BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 123
without an infringement of principle. With this view, during one of his visits
to London, he procured singers from the Cathedral of York, by whose aid he.
originated an amendment in the conducting of the psalmody, which was at first
looked upon as a daring innovation, but is now become pretty general throughout
the Establishment.
There were some slight defects in the character of the Doctor, which have
been admitted by his warmest friends-he was vain, and very susceptible of
flattery. A gentleman one day met him on the street, and, in the course
of conversation, mentioned that his friend Mr. Donald Smith, banker, was
anxious to secure a seat in the High Church, that he might become one of the
Doctor’s congregation. “ Indeed,” continued this person, ‘‘ my friend is quite
anxious on this subject. He has tried many preachers, but he finds’your
sermons, Doctor, so superior in the graces of oratory, and so full of pointed
observation of the world, that he cannot think of settling under any other than
you.”-“ I am very glad to hear that I am to have Mr. Smith for a hearer,” said
the preacher with unconscious self-gratulation-“ he is a very sensible man.”
Dr. Blair’s “ taste and accuracy in dress,” continues our authority, “were
absolutely ridiculous. There .was a correctness in his wig, for instance, amounting
to a hair-breadth exactness. He was so careful about his coat, that, not content
with merely looking at himself in the mirror to see how it fitted in general, he
would cause the tailor to lay the looking-glass on the floor, and then standing on
tiptoe over it, he would peep athwart his shoulder to see how the skirts hung.
It is also yet remembered in Edinburgh, with what a self-satisfied and finical air
this great divine used to walk between his house and the church every Sunday
morning, on his way to perform service. His wig frizzed and powdered so
nicely-his gown so scrupulously arranged on his shoulders-his bands so pure
and clean-and every thing about him in such exquisite taste and neatness.”
Upon one occasion, while sitting for his portrait, he requested the painter
to draw his face with a pleasing mile. The painter replied, “Well, then, you
must put on a pleasing smile.” The Doctor, in attempting to do this, made a
most horrid grin, which, being immediately transferred to the canvas, gave his
effigy the appearance of that of a downright idiot. This effect being pointed
out to him by a friend, he immediately ordered the painting to be destroyed,
and a new one forthwith commenced, the Doctor contenting himself with having
it executed without the ‘‘ pleasing smile.”
During the latter part of his life almost all strangers of distinction who visited
Edinburgh brought letters of introduction to Dr. Blair ; and as he wils quite at
ease in point of worldly circumstances, and had then in a great measure ceased
to study intensely, he in general entertained them frequently and well. On one
of these occasions, when he had collected a considerable party at dinner to meet
an English clergyman, a Scotchman present asked the stranger what was thought
of the Doctor’s sermons by his professional brethren in the south. To his horror,
and to the mortification of Mrs. Blair, who sat near, and who looked upon her
husband as a sort of divinity, the Englishman answered, “Why, they are not
