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BLI The mutineers returned to Tahiti. Most of them remained there for some time. They had formed tender attachments on their first visit to that fascinating spot; and they had, in the tattooing process, to which they had submitted, been variously marked, several of them bearing the significant devices of "hearts and darts;" as appeared from Bligh's own printed description of the persons of the mutineers, which had been prepared by him, and written out at Batavia in October, 1789.

The privations undergone by Bligh and his companions in the open boat were most severe. The small quantity of pork, bread, water, rum, and wine, which had been flung to them from the Bounty, were doled out, from meal to meal, with the most jealous care; and the poor voyagers had to encounter heavy storms and cold, as well as the pains of hunger and thirst. The conduct of Bligh, in this terrible ordeal, afforded a wonderful instance of high spirit, courage, and perseverance. He calculated his poor quantum of provisions, and obtained a general consent to a certain small portion of bread and water per day for each, himself being strictly included in the plan. The very gourd out of which he ate his miserable allowance; the little horn-cup for serving a quarter of a pint of water to each person; the bullet which weighed the rations of bread; and though last, not least, the MS. book which contains his notes, and a prayer which he composed for their joint devotion, are all in existence; and affecting relics they are. For forty-eight days, in an open boat only twenty-three feet long, without any awning, they weathered the dangerous seas between Tofoa and Coupang, a Dutch settlement on the island of Timor, in the East Indies, a distance of 3618 miles. They landed at Coupang, to their infinite joy, on June 14, 1789; and Bligh, full of gratitude, reached Portsmouth on the 14th March, 1790. From written memoranda, made in the weather-stained MS. book above mentioned, he produced his interesting narrative and journal in quarto, in which a thoughtful reader will perceive many valuable traits of the commander's character; his trust in providence; his cheerfulness in trouble; his considerate care of his men; and his unyielding firmness. On one occasion in the boat, a quarrelsome member of the crew "not knowing what to be at," said he was as good a man as Bligh; when the commander seizing two cutlasses, gave the man one, and told him to defend himself, for he would try which was the better man. The malcontent immediately cried out for mercy and put down the weapon.

Bligh was soon made a commander, and then a post-captain, and was shortly afterwards appointed to the ship Providence, for the same purpose as before—that of conveying bread-fruit to the West Indies. In this he was most successful, leaving choice plants at St. Helena, St. Vincent, Jamaica, &c. On his return he received a large gold medal from the Society of Arts. But during his absence on honourable duty, the friends of the missing mutineers, and the enemies of the gallant and single-minded commander, were busy in endeavouring to tarnish his good name; and the accusations of tyranny and overbearing conduct to his men were scattered so freely about, that he deemed it necessary to publish an answer to the allegations made against him. In a quarto pamphlet, which is now scarce, he replied, with much calmness, to the remarks which had been printed in favour of Fletcher Christian, by his brother, E. Christian, a barrister of eminence, and the editor of Blackstone's Commentaries.

After this event Bligh was much engaged in active service, both in war and peace. In 1797, on the breaking cut of the mutiny at the Nore, the admiralty employed him to go among the men, and do what he could to recall them to obedience and order. On that occasion he behaved with great heroism and determination. On the 11th October, 1797, he commanded the Director in the brave Admiral Duncan's fleet at the battle of Camperdown; and he led the Glatton at the battle of Copenhagen in 1801, under Lord Nelson, who, having sent for him after the action, said, in the presence of several officers, "Bligh, I sent for you to thank you; you have supported me nobly."

In 1806 Captain Bligh was appointed governor of New South Wales. The same fixed determination to fulfil his commission to the best of his power, in spite of any offence which might be taken, accompanied him to Sydney. He had been instructed by his majesty's government, in a letter from Lord Castlereagh, to take measures against the unrestrained importation of ardent spirits into the settlement; and in the governor's vigorous and energetic efforts to abolish this prevalent evil, he caused such annoyance among certain colonists, that, in January, 1808, he was deposed, and put under arrest by the New South Wales corps, headed by Lieut.-Colonel G. Johnston. In May, 1811, the colonel was tried by court-martial at Chelsea Hospital, found guilty of an act of mutiny, and sentenced to be cashiered. The present chief baron of the exchequer, who was then Mr. Frederick Pollock, was one of Bligh's counsel at this remarkable trial.

Captain Bligh afterwards became a vice-admiral of the Blue. In advancing years he found great happiness in the midst of his family, to whom he was much endeared. A serious internal complaint obliged him to seek medical advice in London, whither he went from his residence at Farningham, Kent. He died shortly afterwards in Bond Street, London, December 7, 1817, in his sixty-fourth year, and was buried in a family vault in the churchyard of St. Mary, Lambeth, where his tomb may be seen. He left several daughters, but no son. His two surviving twin-daughters remember him with the tenderest affection.—T. B. M.  BLIN DE SAINMORE,, born at Paris, 1733; died in 1807. Any property which his parents had was lost in Law's disastrous banking speculations. He was obliged to earn his bread by what is called literature. He published a great deal of forgotten matter in the journals of the day, and lived with the usual hopelessness of a day-labourer, when some accident drew the attention of the court to him, and he obtained in 1776 a pension from the crown. Louis XVI. afterwards named him keeper of the archives, secretary and historiographer; he was also given the orders of St. Michel and Le Saint Esprit. The Revolution came and swept away place and pension, and a worse calamity than that which followed the universal bankruptcy of Law's day would have befallen our hero, were it not that the grand-duchess of Russia came to his aid. He was appointed "conservateur de la bibliotheque de l'arsenal." He has not left any work of moment. Of his poems, the "Heroides" is still sometimes looked at. Of his prose works, the "History of Russia" is probably the best.—J. A., D.  BLISS, C., M.D., an eminent physician of New York, the originator, and for a long period of years the chief director of the American Religious Tract Society; born in Bennington, Vermont, in 1791; died in 1855. As a practitioner he was no less humane and generous than skilful and laborious, and as a citizen he was venerated for untiring exertions on behalf of charitable institutions.  BLITHEMAN,, a musician, was gentleman and organist of Queen Elizabeth's chapel, and the first great English organ player on record. Some of his music, which is preserved in MS., bears evidence of high attainments in the art of writing for keyed stringed instruments at this early period. He was the master of the celebrated Dr. John Bull. In Munday's edition of Stow's Survey of London, it is recorded that he died in 1591, and was buried in the church of St. Nicholas, Cole-Abbey, London.—E. F. R.  BLIZARD,, a distinguished English surgeon. He was born in 1748 at Barnes Elms, where his father was an auctioneer. He was apprenticed to a surgeon and apothecary at Mortlake, and subsequently became a pupil at the London hospital, and attended the lectures of William and John Hunter and Mr. Potts. In 1780 he was elected assistant-surgeon to the London hospital, and, in conjunction with Dr. Maclaurin, opened a school of anatomy in Thames Street. They afterwards removed to Mark Lane, and then to the London hospital. This was one of the first schools established in connection with a hospital in the metropolis. In 1787 Mr. Blizard was made professor of anatomy to the old corporation of surgeons. He was afterwards made an examiner. He took an active interest in obtaining for the corporation or company with which he was connected a charter, by which they were called the Royal College of Surgeons of London. By a subsequent charter in 1844 this body is called the Royal College of Surgeons of England. In conjunction with Sir Everard Home he was made professor of anatomy to the new college. In 1803 he was appointed to present an address to the king from the College of Surgeons, and received the honour of knighthood. During his life he was twice chosen president and three times Hunterian orator. He lived to a great age, having died on the 28th of August, 1835. He retained, however, his faculties to the last, and attended a meeting of the court of examiners of the college the Friday before his death. The year before his death he was operated on by Mr. Lawrence for cataract with complete success. Considering the great opportunities enjoyed by Sir William Blizard, his 