one of the other vessels in sight was also a cruiser. But little more was ever known of the Wasp. She made several captures after her engagement with the Avon, which were destroyed; and on Sept. 21, she captured the brig Atalanta, which being valuable, a prize crew was put on board her, and she was ordered to Savannah, in charge of Midshipman, now Commodore, Geisinger. She arrived safely, and brought the last direct intelligence ever received from the Wasp. Several years afterward, it was shown that on Oct. 9, 1814, nearly 50 days after the capture of the Atalanta, she was spoken by a Swedish brig, and received from her 2 American naval officers, Messrs. McKnight and Lyman, who had been captured in the Essex, exchanged, and were then on their passage to England, as the only means of reaching the United States. Vague rumors as to her fate have prevailed from time to time. One, that an English frigate put into Cadiz, in a very crippled state, and reported that she had engaged and sunk an American corvette. Another, that she was lost upon the coast of Africa, and that all on board her were captured by the Arabs. Another, that about the time her arrival upon the American coast was looked for, 2 English frigates chased an American sloop of war off the southern coast, and that in a violent squall which struck the 3 ships, the sloop suddenly disappeared. None of these rumors were ever traced to an authentic source. The Wasp, like most sloops of war of that day, was a vessel of but little over 500 tons, heavily armed and sparred, and very deep waisted. Such ships are proverbially unsafe, and she probably foundered in a gale. Capt. Blakely was an officer of great merit. He was brave, skilful, and modest, and had he lived, would doubtless have risen to the highest professional distinction. He left a widow, and an infant daughter, who was educated by the state of North Carolina.

BLAKELY, a pleasant, healthy village, port of entry, and the capital of Baldwin co., Alabama, situated on the Tensaw river, just above its entrance into Mobile bay. It is well supplied with water, and contains the county buildings, some handsome dwellings, and numerous stores. Its harbor, which admits vessels of 11 ft. draught, is deeper and more easily accessible than that of Mobile, 12 m. S. W., and it was thought that this would render it a great commercial rival of the latter city-an expectation which is yet unfulfilled.

BLANC, LE, a town of France, in the department of Indre, on the river Creuse. It is a very ancient place, and was often visited by the Roman legions. Pop. in 1856, 5,731.

BLANC, MONT. See MONT BLANO. BLANC, JEAN JOSEPH LOUIS, a political and historical writer of France, born at Madrid, where his father held the office of inspector-general of finance, under Joseph Bonaparte, Oct. 28, 1813. His mother was a Corsican, and the sister of the celebrated Pozzo di Borgo. At 7 years of age he was sent to school at Rodez, where he

pursued his studles for 10 years, exhibiting great capacity for learning, and unusual ability. He had been originally designed for diplomatic service, but as his father lost his fortune in the revolution of 1830, he was compelled to teach mathematics to earn his support. In 1832 he became tutor to a private family residing at Arras, and while there wrote several articles for a local journal, which attracted attention. Removing to Paris in 1834, he was chosen an editor of the Bon Sens, a periodical of considerable influence. He left it in 1838, in consequence of a dispute with the proprietor on an important question of political economy. The next year he established La Revue du Progrès, to promote the combination of the democratic associations, and to further the cause of political reform. A treatise on the "Organization of Labor" came from his pen in 1840, and by the spirit and eloquence with which it was written, gave him a position as one of the ablest writers of the socialistic school in Paris. He maintained in it that industry, in its present unregulated and competitive state, impoverishes and debases the working classes, and that it ought to be organized on a principle of community, by which each should contribute according to his capabilities, and receive according to his wants. A more important work, issued not long afterward, was a "History of Ten Years," in which the political incidents of the period from 1830 to 1840 were described with remarkable animation, sagacity, and effect. The work inflicted a dreadful blow upon the administration of Louis Philippe, and is supposed to have exerted a great influence in bringing about the revolution of 1848, by which that monarch was dethroned. When that outbreak came, he was one of the leading spirits of it, was a member of the provisional government from February to May, and as such procured the adoption of a decree abolishing capital punishment for political offences. He also contended for the creation of a ministry of progress, and not being able to carry that measure, withdrew from the government, but, at the request of his colleagues, took back his resignation, and became the president of a commission to consider the labor question, which held its sittings at the Luxembourg, but which accomplished nothing. The foundation of the so-called national workshops, out of which finally grew the insurrection of June, 1848, has been ascribed to him, but in fact he opposed the step; and he has since repeatedly declared, and without any authoritative contradiction, that they were founded rather to injure than illustrate his views of industrial organization. After the insurrection of June, he was accused of conspiracy against the goyernment on the occasion of the previous rising of May 15, in which he had not been included, and on the advice of his friends went into voluntary exile in England. Before that, however, he had commenced a History of the French Revolution," which he has since continued. It is a work of great research and vigor

of execution, giving the socialistic view of the events of the great insurrection, and describing characters with a rare insight into motives, and a comprehensive philosophy of cause and effect. The first volume, being an introduction to the rest, is the most striking résumé of the causes of the revolution, both public and private, that has perhaps ever been written. In person, Louis Blanc is so diminutive as to have the look of a mere boy, but his bearing is grave, dignified, and impressive.

BLANCHARD, FRANÇOIS, aëronaut, born at Andelys, department of Eure, France, in 1738, died in Paris, March 7, 1809. He was distinguished from his youth by his mechanical ingenuity. The invention of the balloon by the brothers Montgolfier, in 1783, greatly interested him, and he constructed a balloon with wings and a rudder, in which he ascended in March, 1784. Jan. 7, 1785, he crossed the British channel from Dover to Calais, for which Louis XVI. rewarded him with a gift of 12,000 francs, and a life-pension of 1,200 francs. He invented a parachute, to break the fall in case of accident, and first used it in London, in 1785. He visited various parts of Europe, displaying his aëronautic skill, and sojourned for a short time in New York. Returning to France, in 1798, he ascended from Rouen with 16 persons in a large balloon, and descended at a place 15 miles distant. In 1808, while making his 66th ascent, at the Hague, he had an apoplectic stroke, from the effects of which he died in the succeeding year.-Madame Blanchard, his wife, who had partaken of his dangerous successes, continued to make aërial voyages; but in June, 1819, having ascended from Tivoli, in Paris, her balloon took fire, at a considerable height, owing to some fireworks which she carried with her, and burnt, while the hapless aëronaut was dashed to pieces on the ground.

BLANCHARD, LAMAN, an English author, born at Great Yarmouth, May 15, 1803, died at London, Feb. 15, 1845. At the age of 5 he was removed to London, where he was educated at St. Olave's school, Southwark. His first occupation was as reader in a printing-office, which afforded him time and opportunity for cultivating his literary tastes. In 1827 he was appointed secretary of the zoological society, in which office he continued until 1831, when he became acting editor (under Bulwer) of the "New Monthly Magazine." He had previously published a small volume of poetry, called the "Lyric Offering." Mr. Blanchard's connection with the magazine so far established his reputation as a ready writer, with aptitude and tact, that he successively obtained editorial employment on the "True Sun," " Courier," ""Constitutional," ," "Court Journal," and "Examiner," beside contributing largely to periodicals and annuals. He touched on a great variety of subjects, in prose and verse, and generally with marked ability. For some time his wife had been insane, and his own health gave way under the contemplation of her affliction. On her

death his mind lost its balance, and he committed suicide. It was alleged that pecuniary pressure was a proximate cause of his own suffering, but Mr. Blanchard, who was not extravagant, always had a sufficient income from his pen, and at his death was not only sub-editor of the "Examiner," but acting editor of "Ainsworth's Magazine," and well paid for both. He was popular with literary men, from his amiable disposition and unaffected manners. His "Essays and Sketches," collected from various periodicals, were published for the benefit of his orphans, in 3 volumes, prefaced by a very interesting biography of the author, by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.

BLANCHARD, THOMAS, an American mechanic and inventor, born in Sutton, Worcester co., Mass., June 24, 1788. From a strong bias for mechanical employments, he joined his brother, who was engaged in the manufacture of tacks by hand, a very slow and tedious process, and at the age of 18 commenced his invention of a tack machine. It was six years before he could bring it to the desired perfection. Finally, so effective was the machine, that by placing in the hopper the iron to be worked, and applying the motive power, 500 tacks were made per minute, with better finished heads and points than had ever been made by hand. For this machine Blanchard secured the patent, and sold the right to a company for $5,000. About this time various attempts were made in the United States armories at Springfield and Harper's Ferry, to turn musket barrels with a uniform external finish. Blanchard undertook "the construction of a lathe to turn the whole of the barrel, from end to end, by the combination of one single self-directing operation." About 3 inches of the barrel at the breech was partly cylindrical and partly with flat sides; these were all cut by the same machine, ingeniously changing to a vibrating motion as it approached the breech. A knowledge of this invention came to the superintendent of the Springfield armory, who contracted with Mr. Blanchard for one of his machines. While it was in operation, one of the workmen remarked that his own work of grinding the barrels was done away with. Another, employed on the wooden stocks, which were then all made by hand, said that Blanchard could not spoil his job, as he could not make a machine to turn a gunstock. Blanchard answered that he was not sure, but he would think about it, and as he was driving home through the town of Brimfield, the idea of his lathe for turning irregular forms suddenly struck him. In his emotion he shouted, "I have got it, I have got it!" The principle of this machine is, that forms are turned by a pattern the exact shape of the object to be produced, which in every part of it is successively brought in contact with a small friction wheel; this wheel precisely regulates the motion of chisels arranged upon a cutting wheel acting upon the rough block, so that as the friction wheel successively traverses

every portion of the rotating pattern, the cutting wheel pares off the superabundant wood from end to end of the block, leaving a precise resemblance of the model. This remarkable machine, with modifications and improvements, is in use in the national armories as well as in England, and in various forms is applied to many operations in making musket stocks, such as cutting in the cavity for the lock, barrel, ramrod, butt plates, and mountings, comprising, together with the turning of the stock and barrel, no less than 13 different machines. Beside gunstocks, it is also applied to a great variety of objects, such as busts, shoe lasts, handles, spokes, &c. Mr. Blanchard was also interested at an early day in the construction of railroads and locomotives, and in boats so contrived as to ascend the rapids of the Connecticut, and rivers in the western states. He has taken out no less than 24 patents for different inventions. From few of them, however, has he realized any considerable sums. At present he resides in Boston, engaged in the bending of heavy timbers by some new and as yet unrevealed process. BLANCHE OF BOURBON, queen of Castile, born in France about 1338, died in Spain in 1361. When 15 she was betrothed to Don Pedro IV. of Castile, afterward called the Cruel. He was already controlled by his love for Maria Padilla, and reluctantly consented to the performance of a purely political marriage. The ceremony took place June 3, 1353, at Valladolid, when the king did not even take the trouble of concealing his indifference, not to say his hatred, for the young and lovely bride. Forty-eight hours later, he fled from her to his mistress. Yielding to the entreaties of Maria, who wished to act with great circumspection, he paid a visit to the forsaken wife; but a stay of 2 days in the same palace was all that his impatience could endure. He then left forever the unfortunate queen, who was sent a prisoner to Tordesillas, on the Douro. Meanwhile her beauty, sweetness of temper, and the harsh treatment of her husband, awoke the sympathy of the people, which was evinced on the occasion of her removal to the Alcazar of Toledo. On her way thither she was allowed to enter the cathedral to say her prayers, and the inhabitants, moved by pity and fearing her life was in danger, rose against the king's officers, and declared they would protect her at the peril of their lives. The city therefore made preparations for defence, and called in the king's bastard brothers, who were then in arms against Don Pedro. The rebels, in the hope that the queen's popularity would serve their cause, proclaimed themselves her champions, but do not seem to have cared much for her safety. The inhabitants of Toledo were more faithful; unfortunately, they were unable to resist the troops of Don Pedro, who took the city by storm. His wife, now again a prisoner, he refused to see, but ordered her to the castle of Siguenza. From this place she was removed to Xerez de la Frontera. She died suddenly, whether

BLANCHE OF CASTILE

from poison, as was then generally believed, or in consequence of her sorrows and long imprisonment, it is difficult to decide. The news of her death sent a thrill of pity and indignation through France; and a few years later, when the "great companies," under Du Guesclin, marched into Spain to help Henry Trastamare against Don Pedro, many a knight engaged in the war merely for the purpose of avenging the unhappy Blanche.

BLANCHE OF CASTILE, queen of France, born in 1187, died Dec. 1, 1252. She was the daughter of Alfonso IX., king of Castile, by Eleonora of England, sister of Richard the Lionhearted and John Lackland. By the treaty of peace concluded in 1206, between John and Philip Augustus, it was agreed that Blanche should marry Louis, heir-apparent to the crown of France; the marriage ceremony was consequently performed in the beginning of the following year. Her beauty and sweet temper secured at once the affections of her husband, while her good sense, energy, and prudence won the regard of her father-in-law, who, shrewd monarch as he was, frequently took advice from the young princess. She consequently mingled in political affairs, giving repeated evidence of both ability and decision. In 1216, when her husband was called to England by the lords confederated against John, she insisted upon his accepting their offer; she spared no exertion to help him in this bold undertaking, and sent him money and reënforcements. Undoubtedly, if the English crown could have been won by good management and chivalrous conduct, the young couple would have been successful; but John being dead, the lords returned to their allegiance to his son. Louis saw himself deserted by his former adherents, and a fleet, despatched by Blanche, having been defeated off Dover, Aug. 24, 1217, no alternative was left to him but to return to France. His wife consoled him in his defeat, and, 18 months later, encouraged him in a crusade against the Albigenses. On the death of Philip Augustus, and the accession of Louis VIII. to the throne, she was more than ever the inspiring genius of her husband. She accompanied him in his new crusade against the Albigenses, and received from him, on his death-bed, at Montpensier, the guardianship of his eldest son, afterward Louis IX. The attention given by Blanche to politics had never interfered with the motherly care she bestowed on her children, and the new king, then a pious and good-natured boy, evinced in after life all the virtues of a hero and a saint. Through her title of guardian, she at once assumed the regency, and ruled with such ability that she overcame all the difficulties springing from the ambitious schemes of insubordinate vassals. A formidable league had been formed in the north of France, claiming the regency for young Philip Hurepel, a son of Philip Augustus by Agnes de Meranie. Among the number was Thibault IV., count of Champagne, said to be in love with the queen; she

so adroitly used her influence over the mind, and perhaps the heart of her alleged lover, that she made him the stanchest supporter of her son. She was thus enabled, after a struggle of nearly 4 years, to defeat the confederates. Meanwhile she had secured to the crown the rich inheritance of the counts of Toulouse, by a treaty signed at Paris in 1229; she then forced to submission the unruly duke of Brittany, and helped her friend, the count of Champagne, in taking possession of the kingdom of Navarre. In 1234 she married her beloved son, then 19 years old, to Marguerite of Provence, who was but 12, thus paving the way for the ultimate reunion of that beautiful country with France. When, in 1236, she resigned her power into the hands of Louis IX., the kingdom was in a flourishing condition, and had received many important territorial accessions. The young king, who entertained for his mother the tenderest love and deepest respect, could not but be sensible of her great services, and retained her near him as his best and constant adviser. But with all his condescension to her wisdom, he had a will of his own, as was evidenced by his engaging, against all her remonstrances and entreaties, in a crusade to the Holy Land. She wept bitterly on their parting, as if she felt that they were not to meet again. She now resumed the duties of regent, and displayed her wonted ability among the new difficulties she had to encounter. The defeat and captivity of her son in Egypt was a bitter grief to her; while the necessity of paying his ransom, and sending him money for his journey to Palestine, obliged her, however reluctant, to lay heavy taxes upon the people. She had beside to suppress, by somewhat cruel measures, the revolt of the poor Pastoureaux, which was also a severe trial to her feelings. Notwithstanding her piety, she kept free from the sway of the clergy, and did not hesitate to restrain the encroachments of that powerful body. Her death caused universal mourning.

BLAND, JOHN, a martyr in the reign of queen Mary, burned at Canterbury, July 12, 1555, with another clergyman and 2 laymen, boldly admitting the charges made against him of denying the corporal presence, the propriety of celebrating the sacrament in an unknown tongue, and in one kind only to laymen.

BLAND, COL. THEODORIO, a Virginia patrigt, was born in Prince George county, Va., in 1742, died in New York, June 1, 1790. Through his grandmother, Jane Rolfe, he was fourth in descent from Pocahontas. At an early age he was sent to England, where, at Wakefield, the scene of Goldsmith's "Vicar," and afterward at Edinburgh, he pursued his academical and medical studies with success. Together with Drs. Lee, Field, Blair, Gilmer, and Bankhead, his fellow-students, he drew up a petition to the Virginia house of burgesses, to enact a law forbidding any person to practise medicine in the colony without a proper license. Soon afterward, in 1764 or '65, Dr. Bland re

turned to Virginia, and, marrying Miss Dangerfield, of the "Northern Neck," commenced the practice of his profession, which he assiduously pursued to the opening of the revolution. Abandoning medicine, he at once enlisted in the contest, in all the struggles of which he bore an active and prominent part. He was one of a score of gentlemen who removed from Lord Dunmore's palace the arms and ammunition which that nobleman had abstracted from the public arsenal; and soon afterward he published a series of bitterly indignant letters against the governor, under the signature of "Cassius," in which his excellency was charged with "giving currency to lies," holding "lewd and nightly orgies with negroes in his palace," and oppressing the colony generally. Col. Bland was made captain of the first troop of Virginia cavalry, but when 6 companies were enrolled, became lieutenantcolonel, with which rank he joined the main army in 1777. With the exception of a single term in the senate of Virginia, he remained in military service to the end of the war, enjoying the high esteem and confidence of Washington, who frequently employed him in responsible affairs. Among other trusts confided to him, was the command of the prisoners taken at Saratoga, when they were marched to Charlottesville, Va. Upon the termination of the revolutionary contest, he was elected a member of the general congress, which then sat at Philadelphia. Here his mansion was the resort of Washington, Lafayette, M. de Noailles, M. de Dumas, and many of the most distinguished men of the epoch. He continued in congress until 1783, when he returned to Virginia. He was elected a member of the convention of 1788 to ratify the federal constitution, against which he voted, but was chosen as the first representative to congress under that instrument. He died at New York, where that body was then sitting, at the age of 48. Dr. Bland was greatly prized for his social accomplishments, which set off an elegant and imposing person. He was tall, his countenance noble, his manners dignified and full of well-bred repose. In his public and private character, all his actions were characterized by rigid integrity, and unfaltering devotion to principle and duty.

BLANDRATA, GIORGIO, one of the founders of Unitarianism in Poland and Transylvania, born in the marquisate of Saluzzo, in Piedmont, in the first part of the 16th century, died about 1590. A physician by profession, he united great talent with great personal advantages, which endeared him to a numerous circle of friends at Pavia, where he resided for some time. Having embraced the doctrines of the reformation, he retired to Geneva, but having manifested anti-Trinitarian opinions, he soon found the religious atmosphere of Switzerland equally uncongenial, and first repaired to Germany and subsequently to Poland. Notwithstanding the admonition of Calvin, he was received with distinction, and gained such credit among the Protestants of Poland, that he was

elected one of the superintendents of the Helvetian churches of Little Poland. This gave him great facilities for spreading his opinions, and the reformed churches of Poland seemed to be in the way of being wholly pervaded by the fast spreading anti-Trinitarianism. More cautious than Stancor, and other religious reformers, he feigned to subscribe to the Calvinist creed, and made an apology for his belief at the synod of Xionz. In vain were all the endeavors of Calvin to expose the insincerity of his professions. The Italian, instead of being considered as a heretic, found many followers among the most eminent personages, and among others, Prince Radziwil, who appointed him as his plenipotentiary to the synod of Pinczow in 1561. Having accepted the place of physician to John Sigismund, prince of Transylvania, in 1563, Gregorius Pauli, of Brzeziny, became his successor in Poland, and gave to the antiTrinitarian doctrines a more complete development, while Blandrata now aimed at propagating his views in Transylvania. He succeeded in causing the prince and the court to embrace his doctrines, and at a diet held in 1571 at Maros-Vasarhely, Unitarianism was legally recognized as one of the religions of the land. This took place after a public disputation which he had held, in conjunction with Davidis, a celebrated Unitarian divine, against the Lutheran ministers at Weissenburg, and which lasted 10 days. After the death of John Sigismund, he returned to Poland, and was physician to Stephan and Christopher Bathori, the rank of privy councillor being conferred upon him after Stephan's accession to the throne of Poland. The Bathoris, although not peculiarly favorable to Unitarianism, were unable to prevent the growth of the new doctrines. The denomination increased in power and influence all over the country, and especially numerous were the congregations in the Transylvanian towns of Weissenburg and Klausenburg. The rights and privileges which the Transylvanian Unitarians enjoy at the present day, are thus all to be traced to the seed sown by Blandrata and his fellow-laborers. Blandrata, however, seems to have been swayed by worldly considerations in the latter part of his life, and to the great consternation of his friend Faustus Socinus, and of the other adherents of his church, he endeavored to ingratiate himself with King Stephan, and to augment his fortunes by abandoning his former religious grounds. He finally met with a violent death from the hand of his own nephew, who was supposed to have been instigated by mercenary motives, as he was afraid lest the religious differences between him and his uncle might alienate from him the latter's large property, which he considered himself entitled to inherit. Henke published in 1795, G. Blandrata confessio Antitrinitaria ejusque confutatio, auctore Matthia Flacio.

BLANE, SIR GILBERT, an English physician, born in Ayrshire, Scotland, Aug. 29, 1749,

died June 26, 1834. Through the recommendation of Dr. Wm. Hunter, of London, he became private physician, first to Lord Holdernesse, and then to Admiral Lord Rodney, who, for his gallant conduct during an engagement, made him physician to the fleet. In 1783 he received a pension from the crown, and published "Observations on the Diseases of Seamen." In the West Indies he obtained the friendship of Prince William Henry (afterward William IV.), then a midshipman under Lord Rodney, and this greatly advanced him in his professional career, obtaining him large private practice, and the presidency of the naval medical board. He wrote a variety of tracts and pamphlets on medical subjects, and on the best mode of preserving public health. In 1812 he was made a baronet.

BLANGINI, Giuseppe Marco MARIA FELICE, a musical composer, was born in Turin in 1781, and died in Paris, Dec. 1841. At 12 he was organist of the cathedral in that city, and at 14 led a mass with a full orchestra. He went to Paris in 1799, and was for several years a successful composer of opera there. His fame, however, rests chiefly on his smaller pieces, which were received with much favor, especially in Germany, where he officiated for some time as chapelmaster at the courts of the elector of the Bavarian Palatinate, and of the king of Westphalia.

2

BLANK VERSE, verse without rhyme or the consonance of final syllables. All the Greek and Latin verse is of this species. Rhyme was the native growth of the heroic and primitive literature of the northern barbarians. During the dark ages not only did rhyme preserve its monopoly over the vernacular languages of Europe, but even intruded itself into the Latin. Gonsalvo Perez, a Spaniard, the secretary of state to the emperor Charles V., and afterward to Philip II., brought blank verse into European notice by translating Homer's " "Odyssey into the Spanish with that metre. Felice Figliucci, in his Italian commentary on the ethics of Aristotle, published 1551, declaims against the Gothic barbarity of rhyme, says that it is unworthy of the favor of a son of Italy, and puts his precepts into practice by translating the quotations from Euripides and Homer which are found in Aristotle into Italian verse without rhyme. In 1547 and 1548, Trissino published his Italia Liberata di Goti, in blank verse. Yet from the nature of the language, and inasmuch as Dante and the great Italian poets of the middle ages had all used rhyme, Italy has not been favorable to the growth of a blank verse literature. Trissino is generally recognized as the introducer of blank verse into the modern Italian, and it is said composed the tragedy of Sofonisba as early as 1524. In the French language Jodelle and De Baif, who lived in the second quarter of the 16th century, composed in blank verse. Nicholas Rapin, who lived at the end of the 16th century, was a fanatical worshipper of