[1] John Marshall, secretary of state, to Rufus King, minister to
England, 20th of September 1800, Am. State Papers, Class I, For. Rel.
II, No. 181, J.B. Moore, _Digest of International Law_, vii. 788.
[2] James Madison, secretary of state, to Mr Thornton, 27th of
October 1803, 14 MS. Dom. Let. 215. Moore, _Digest of International
Law_, vii. 789.
BLOCKHOUSE, in fortification, a small roofed work serving as a fortified
post for a small garrison. The word, common since 1500, is of uncertain
origin, and was applied to what is now called a _fort d'arret_, a
detached fort blocking the access to a landing, channel, pass, bridge or
defile. The modern blockhouse is a building, sometimes of two storeys,
which is loopholed on all sides, and not infrequently, in the case of
two-storey blockhouses, provided with a _machicoulis_ gallery.
Blockhouses are built of wood, brick, stone, corrugated iron or any
material available. During the South African War (1899-1902) they were
often sent from England to the front in ready-made sections.
BLOEMAERT, ABRAHAM (1564-1651), Dutch painter and engraver, was born at
Gorinchem, the son of an architect. He was first a pupil of Gerrit
Splinter (pupil of Frans Floris) and of Joos de Beer, at Utrecht. He
then spent three years in Paris, studying under several masters, and on
his return to his native country received further training from
Hieronymus Francken. In 1591 he went to Amsterdam, and four years later
settled finally at Utrecht, where he became dean of the Gild of St Luke.
He excelled more as a colourist than as a draughtsman, was extremely
productive, and painted and etched historical and allegorical pictures,
landscapes, still-life, animal pictures and flower pieces. Among his
pupils are his four sons, Hendrick, Frederick, Cornelis and Adriaan (all
of whom achieved considerable reputation as painters or engravers), the
two Honthorsts and Jacob G. Cuyp.
BLOEMEN, JAN FRANS VAN (1662-1740), Flemish painter, was born at
Antwerp, and studied and lived in Italy. At Rome he was styled Orizonte,
on account of his painting of distance in his landscapes, which are
reminiscent of Gaspard Poussin and much admired. His brothers Pieter
(1657-1719), styled Standaart (from his military pictures), and Norbert
(1670-1746), were also well-known painters.
BLOEMFONTEIN, capital of the Orange Free State, in 29 deg. 8' S., 26
deg. 18' E. It is situated on the open veld, surrounded by a few low
kopjes, 4518 ft. above the sea, 105 m. by rail E. by S. of Kimberley,
750 N.E. by E. of Cape Town, 450 N. by E. of Port Elizabeth, and 257
S.W. of Johannesburg.
Bloemfontein is a very pleasant town, regularly laid out with streets
running at right angles and a large central market square. Many of the
houses are surrounded by large wooded gardens. Through the town runs the
Bloemspruit. After a disastrous flood in 1904 the course of this spring
was straightened and six stone bridges placed across it. There are
several fine public buildings, mostly built of red brick and a
fine-grained white stone quarried in the neighbourhood. The Raadzaal, a
building in the Renaissance style, faces Market Square. Formerly the
meeting-place of the Orange Free State Raad, it is now the seat of the
provincial council. In front of the old Raadzaal (used as law courts) is
a statue of President Brand. In Douglas Street is an unpretentious
building used in turn as a church, a raadzaal, a court-house and a
museum. In it was signed (1854) the convention which recognized the
independence of the Free State Boers (see ORANGE FREE STATE: _History_).
Among the churches the most important, architecturally, are the Dutch
Reformed, a building with two spires, and the Anglican cathedral, which
has a fine interior. The chief educational establishment is Grey
University College, built 1906-1908 at a cost of L125,000. It stands in
grounds of 300 acres, a mile and a half from the town. In the town is
the original Grey College, founded in 1856 by Sir George Grey, when
governor of Cape Colony. The post and telegraph office in Market Square
is one of the finest buildings in the town. The public library is housed
in a handsome building in Warden Street. Opposite it is the new national
museum.
Bloemfontein possesses few manufactures, but is the trading centre of
the province. Having a dry healthy climate, it is a favourite
residential town and a resort for invalids, being recommended especially
for pulmonary disease. The mean maximum temperature is 76.7 deg. Fahr.,
the mean minimum 45.8 deg.; the mean annual rainfall about 24 in. There
is an excellent water-supply, obtained partly from Bloemspruit, but
principally from the Modder river at Sanna's Post, 22 m. to the east,
and from reservoirs at Moches Dam and Magdepoort.
The population in 1904 was 33,883, of whom, including the garrison of
3487, 15,501 were white, compared with a white population of 2077 in
1890. The coloured inhabitants are mostly Bechuana and Basuto. Most of
the whites are of British origin, and English is the common language of
all, including the Dutch.
The _spruit_ or spring which gives its name to the town was called after
one of the emigrant farmers, Jan Bloem. The town dates from 1846, in
which year Major H.D. Warden, then British resident north of the Orange,
selected the site as the seat of his administration. When in 1854
independence was conferred on the country the town was chosen by the
Boers as the seat of government. It became noted for the intelligence of
its citizens, and for the educational advantages it offered at the time
when education among the Boers was thought of very lightly. In 1892 the
railway connecting it with Cape Town and Johannesburg was completed.
During the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 it was occupied by the British
under Lord Roberts without resistance (13th of March 1900), fourteen
days after the surrender of General Cronje at Paardeberg. In Market
Square on the 28th of the following May the annexation of the Orange
Free State to the British dominions was proclaimed. In 1907 the first
session of the first parliament elected under the constitution granting
the colony self-government was held in Bloemfontein. In 1910 when the
colony became a province of the Union of South Africa under its old
designation of Orange Free State, Bloemfontein was chosen as the seat of
the Supreme Court of South Africa. Its growth as a business centre after
the close of the war in 1902 was very marked. The rateable value
increased from L709,000 in 1901 to L2,400,000 in 1905.
BLOET, ROBERT (d. 1123), English bishop, was chancellor to William I.
and Rufus. From the latter he received the see of Lincoln (1093) in
succession to Remigius. His private character was indifferent; but he
administered his see with skill and prudence, built largely, and kept a
magnificent household, which served as a training-school even for the
sons of nobles. Bloet was active in assisting Henry I. during the
rebellion of 1102, and became that monarch's justiciar. Latterly,
however, he fell out of favour, and, although he had been very rich, was
impoverished by the fines which the king extorted from him. Perhaps his
wealth was his chief offence in the king's eyes; for he was in
attendance on Henry when seized with his last illness. He was the patron
of the chronicler Henry of Huntingdon, whom he advanced to an
archdeaconry.
Henry of Huntingdon and W. Malmesbury (_De Gestis Pontificum_) are
original authorities. See E.A. Freeman's _William Rufus_; Sir James
Ramsay, _The Foundations of England_, vol. ii. (H. W. C. D.)
BLOIS, LOUIS DE (1506-1566), Flemish mystical writer, generally known
under the name of BLOSIUS, was born in October 1506 at the chateau of
Donstienne, near Liege, of an illustrious family to which several
crowned heads were allied. He was educated at the court of the
Netherlands with the future emperor Charles V. of Germany, who remained
to the last his staunch friend. At the age of fourteen he received the
Benedictine habit in the monastery of Liessics in Hainaut, of which he
became abbot in 1530. Charles V. pressed in vain upon him the
archbishopric of Cambrai, but Blosius studiously exerted himself in the
reform of his monastery and in the composition of devotional works. He
died at his monastery on the 7th of January 1566.
Blosius's works, which were written in Latin, have been translated into
almost every European language, and have appealed not only to Roman
Catholics, but to many English laymen of note, such as W.E. Gladstone
and Lord Coleridge. The best editions of his collected works are the
first edition by J. Frojus (Louvain, 1568), and the Cologne reprints
(1572, 1587). His best-known works are:--the _Institutio Spiritualis_
(Eng. trans., _A Book of Spiritual Instruction_, London, 1900);
_Consolatio Pusillanimium_ (Eng. trans., _Comfort for the
Faint-Hearted_, London, 1903); _Sacellum Animae Fidelis_ (Eng. trans.,
_The Sanctuary of the Faithful Soul_, London, 1905); all these three
works were translated and edited by Father Bertrand Wilberforce, O.P.,
and have been reprinted several times; and especially _Speculum
Monachorum_ (French trans. by Felicite de Lamennais, Paris, 1809; Eng.
trans., Paris, 1676; re-edited by Lord Coleridge, London, 1871, 1872,
and inserted in "Paternoster" series, 1901).
See Georges de Blois, _Louis de Blois, un Benedictin au XVI^eme
siecle_ (Paris, 1875), Eng. trans. by Lady Lovat (London, 1878, &c.).
BLOIS, a town of central France, capital of the department of
Loir-et-Cher, 35 m. S.W. of Orleans, on the Orleans railway between that
city and Tours. Pop. (1906) 18,457. Situated in a thickly-wooded
district on the right bank of the Loire, it covers the summits and
slopes of two eminences between which runs the principal thoroughfare of
the town named after the philosopher Denis Papin. A bridge of the 18th
century from which it presents the appearance of an amphitheatre, unites
Blois with the suburb of Vienne on the left bank of the river. The
streets of the higher and older part of the town are narrow and
tortuous, and in places so steep that means of ascent is provided by
flights of steps. The famous chateau of the family of Orleans (see
ARCHITECTURE: _Renaissance Architecture in France_), a fine example of
Renaissance architecture, stands on the more westerly of the two hills.
It consists of three main wings, and a fourth and smaller wing, and is
built round a courtyard. The most interesting portion is the north-west
wing, which was erected by Francis I., and contains the room where
Henry, duke of Guise, was assassinated by order of Henry III. The
striking feature of the interior facade is the celebrated spiral
staircase tower, the bays of which, with their beautifully sculptured
balustrades, project into the courtyard (see ARCHITECTURE, Plate VIII.
fig. 84). The north-east wing, in which is the entrance to the castle,
was built by Louis XII. and is called after him; it contains
picture-galleries and a museum. Opposite is the Gaston wing, erected by
Gaston, duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIII., which contains a
majestic domed staircase. In the north corner of the courtyard is the
Salle des Etats, which, together with the donjon in the west corner,
survives from the 13th century. Of the churches of Blois, the cathedral
of St Louis, a building of the end of the 17th century, but in Gothic
style, is surpassed in interest by St Nicolas, once the church of the
abbey of St Laumer, and dating from the 12th and 13th centuries. The
picturesqueness of the town is enhanced by many old mansions, the chief
of which is the Renaissance Hotel d'Alluye, and by numerous fountains,
among which that named after Louis XII. is of very graceful design. The
prefecture, the law court, the corn-market and the fine stud-buildings
are among the chief modern buildings.
Blois is the seat of a bishop, a prefect, and a court of assizes. It
has a tribunal of first instance, a tribunal of commerce, a board of
trade arbitration, a branch of the Bank of France, a communal college
and training-colleges. The town is a market for the agricultural and
pastoral regions of Beauce and Sologne, and has a considerable trade in
grain, the wines of the Loire valley, and in horses and other
live-stock. It manufactures boots and shoes, biscuits, chocolate,
upholstering materials, furniture, machinery and earthenware, and has
vinegar-works, breweries, leather-works and foundries.
Though of ancient origin, Blois is first distinctly mentioned by Gregory
of Tours in the 6th century, and was not of any importance till the 9th
century, when it became the seat of a powerful countship (see below). In
1196 Count Louis granted privileges to the townsmen; the commune, which
survived throughout the middle ages, probably dated from this time. The
counts of the Chatillon line resided at Blois more often than their
predecessors, and the oldest parts of the chateau (13th century) were
built by them. In 1429 Joan of Arc made Blois her base of operations for
the relief of Orleans. After his captivity in England, Charles of
Orleans in 1440 took up his residence in the chateau, where in 1462 his
son, afterwards Louis XII., was born. In the 16th century Blois was
often the resort of the French court. Its inhabitants included many
Calvinists, and it was in 1562 and 1567 the scene of struggles between
them and the supporters of the Roman church. In 1576 and 1588 Henry
III., king of France, chose Blois as the meeting-place of the
states-general, and in the latter year he brought about the murders of
Henry, duke of Guise, and his brother, Louis, archbishop of Reims and
cardinal, in the chateau, where their deaths were shortly followed by
that of the queen-mother, Catherine de' Medici. From 1617 to 1619 Marie
de' Medici, wife of King Henry IV., exiled from the court, lived at the
chateau, which was soon afterwards given by Louis XIII. to his brother
Gaston, duke of Orleans, who lived there till his death in 1660. The
bishopric dates from the end of the 17th century. In 1814 Blois was for
a short time the seat of the regency of Marie Louise, wife of Napoleon
I.
See L. de la Saussaye, _Blois et ses environs_ (1873); _Histoire du
chateau de Blois_ (1873); L. Bergevin et A. Dupre, _Histoire de Blois_
(1847).
BLOIS, COUNTSHIP OF. From 865 to about 940 the countship of Blois was
one of those which were held in fee by the margrave of Neustria, Robert
the Strong, and by his successors, the abbot Hugh, Odo (or Eudes),
Robert II. and Hugh the Great. It then passed, about 940 and for nearly
three centuries, to a new family of counts, whose chiefs, at first
vassals of the dukes of France, Hugh the Great and Hugh Capet, became in
987, by the accession of the Capetian dynasty to the throne of France,
the direct vassals of the crown. These new counts were orjginally very
powerful. With the countship of Blois they united, from 940 to 1044,
that of Touraine, and from about 950 to 1218, and afterwards from 1269
to 1286, the countship of Chartres remained in their possession.
The counts of Blois of the house of the Theobalds (Thibauds) began with
Theobald I., the Cheat, who became count about 940. He was succeeded by
his son, Odo (Eudes) I., about 975. Theobald II., eldest son of Odo I.,
became count in 996, and was succeeded by Odo II., younger son of Odo
I., about 1005. Odo II. was one of the most warlike barons of his time.
With the already considerable domains which he held from his ancestors,
he united the heritage of his kinsman, Stephen I., count of Troyes. In
1033 he disputed the crown of Burgundy with the emperor, Conrad the
Salic, and perished in 1037 while fighting in Lorraine. He was succeeded
in 1037 by his eldest son, Theobald III., who was defeated by the
Angevins in 1044, and was forced to give up the town of Tours and its
dependencies to the count of Anjou. In 1089 Stephen Henry, eldest son of
Theobald III., became count. He took part in the first crusade, fell
into the hands of the Saracens, and died in captivity; he married Adela,
daughter of William I., king of England. In 1102 Stephen Henry was
succeeded by his son, Theobald IV. the Great, who united the countship
of Troyes with his domains in 1128. In 1135, on the death of his
maternal uncle, Henry I., king of England, he was called to Normandy by
the barons of the duchy, but soon renounced his claims on learning that
his younger brother, Stephen, had just been proclaimed king of England.
In 1152 Theobald V. the Good, second son of Theobald IV., became count;
he died in 1191 in Syria, at the siege of Acre. His son Louis succeeded
in 1191, took part in the fourth crusade, and after the taking of
Constantinople was rewarded with the duchy of Nicaea. He was killed at
the battle of Adrianople in 1205, in which year he was succeeded by his
son, Theobald VI. the Young, who died childless. In 1218 the countship
passed to Margaret, eldest daughter of Theobald V., and to Walter
(Gautier) of Avesnes, her third husband.
The Chatillon branch of the counts of Blois began in 1230 with Mary of
Avesnes, daughter of Margaret of Blois and her husband, Hugh of
Chatillon, count of St Pol. In 1241 her brother, John of Chatillon,
became count of Blois, and was succeeded in 1279 by his daughter, Joan
of Chatillon, who married Peter, count of Alencon, fifth son of Louis
IX., king of France. In 1286 Joan sold the countship of Chartres to the
king of France. Hugh of Chatillon, her first-cousin, became count of
Blois in 1293, and was succeeded by his son, Guy I., in 1307. In 1342
Louis II., eldest son of Guy I., died at the battle of Crecy, and his
brother, Charles of Blois, disputed the duchy of Brittany with John of
Montfort. Louis III., eldest son of Louis II., became count in 1346, and
was succeeded by John II., second son of Louis II., in 1372. In 1381 Guy
II., brother of Louis III. and John II., succeeded in 1381, but died
childless. Overwhelmed with debt, he had sold the countship of Blois to
Louis I., duke of Orleans, brother of King Charles VI., who took
possession of it in 1397.
In 1498 the countship of Blois was united with the crown by the
accession of King Louis XII., grandson and second successor of Louis I.,
duke of Orleans.
See Bernier, _Histoire de Blois_ (1682); La Saussaye, _Histoire de la
ville de Blois_ (1846). (A. Lo.)
BLOMEFIELD, FRANCIS (1705-1752), English topographer of the county of
Norfolk, was born at Fersfield, Norfolk, on the 23rd of July 1705. On
leaving Cambridge in 1727 he was ordained, becoming in 1729 rector of
Hargham, Norfolk, and immediately afterwards rector of Fersfield, his
father's family living. In 1733 he mooted the idea of a history of
Norfolk, for which he had begun collecting material at the age of
fifteen, and shortly afterwards, while collecting further information
for his book, discovered some of the famous _Paston Letters_. By 1736 he
was ready to put some of the results of his researches into type. At the
end of 1739 the first volume of the _History of Norfolk_ was completed.
It was printed at the author's own press, bought specially for the
purpose. The second volume was ready in 1745. There is little doubt that
in compiling his book Blomefield had frequent recourse to the existing
historical collections of Le Neve, Kirkpatrick and Tanner, his own work
being to a large extent one of expansion and addition. To Le Neve in
particular a large share of the credit is due. When half-way through his
third volume, Blomefield, who had come up to London in connexion with a
special piece of research, caught smallpox, of which he died on the 16th
of January 1752. The remainder of his work was published posthumously,
and the whole eleven volumes were republished in London between 1805 and
1810.
BLOMFIELD, SIR ARTHUR WILLIAM (1829-1899), English architect, son of
Bishop C.J. Blomfield, was born on the 6th of March 1829, and educated
at Rugby and Trinity, Cambridge. He was then articled as an architect to
P.C. Hardwick, and subsequently obtained a large practice on his own
account. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861,
and a fellow (1867) and vice-president (1886) of the Royal Institute of
British Architects. In 1887 he became architect to the Bank of England,
and designed the law courts branch in Fleet Street, and he was
associated with A.E. Street in the building of the law courts. In 1889
he was knighted. He died on the 30th of October 1899. He was twice
married, and brought up two sons, Charles J. Blomfield and Arthur Conran
Blomfield, to his own profession, of which they became distinguished
representatives. Among the numerous churches which Sir Arthur Blomfield
designed, his work at St Saviour's, Southwark, is a notable example of
his use of revived Gothic, and he was highly regarded as a restorer.
BLOMFIELD, CHARLES JAMES (1786-1857), English divine, was born on the
29th of May 1786 at Bury St Edmunds. He was educated at the local
grammar school and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gained the
Browne medals for Latin and Greek odes, and carried off the Craven
scholarship. In 1808 he graduated as third wrangler and first medallist,
and in the following year was elected to a fellowship at Trinity
College. The first-fruits of his scholarship was an edition of the
_Prometheus_ of Aeschylus in 1810; this was followed by editions of the
_Septem contra Thebas, Persae, Choephorae_, and _Agamemnon_, of
Callimachus, and of the fragments of Sappho, Sophron and Alcaeus.
Blomfield, however, soon ceased to devote himself entirely to
scholarship. He had been ordained in 1810, and held in quick succession
the livings of Chesterford, Quarrington, Dunton, Great and Little
Chesterford, and Tuddenham. In 1817 he was appointed private chaplain to
Wm. Howley, bishop of London. In 1819 he was nominated to the rich
living of St Botolph's, Bishopsgate, and in 1822 he became archdeacon of
Colchester. Two years later he was raised to the bishopric of Chester
where he carried through many much-needed reforms. In 1828 he was
translated to the bishopric of London, which he held for twenty-eight
years. During this period his energy and zeal did much to extend the
influence of the church. He was one of the best debaters in the House of
Lords, took a leading position in the action for church reform which
culminated in the ecclesiastical commission, and did much for the
extension of the colonial episcopate; and his genial and kindly nature
made him an invaluable mediator in the controversies arising out of the
tractarian movement. His health at last gave way, and in 1856 he was
permitted to resign his bishopric, retaining Fulham Palace as his
residence, with a pension of L6000 per annum. He died on the 5th of
August 1857. His published works, exclusive of those above mentioned,
consist of charges, sermons, lectures and pamphlets, and of a _Manual of
Private and Family Prayers_. He was a frequent contributor to the
quarterly reviews, chiefly on classical subjects.
See _Memoirs of Charles James Blomfield, D.D., Bishop of London, with
Selections from his Correspondence_, edited by his son, Alfred
Blomfield (1863); G.E. Biber, _Bishop Blomfield and his Times_ (1857).
BLOMFIELD, EDWARD VALENTINE (1788-1816), English classical scholar,
brother of Bishop C.J. Blomfield, was born at Bury St Edmunds on the
14th of February 1788. Going to Caius College, Cambridge, he was
thirteenth wrangler in 1811, obtained several of the classical prizes of
the university, and became a fellow and lecturer at Emmanuel College. In
1813 he travelled in Germany and made the acquaintance of some of the
great scholars of Germany. On his return, he published in the _Museum
Criticum_ (No. ii.) an interesting paper on "The Present State of
Classical Literature in Germany." Blomfield is chiefly known by his
translation of Matthiae's _Greek Grammar_ (1819), which was prepared for
the press by his brother. He died on the 9th of October 1816, his early
death depriving Cambridge of one who seemed destined to take a high
place amongst her most brilliant classical scholars.
See "Memoir of Edward Valentine Blomfield," by Bishop Monk, in _Museum
Criticum_, No. vii.
BLONDEL, DAVID (1591-1655), French Protestant clergyman, was born at
Chalons-sur-Marne in 1591, and died on the 6th of April 1655. In 1650 he
succeeded G.J. Vossius in the professorship of history at Amsterdam. His
works were very numerous; in some of them he showed a remarkable
critical faculty, as in his dissertation on Pope Joan (1647, 1657), in
which he came to the conclusion, now universally accepted, that the
whole story is a mere myth. Considerable Protestant indignation was
excited against him on account of this book.
BLONDEL, JACQUES FRANCOIS (1705-1774), French architect, began life as
an architectural engraver, but developed into an architect of
considerable distinction, if of no great originality. As architect to
Louis XV. from 1755 he necessarily did much in the rococo manner,
although it would seem that he conformed to fashion rather than to
artistic conviction. He was among the earliest founders of schools of
architecture in France, and for this he was distinguished by the
Academy; but he is now best remembered by his voluminous work
_L'Architecture francaise_, in which he was the continuator of Marot.
The book is a precious collection of views of famous buildings, many of
which have disappeared or been remodelled.
BLONDIN (1824-1897), French tight-rope walker and acrobat, was born at
St Omer, France, on the 28th of February 1824. His real name was Jean
Francois Gravelet. When five years old he was sent to the Ecole de
Gymnase at Lyons and, after six months' training as an acrobat, made his
first public appearance as "The Little Wonder." His superior skill and
grace as well as the originality of the settings of his acts, made him a
popular favourite. He especially owed his celebrity and fortune to his
idea of crossing Niagara Falls on a tight-rope, 1100 ft. long, 160 ft.
above the water. This he accomplished, first in 1859, a number of times,
always with different theatric variations: blindfold, in a sack,
trundling a wheelbarrow, on stilts, carrying a man on his back, sitting
down midway while he made and ate an omelette. In 1861 Blondin first
appeared in London, at the Crystal Palace, turning somersaults on stilts
on a rope stretched across the central transept, 170 ft. from the
ground. In 1862 he again gave a series of performances at the Crystal
Palace, and elsewhere in England, and on the continent. After a period
of retirement he reappeared in 1880, his final performance being given
at Belfast in 1896. He died at Ealing, London, on the 19th of February
1897.
BLOOD, the circulating fluid in the veins and arteries of animals. The
word itself is common to Teutonic languages; the O. Eng. is _blod_, cf.
Gothic _bloth_, Dutch _bloed_, Ger. _Blut_. It is probably ultimately
connected with the root which appears in "blow," "bloom," meaning
flourishing or vigorous. The Gr. word for blood, [Greek: aima], appears
as a prefix _haemo-_ in many compound words. As that on which the life
depends, as the supposed seat of the passions and emotions, and as that
part which a child is believed chiefly to inherit from its parents, the
word "blood" is used in many figurative and transferred senses; thus "to
have his blood," "to fire the blood," "cold blood," "blood-royal,"
"half" or "whole blood," &c. The expression "blue blood" is from the
Spanish _sangre azul._ The nobles of Castile claimed to be free from all
admixture with the darker blood of Moors or Jews, a proof being supposed
to lie in the blue veins that showed in their fairer skins. The common
English expletive "bloody," used as an adjective or adverb, has been
given many fanciful origins; it has been supposed to be a contraction of
"by our Lady," or an adaptation of the oath common during the 17th
century, "'sblood," a contraction of "God's blood." The exact origin of
the expression is not quite clear, but it is certainly merely an
application of the adjective formed from "blood." The _New English
Dictionary_ suggests that it refers to the use of "blood" for a young
rowdy of aristocratic birth, which was common at the end of the 17th
century, and later became synonymous with "dandy," "buck," &c.; "bloody
drunk" meant therefore "drunk as a blood," "drunk as a lord." The
expression came into common colloquial use as a mere intensive, and was
so used till the middle of the 18th century. There can be little doubt
that the use of the word has been considerably affected by the idea of
blood as the vital principle, and therefore something strong, vigorous,
and parallel as an intensive epithet with such expressions as
"thundering," "awfully" and the like.