Beattie, James

(1735-1803)

   Poet, essayist, and moral philosopher. After graduating from Marischal College, Aberdeen, he became a schoolmaster and eventually professor of moral philosophy and logic at his old college. He achieved fame with his "Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth," which defended Christianity against the philosophy of David Hume (1770). The poems he wrote about natural beauty influenced other poets such as Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Lord Byron. Success was tinged with sadness: his wife became insane and his sons, one of whom was a promising poet, died young. Beattie became ill and never recovered his health. His major poetical publications are: Poems on Several Subjects, 1766. The Minstrel, 1771-1772 (2 volumes). Essays on Poetry, 1778. Some of his other poems: "An Epitaph," "Edwin, the Minstrel," "Elegy (Tir'd with the busy crouds)," "Law," "Nature and the Poets," "The Hares, a Fable," "The Hermit," "The Judgment of Paris," "The Question," "The Wolf and Shepherds, a Fable," "The Youth of a Poet," "To Mr. Alexander Ross."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Representative Poetry Online, John Askham (http:// rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poet/371.html). Significant and Famous Scots (http://www.electricscotland.com/history/ other/beattie_james.htm). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse. Roger Lonsdale, ed. Oxford University Press, 2003. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.