BLARNEY. 162 BLASPHEMY. can be kissed only by a person held over the parapet. The name has given a noun, a verb, and a participle to the English language. BLASER, ble'zer, GuST.w (1813-74). A Ger- man sculptor. He was born in Diisseldorf, and in ISS.'i entered the studio of Ranch, with whom lie remained for eleven years. In 1845 he went to Rome, whence lie was called to Berlin to de- sign one of the eight marble groups adorning the ^chlossiriicl-c, a task in which he was emi- nently sujcessful. The grnu]) executed by him, and entitled "Minerva L<'a<liiig. a Youthful War- rior into Battle," is considered the best of the series. His subsequent works include: '"Saint Matthew, the Apostle," a statue of colossal pro- portions (church at Helsingfors) ; "The Prophet Daniel" (Royal Castle, Berlin) ; "Borussia" (Mew Museum, Berlin) : the equestrian statue of Frederick William IV. (Rhine Bridge, Cologne) ; "Hospitality" (National Gallery, Berlin) : and busts of Emperor William I., the Empress of Russia, von Alvenslcben, von der Heydt, Alex- ander von Humboldt, Ranch, .Vbrahara Lincoln (^^'ashington), and many others. BLASHTIELD, Edwin Howi-and (1848 — ). An American mural painter. He was born in New York City, and studied in Paris under Bonnat. For twenty years he resided abroad, and worked in France, "Italy, Greece, and Egypt. He has been president of the Society of American Artists, and is a inember of the National Acad- emy. Among his figure pieces "Christmas Bells" and the "Angel with the Flaming Sword" are best known; but he is chiefly noted for decorative work on a large scale. Such decorations are the dome of the Manufactures Building at the Chicago Exposition, a large panel in the Appel- late (^ourt. New York, the great central dome of the Congressional Library at Washington, and the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom ceiling. New York. In conjunction with his wife, he is widelv known as an author on art subjects, among their joint works being Italian Cities (1000) and an ad- mirable English edition of Vasari's Lives of the Painters (4 vols., 1897). BLA'SIXJS, or BLAISE. A saint and martyr of the Panuan Callmlic Cluirch. He was Bisliop of Sebaste, in Cappad(icia. when Licinius began a Moodv ])crsecution of the Cbristians. Blasius left the town, and concealed himself in an unknown chasm in the rocks, but his abode was discovered by the prefect, Agricola, while out hunting. The saint was conveyed to Sebaste, and as he stead- fastly refused to deny Christ and worship the heathen gods, he was first scored with iron combs and then beheaded (.'Slfi). At one period his worship must have been widely diffused, judg- ing from the extent of territory over which his relies were scattered. The wool-combers claim him as their patron, for the singiilar reason that he was tortured, among other instruments, with a wool-comb. The practice of invoking Saint Blasiis in cases of sore throat is said to have originated in the circumstance that, when young, he saved the only son of a rich widow from being choked by a fish-bone. Saint Blasius's day is the "d of February. BLASIXJR, bla'z6-i,is', Le Doctettr. One of the many ])seudi)nyms of Paschal Grousset. BLASNAVAC, or BLASNAVATZ, blii.s'nft- vats. ]Iii.iv<)YK Pfthovitcii (18-2ti-73). A Ser- vian soldier and statesman. He was bom at Blas- nava (District of Kraguyevatz) , and studied in Berlin in 1848. Upon the outbreak of the Hun- garian Revolution (1848), he joined the volun- teer corps of General Knitchanin against the Hungarians, and commanded the Servian artillery until the close of the war. .fter the accession of Prince Michael Obrenovitch to the throne of Ser- via. Blasnavae was appointed colonel (1802) and Minister of War (1S(!5), in which capacity he created a naticmal militia of 80,000 men. .After the assassination of Prince Michael (June 10, 1868), he ])roclaimed Milan as Prince of Servia, and maintained the public order. He was a member of the Regency during the minority of Prince Milan, and upon the accession of the lat- ter to the throne (August 22, 1872) was ap- pointed president of the Jlinistry. BLASPHEMY (Gk. pa(r<p-rip.la, Uasphcmia, 'speech or word of evil omen'). As a criminal offense at common law, blasphemy consists in maliciously reviling God or the Christian relig- ion. As a sin, it was punishable b.v the ecclesias- tical courts of Eiigland : and even in the United States, where such courts are not a part of the machinery of government, it still may subject the blasphemer to expulsion from a church or religious society. Two reasons are assigned by the courts for treating blasphemy as a crime: (1) It tends to produce a breach of the peace by leading to violent altercations between the blasphemer and those who are shocked and outraged by his lan- guage. (2) Christianity is a part of the com- mon law, and thei'cfore blasphemy tends to subvert the law and to destroy the very founda- tion of civil society. Because of its offensiveness to the majority of virtuous people, and because it is considered injurious to the tender morals of the young, it is often spoken of by judges as a public nuisance, and when it is written or printed, it is deemed a libel (q.v.). Formerly, any attack upon Christianity or any argument against its fundamental doctrines, as those were understood by the Establislied Church, amounted to the crime of blasphemy: but a diflcrent view now prevails both in England and in the United States. It is the manner rather than the matter of the publication that renders it blasphemous. Lord Chief Justice Coleridge declared in 1883, in one of the few modern cases on tliis subject, that "if the decencies of con- trover.sy are observed, even the fundamentals of religion may be attacked without a person being /"uilty of blasphemous libel." Similar views had been expressed still earlier by Chancellor Kent in New York and Chief .Justice Shaw in Massachusetts. The latter had defined the eritne as "a willful and malicious attempt to lessen men's reverence of God," and the former had defined it as consisting "in maliciously reviling God and religion." In line with these opinions is the following statement from a decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania: "No author or printer, who fairly and conscientiously pro- mulgates opinions with whose truths he is im- pressed, for the benefit of others, is answerable as a criminal. Audacious and mischievous in- tention is, in such a ease, the bro:id boundary between right and wrong: it is to be collected from the otTcnsive le*itv, scurrilims and oppro- brious language, and other eircumstances, whether the iict was malicious." .-V so!)er. seri- ous, and reverent statement of one's honest opin-
