Gentleness corrects whatever is offensive in our manner.

A Critical Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian the Son of Fingal
In 1763 Blair publiHugh Blaird A Critical Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian his first well known openly authored publication. Blair's definition of taste reflects this sentiment: "The power of receiving pleasure from the beauties of nature and art: (15). Though Blair rejects this traditional method of discourse his work is still prescriptive in nature.

Best known for Sermons a five volume endorsement of practical Christian morality and Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres a prescriptive guide on composition Blair was a valuable part of the Scottish Enlightenment. Hugh Blair FRSE (7 April 1718 – 27 December 1800) was a Scottish minister of religion author and rhetorician considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse.