to the pontifical chair, tinder the name of Alexander VIII., Bianchini obtained various pensions and dignities, which enabled him to devote most of his time to his universal history, of which he published the first part at Rome in 1697. The vast erudition displayed therein causes the regret that, on account of his many occupations, he was unable to complete that extremely important publication. Clement XI., a patron of learning, anxious to reward Bianchini's literary labours, bestowed on him many honours. He was sent as nuncio to Philip V. of Spain, when he took possession of the kingdom of Naples; and on his return he was created a prelate and a patrician. He travelled through France, Scotland, and England, where he met with the most flattering reception. Bianchini wrote many voluminous works on astronomy and archæology, and began a museum of antiquities, which he intended to illustrate by monuments, as he had already done with regard to profane history, had not pecuniary means failed him. He died at Rome in 1729.—A. C. M.
* BIANCHINI, Signor, minister of state for the home department and the police at Naples, under the late King Ferdinand, and the most confidential friend and minister of that monarch. Bianchini is a man of extensive research, and has deeply studied the principles of political economy. In 1858 he published at Naples a work on that subject, with disquisitions on the social state of the Neapolitan dominions, intended to correct the false impressions prevailing in England as to the internal condition of that country; but the events which have since occurred there speak for themselves.
BIANCHO or BIANCO, Andrea, an Italian geographer, born at Venice, who lived at the beginning of the fifteenth century. He constructed a series of maps and charts previous to the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope and of America. These maps give a tolerably accurate outline of the Mediterranean and Black Sea, with the coasts of Europe and Africa, from Cape Finistère to Cape Bojador, and include the Canaries and Azores.
* BIANCONI, Charles, was born on the 26th of September, 1788, at Tregolo, a small village in the duchy of Milan, where his father had a silk factory. At an early age he was removed to the care of his paternal grandmother, at Caglio, near Asso, of which place his mother's brother, Dr. Mazza, was the provost. The doctor was a literary man, and all the savans of the neighbourhood were in the habit of assembling at his house, and discussing various questions of literature and philosophy. Some of the Bianconi family were persons of note at Asso, Vitali Bianconi being the podesta of that place, and afterwards of Como; and another uncle, Joshua, with whom the young lad and his grandmother lived, was rector, first of Caglio, and afterwards of Guanzate. Charles was at an early age sent to the school of the Abbé Raddaioli, who had the reputation of having made many distinguished scholars. Amongst them, however, young Bianconi was not destined to be numbered, as the only reputation he acquired there was that of being the greatest dunce and the boldest boy. His master and associates failed to see that the qualities which earned him this character were but the indications of a mind eminently practical, and a spirit of adventure and daring. When he had reached his fifteenth year, his father, wishing to place him beyond the reach of a persecution then carried on against many of the families in that part of Italy, entered into an engagement with a person of the name of Andrea Faroni, by which the lad was to be taken to England, and instructed in the trade of selling prints, barometers, and looking-glasses; and in the event of his not liking that occupation, he was to be placed under the care of Colnaghi of London, the eminent printseller, who was a friend of his father, and a native of the same part of Italy. A liberal sum of money was placed in Faroni's hands, to defray the boy's expenses for eighteen months. Previous to his departure, he visited his mother, who was so overcome that she fainted. Her last words to her son have never left his memory—"Whenever you think of me, and are at a loss to know what I am doing, I shall be at that window from which I shall soon witness your departure, watching for your return." Faroni, instead of proceeding to London, went direct to Ireland; and reaching Dublin, he took up his abode, with his young apprentices, in Temple Bar, in 1802. The plan adopted by Faroni was to despatch his boys upon Monday morning through the neighbouring country, furnished with two pounds worth of prints, set in leaden frames; these they were expected to sell during the week, and to return on Saturday night with the proceeds. It can be readily imagined that a life of this kind was not without its charm to a lad of Bianconi's disposition, and well calculated to sharpen his natural aptitude for observation. After some time, the sphere of these tours was enlarged, and he visited the seaport towns on the eastern coast, making his way as far as Wexford and Waterford. During this rambling life the youth met many adventures, and made many friends, most of whom remained stedfastly attached to him throughout life. On one occasion, when at Passage, near Waterford, he was arrested by a magistrate, under whose suspicion he fell in consequence of having for sale some likenesses of Buonaparte. It was in vain that the boy asserted his innocence; he was thrust into a dark and cold guard-room, where he was left all night; and next morning, when the fears of rural Shallow had abated, he was set at large.
The period of his apprenticeship having expired, Faroni declared his readiness, in fulfilment of the terms of his arrangement with his father, to take the young man back to Italy. The latter, however, declined the offer. He had determined not to return to his own country, but to push his fortune in Ireland. Faroni, thereupon, returned him his purse, with a sum of less than fifty louis-d'ors, and left him to shift for himself. With this sum young Bianconi commenced on his own account, and he settled as a printseller, first at Carrick-on-Suir, in the county of Tipperary, in 1806, and from thence he removed in 1808 to the town of Waterford, and the following year he went to Clonmel, where he opened an establishment as carver and gilder. His business now steadily increased, so that by the year 1815 he had amassed a considerable amount of property. In the meantime the experience of the past was not lost upon him. In the prosecution of his business, he had been in the habit of travelling a great deal between the different country towns, and thus was led to reflect on the total want of accommodation for travellers of the middle and poorer classes, the only mode of conveyance being a few mail and day coaches on the main lines of road. His practical mind at once saw that a field was presented for a speculation that would not only be most profitable to the proprietor, but highly beneficial to the public. Accordingly, in 1815, he established a stage-car, drawn by one horse, between Clonmel and Cahir, capable of holding six persons. At this time, in consequence of the peace, he was able to procure first-class horses, intended for the troops, at a very low price; and the first experiment being s uccessful, he extended his plans, and before the end of the year had cars plying between Clonmel, Cashel, Thurles, Carrick, and Waterford; thus establishing that system which has since become so wide-spread, and well known as "Bianconi's cars." Ere long the system developed itself with extraordinary success; so that at length, in the year 1843, the whole of the south and west, and a great portion of the north of Ireland were traversed through the cross roads from market town to market town, by one hundred well-appointed two and four wheeled vehicles, drawn by two, three, and four horses, carrying from four to twenty persons each, travelling eight or nine miles an hour, at an average of one penny farthing per mile for each passenger, and performing daily 3,800 miles. During all this time no car, except when connected with postal communication, was permitted to travel on Sunday; and it is satisfactory to find that the result was actually beneficial, even in point of economy, on Mr. Bianconi's own testimony. "I can work a horse eight miles per day, six days in the week, much better than I can six miles for seven days." The growth and extent of railway communication necessarily affected the car establishment; but the diminution was inconsiderable, owing to the activity with which Mr. Bianconi directed his labours into new districts, when the old were invaded by the steam engine and the rail; and the remoter districts are now, by means of these conveyances, connected with the provincial stations of all the great railways. In the present year, 1858, the establishment consists of sixty-seven conveyances (ten of which are coaches), performing daily 4,244 miles, and traversing twenty-two counties. The benefits which the system has conferred upon Ireland can scarcely be overstated. It raised the social and moral condition of the humbler farming and trading classes; it gave a stimulus to industry, and enabled the less wealthy to economize their time. We may be permitted to quote a statement of Mr. Bianconi's that reflects great credit on the Irish people. "My conveyances, many of them carrying very important mails, have been travelling during all hours of the day and night, often in lonely and unfrequented places; and during the long period of forty-two years that my establishment is now in existence, the slightest injury has never
