Halevy. His second opera, _La Jolie Fitte de Perth_, produced at the
Theatre Lyrique on 26th December 1867, was scarcely a step in advance.
The libretto was founded on Sir Walter Scott's novel, but the opera
lacks unity of style, and its pages are marred by concessions to the
vocalist. One number has survived, the characteristic Bohemian dance
which has been interpolated into the fourth act of _Carmen_. In his
third opera Bizet returned to an oriental subject. _Djamileh_, a one-act
opera given at the Opera Comique on the 22nd of May 1872, is certainly
one of his most individual efforts. Again were accusations of Wagnerism
hurled at the composer's head, and _Djamileh_ did not achieve the
success it undoubtedly deserved. The composer was more fortunate with
the incidental music he wrote to Alphonse Daudet's drama,
_L'Arlesienne_, produced in October 1872. Different numbers from this,
arranged in the form of suites, have often been heard in the
concert-room. Rarely have poetry and imagination been so well allied as
in these exquisite pages, which seem to reflect the sunny skies of
Provence.
Bizet's masterpiece, _Carmen_, was brought out at the Opera Comique on
the 3rd of March 1875. It was based on a version by Meilhac and Halevy
of a study by Prosper Merimee--in which the dramatic element was
obscured by much descriptive writing. The detection of the drama
underlying this psychological narrative was in itself a brilliant
discovery, and in reconstructing the story in dramatic form the authors
produced one of the most famous libretti in the whole range of opera.
Still more striking than the libretto was the music composed by Bizet,
in which the peculiar use of the flute and of the lowest notes of the
harp deserves particular attention.
On the 3rd of June, three months after the production of _Carmen_ in
Paris, the genial composer expired after a few hours' illness from a
heart affection. Before dying he had the satisfaction of knowing that
_Carmen_ had been accepted for production at Vienna. After the Austrian
capital came Brussels, Berlin and, in 1878, London, when _Carmen_ was
brought out at Her Majesty's theatre with immense success. The influence
exercised by Bizet on dramatic music has been very great, and may be
discerned in the realistic works of the young Italian school, as well as
in those of his own countrymen.
BJORNEBORG (Finnish, _Pori_), a district town of Finland, province of
Abo-Bjorneborg, on the E. coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, at the mouth of
the Kumo. Lat. 51 deg. 8' N., long. 46 deg. 0' E. Pop. (1904) 16,053,
mostly Swedes. Large vessels cannot enter its roadstead, and stop at
Rafso. The town has shipbuilding wharves, machine works, and several
tanneries and brick-works, and has a total trade of over 16,000,000
marks, the chief export being timber.
BJORNSON, BJORNSTJERNE (1832-1910), Norwegian poet, novelist and
dramatist, was born on the 8th of December 1832 at the farmstead of
Bjorngen, in Kvikne, in Osterdal, Norway. In 1837 his father, who had been
pastor of Kvikne, was transferred to the parish of Noesset, in Romsdal; in
this romantic district the childhood of Bjornson was spent. After some
teaching at the neighbouring town of Molde, he was sent at the age of
seventeen to a well-known school in Christiania to study for the
university; his instinct for poetry was already awakened, and indeed he
had written verses from his eleventh year. He matriculated at the
university of Christiania in 1852, and soon began to work as a journalist,
especially as a dramatic critic. In 1857 appeared _Synnove Solbakken_, the
first of Bjornson's peasant-novels; in 1858 this was followed by _Arne_,
in 1860 by _A Happy Boy_, and in 1868 by _The Fisher Maiden_. These are
the most important specimens of his _bonde-fortaellinger_ or
peasant-tales--a section of his literary work which has made a profound
impression in his own country, and has made him popular throughout the
world. Two of the tales, _Arne_ and _Synnove Solbakken_, offer perhaps
finer examples of the pure peasant-story than are to be found elsewhere in
literature.
Bjornson was anxious "to create a new saga in the light of the peasant,"
as he put it, and he thought this should be done, not merely in prose
fiction, but in national dramas or _folke-stykker_. The earliest of
these was a one-act piece the scene of which is laid in the 12th
century, _Between the Battles_, was written in 1855, but not produced
until 1857. He was especially influenced at this time by the study of
Baggesen and Ochlenschlager, during a visit to Copenhagen 1856-1857.
_Between the Battles_ was followed by _Lame Hulda_ in 1858, and _King
Sverre_ in 1861. All these efforts, however, were far excelled by the
splendid trilogy of _Sigurd the Bastard_, which Bjornson issued in 1862.
This raised him to the front rank among the younger poets of Europe. His
_Sigurd the Crusader_ should be added to the category of these heroic
plays, although it was not printed until 1872.
At the close of 1857 Bjornson had been appointed director of the theatre
at Bergen, a post which he held, with much journalistic work, for two
years, when he returned to the capital. From 1860 to 1863 he travelled
widely throughout Europe. Early in 1865 he undertook the management of
the Christiania theatre, and brought out his popular comedy of _The
Newly Married_ and his romantic tragedy of _Mary Stuart in Scotland_.
Although Bjornson has introduced into his novels and plays songs of
extraordinary beauty, he was never a very copious writer of verse; in
1870 he published his _Poems and Songs_ and the epic cycle called
_Arnljot Gelline_; the latter volume contains the magnificent ode called
"Bergliot," Bjornson's finest contribution to lyrical poetry. Between
1864 and 1874, in the very prime of life, Bjornson displayed a
slackening of the intellectual forces very remarkable in a man of his
energy; he was indeed during these years mainly occupied with politics,
and with his business as a theatrical manager. This was the period of
Bjornson's most fiery propaganda as a radical agitator. In 1871 he began
to supplement his journalistic work in this direction by delivering
lectures over the length and breadth of the northern countries. He
possessed to a surprising degree the arts of the orator, combined with a
magnificent physical prestige. From 1873 to 1876 Bjornson was absent
from Norway, and in the peace of voluntary exile he recovered his
imaginative powers. His new departure as a dramatic author began with _A
Bankruptcy_ and _The Editor_ in 1874, social dramas of an extremely
modern and realistic cast.
The poet now settled on his estate of Aulestad in Gausdal. In 1877 he
published another novel, _Magnhild_--an imperfect production, in which
his ideas on social questions were seen to be in a state of
fermentation, and gave expression to his republican sentiments in the
polemical play called _The King_, to a later edition of which he
prefixed an essay on "Intellectual Freedom," in further explanation of
his position. _Captain Mansana_, an episode of the war of Italian
independence, belongs to 1878. Extremely anxious to obtain a full
success on the stage, Bjornson concentrated his powers on a drama of
social life, _Leonardo_ (1879), which raised a violent controversy. A
satirical play, _The New System_, was produced a few weeks later.
Although these plays of Bjornson's second period were greatly discussed,
none of them (except _A Bankruptcy_) pleased on the boards. When once
more he produced a social drama, _A Gauntlet_, in 1883, he was unable to
persuade any manager to stage it, except in a modified form, though this
play gives the full measure of his power as a dramatist. In the autumn
of the same year, Bjornson published a mystical or symbolic drama
_Beyond our Powers_, dealing with the abnormal features of religious
excitement with extraordinary force; this was not acted until 1899, when
it achieved a great success.
Meanwhile, Bjornson's political attitude had brought upon him a charge
of high treason, and he took refuge for a time in Germany, returning to
Norway in 1882. Convinced that the theatre was practically closed to
him, he turned back to the novel, and published in 1884, _Flags are
Flying in Town and Port_, embodying his theories on heredity and
education. In 1889 he printed another long and still more remarkable
novel, _In God's Way_, which is chiefly concerned with the same
problems. The same year saw the publication of a comedy, _Geography and
Love_, which continues to be played with success. A number of short
stories, of a more or less didactic character, dealing with startling
points of emotional experience, were collected in 1894; among them those
which produced the greatest sensation were _Dust, Mother's Hands_, and
_Absalom's Hair_. Later plays were a political tragedy called _Paul
Lange and Tora Parsberg_ (1898), a second part of _Beyond our Powers_
(1895), _Laboremus_ (1901), _At Storhove_ (1902), and _Daglannet_
(1904). In 1899, at the opening of the National theatre, Bjornson
received an ovation, and his saga-drama of _Sigurd the Crusader_ was
performed.
A subject which interested him greatly, and on which he occupied his
indefatigable pen, was the question of the _bonde-maal_, the adopting of
a national language for Norway distinct from the _dansk-norsk_
(Dano-Norwegian), in which her literature has hitherto been written.
Bjornson's strong and sometimes rather narrow patriotism did not blind
him to the fatal folly of such a proposal, and his lectures and
pamphlets against the _maal-straev_ in its extreme form did more than
anything else to save the language in this dangerous moment. Bjornson
was one of the original members of the Nobel committee, and was
re-elected in 1900. In 1903 he was awarded the Nobel prize for
literature. Bjornson had done as much as any other man to rouse
Norwegian national feeling, but in 1903, on the verge of the rupture
between Norway and Sweden, he preached conciliation and moderation to
the Norwegians. He was an eloquent advocate of Pan-Germanism, and,
writing to the _Figaro_ in 1905, he outlined a Pan-Germanic alliance of
northern Europe and North America. He died on the 26th of April 1910.
See Bjornson's _Samlede Vaerker_ (Copenhagen, 1900-1902, 11 vols.);
_The Novels of Bjornstjerne Bjornson_ (1894, &c.), edited by Edmund
Gosse; G. Brandes, _Critical Studies_ (1899); E. Tissot, _Le drame
norvegien_ (1893); C.D. af Wirsen, _Kritiker_ (1901); Chr. Collin,
_Bjornstjerne Bjornson_ (2 vols., German ed., 1903), the most complete
biography and criticism at present available; and B. Halvorsen, _Norsk
Forfatter Lexikon_ (1885). (E. G.)
BLACHFORD, FREDERIC ROGERS, BARON (1811-1889), British civil servant,
eldest son of Sir Frederick Leman Rogers, 7th Bart. (whom he succeeded
in the baronetcy in 1851), was born in London on the 31st of January
1811. He was educated at Eton and Oriel college, Oxford, where he had a
brilliant career, winning the Craven University scholarship, and taking
a double first-class in classics and mathematics. He became a fellow of
Oriel (1833), and won the Vinerian scholarship (1834), and fellowship
(1840). He was called to the bar in 1837, but never practised. At school
and at Oxford he was a contemporary of W.E. Gladstone, and at Oxford he
began a lifelong friendship with J.H. Newman and R.W. Church; his
classical and literary tastes, and his combination of liberalism in
politics with High Church views in religion, together with his good
social position and interesting character, made him an admired member of
their circles. For two or three years (1841-1844) he wrote for _The
Times_, and he helped to found _The Guardian_ in 1846; he also did a
good deal to assist the Tractarian movement. But he eventually settled
down to the life of a government official. He began in 1844 as registrar
of joint-stock companies, and in 1846 became commissioner of lands and
emigration. Between 1857 and 1859 he was engaged in government missions
abroad, connected with colonial questions, and in 1860 he was appointed
permanent under-secretary of state for the colonies. Sir Frederic Rogers
was the guiding spirit of the colonial office under six successive
secretaries of state, and on his retirement in 1871 was raised to the
peerage as Baron Blachford of Wisdome, a title taken from his place in
Devonshire. He died on the 21st of November 1889.
A volume of his letters, edited by G.E. Marindin (1896), contains an
interesting Life, partly autobiographical.
BLACK, ADAM (1784-1874), Scottish publisher, founder of the firm of A. &
C. Black, the son of a builder, was born in Edinburgh on the 20th of
February 1784. After serving his apprenticeship to the bookselling trade
in Edinburgh and London, he began business for himself in Edinburgh in
1808. By 1826 he was recognized as one of the principal booksellers in
the city; and a few years later he was joined in business by his nephew
Charles. The two most important events connected with the history of the
firm were the publication of the 7th, 8th and 9th editions of the
_Encyclopaedia Brittannica_, and the purchase of the stock and copyright
of the Waverley Novels. The copyright of the _Encyclopaedia_ passed into
the hands of Adam Black and a few friends in 1827. In 1851 the firm
bought the copyright of the Waverley Novels for L27,000; and in 1861
they became the proprietors of De Quincey's works. Adam Black was twice
lord provost of Edinburgh, and represented the city in parliament from
1856 to 1865. He retired from business in 1865, and died on the 24th of
January 1874. He was succeeded by his sons, who removed their business
in 1895 to London. There is a bronze statue of Adam Black in East
Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh.
See _Memoirs of Adam Black_, edited by Alexander Nicholson (2nd ed.,
Edinburgh, 1885).
BLACK, JEREMIAH SULLIVAN (1810-1883), American lawyer and statesman, was
born in Stony Creek township, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, on the 10th
of January 1810. He was largely self-educated, and before he was of age
was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar. He gradually became one of the
leading American lawyers, and in 1851-1857 was a member of the supreme
court of Pennsylvania (chief-justice 1851-1854). In 1857 he entered
President Buchanan's cabinet as attorney-general of the United States.
In this capacity he successfully contested the validity of the
"California land claims"--claims to about 19,000 sq. m. of land,
fraudulently alleged to have been granted to land-grabbers and others by
the Mexican government prior to the close of the Mexican War. From the
17th of December 1860 to the 4th of March 1861 he was secretary of
state. Perhaps the most influential of President Buchanan's official
advisers, he denied the constitutionality of secession, and urged that
Fort Sumter be properly reinforced and defended. "For ... the vigorous
assertion at last in word and in deed that the United States is a
nation," says James Ford Rhodes, "for pointing out the way in which the
authority of the Federal government might be exercised without
infringing on the rights of the states, the gratitude of the American
people is due to Jeremiah S. Black." He became reporter to the Supreme
Court of the United States in 1861, but after publishing the reports for
the years 1861 and 1862 he resigned, and devoted himself almost
exclusively to his private practice, appearing in such important cases
before the Supreme Court as the one known as _Ex-Parte Milligan_, in
which he ably defended the right of trial by jury, the McCardle case and
the _United States_ v. _Blyew et al_. After the Civil War he vigorously
opposed the Congressional plan of reconstructing the late Confederate
states, and himself drafted the message of President Johnson, vetoing
the Reconstruction Act of the 2nd of March 1867. Black was also for a
short time counsel for President Andrew Johnson, in his trial on the
article of impeachment, before the United States Senate, and for William
W. Belknap (1829-1890), secretary of war from 1869 to 1876, who in 1876
was impeached on a charge of corruption; and with others he represented
Samuel J. Tilden during the contest for the presidency between Tilden
and Hayes (see ELECTORAL COMMISSION). He died at Brockie, Pennsylvania,
on the 19th of August 1883.
See _Essays and Speeches of Jeremiah S. Black, with a Biographical
Sketch_ (New York, 1885), by his son, C.F. Black.
BLACK, JOSEPH (1728-1799), Scottish chemist and physicist, was born in
1728 at Bordeaux, where his father--a native of Belfast but of Scottish
descent--was engaged in the wine trade. At the age of twelve he was sent
to a grammar school in Belfast, whence he removed in 1746 to study
medicine in Glasgow. There he had William Cullen for his instructor in
chemistry, and the relation between the two soon became that of
professor and assistant rather than of master and pupil. The action of
lithontriptic medicines, especially lime-water, was one of the questions
of the day, and through his investigations of this subject Black was led
to the chemical discoveries associated with his name. The causticity of
alkaline bodies was explained at that time as depending on the presence
in them of the principle of fire, "phlogiston"; quicklime, for instance,
was chalk which had taken up phlogiston, and when mild alkalis such as
sodium or potassium carbonate were causticized by its aid, the
phlogiston was supposed to pass from it to them. Black showed that on
the contrary causticization meant the loss of something, as proved by
loss of weight; and this something he found to be an "air," which,
because it was fixed in the substance before it was causticized, he
spoke of as "fixed air." Taking _magnesia alba_, which he distinguished
from limestone with which it had previously been confused, he showed
that on being heated it lost weight owing to the escape of this fixed
air (named carbonic acid by Lavoisier in 1781), and that the weight was
regained when the calcined product was made to reabsorb the fixed air
with which it had parted. These investigations, by which Black not only
gave a great impetus to the chemistry of gases by clearly indicating the
existence of a gas distinct from common air, but also anticipated
Lavoisier and modern chemistry by his appeal to the balance, were
described in the thesis _De humore acido a cibis orto, et magnesia
alba_, which he presented for his doctor's degree in 1754; and a fuller
account of them was read before the Medical Society of Edinburgh in June
1753, and published in the following year as _Experiments upon magnesia,
quicklime and some other alkaline substances_.
It is curious that Black left to others the detailed study of this
"fixed air" he had discovered. Probably the explanation is pressure of
other work. In 1756 he succeeded Cullen as lecturer in chemistry at
Glasgow, and was also appointed professor of anatomy, though that post
he was glad to exchange for the chair of medicine. The preparation of
lectures thus took up much of his time, and he was also gaining an
extensive practice as a physician. Moreover, his attention was engaged
on studies which ultimately led to his doctrine of latent heat. He
noticed that when ice melts it takes up a quantity of heat without
undergoing any change of temperature, and he argued that this heat,
which as was usual in his time he looked upon as a subtle fluid, must
have combined with the particles of ice and thus become latent in its
substance. This hypothesis he verified quantitatively by experiments,
performed at the end of 1761. In 1764, with the aid of his assistant,
William Irvine (1743-1787), he further measured the latent heat of
steam, though not very accurately. This doctrine of latent heat he
taught in his lectures from 1761 onwards, and in April 1762 he described
his work to a literary society in Glasgow. But he never published any
detailed account of it, so that others, such as J.A. Deluc, were able to
claim the credit of his results. In the course of his inquiries he also
noticed that different bodies in equal masses require different amounts
of heat to raise them to the same temperature, and so founded the
doctrine of specific heats; he also showed that equal additions or
abstractions of heat produced equal variations of bulk in the liquid of
his thermometers. In 1766 he succeeded Cullen in the chair of chemistry
in Edinburgh, where he devoted practically all his time to the
preparation of his lectures. Never very robust, his health gradually
became weaker and ultimately he was reduced to the condition of a
valetudinarian. In 1795 he received the aid of a coadjutor in his
professorship, and two years later he lectured for the last time. He
died in Edinburgh on the 6th of December 1799 (not on the 26th of
November as stated in Robison's life).
As a scientific investigator, Black was conspicuous for the carefulness
of his work and his caution in drawing conclusions. Holding that
chemistry had not attained the rank of a science--his lectures dealt
with the "effects of heat and mixture"--he had an almost morbid horror
of hasty generalization or of anything that had the pretensions of a
fully fledged system. This mental attitude, combined with a certain lack
of initiative and the weakness of his health, probably prevented him
from doing full justice to his splendid powers of experimental research.
Apart from the work already mentioned he published only two papers
during his life-time--"The supposed effect of boiling on water, in
disposing it to freeze more readily" (_Phil. Trans._, 1775), and "An
analysis of the waters of the hot springs in Iceland" (_Trans. Roy. Soc.
Ed._, 1794).
After his death his lectures were written out from his own notes,
supplemented by those of some of his pupils, and published with a
biographical preface by his friend and colleague, Professor John
Robison (1739-1805), in 1803 as _Lectures on the Elements of
Chemistry, delivered in the University of Edinburgh_.
BLACK, WILLIAM (1841-1898), British novelist, was born at Glasgow on the
9th of November 1841. His early ambition was to be a painter, but he
made no way, and soon had recourse to journalism for a living. He was at
first employed in newspaper offices in Glasgow, but obtained a post on
the _Morning Star_ in London, and at once proved himself a descriptive
writer of exceptional vivacity. During the war between Prussia and
Austria in 1866 he represented the _Morning Star_ at the front, and was
taken prisoner. This paper shortly afterwards failed, and Black joined
the editorial staff of the _Daily News_. He also edited the _Examiner_,
at a time when that periodical was already moribund. After his first
success in fiction, he gave up journalism, and devoted himself entirely
to the production of novels. For nearly thirty years he was successful
in retaining the popular favour. He died at Brighton on the 10th of
December 1898, without having experienced any of that reaction of the
public taste which so often follows upon conspicuous successes in
fiction. Black's first novel, _James Merle_, published in 1864, was a
complete failure; his second, _Love or Marraige_ (1868), attracted but
very slight attention. _In Silk Attire_ (1869) and _Kilmeny_ (1870)
marked a great advance on his first work, but in 1871 _A Daughter of
Heth_ suddenly raised him to the height of popularity, and he followed
up this success by a string of favourites. Among the best of his books
are _The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton_ (1872); _A Princess of Thule_
(1874); _Madcap Violet_ (1876); _Macleod of Dare_ (1878); _White Wings_
(1880); _Sunrise_ (1880); _Shandon Bells_ (1883); _Judith Shakespeare_
(1884); _White Heather_ (1885); _Donald Ross of Heimra_ (1891);
_Highland Cousins_ (1894); and _Wild Eelin_ (1898). Black was a
thoroughgoing sportsman, particularly fond of fishing and yachting, and
his best stories are those which are laid amid the breezy mountains of
his native land, or upon the deck of a yacht at sea off its wild coast.
His descriptions of such scenery are simple and picturesque. He was a
word-painter rather than a student of human nature. His women are
stronger than his men, and among them are many wayward and lovable
creatures; but subtlety of intuition plays no part in his
characterization. Black also contributed a life of Oliver Goldsmith to
the _English Men of Letters_ series.
BLACK APE, a sooty, black, short-tailed, and long-faced representative
of the macaques, inhabiting the island of Celebes, and generally
regarded as forming a genus by itself, under the name of _Cynopithecus
niger_, but sometimes relegated to the rank of a subgenus of _Macacus_.
The nostrils open obliquely at some distance from the end of the snout,
and the head carries a crest of long hair. There are several local
races, one of which was long regarded as a separate species under the
name of the Moor macaque, _Macacus maurus_. (See PRIMATES.)
BLACKBALL, a token used for voting by ballot against the election of a
candidate for membership of a club or other association. Formerly white
and black balls about the size of pigeons' eggs were used respectively
to represent votes for and against a candidate for such election; and
although this method is now generally obsolete, the term "blackball"
survives both as noun and verb. The rules of most clubs provide that a
stated proportion of "blackballs" shall exclude candidates proposed for
election, and the candidates so excluded are said to have been
"blackballed"; but the ballot (q.v.) is now usually conducted by a
method in which the favourable and adverse votes are not distinguished
by different coloured balls at all. Either voting papers are employed,
or balls--of which the colour has no significance--are cast into
different compartments of a ballot-box according as they are favourable
or adverse to the candidate.
BLACKBERRY, or BRAMBLE, known botanically as _Rubus fruticosus_ (natural
order Rosaceac), a native of the north temperate region of the Old
World, and abundant in the British Isles as a copse and hedge-plant. It
is characterized by its prickly stem, leaves with usually three or five
ovate, coarsely toothed stalked leaflets, many of which persist through
the winter, white or pink flowers in terminal clusters, and black or
red-purple fruits, each consisting of numerous succulent drupels crowded
on a dry conical receptacle. It is a most variable plant, exhibiting
many more or less distinct forms which are regarded by different
authorities as sub-species or species. In America several forms of the
native blackberry, _Rubus nigrobaccus_ (formerly known as _R.
villosus_), are widely cultivated; it is described as one of the most
important and profitable of bush-fruits.
For details see F.W. Card in L.H. Bailey's _Cyclopedia of American
Horticulture_ (1900).
BLACKBIRD (_Turdus merula_), the name commonly given to a well-known
British bird of the _Turdidae_ family, for which the ancient name was
ousel (q.v.), Anglo-Saxon _osle_, equivalent of the German _Amsel_, a
form of the word found in several old English books. The plumage of the
male is of a uniform black colour, that of the female various shades of
brown, while the bill of the male, especially during the breeding
season, is of a bright gamboge yellow. The blackbird is of a shy and
restless disposition, courting concealment, and rarely seen in flocks,
or otherwise than singly or in pairs, and taking flight when startled
with a sharp shrill cry. It builds its nest in March, or early in April,
in thick bushes or in ivy-clad trees, and usually rears at least two
broods each season. The nest is a neat structure of coarse grass and
moss, mixed with earth, and plastered internally with mud, and here the
female lays from four to six eggs of a blue colour speckled with brown.
The blackbird feeds chiefly on fruits, worms, the larvae of insects and
snails, extracting the last from their shells by dexterously chipping
them on stones; and though it is generally regarded as an enemy of the
garden, it is probable that the amount of damage by it to the fruit is
largely compensated for by its undoubted services as a vermin-killer.
The notes of the blackbird are rich and full, but monotonous as compared
with those of the song-thrush. Like many other singing birds it is, in
the wild state, a mocking-bird, having been heard to imitate the song
of the nightingale, the crowing of a cock, and even the cackling of a
hen. In confinement it can be taught to whistle a variety of tunes, and
even to imitate the human voice.
The blackbird is found in every country of Europe, even
breeding--although rarely--beyond the arctic circle, and in eastern Asia
as well as in North Africa and the Atlantic islands. In most parts of
its range it is migratory, and in Britain every autumn its numbers
receive considerable accession from passing visitors. Allied species
inhabit most parts of the world, excepting Africa south of the Sahara,
New Zealand and Australia proper, and North America. In some of these
the legs as well as the bill are yellow or orange; and in a few both
sexes are glossy black. The ring-ousel, _Turdus torquatus_, has a dark
bill and conspicuous white gorget, whence its name. It is rarer and more
local than the common blackbird, and occurs in England only as a
temporary spring and autumn visitor.
BLACK BUCK (_Antilope cervicapra_), the Indian Antelope, the sole
species of its genus. This antelope, widely distributed in India, with
the exception of Ceylon and the region east of the Bay of Bengal, stands
about 32 in. high at the shoulder; the general hue is brown deepening
with age to black; chest, belly and inner sides of limbs pure white, as
are the muzzle and chin, and an area round the eyes. The horns are long,
ringed, and form spirals with from three to five turns. The doe is
smaller in size, yellowish-fawn above, and this hue obtains also in
young males. These antelopes frequent grassy districts and are usually
found in herds. Coursing black-buck with the cheeta (q.v.) is a
favourite Indian sport.
BLACKBURN, COLIN BLACKBURN, BARON (1813-1896), British judge, was born
in Selkirkshire in 1813, and educated at Eton and at Trinity College,
Cambridge, taking high mathematical honours in 1835. He was called to
the bar in 1838, and went the northern circuit. His progress was at
first slow, and he employed himself in reporting and editing, with T.F.
Ellis, eight volumes of the highly-esteemed Ellis and Blackburn reports.
His deficiency in all the more brilliant qualities of the advocate
almost confined his practice to commercial cases, in which he obtained
considerable employment in his circuit; but he continued to belong to
the outside bar, and was so little known to the legal world that his
promotion to a puisne judgeship in the court of queen's bench in 1859
was at first ascribed to Lord Campbell's partiality for his countrymen,
but Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Wensleydale and Lord Cranworth came forward to
defend the appointment. Blackburn himself is said to have thought that a
county court judgeship was about to be offered him, which he had
resolved to decline. He soon proved himself one of the soundest lawyers
on the bench, and when he was promoted to the court of appeal in 1876
was considered the highest authority on common law. In 1876 he was made
a lord of appeal and a life peer. Both in this capacity and as judge of
the queen's bench he delivered many judgments of the highest importance,
and no decisions have been received with greater respect. In 1886 he was
appointed a member of the commission charged to prepare a digest of the
criminal law, but retired on account of indisposition in the following
year. He died at his country residence, Doonholm in Ayrshire, on the 8th
of January 1896. He was the author of a valuable work on the _Law of
Sales_.
See _The Times_, 10th of January 1896; E. Manson, _Builders of our
Law_ (1904).
BLACKBURN, JONATHAN (c. 1700-c. 1765), American portrait painter, was
born in Connecticut. He seems to have been the son of a painter, and to
have had a studio in Boston in 1750-1765; among his patrons were many
important early American families, including the Apthorps, Amorys,
Bulfinches, Lowells, Ewings, Saltonstalls, Winthrops, Winslows and
Otises of Boston. Some of his portraits are in the possession of the
public library of Lexington, Massachusetts, and of the Massachusetts
Historical Society, but most of them are privately owned and are
scattered over the country, the majority being in Boston. John Singleton
Copley was his pupil, and it is said that he finally left his studio in
Boston, through jealousy of Copley's superior success. He was a good
portrait painter, and some of his pictures were long attributed to
Copley.
BLACKBURN, a municipal, county and parliamentary borough of Lancashire,
England, 210 m. N.W. by N. from London, and 24-1/2 N.N.W. from
Manchester, served by the Lancashire & Yorkshire and the London & North
Western railways, with several lines from all parts of the county. Pop.
(1891) 120,064; (1901) 127,626. It lies in the valley of a stream called
in early times the Blackeburn, but now known as the Brook. The hills in
the vicinity rise to some 900 ft., and among English manufacturing towns
Blackburn ranks high in beauty of situation. Besides numerous churches
and chapels the public buildings comprise a large town hall (1856),
market house, exchange, county court, municipal offices, chamber of
commerce, free library, and, outside the town, an infirmary. There are
an Elizabethan grammar school, in modern buildings (1884) and an
excellent technical school. The Corporation Park and Queen's Park are
well laid out, and contain ornamental waters. There is an efficient
tramway service, connecting the town with Darwen, 5 m. south. The cotton
industry employs thousands of operatives, the iron trade is also very
considerable, and many are engaged in the making of machines; but a
former woollen manufacture is almost extinct. Blackburn's speciality in
the cotton industry is weaving. Coal, lime and building stone are
abundant in the neighbourhood. Blackburn received a charter of
incorporation in 1851, and is governed by a mayor, 14 aldermen and 42
councillors. The county borough was created in 1888. The parliamentary
borough, which returns two members, is coextensive with the municipal,
and lies between the Accrington and Darwen divisions of the county.
Area, 7432 acres.
Blackburn is of considerable antiquity; indeed, the 6th century is
allocated to the original foundation of a church on the site of the
present parish church. Of another church on this site Cranmer was rector
after the Reformation. Blackburn was for some time the chief town of a
district called Blackburnshire, and as early as the reign of Elizabeth
ranked as a flourishing market town. About the middle of the 17th
century it became famous for its "checks," which were afterwards
superseded by a similar linen-and-cotton fabric known as "Blackburn
greys." In the 18th century the ability of certain natives of the town
greatly fostered its cotton industry; thus James Hargreaves here
probably invented his spinning jenny about 1764, though the operatives,
fearing a reduction of labour, would have none of it, and forced him to
quit the town for Nottingham. He was in the employment of Robert Peel,
grandfather of the prime minister of that name, who here instituted the
factory system, and as the director of a large business carefully
fostered the improvement of methods.
See W.A. Abram, _History of Blackburn_ (Blackburn, 1897).
BLACKBURNE, FRANCIS (1782-1867), lord chancellor of Ireland, was born at
Great Footstown, Co. Meath, Ireland, on the 11th of November 1782.
Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he was called to the English bar in
1805, and practised with great success on the home circuit. Called to
the Irish bar in 1822, he vigorously administered the Insurrection Act
in Limerick for two years, effectually restoring order in the district.
In 1826 he became a serjeant-at-law, and in 1830, and again, in 1841,
was attorney-general for Ireland. In 1842 he became master of the rolls
in Ireland, in 1846 chief-justice of the queen's bench, and in 1852 (and
again in 1866) lord chancellor of Ireland. In 1856 he was made a lord
justice of appeal in Ireland. He is remembered as having prosecuted
O'Connell and presided at the trial of Smith O'Brien. He died on the
17th of September 1867.
BLACKCOCK (_Tetrao tetrix_), the English name given to a bird of the
family _Tetraonidae_ or grouse, the female of which is known as the grey
hen and the young as poults. In size and plumage the two sexes offer a
striking contrast, the male weighing about 4 lb., its plumage for the
most part of a rich glossy black shot with blue and purple, the lateral
tail feathers curved outwards so as to form, when raised, a fan-like
crescent, and the eyebrows destitute of feathers and of a bright
vermilion red. The female, on the other hand, weighs only 2 lb., its
plumage is of a russet brown colour irregularly barred with black, and
its tail feathers are but slightly forked. The males are polygamous, and
during autumn and winter associate together, feeding in flocks apart
from the females; but with the approach of spring they separate, each
selecting a locality for itself, from which it drives off all intruders,
and where morning and evening it seeks to attract the other sex by a
display of its beautiful plumage, which at this season attains its
greatest perfection, and by a peculiar cry, which Selby describes as "a
crowing note, and another similar to the noise made by the whetting of a
scythe." The nest, composed of a few stalks of grass, is built on the
ground, usually beneath the shadow of a low bush or a tuft of tall
grass, and here the female lays from six to ten eggs of a dirty-yellow
colour speckled with dark brown. The blackcock then rejoins his male
associates, and the female is left to perform the labours of hatching
and rearing her young brood. The plumage of both sexes is at first like
that of the female, but after moulting the young males gradually assume
the more brilliant plumage of their sex. There are also many cases on
record, and specimens may be seen in the principal museums, of old
female birds assuming, to a greater or less extent, the plumage of the
male. The blackcock is very generally distributed over the highland
districts of northern and central Europe, and in some parts of Asia. It
is found on the principal heaths in the south of England, but is
specially abundant in the Highlands of Scotland.
[Illustration: Blackcock. ]
BLACK COUNTRY, THE, a name commonly applied to a district lying
principally in S. Staffordshire, but extending into Worcestershire and
Warwickshire, England. This is one of the chief manufacturing centres in
the United Kingdom, and the name arises from the effect of numerous
collieries and furnaces, which darken the face of the district, the
buildings and the atmosphere. Coal, ironstone and clay are mined in
close proximity, and every sort of iron and steel goods is produced. The
district extends 15 m. N.W. from Birmingham, and includes Smethwick,
West Bromwich, Dudley, Oldbury, Sedgley, Tipton, Bilston, Wednesbury,
Wolverhampton and Walsall as its most important centres. The ceaseless
activity of the Black Country is most readily realized when it is
traversed, or viewed from such an elevation as Dudley Castle Hill, at
night, when the glare of furnaces appears in every direction. The
district is served by numerous branches of the Great Western, London &
North Western, and Midland railways, and is intersected by canals, which
carry a heavy traffic, and in some places are made to surmount physical
obstacles with remarkable engineering skill, as in the case of the
Castle Hill tunnels at Dudley. Among the numerous branches of industry
there are several characteristic of certain individual centres. Thus,
locks are a specialty at Wolverhampton and Willenhall, and keys at
Wednesfield; horses' bits, harness-fittings and saddlery at Walsall and
Bloxwich, anchors and cables at Tipton, glass at Smethwick, and nails
and chains at Cradley.
BLACK DROP, in astronomy, an apparent distortion of the planet Mercury
or Venus at the time of internal contact with the limb of the sun at the
beginning or end of a transit. It has been in the past a source of much
perplexity to observers of transits, but is now understood to be a
result of irradiation, produced by the atmosphere or by the aberration
of the telescope.
BLACKFOOT (_Siksika_), a tribe and confederacy of North American Indians
of Algonquian stock. The name is explained as an allusion to their
leggings being observed by the whites to have become blackened by
marching over the freshly burned prairie. Their range was around the
headwaters of the Missouri, from the Yellowstone northward to the North
Saskatchewan and westward to the Rockies. The confederacy consisted of
three tribes, the Blackfoot or Siksika proper, the Kaina and the Piegan.
During the early years of the 19th century the Blackfoots were one of
the strongest Indian confederacies of the north-west, numbering some
40,000. At the beginning of the 20th century there were about 5000, some
in Montana and some in Canada.
See Jean L'Heureux, _Customs and Religious Ideas of Blackfoot Indians
in J.A.I._, vol. xv. (1886); G.B. Grinnell, _Blackfoot Lodge Tales_
(1892); G. Catlin, _North American Indians_ (1876); _Handbook of
American Indians_ (Washington, 1907), under "Siksika."
BLACK FOREST (Ger. _Schwarzwald_; the _Silva Marciana_ and _Abnoba_ of
the Romans), a mountainous district of south-west Germany, having an
area of 1844 sq. m., of which about two-thirds lie in the grand duchy of
Baden and the remaining third in the kingdom of Wurttemberg. Bounded on
the south and west by the valley of the Rhine, to which its declivities
abruptly descend, and running parallel to, and forming the counterpart
of the Vosges beyond, it slopes more gently down to the valley of the
Neckar in the north and to that of the Nagold (a tributary of the
Neckar) on the north-east. Its total length is 100 m., and its breadth
varies from 36 m. in the south to 21 in the centre and 13 in the north.
The deep valley of the Kinzig divides it laterally into halves, of which
the southern, with an average elevation of 3000 ft., is the wilder and
contains the loftiest peaks, which again mostly lie towards the western
side. Among them are the Feldberg (4898 ft.), the Herzogenhorn (4600),
the Blossling (4260) and the Blauen (3820). The northern half has an
average height of 2000 ft. On the east side are several lakes, and here
the majority of the streams take their rise. The configuration of the
hills is mainly conical and the geological formation consists of gneiss,
granite (in the south) and red sandstone. The district is poor in
minerals; the yield of silver and copper has almost ceased, but there
are workable coal seams near Offenburg, where the Kinzig debouches on
the plain. The climate in the higher districts is raw and the produce is
mostly confined to hardy cereals, such as oats. But the valleys,
especially those on the western side, are warm and healthy, enclose good
pasture land and furnish fruits and wine in rich profusion. They are
clothed up to a height of about 2000 ft. with luxuriant woods of oak and
beech, and above these again and up to an elevation of 4000 ft.,
surrounding the hills with a dense dark belt, are the forests of fir
which have given the name to the district. The summits of the highest
peaks are bare, but even on them snow seldom lies throughout the summer.
The Black Forest produces excellent timber, which is partly sawn in the
valleys and partly exported down the Rhine in logs. Among other
industries are the manufactures of watches, clocks, toys and musical
instruments. There are numerous mineral springs, and among the watering
places Baden-Baden and Wildbad are famous. The towns of Freiburg,
Rastatt, Offenburg and Lahr, which lie under the western declivities,
are the chief centres for the productions of the interior.
The Black Forest is a favourite tourist resort and is opened up by
numerous railways. In addition to the main lines in the valleys of the
Rhine and Neckar, which are connected with the towns lying on its
fringe, the district is intersected by the Schwarzwaldbahn from
Offenburg to Singen, from which various small local lines ramify.
BLACK HAWK [Ma'katawimesheka'ka, "Black Sparrow Hawk"], (1767-1838),
American Indian warrior of the Sauk and Fox tribes, was born at the Sauk
village on Rock river, near the Mississippi, in 1767. He was a member of
the Thunder gens of the Sauk tribe, and, though neither an hereditary
nor an elected chief, was for some time the recognized war leader of the
Sauk and Foxes. From his youth he was intensely bloodthirsty and hostile
to the Americans. Immediately after the acquisition of "Louisiana," the
Federal government took steps for the removal of the Sauk and Foxes, who
had always been a disturbing element among the north-western Indians, to
the west bank of the Mississippi river. As early as 1804, by a treaty
signed at St Louis on the 3rd of November, they agreed to the removal in
return for an annuity of $1000. British influences were still strong in
the upper Mississippi valley and undoubtedly led Black Hawk and the
chiefs of the Sauk and Fox confederacy to repudiate this agreement of
1804, and subsequently to enter into the conspiracy of Tecumseh and take
part with the British in the war of 1812. The treaties of 1815 at
Portage des Sioux (with the Foxes) and of 1816 at St Louis (with the
Sauk) substantially renewed that of 1804. That of 1816 was signed by
Black Hawk himself, who declared, however, when in 1823 Chief Keokuk and
a majority of the two nations crossed the river, that the consent of the
chiefs had been obtained by fraud. In 1830 a final treaty was signed at
Prairie du Chien, by which all title to the lands of the Sauk and Foxes
east of the Mississippi was ceded to the government, and provision was
made for the immediate opening of the tract to settlers. Black Hawk,
leading the party in opposition to Keokuk, at once refused to accede to
this cession and threatened to retaliate if his lands were invaded. This
precipitated what is known as the Black Hawk War. Settlers began pouring
into the new region in the early spring of 1831, and Black Hawk in June
attacked several villages near the Illinois-Wisconsin line. After
massacring several isolated families, he was driven off by a force of
Illinois militia. He renewed his attack in the following year (1832),
but after several minor engagements, in most of which he was successful,
he was defeated (21st of July) at Wisconsin Heights on the Wisconsin
river, opposite Prairie du Sac, by Michigan volunteers under Colonels
Henry Dodge and James D. Henry, and fleeing westward was again
decisively defeated on the Mississippi at the mouth of the Bad Axe river
(on the 1st and 2nd of August) by General Henry Atkinson. His band was
completely dispersed, and he himself was captured by a party of
Winnebagoes. At Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, on the 21st of September, a
treaty was signed, by which a large tract of the Sauk and Fox territory
was ceded to the United States; and the United States granted to them a
reservation of 400 sq. m., the payment of $20,000 a year for thirty
years, and the settlement of certain traders' claims against the tribe.
With several warriors Black Hawk was sent to Fortress Monroe, Virginia,
where he was confined for a few weeks; afterwards he was taken by the
government through the principal Eastern cities. On his release he
settled in 1837 on the Sauk and Fox reservation on the Des Moines river,
in Iowa, where he died on the 3rd of October 1838.
See Frank E. Stevens, _The Black Hawk War_ (Chicago, 1903); R.G.
Thwaites, "The Story of the Black Hawk War" in vol. xii. of the
_Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin_; J.B.
Patterson, _Life of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak or Black Hawk_ (Boston,
1834), purporting to be Black Hawk's story as told by himself; and
Benjamin Drake, _Life of Black Hawk_ (Cincinnati, 1846).
BLACKHEATH, an open common in the south-east of London, England, mainly
in the metropolitan borough of Lewisham. This high-lying tract was
crossed by the Roman Watling Street from Kent, on a line approximating
to that of the modern Shooter's Hill; and was a rallying ground of Wat
Tyler (1381), of Jack Cade (1450), and of Audley, leader of the Cornish
rebels, defeated and captured here by the troops of Henry VII. in 1497.
It also witnessed the acclamations of the citizens of London on the
return of Henry V. from the victory of Agincourt, the formal meeting
between Henry VIII. and Anne of Cleves, and that between the army of
the restoration and Charles II. The introduction into England of the
game of golf is traditionally placed here in 1608, and attributed to
King James I. and his Scottish followers. The common, the area of which
is 267 acres, is still used for this and other pastimes. For the
residential district to which Blackheath gives name, see LEWISHAM.
BLACK HILLS, an isolated group of mountains, covering an area of about
6000 sq. m. in the adjoining corners of South Dakota and Wyoming, U.S.A.
They rise on an average some 2000 ft. above their base, the highest
peak, Harney, having an altitude above the sea of 7216 ft. They are
drained and in large part enclosed by the North (or Belle Fourche) and
South forks of the Cheyenne river (at whose junction a fur-trading post
was established about 1830); and are surrounded by semi-arid, alkaline
plains lying 3000 to 3500 ft. above the sea. The mass has an elliptical
shape, its long axis, which extends nearly N.N.W.-S.S.E., being about
120 m. and its shorter axis about 40 m. long. The hills are formed by a
short, broad, anticlinal fold, which is flat or nearly so on its summit.
From this fold the stratified beds have in large part been removed, the
more recent having been almost entirely eroded from the elevated mass.
The edges of these are now found encircling the mountains and forming a
series of fairly continuous rims of hog-backs. The carboniferous and
older stratified beds still cover the west half of the hills, while from
the east half they have been removed, exposing the granite. Scientific
exploration began in 1849, and systematic geological investigation about
1875. Rich gold placers had already been discovered, and in 1875 the
Sioux Indians within whose territory the hills had until then been
included, were removed, and the lands were open to white settlers.
Subsequently low-grade quartz mines were found and developed, and have
furnished a notable part of the gold supply of the country (about
$100,000,000 from 1875 to 1901). The output is to-day relatively small
in comparison with that of many other fields, but there are one or two
permanent gold mines of great value working low-grade ore. The silver
product from 1879 to 1901 was about $4,154,000. Deposits of copper, tin,
iron and tungsten have been discovered, and a variety of other mineral
products (graphite, mica, spodumene, coal, petroleum, &c.). In sharp
contrast to the surrounding plains the climate is subhumid, especially
in the higher Harney region. There is an abundance of fertile soil and
magnificent grazing land. A third of the total area is covered with
forests of pine and other trees, which have for the most part been made
a forest-reserve by the national government. Jagged crags, sudden
abysses, magnificent canyons, forests with open parks, undulating hills,
mountain prairies, freaks of weathering and erosion, and the enclosing
lines of the successive hog-backs afford scenery of remarkable variety
and wild beauty. There are several interesting limestone caverns, and
Sylvan Lake, in the high mountain district, is an important resort.
See the publications of the United States Geological Survey
(especially Professional Paper No. 26, _Economic Resources of the
Northern Black Hills_, 1904), and of the South Dakota School of Mines
(Bulletin No. 4, containing a history and bibliography of Black Hills
investigations); also R.L. Dodge, _The Black Hills: A Minute
Description_ ... (New York, 1876).
BLACKIE, JOHN STUART (1809-1895), Scottish scholar and man of letters,
was born in Glasgow on the 28th of July 1809. He was educated at the New
Academy and afterwards at the Marischal College, in Aberdeen, where his
father was manager of the Commerical Bank. After attending classes at
Edinburgh University (1825-1826), Blackie spent three years at Aberdeen
as a student of theology. In 1829 he went to Germany, and after studying
at Gottingen and Berlin (where he came under the influence of Heeren,
Ottfried Muller, Schleiermacher, Neander and Bockh) he accompanied
Bunsen to Italy and Rome. The years spent abroad extinguished his former
wish to enter the Church, and at his father's desire he gave himself up
to the study of law. He had already, in 1824, been placed in a lawyer's
office, but only remained there six months. By the time he was admitted
a member of the Faculty of Advocates (1834) he had acquired a strong
love of the classics and a taste for letters in general. A translation
of _Faust_, which he published in 1834, met with considerable success.
After a year or two of desultory literary work he was (May 1839)
appointed to the newly-instituted chair of Humanity (Latin) in the
Marischal College.
Difficulties arose in the way of his installation, owing to the action
of the Presbytery on his refusing to sign unreservedly the Confession of
Faith; but these were eventually overcome, and he took up his duties as
professor in November 1841. In the following year he married. From the
first his professorial lectures were conspicuous for the unconventional
enthusiasm with which he endeavoured to revivify the study of the
classics; and his growing reputation, added to the attention excited by
a translation of Aeschylus which he published in 1850, led to his
appointment in 1852 to the professorship of Greek at Edinburgh
University, in succession to George Dunbar, a post which he continued to
hold for thirty years. He was somewhat erratic in his methods, but his
lectures were a triumph of influential personality. A journey to Greece
in 1853 prompted his essay _On the Living Language of the Greeks_, a
favourite theme of his, especially in his later years; he adopted for
himself a modern Greek pronunciation, and before his death he endowed a
travelling scholarship to enable students to learn Greek at Athens.
Scottish nationality was another source of enthusiasm with him; and in
this connexion he displayed real sympathy with Highland home life and
the grievances of the crofters. The foundation of the Celtic chair at
Edinburgh University was mainly due to his efforts. In spite of the many
calls upon his time he produced a considerable amount of literary work,
usually on classical or Scottish subjects, including some poems and
songs of no mean order. He died in Edinburgh on the 2nd of March 1895.
Blackie was a Radical and Scottish nationalist in politics, but of a
fearlessly independent type; he was one of the "characters" of the
Edinburgh of the day, and was a well-known figure as he went about in
his plaid, worn shepherd-wise, wearing a broad-brimmed hat, and carrying
a big stick. His published works include (besides several volumes of
verse) _Homer and the Iliad_ (1866), maintaining the unity of the poems;
_Four Phases of Morals: Socrates, Aristotle, Christianity,
Utilitarianism_ (1871); _Essay on Self-Culture_ (1874); _Horae
Hellenicae_ (1874); _The Language and Literature of the Scottish
Highlands_ (1876); _The Natural History of Atheism_ (1877); _The Wise
Men of Greece_ (1877); _Lay Sermons_ (1881); _Altavona_ (1882); _The
Wisdom of Goethe_ (1883); _The Scottish Highlanders and the Land Laws_
(1885); _Life of Burns_ (1888); _Scottish Song_ (1889); _Essays on
Subjects of Moral and Social Interest_ (1890); _Christianity and the
Ideal of Humanity_ (1893). Amongst his political writings may be
mentioned a pamphlet _On Democracy_ (1867), _On Forms of Government_
(1867), and _Political Tracts_ (1868).
See Anna M. Stoddart, _John Stuart Blackie_ (1895); A. Stodart-Walker,
_Selected Poems of J.S. Blackie_, with an appreciation (1896); Howard
Angus Kennedy, _Professor Blackie_ (1895).
BLACK ISLE, THE, a district in the east of the county of Ross and
Cromarty, Scotland, bounded N. by Cromarty Firth, E. by Moray Firth, S.
by Inner Moray Firth (or Firth of Inverness) and Beauly Firth, and W. by
the river Conon and the parish of Urray. It is a diamond-shaped
peninsula jutting out from the mainland in a north-easterly direction,
the longer axis, from Muir of Ord station to the South Sutor at the
entrance to Cromarty Firth, measuring 20 m., and the shorter, from
Ferryton Point to Craigton-Point, due north and south, 12 m., and it has
a coastline of 52 m. Originally called Ardmeanach (Gaelic _ard_, height;
_manaich_, monk, "the monk's height," from an old religious house on the
finely-wooded ridge of Mulbuie), it derived its customary name from the
fact that, since snow does not lie in winter, the promontory looks black
while the surrounding country is white. Within its limits are comprised
the parishes of Urquhart and Logie Wester, Killearnan, Knockbain (Gaelic
_cnoc_, hill; _ban_, white), Avoch (pron. Auch), Rosemarkie, Resolis
(Gaelic _rudha_ or _ros soluis_, "cape of the light") or Kirkmichael and
Cromarty. The Black Isle branch of the Highland railway runs from Muir
of Ord to Fortrose; steamers connect Cromarty with Invergordon and
Inverness, and Fortrose with Inverness; and there are ferries, on the
southern coast, at North Kessock (for Inverness) and Chanonry (for Fort
George), and, on the northern coast, at Alcaig (for Dingwall),
Newhallpoint (for Invergordon), and Cromarty (for Nigg). The principal
towns are Cromarty and Fortrose. Rosehaugh, near Avoch, belonged to Sir
George Mackenzie, founder of the Advocates' library in Edinburgh, who
earned the sobriquet of "Bloody" from his persecution of the
Covenanters. Redcastle, on the shore, near Killearnan church, dates from
1179 and is said to have been the earliest inhabited house in the north
of Scotland. On the forfeiture of the earldom of Ross it became a royal
castle (being visited by Queen Mary), and afterwards passed for a period
into the hands of the Mackenzies of Gairloch. The chief industries are
agriculture--high farming flourishes owing to the great fertility of the
peninsula--sandstone-quarrying and fisheries (mainly from Avoch). The
whole district, though lacking water, is picturesque and was once
forested. The Mulbuie ridge, the highest point of which is 838 ft. above
the sea, occupies the centre and is the only elevated ground.
Antiquarian remains are somewhat numerous, such as forts and cairns in
Cromarty parish, and stone circles in Urquhart and Logie Wester and
Knockbain parishes, the latter also containing a hut circle and rock
fortress.
BLACKLOCK, THOMAS (1721-1791), Scottish poet, the son of a bricklayer,
was born at Annan, in Dumfriesshire, in 1721. When not quite six months
old he lost his sight by smallpox, and his career is largely interesting
as that of one who achieved what he did in spite of blindness. Shortly
after his father's death in 1740, some of Blacklock's poems began to be
handed about among his acquaintances and friends, who arranged for his
education at the grammar-school, and subsequently at the university of
Edinburgh, where he was a student of divinity. His first volume of Poems
was published in 1746. In 1754 he became deputy librarian for the
Faculty of Advocates, by the kindness of Hume. He was eventually
estranged from Hume, and defended James Beattie's attack on that
philosopher. Blacklock was among the first friends of Burns in
Edinburgh, being one of the earliest to recognize his genius. He was in
1762 ordained minister of the church of Kirkcudbright, a position which
he soon resigned; in 1767 the degree of doctor in divinity was conferred
on him by Marischal College, Aberdeen. He died on the 7th of July 1791.
An edition of his poems in 1793 contains a life by Henry Mackenzie.
BLACKMAIL, a term, in English law, used in three special meanings, at
different times. The usual derivation of the second half of the word is
from Norman Fr. _maille (medalia_; cf. "medal"), small copper coin; the
_New English Dictionary_ derives from "mail" (q.v.), meaning rent or
tribute. (1) The primary meaning of "blackmail" was rent paid in labour,
grain or baser metal (i.e. money other than sterling money), called
_reditus nigri_, in contradistinction to rent paid in silver or white
money (_mailles blanches_). (2) In the northern counties of England
(Northumberland, Westmorland and the bishopric of Durham) it signified a
tribute in money, corn, cattle or other consideration exacted from
farmers and small owners by freebooters in return for immunity from
robbers or moss-troopers. By a statute of 1601 it was made a felony
without benefit of clergy to receive or pay such tribute, but the
practice lingered until the union of England and Scotland in 1707. (3)
The word now signifies extortion of money or property by threats of
libel, presecution, exposure, &c. See such headings as COERCION,
CONSPIRACY, EXTORTION, and authorities quoted under CRIMINAL LAW.
BLACKMORE, SIR RICHARD (c. 1650-1729), English physician and writer, was
born at Corsham, in Wiltshire, about 1650. He was educated at
Westminster school and St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He was for some time a
schoolmaster, but finally, after graduating in medicine at Padua, he
settled in practice as a physician in London. He supported the
principles of the Revolution, and was accordingly knighted in 1697. He
held the office of physician in ordinary both to William III. and Anne,
and died on the 9th of October 1729. Blackmore had a passion for
writing epics. _Prince Arthur, an Heroick Poem in X Books_ appeared in
1695, and was followed by six other long poems before 1723. Of these
_Creation_ ... (1712), a philosophic poem intended to refute the atheism
of Vanini, Hobbes and Spinoza, and to unfold the intellectual philosophy
of Locke, was the most favourably received. Dr Johnson anticipated that
this poem would transmit the author to posterity "among the first
favourites of the English muse," while John Dennis went so far as to
describe it as "a philosophical poem, which has equalled that of
Lucretius in the beauty of its versification, and infinitely surpassed
it in the solidity and strength of its reasoning." These opinions have
not been justified, for the poem, like everything else that Blackmore
wrote, is dull and tedious. His _Creation_ appears in Johnson's and
Anderson's collections of the British poets. He left also works on
medicine and on theological subjects.
BLACKMORE, RICHARD DODDRIDGE (1825-1900), English novelist, was born on
the 7th of June 1825 at Longworth, Berkshire, of which village his
father was curate in charge. He was educated at Blundell's school,
Tiverton, and Exeter College, Oxford, where he obtained a scholarship.
In 1847 he took a second class in classics. Two years later he entered
as a student at the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar in 1852.
His first publication was a volume of _Poems by Melanter_ (1854), which
showed no particular promise, nor did the succeeding volume, _Epullia_
(1855), suggest that Blackmore had the makings of a poet. He was
nevertheless enthusiastic in his pursuit of literature; and when, a few
years later, the complete breakdown of his health rendered it clear that
he must remove from London, he determined to combine a literary life in
the country with a business career as a market-gardener. He acquired
land at Teddington, and set earnestly to work, the literary fruits of
his new surroundings being a translation of the _Georgics_, published in
1862. In 1864 he published his first novel, _Clara Vaughan_, the merits
of which were promptly recognized. _Cradock Nowell_ (1866) followed, but
it was in 1869 that he suddenly sprang into fame with _Lorna Doone_.
This fine story was a pioneer in the romantic revival; and appearing at
a jaded hour, it was presently recognized as a work of singular charm,
vigour and imagination. Its success could scarcely be repeated, and
though Blackmore wrote many other capital stories, of which the best
known are _The Maid of Sker_ (1872), _Christowell_ (1880), _Perlycross_
(1894), _Tales from the Telling House_ (1896) and _Dariel_ (1897), he
will always be remembered almost exclusively as the author of _Lorna
Doone_. He continued his quiet country life to the last, and died at
Teddington on the 20th of January 1900, in his seventy-fifth year.
_Lorna Doone_ has the true out-of-door atmosphere, is shot through and
through with adventurous spirit, and in its dramatic moments shows both
vigour and intensity. The heroine, though she is invested with qualities
of faery which are scarcely human, is an idyllic and haunting figure;
and John Ridd, the bluff hero, is, both in purpose and achievement, a
veritable giant of romance. The story is a classic of the West country,
and the many pilgrimages that are made annually to the Doone Valley (the
actual characteristics of which differ materially from the descriptions
given in the novel) are entirely inspired by the buoyant imagination of
Richard Blackmore. A memorial window and tablet to his memory were
erected in Exeter cathedral in 1904.
BLACK MOUNTAIN, a mountain range and district on the Hazara border of
the North-West Frontier Province of India. It is inhabited by Yusafzai
Pathans. The Black Mountain itself has a total length of 25 to 30 m.,
and an average height of 8000 ft. above the sea. It rises from the Indus
basin near the village of Kiara, up to its watershed by Bruddur; thence
it runs north-west by north to the point on the crest known as
Chittabut. From Chittabut the range runs due north, finally descending
by two large spurs to the Indus again. The tribes which inhabit the
western face of the Black Mountain are the Hassanzais (2300 fighting
men), the Akazais (1165 fighting men) and the Chagarzais (4890 fighting
men), all sub-sections of the Yusafzai Pathans. It was in this district
that the Hindostani Fanatics had their stronghold, and they were
responsible for much of the unrest on this part of the border.