Hugh Blair's Observations upon a Pamphlet (1755): Introduction and Text

Abstract

This article provides a critical edition and brief introduction to a polemical pamphlet of Hugh Blair published anonymously under the title Observations upon a Pamphlet, Intitled, An Analysis of the Moral and Religious Sentiments contained in the Writings of Sopho, and David Hume, Esq; &c. (1755). The work participates in a contemporary controversy concerning human nature and religion. Within the controversy Henry Home, Lord Kames, and David Hume had been attacked for their views on free will, not least in a tract by conservative churchman John Bonar. Blair's pamphlet defends Kames and Hume and provides a rare look at Blair's rhetorical practice apart from his extant sermons.

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank the extraordinarily knowledgeable and helpful staff in the Rare Books and Manuscript Room of the National Library of Scotland and the similarly helpful Jimmy Quinn in the Duke Library at Furman University.

Notes

*“Inquiry into the vulgar notion of nature. p. 60.

^†“Ibid. p. 7.

^‡ P. 29. should be 32.; but that may be described to an error of the press.