BLESSINGTON BLIGH 711 forced to yield it to Catharine de' Medici. The latter adorned the castle still more richly, and surrounded it with a beautiful park. It after- ward came into the possession of the house of Conde and after many vicissitudes was pur- chased in 1733 by Gen. Dupin, whose accom- plished wife made it the resort of some of the most celebrated men of the 18th century. Montesquieu, Voltaire, Fontenelle, Bolingbroke, Buffon, and others, were among its frequent visitors. The castle is still in excellent pres- ervation. The remains of a Roman aqueduct are to be seen near the city. B16r6 is the entre- pot of the trade along the Cher, and is espe- cially noted for its red wines. BLESSINGTON, Margaret, countess of, an Irish woman of letters, born near Clonmel, Sept. 1, 1789, died in Paris, June 4, 1849. She was the third daughter of Mr. Edmund Power, and when only 15 years old married Capt. Farmer. The marriage was an unhappy one, and within four months after her husband's death in 1817 she married Charles John Gardiner, earl of Blessington. With him she saw much of fash- ionable life, and travelled extensively on the continent. She formed an intimate acquaint- ance with Lord Byron at Genoa ; and at Paris, where she lived for some time with her hus- band, Count d'Orsay was an inmate of their house. D'Orsay had married and afterward been separated from a daughter of the earl by a former wife. Soon after the earl's death, which took place at Paris in 1829, Lady Bles- sington went to reside at Gore House, Kensing- ton. Her social position was somewhat com- promised by her intimacy with Count d'Orsay, but she gathered at her house a brilliant circle of the notable people of the day. Her expen- sive manner of living greatly impaired her fortune, and she resorted to the pen mainly for the purpose of enlarging her means. She first appeared as an author in 1825, with some London sketches entitled "The Magic Lan- tern," which were followed by "Travelling Sketches in Belgium." Her " Conversations with Lord Byron," published first in 1832 in the "New Monthly Magazine," afterward appeared in book form, and excited a consider- able degree of inter- est. Subsequently she published " Desultory Thoughts and Reflec- tions," and several novels ; among them "Grace Cassidv, or the Repealers," "The Two Friends," "Meredith," "Strathern," "Marma- duke Hubert," "The Governess," "The Vic- tims of Society," &c. The last named is con- sidered one of her best works. Besides her novels, she wrote illus- trated books of poetry, and books of travel, as " The Idler in France " and " The Idler in Italy," and at the same time she was an active contributor to many English magazines, and the editor of fashionable an- nuals. In 1849 Count D'Orsay went to Paris in the hope of obtaining some preferment from Louis Napoleon, then president of the French republic; and she followed him thither, but died soon after reaching that capital. See Mad- den's " Literary Life and Correspondence of the Countess of Blessington" (3 vols. 8vo, 1855). BLUHKR, Steen Steensen, a Danish author, born at Vium, province of Viborg, Oct. 11, 1782, died at Spentrup, Jutland, March 26, 1848 He was a graduate of the university of Copen- hagen, and a clergyman at Thorning and at Spentrup. He translated Ossian (2 vols., 1807 -'9), published poems (1814-'17), and wrote for the album Sneeklokken (1826) and the monthly magazine Nordlyaet (1827-'9). In some of his best ballads he employed the dialect of Jutland, and he described the popular life of that country in some of his novels. His select poetry was published at Copenhagen in 2 vols., 1835-'6, and a third complete edition of his works in 1861-'2, in 8 vols. IJI.I II All. or Blida, a town of Algeria, on the borders of the fertile plain of Metidjiih, 25 m. S. S. W. of Algiers; pop. in 1860, 9,975. It is a station on the first railway ever built in Al- geria. It was taken by the French in 1830, but first occupied by them in 1838. BLIGH, William, an English navigator, born in 1753, died in London, Dec. 7, 1817. He was a lieutenant in the navy, accompanied Cook on his voyages in the Pacific, and when he re- turned was appointed commander of the Boun- ty, commissioned by George III. to import the breadfruit tree and other vegetable productions
