emulation, by him in the intervals of his school hours. He was assisted in his studies by Mr Thomson, minister of the parish. In 1749, when he reached the age of fourteen, he entered Marischal College, Aberdeen, and such was his proficiency that he took by competition the first of those bursaries or exhibitions which are given to those students who are unable to support the expenses of their own education. Aberdeen has been always distinguished by its eminent professors. Blackwell, Gerard, Reid, Campbell, the subject of this sketch, Brown, Blackie, &c. are only a few of the celebrated names the roll of its two colleges contains. The two first?mentioned were flourishing at the time when young Beattie entered the University. Blackwell was a learned but pedantic Grecian, who wrote with considerable power and great pomp on ?Mythology,? ?Homer,? and the ?Court of Augustus.? Alexander Gerard was the author of some books of some merit, although now nearly forgotten, on the ?Genius of Christianity,? on ?Taste and Genius,? &c. Under both these Beattie profited very much. He gained a high prize in Blackwell?s class, for an analysis of the fourth book of the ?Odyssey.?

Table of Contents
Table of Contents: The Poetical Works of Beattie, Blair, and Falconer, 1 -- Rev. George Gilfillan [Ed.], 1 -- POETICAL WORKS OF JAMES BEATTIE, 2 -- THE LIFE AND POETRY OF JAMES BEATTIE, 2 -- BEATTIE'S POEMS, 9 -- THE MINSTREL; OR, THE PROGRESS OF GENIUS, 9 -- Preface, 9 -- BOOK I, 10 -- BOOK II, 24 -- MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 39 -- ODE TO HOPE, 39 -- ODE TO PEACE, 42 -- THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS, 48 -- THE TRIUMPH OF MELANCHOLY, 66 -- THE WOLF AND SHEPHERDS, 94 -- SONG;, 96 -- TO LADY CHARLOTTE GORDON, 97 -- EPITAPH:, 98 -- EPITAPH, 98 -- EPITAPH, INTENDED FOR HIMSELF, 98 -- POETICAL WORKS OF ROBERT BLAIR, 99 -- THE LIFE OF ROBERT BLAIR, 99 -- BLAIR'S POEMS, 106 -- THE GRAVE, 106 -- A POEM, 121 -- POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM FALCONER, 124 -- THE LIFE AND POETRY OF WILLIAM FALCONER, 124 -- FALCONER'S POEMS, 130 -- THE SHIPWRECK, 130 -- Canto I, 133 -- Canto II, 151 -- Canto III, 173 -- OCCASIONAL ELEGY, 193 -- MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 195 -- THE DEMAGOGUE. [1], 195 -- A POEM, 204 -- ODE ON THE DUKE OF YORK'S SECOND DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND AS -- REAR?ADMIRAL, 207 -- THE FOND LOVER, 212 -- ON THE UNCOMMON SCARCITY OF POETRY, 213 -- DESCRIPTION OF A NINETY?GUN SHIP, 214 -- The Poetical Works of Beattie, Blair, and Falconer -- i