and other pastoral poems, born in 1766, was the son of a poor tailor of Honington in Suffolk, and was brought up in that village by his widowed mother, who supported herself and six children, of whom he was the youngest, by keeping a school. In his eleventh year he was hired by a farmer, and employed in field labour; but that proving too heavy for his delicate frame, he was sent in 1781 to London, to be apprenticed to one of his brothers, a shoemaker. While in this employment his attention was turned to poetry, and, as was to be anticipated from his previous history, especially to pastoral poetry, the reading of Thomson's Seasons being his favourite recreation. The garret in which he lodged was inhabited by six or seven other young men, who like himself enjoyed attic accommodation at the moderate rate of one shilling a week; but, notwithstanding the disadvantage of too much society, and others not less serious, Bloomfield made such progress in his poetical studies, that before the termination of his apprenticeship, two of his pieces had been found worthy of a place in the London Magazine. It was in 1786, however, that, during a short residence in the country, he first conceived the idea of embodying his experiences of rustic life in a lengthy poem; and not till 1798, at least so far as the literary world was informed, that this idea was carried out in his "Farmer's Boy." In the latter year a copy of that poem having been shown to Capel Lofft, he was so pleased with it, and so interested in the story of its author, now a journeyman shoemaker, that he had it printed in 1800. Its success was remarkable: in three years 26,000 copies were sold, an edition was published at Leipzig; a French translation, entitled Le Valet du Fermier, at Paris; an Italian at Milan; and in 1805 a clever Latin version by Mr. W. Club, under the title of Agricolæ Puer. Little more than fame accrued to him, however, from its publication, for after giving to the world in succession some other pieces equally meritorious, particularly "Good Tidings, or News of the Forest;" "Wild Flowers; "and "Banks of the Wye," the only piece of patronage he could boast of was an appointment to the office of under-sealer in the seal office, which he owed to the duke of Grafton, his only considerable benefactor in a pecuniary way, as Capel Lofft was in respect of literary help. From that situation he was forced to retire on account of ill health; betook himself again to his trade, dividing his leisure hours between the employments of turning verses and making Æolian harps; became involved in difficulties which, after an ineffectual attempt to establish himself in business as a bookseller, he carried with him, to his destruction, into Shefford, a town of Bedfordshire, and there calamity, in the shape of mental disorder, being added to misfortune, he died miserably, August, 1823. His poems are remarkable for smooth and easy versification, and for a faithful as well as animated rendering of the scenes and incidents of pastoral life.—J. S., G.
BLOOT, Peter, a Flemish painter, died in 1667, whose pictures are now scarce. His figures are gross and ungraceful, but his colour was mellow, transparent, and pleasing.—W. T.
BLOOTELING, Abraham, an eminent Dutch designer and engraver, probably brought up by the Visschers, and born at Amsterdam in 1634. On the inundation of the Dutch into the canal country in 1672, he came to England, but soon returned. He produced a great number of etchings and mezzotints, and in 1681 published the gems of Leonardo Augostini. Portraits of those great sea thunderers, Van Tromp and De Ruyter, were executed by him.—W. T.
BLOT, Baron de Chonoigny, a French litterateur, died in 1655. He was gentleman to Gaston, duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIII., and contributed to the elevation of Cardinal Mazarin, by recommending him to the notice of Richelieu. Mazarin neglected his friend, who, in return, overwhelmed him with the most poignant epigrams and ridicule.
BLOUET, Jean-François Nicolas, a French litterateur, born at Metz in 1745; died in 1830. At the period of the Revolution he was proprietor of the Journal de la Mozelle. He was incarcerated in 1793, but on the fall of Robespierre, recovered possession of his journal, which, owing to his neglect, fell into discredit. His writings embrace a large range of subjects, inland navigation, commerce, agriculture, government, &c.
BLOUNT, Charles, Lord Mountjoy and earl of Devonshire, was the second son of James Blount, sixth Lord Mountjoy, by Catherine, daughter of Thomas Leigh, Esq., of St. Oswald in the county of Devon. He was born in the year 1563, and, being the younger son of a decayed house, for his father and grandfather had greatly wasted the family inheritance, was intended for the law. After being educated at Oxford he was entered at the inner temple, but another destiny awaited him. When he was about twenty years of age he was introduced at court, and being tall and well-looking, he immediately attracted Elizabeth's notice, and quickly gained her favour. In the year 1585 we find he was returned as one of the burgesses in parliament for the borough of St. Ives in Cornwall, being not then above twenty-two years of age; and in the following year he was returned for Beeralston in Devon. In the same year he became an aspirant for martial glory, and accompanied the earl of Leicester to the Low Countries. He was present, and severely wounded, at the battle of Zutphen, where Sir Philip Sidney was killed. In this year, also, he received the honour of knighthood. Like others of Queen Elizabeth's favourites he was constantly making his escape from her and going off to the wars. On one occasion he joined the army in Bretagny under Sir John Norris, who gave him the command of a company, but as soon as the queen heard where he was she sent orders for him to return immediately. On his arrival she rebuked him very severely for absconding without leave. "Serve me so once more," said she, "and I will lay you fast enough. You will never leave until you get knocked on the head as that poor fellow Sidney was." She then commanded that he should lodge in the court, and there for the present study the art of war in books. Being thus established as a royal favourite he soon advanced in honours and distinction. On the alarm of the Spanish invasion in 1588, like many other of the young noblemen and gentlemen, he entered himself as a volunteer at his own cost, for the defence of the coast. In this year he was granted the office of keeper of the New Forest, and in 1589 he was made master of arts at Oxford. The queen's marked partiality had by this time aroused the jealousy of his powerful rival, the earl of Essex. A quarrel ensued between them, followed by a duel, in which Essex was wounded in the knee. From this date Essex and Blount became fast friends. In 1592-93 he was again chosen one of the burgesses for Beeralston, and in 1594 was made governor of the castle, town, and isle of Portsmouth, and, in the same year, upon the death of his elder brother, William, he succeeded to the title of Lord Mountjoy, and an inheritance of about 1000 marks a-year, upon which, together with his official income, the aggregate of which latter was below £100 a-year, we are told "he lived plentifully and in a fine way and garb." On the 24th April, 1597, the Lord Mountjoy was elected knight of the garter, and in the same year he accompanied the earl of Essex on his famous "Island Voyage," in which he was commissioned as lieutenant-general of the land forces and commander of the ship Defiance. In the following year the queen purposed sending him as lord-deputy to Ireland, but this being objected to by the earl of Essex that unfortunate nobleman was himself sent. On his sudden retiring, however, in 1599, the queen intimated her pleasure that Lord Mountjoy should undertake the difficult and dangerous office.
Mountjoy used every possible effort to avoid the office, pointing out to her majesty, both by word and in writing, that while he would cheerfully lay down his life to fulfil her will, the state of that kingdom was so desperate, and the means at his disposal were so small, as to cause him to despair of success, and that he feared that any failure, enhanced as it would be by his enemies, would cause her to withdraw her favour, and, consequently, prove his ruin. His remonstrances, however, were all in vain. The queen had too high an opinion of his abilities to be moved from her purpose. She declared that "it would be his fortune and his honour to cut the thread of the fatal Irish rebellion and bring her in peace to the grave." The result showed that she was not mistaken. The English power was scarcely more than nominal at this time in any part of Ireland—the rebels had full possession of the island. They overran the whole country, blowing their trumpets up even to the gates of Dublin. Tyrone affected to despise Mountjoy, mistaking the refinement of his manners for effeminacy, and exulted in the choice made of a commander "who would lose the season of action whilst his breakfast was prepared." Never was man more deceived. The lord-deputy landed in Ireland on the 26th February, 1600, and immediately took active measures against the rebels. By the skill and energy of his operations, he soon reduced the country to a state of comparative peace, and a great number of the Irish leaders applied to him and to his officers for pardon and protection. For these successes he received several flatter-
