the conduct of Louis Blanc; but it may be permitted the writer of this brief notice to say, that after much scrutiny, he cannot escape the conclusion that this victim of the assembly acted throughout as an honourable and high-spirited man, and that, wholly irrespective of the truth or falsehood of his speculative views, he will in all probability long outlive the calumnies that overwhelmed him.—We can do no more now than briefly refer to his recent work, "Historical Revelations." It is a manly and most thorough refutation of gossip, which Lord Normandy ought certainly never to have repeated, and for which one form of amende alone is open. The book is farther curious, because of its plain account of the relations between its author and the present emperor of the French.
BLANC, Ludwig Gottfried, was born at Berlin on the 19th September, 1781. He studied theology, became in 1814 one of the chaplains to the Prussian forces, which he followed into France, and in 1822 was appointed professor of the Romance languages in the university of Halle. He published some valuable works on Dante, "Die beiden ersten Gesänge der Göttlichen Komödie;" "Vocabolario Dantesco," &c.; an Italian grammar, &c. His "Handbuch des Wissenswürdigsten aus der Natur und Geschichte der Erde und ihrer Bewohner" is extensively popular.—K. E.
BLANCHA, Juan, first consul of Perpignan, and governor of that town under the Spaniards when it was besieged by the French in 1474. His son was taken prisoner in a sortie, and the besiegers, in order to intimidate Blancha, threatened to put the youth to death, unless he consented to surrender the place. The heroic governor returned a peremptory refusal, which cost him his only son, but so animated the courage of the besieged, that he was enabled to prolong the defence of the town for eight months, until John II. of Aragon gave him permission to capitulate, after the citizens were reduced to the last extremity. To perpetuate the memory of his heroism, a marble tablet was erected before his house, with the inscription—"Hujus domus dominus fidelitate cunctos superavit Romanos."—J. T.
BLANCHARD, François, sometimes called Jean Pierre, the celebrated French aëronaut, born at Andelys, 1738; died at Paris, 1809. From his youth, although unlettered even in the rudiments of physical science, he was an adept in all the mechanical arts, and before completing his sixteenth year, had constructed a sort of self-propelling machine, with which he accomplished a journey of twenty-one leagues. This invention recommended him to the notice of Louis XVI., who, after the aëronaut's successful attempt in 1785, to cross the Straits of Dover in his improved balloon, gave him a present of 12,000 francs, and an annuity of 1200 livres. In the same year the intrepid aëronaut astonished the public of London by one of his parachute descents, the instrument employed being of his own invention, or at least of his own manufacture. It is asserted by some that the brothers Montgolfier were the inventors of the parachute, as they certainly were the improvers of the balloon. In the course of his adventurous life, Blanchard visited the New World, making his forty-sixth ascent at New-York in 1793 or 1794. His death resulted from apoplexy, with which he was struck while making his sixty-sixth ascent at the Hague, 1808.—J. S., G.
BLANCHARD DE LA HUSSE, François-Gabriel-Ursin, a French litterateur, born at Nantes, 1752; died in 1837. He was councillor in the parliament of Rennes; was thrown into prison during the Reign of Terror, and led a life of much vicissitude. Author of some essays and a great number of poetical pieces in the Almanach des Muses: Nantes.
BLANCHE, queen of Navarre, died 3rd April, 1441. She was daughter of Charles III., called the Noble, to whom she succeeded in 1425, having previously been twice married—first in 1402, to Martin of Aragon, king of Sicily; and secondly in 1420, to John of Aragon, son of Ferdinand I. At her death she bequeathed her crown to her son, Don Carlos.
BLANCHE d'Artois, queen of Navarre, died about 1300. She was daughter of Robert de France, comte d'Artois, brother of Saint Louis, and was twice married—first to Henry I., king of Navarre, and secondly to Edward, count of Lancaster, and brother of the king of England.
BLANCHE de Bourbon, queen of Castile, and daughter of Pierre, duke of Bourbon, born about 1338; died in 1361. At the age of fifteen she married Peter the Cruel, king of Castile; but having been suspected of a criminal amour with the king's natural brother, Don Frederick, who had been sent to Narbonne to receive her, she was from the day after her marriage deserted by her husband. Having, in consequence of this conduct on the part of Pierre, leagued herself with the king's brothers, she was arrested and sent a prisoner to Toledo. She succeeded, however, in making her escape, and took refuge in the cathedral; but a popular insurrection having taken place in her favour, Toledo was taken by assault, and Blanche was transferred to the castle of Medina Sidonia, where she was, by the orders of Pierre, put to death by poison.—G. M.
BLANCHE de Castile, queen of France, born in 1169; died in 1243. She was daughter of Alphonso IX., king of Castile, and niece of the king of England, and married Prince Louis, eldest son of Philip Augustus. In 1223 she ascended the throne with her husband, then become Louis VIII., who, dying three years afterwards, left her by his will regent of the kingdom, and guardian of his eldest son, Louis IX. She had scarcely assumed the regency when a powerful coalition was formed against her, consisting of the principal vassals of the crown and many of the nobility. Unalarmed by the dangers which threatened her, she marched against the rebels, and succeeded, though not without difficulty, in reducing them to obedience. Shortly after the young king had come of age, and assumed the reins of power, he formed the resolution of joining the crusades, and on his departure for the East, left his mother a second time regent of the kingdom. During this renewed exercise of sovereign power, she had greater and more numerous difficulties to contend with than during her first regency, all of which she surmounted by her rare ability, courage, and activity. She has been celebrated in French history for her personal beauty, her high intelligence, and her capacity for government.—G. M.
* BLANCHET, Alexandre-Paul-Louis, a French physician, born at Saint Lô in 1817, who has devoted his attention particularly to the treatment of the deaf and dumb. Besides several memoirs on different subjects connected with congenital deafness, he has published "La Surdi-Mutité," 4 vols.
BLANCHET, François, born at Angerville, near de Chartres, in 1707; died at St. Germain-en-Laye in 1784. Several fugitive poems of his are very graceful, and attracted great attention. He published oriental tales, which were greatly admired. His fugitive poems, circulated in manuscript, were ascribed to several distinguished men of the day. He is reported to have said "Je suis charmé que les riches adoptent mes enfans."—J. A., D.
BLANCHET, Pierre, born at Poitiers in 1452, where he died in 1519. The pleasant comedy of "l'Avocat Patelin" is usually ascribed to him; but Monsieur Génin, writing in the Nouvelle Biographie Universelle, proves that he could not have been the author. He is described by his friend, Jean Bouchet, as
" En son vivant poete satirique,
Hardi sans lettre, et fort joyeux comique."
* BLANCHET, Rodolphe, a Swiss botanist, has devoted his attention particularly to the physiology of plants. He has published works on the influence of ammonia on vegetation, on the potato disease, and on the art of pruning. He has also drawn up a catalogue of the indigenous vascular plants of the Canton de Vaud. His writings extend from 1836 to 1845.—J. H. B.
BLANCHET, Thomas, a French historical painter, born at Paris in 1617; died at Lyons in 1689. He first studied sculpture under Sarazin; but the stone dust hurting his lungs, he took to painting, and visiting Rome studied with Poussin and Andrea Sacchi, who gave him advice, and taught him what not to do. He returned to Paris a ripe and already-known artist, his design and perspective good, and his colouring natural. He excelled in drawing children, and was thought a master of composition. His errors arose chiefly from a quick and overleaping imagination and the taste of a false age. He painted several pictures for the Hotel de Ville at Lyons, and drew subjects for Notre Dame—"the Ethiopian Eunuch's Baptism," and "the Vision of St. Philip." When he was made R.A. in 1676, his diploma picture was "Cadmus killing the Dragon."—W. T.
BLANCHETON, Marc-Antoine, a French physician, born at Vervaison, Puy-de-Dôme, on the 3rd August, 1784; died on the 15th August, 1830. In 1809 he was appointed to the first class in the medical service of the army, and in this capacity went through the Austrian campaign. The experience gained during this military service was of great advantage to him in fulfilling the duties of physician of epidemics, a post to which he was afterwards appointed by the prefect of the department of the
