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 BJOENSON

BLANQUI

ing core of mystery left for our emotions to feed on &quot; (p. 91), and says that his god is &quot;the future&quot; (p. 93).

BJORNSON, Bjornstjerne, Norwegian poet, novelist, and dramatist. B. Dec. 8, 1832. Ed. at a private school in Christiania (with Ibsen) and at Christiania University. Though the son of a Lutheran pastor, Bjornson became not only one of the most distinguished literary artists of Scandi navia, but the greatest Eationalist of his country. His first drama (Between the Battles) and first novel (Trust and Trial] appeared in 1857. From that year until 1863 he was Director of the Bergen Theatre, and from 1863 to 1865 of the Christiania Theatre. His novels, dramas, and poems during these and later years brought him a European reputation little inferior to that of Ibsen, his great Scandi navian contemporary and fellow Eation alist. He remained a Christian until 1875, when the study of Herbert Spencer dissolved his belief and he became an aggressive Agnostic. His Whence came the Miracles of the New Testament ? (1882) was one of the first Eationalist publications to appear in Norway, and in the following year he translated a lecture of Ingersoll s. Bjornson was an Honorary Associate of the E. P. A., and he was a leader for thirty years of the Norwegian republicans. In 1903 he won the Nobel Prize for literature. To mention his name in Norway, says Dr. Brandes, was &quot; like running up the national flag,&quot; and at his death the Athenaum observed that &quot; European literature had sustained no such loss since Victor Hugo.&quot; D. Apr. 26, 1910.

BLAGOSYETLOY, Grigorevich, Eus- sian writer. B. 1826. Ed. Saratov and Petrograd. After teaching for some years in the military school at Petrograd he adopted letters, and he won a high position in the realist or naturalist school. His journal, Russian Speech, was suppressed, and he afterwards edited Action (Djelo). He translated Mill s Subjection of Women, 79

and wrote on Mill, Shelley, Buckle, and Darwin. He was a very advanced thinker on religion and on social subjects. D. 1885.

BLAKE, William, poet. B. Nov. 28, 1757. Ed. Parr s drawing school and the Eoyal Academy. Blake was early appren ticed to engraving, and in 1784 he opened a shop for the sale of prints. In addition to his high skill as an engraver, he wrote remarkable poetry, in which mysticism was blended with a bold rejection of ortho dox traditions. His Songs of Innocence were published in 1789, and Songs of Experience in 1794. He was influenced by, but did not entirely follow, Swedenborg, declaring that he knew that his &quot;visions&quot; were purely subjective. See W. M. Eossetti s introduction to the 1874 edition of his poems (p. Ixxvi, etc.). He was a Theist, but Christian only in a dreamy and sentimental sense. D. Aug. 12, 1827.

BLANC, Jean Joseph Charles Louis,

French political writer. B. Oct. 29, 1811. Ed. Lycee Eodez, Madrid. His father having been ruined by the fall of Napoleon, Louis completed his education by personal study and became a tutor. Eeturning to Paris in 1834, he edited Bon Sens, and in 1839 he founded the Eevue du Progres. His famous work L organisation du travail was published in 1840. In 1848 Blanc had a place in the Provisional Government, but he was not, as is often said, the creator of the National Workshops. He fled to England, returned to France in 1870, took part in the Commune, and afterwards sat for many years in Parliament. He founded L Homme Libre, and wrote several important historical works, in which his complete rejection of religion is often expressed. D. Dec. 6, 1882.

BLANQUI, Louis Auguste, French Com munist. B. Feb. 7, 1805. A tutor in early life, he adopted communist ideas and took part in the Eevolutions of 1830 and 1848. He had been condemned to imprison ment for life in 1840, but he was liberated 80