Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/657

BLA to the influence of the duke of Richmond, who obtained for him the command of a regiment. He served as a brigadier-general at Carthagena, and led the assault at the storming of Bochachica. During the rebellion of 1745 he was governor of Stirling castle, and his conduct in defending that important fortress against the Highlanders was warmly applauded. His only reward, however, for his services was the lieutenant-governorship of the island of Minorca. He held this post when the French government in 1756 sent an army against it under Marshal Richelieu. General Blakeney had in vain sent urgent notice to the British ministry of the intentions of the French, and warned them of the defenceless state of the island. No measures whatever were taken to ward off the threatened danger until it was too late. (See .) A force of 15,000 men was landed on the island, and undertook the siege of fort Le Philip. After a determined resistance, which lasted for twenty days, and drew down the encomiums even of the enemy, the garrison was forced to capitulate. Marshal Richelieu declared that he was induced by the bravery of the governor and garrison, to "grant them such generous terms as would entitle them to march out with all the honours of war, and to be conveyed by sea to Gibraltar." On his return home the veteran governor, now in his 82nd year, received the approbation of George II. for his gallant defence of Le Philip, and was raised to the Irish peerage under the title of Baron Blakeney.—J. T.  BLAMIRE,, a poetess, whose pieces were welcomed with approbation as they appeared; but being written in provincial dialects, and published in different forms at distant intervals, they were in danger of being entirely forgotten till 1842, when Mr. Patrick Maxwell snatched them from oblivion by collecting them into a volume, which he published with a preface, memoir, and notes. Still they are likely to be overlooked or forgotten, in consequence of the language in which they are written becoming every day more and more unintelligible, by the refinement in speech now pervading all classes. Several of them, however, deserve a better fate, particularly the beautiful lyrics entitled "The Nabob" and "The Siller Croun." The gifted authoress was descended from a Cumberland family of high respectability, resident at Cardew hall, near Carlisle, where she was born in 1747. She remained with her parents till she reached her twentieth year, when she removed with her sister, who had married Colonel Grahame, to his estate of Duchray, Perthshire. While there she acquired a taste for Scotch melody, and acquainted herself with the language in which much of it is expressed. She wrote verses in the broad Doric of the district into which she had been introduced, with all the ease and grace of a native, so much so that it would be supposed she had never known any other. Some of her pieces are written in the Cumberland dialect, which of course was more natural to her, but which are still not more intelligible to general readers than the others. The only poem she wrote of any length is a descriptive one entitled "Stocklewath, or the Cumbrian Village," which, like most other mere descriptive pieces, fails to excite interest, save in the minds of persons belonging to the locality. Miss Blamire returned to Cumberland, and died unmarried at Carlisle in 1794, in her 47th year.—W. M'K.  BLAMONT,, a musician, was born at Versailles in 1690, where he died in 1760. He received his first lessons from his father, a chamber musician to the king, and in 1707 was engaged as violinist by the duchesse du Maine, in whose service he composed a cantata, called "Circe." Lalande was so charmed with this production, that he took the young author as a pupil in counterpoint, and became his stedfast friend. Blamont succeeded the son of the famous Lulli as superintendent of the music of the court in 1719, and was subsequently appointed master of the chamber music of the king. In 1723 he produced the opera of "Les Fêtes Grecques et Romaines," which won him general esteem, and for which he was created a chevalier of the order of St. Michel. He wrote several other operas and a large amount of chamber vocal music; he composed also some ballets for performance at court, which were not produced in public. In his latter years, when he had ceased to write and his music had already grown old-fashioned, he published in defence of this and its style, against the attacks of Rousseau, an "Essai sur lai gouts anciens et modernes de la musique Française."—G. A. M.  BLAMPIN,, a French Benedictine, born at Noyon in 1640, author of an admirable edition of the works of St. Augustine (in eleven vols., Paris, 1679-1700), was successively prior of St. Nicaise and St. Remy at Reims, and of St. Ouen at Rouen. Died 1710.  BLAMPOIX,, constitutional bishop of Troyes, and a member of the national council of 1801, was born at Macon in 1740, and died in 1820. He resigned his bishopric on the publication of the concordat.  BLANC,, born at Dijon in 1707; died at Paris in 1781, an abbé. His tragedy of "Abensaid" was successful, in spite of its very rugged versification. He published elegies and other poems.  * BLANC,, a well-known political writer, one of the members of the French provisional government after the revolution of 1848, was born at Madrid, 28th October, 1813. His father was inspector-general of the finances in Spain under Joseph Buonaparte; his mother, a Corsican lady, Estella Pozzo di Borgo; nearly related to the able and somewhat notorious ambassador of Russia, and greatly distinguished by her strength of intellect, and the force of her emotions. Louis spent his earliest youth in Corsica; but in 1830 he repaired to Paris to join his father, who was ruined by the revolution, and could no longer support his family. At the age of seventeen Louis was therefore compelled to struggle for his own support, and commenced his career by giving lessons in mathematics. In 1832 he went to Arras as tutor to the family of M. Hallet, a celebrated machine maker. In that town he made his first appearance as a political writer, and contributed various articles to the Progrès du Pas de Calais. In 1834 he went once more to Paris and joined the staff of the Bon Sens—became principal editor of that journal in 1837, and remained in that office about a year, when a dispute arose between the proprietors and the editorial staff regarding the construction of the French railroads. Louis Blanc asserted that the railways should be constructed by the state; the proprietors, on the contrary, maintaining that they should be left entirely to private enterprise. This led to his resignation; and in 1839 he established the Revue de Progrès, which was intended to advocate the views of the ultra democratic party. In 1840 he published his famous treatise, the "Organisation du Travail," and developed his doctrines of social and political reform. Poverty, said he, comes only from individualism, therefore the individual ought to be absorbed in a vast solidarité, where each shall have what he wants, and contribute what he can. These political speculations are certainly far from having obtained general acceptance; nay, they have been so mixed up with the passions and struggles of the revolution, that they can scarcely be said to have obtained a fair hearing; nevertheless, the student will do great injustice to himself, if he permits the unpopularity of these to blind him to the rare merits of the "Histoire de Dix Ans," 1830-1840, or of the history of the French revolution. Louis Blanc's popularity gained for him a place in the provisional government of 1848; and it is alleged that the punishment of death for political causes was abolished in the new republic at his suggestion. He was desirous of creating a Ministry of Progress. The proposition was not entertained by his colleagues, and he sent in his resignation; but was prevailed on to recall it, as a civil war would probably have resulted from his secession. He then became president of the commission of the Luxembourg, the intention of which was to elaborate some new scheme of political economy: the plan, however, led to no definite result. He was named a representative of the people, but did not long remain a member of the constituent assembly, as proceedings were instituted against him on account of pretended treasons. It is impossible at a period so near to that in which one has been called on to contend in the political arena, to expect an impartial estimate either of character or motives. Louis Blanc has suffered more than most. The provisional government was composed of very discordant elements, although fused for the moment; nor need the fact be a marvel to those who recollect the apparent harmony of the famous ministry of our own Earl Grey, notwithstanding the latent feuds, or rather seeds of irreconcilable feuds that existed within it. Its two great parties were those of the Reforme and the National. The Reforme stood by the masses; the National cared only for the bourgeoisie. No tie could bind these long; and in course of the rupture, the stronger sacrificed the weaker, pretty much as unceremoniously as has been the way with more recent deportments to Cayenne. This Cyclopædia cannot command space for the detail even of such parts of the history of that tumultuous period as are needful to elucidate 