BLACKMORE, Sin RICHARD, a physician, and voluminous writer of theological and poetical works, was born in Wiltshire about 1650. He was educated at Westminster and Oxford, graduated in medicine at Padua, and settled in practice as a physician in London. Having early declared in favour of the Revolution, he was in 1697 chosen one of King William's physicians in ordinary, and received the honour of knighthood. On Queen Anne's accession, Sir Richard was also appointed one of her physicians, which office lie held for some time. He died on the 9th October 1729. Blackmore had a passion for writing epics. No fewer than seven long poems were published by him between 1695 and 1723. The first was Prince Arthur, in 10 books ; then followed King Arthur, in 12 books ; .Eliza, in 10; Creation, in 7 ; Redemption, in 6 ; Nature of Man, in 3 ; and Alfred, in 12. Of these Creation, a philosophic poem directed against the atomic theories of Epicurus and Lucretius, and intended to refute the atheism of Vanini, Hobbes, and Spinosa, and to unfold the intellectual philosophy of Locke, has been the most favourably received. Addison and Johnson praised it highly, the latter anticipating that this poem would transmit the author to posterity " among the first favourites of the English muse." It would be hard to find grounds for this expectation, which has certainly not been realized. The poem, like everything else that Blackmore wrote, is dull and tedious, and exhibits in every part the author's want of true poetic sensibility and taste.