70S 



BITOX. 



BLACKLOCK, REV. THOMAS, D.D. 



706 



musical entertainments. Of these many are forgotten ; but others are 

 still repeated, and, ou account of their flowing melodies and animated 

 style, are, when tolerably played, always heard with genuine pleasure. 

 Those which best illustrate his style are ' Guy Maunering,' the 'Slave,' 

 the ' Miller and his Men,' ' Maid Marian,' ' Native Land,' the 'Virgin 

 of the Sun,' the ' Knight of Snowdon,' the ' Englishman in India,' &c., 

 in all of which there is true musical power. He also ' composed aud 

 adapted ' Mozart's ' Barber of Seville,' ' Marriage of Figaro,' &c. But 

 the incessant calls upon him begot a hasty careless manner, and he 

 frequently, in the later years of his connection with the theatres, con- 

 tented himself with crude rifacimentos of the scores of foreign com- 

 posers ; and his fame in consequence gradually declined. At length, 

 aroused by the production of Weber's 'Oberon' at Covent Garden 

 Theatre, in 1826, he composed 'Aladdin' iu direct rivalry to that 

 famous work, and brought it out at the same time at Drury Lane. 

 But instead of trusting to his own genius, ' Aladdin ' was a direct 

 attempt in the German style, and it proved an entire failure. MortiSed 

 at his loss of popularity, he never again composed for the stage. 

 Beside* his theatrical pieces, he composed three or four shorter pieces 

 for a series of oratorios, which he conducted about 1819-20. He 

 arranged also several volumes of the 'National Melodies;' aud he 

 compos*. 1 and arranged all Moore's ' Melodies ' subsequent to Steven- 

 son's secession from that publication. 



Sir Henry Bishop was knighted in acknowledgment of his musical 

 eminence by the Queen soon after her accession to the throne. He 

 vas one of the first directors of the Philharmonic Society, and con- 

 ductor of the Concerts of Ancient Music. He was also Reid professor 

 of music at Edinburgh ; and in 1848 was elected professor of music at 

 Oxford University. He died April 30, 1855, aged seventy-five. Sir 

 Henry had heavy domestic trials, and he was not prudent in money 

 matters ; so that his later years were clouded by much anxiety and 

 Buffering. 



Bishop was one of the first English composers of modern times. 

 Had he written less he would have written better; but as it is, though 

 few if any of his operas are likely to retain a permanent place on the 

 stage, and his elaborate imitative philharmonic cantatas have long been 

 forgotten, much of hia chamber and concert music married as it so 

 often is to immortal verse will long continue to delight the public 

 ear, and will indeed most likely be still popular when many far more 

 pretentious pieces of foreign as well as home growth shall have passed 

 away with their novelty. Many of his songs and glees have the truest 

 inspiration of that class of music flowing, vivid, graceful, and free 

 from all affectation. 



(Dictionary of Musicians ; Athenceum, 1855 ; Gentleman's Magazine, 

 1855.) 



BITON, a Greek writer about the time of Archimedes. A work by 

 him on the construction of catapulUc is extant, iu the collection of 

 Thevenot; he mentions another work which he wrote, on Optics, 

 which U lost. 



B1ZARI, PETER, a considerable poet and historian of the 16th 

 century, was born at Sasso-ferrato, near Ancona, in Umbria or Spoleto, 

 within the States of the Church. He was one of those who, having 

 embraced the doctrines of the Reformation, were forced to leave their 

 native country to escape the cruelties which followed on the establish- 

 ment of the Inquisition in the Papal States. After spending some 

 time at the court of London, he went to Scotland, where he was 

 honourably received by Queen Mary and the Earl of Murray, who 

 bad then tho chief direction of the government. Bizari informs us 

 that Mary presented him with a chain of gold ; and he has addressed 

 one of his works to that princess. (' Varia Opusc.' foL 28 A.) At 

 what time he was in Scotland does not precisely appear ; but in a 

 poem inscribed ' Ad Jacobum Stuardum Scoticura,' he celebrates the 

 victory which that nobleman gained over the Earl of Huntly, in such 

 terms as to lead to the inference that he was then in Scotland. (Ibid. 

 foL 93 A.) The battle of Corrichie, in which Huutly fell, was fought 

 in October 1562. 



Andrew Melville, the celebrated Scottish reformer, when at tho 

 University of St. Andrews, was introduced to Bizari, who expressed 

 his high opinion and warm regard for him in a dodecastichoa of 

 elegant Latin poetry, whioh, with several of Bizari's minor poems, is 

 inserted in Gruter's ' Delicise Poetarum Italorum.' Mackenzie, 

 Chalmers, and other Scottish writers, have confounded Bizari with a 

 person whom they describe as Peter or Patrick Bissat, Bisset, or 

 Bissart, born and educated in Scotland, and afterwards professor of 

 the canon law in the University of Bologna, aud the author of ' P. 

 Bisaarti opera omnia, viz. Poemata, Orationes, Lectiones feriales, et 

 lib. de Irregularitate,' Venetiis, 1565. 



Bizari was the author of several works of merit : 'Varia Opus- 

 cula," containing various tracts and speeches, and two books of poems, 

 published at Venice in 1565; 'A History of the War in Hungary, 

 with a narrative of the principal events hi Europe from 1564 to 1568,' 

 Lyons, 1569 : this work was afterwards translated by the author from 

 the Italian, in which it first appeared, into Latin, and published in 

 1673. 'An Account of the War of Cyprus between the Venetians 

 and Selim of Turkey,' in Latin, Bale, 1573; Antwerp, 1583. 'Epi- 

 tome Inaignium Eiirop;o Historiarum,' Bale, 1573. 'Annals of Genoa, 

 from 1573 to 1570,' published in Latin at Antwerp the latter year. 

 ' Reipublicaj Genuensis leges uovic, nunc in lucem editoj,' 1576 : this 

 100. D(V. VOL. I. 



work was reprinted by Grtcvius in his ' Thesaurus Antiq. Italia;.' torn. 



rerurn Peraicarum scriptorem." Giacobilli, iu his ' Cutal. Script. Prov. 

 Umbria:,' makes mention of auother work of Bizari's, entitled ' De 

 Moribus Belgicis.' 



(Mazzuchelli, Gli Scrtttori d' Italia, torn. iv. p. 1295 ; Tiraboschi, 

 Storia delta Litteratura Italiana, torn. xi. p. 1009; Verdier, Bibl. 

 Francoise, torn. v. p. 236; Diet. Univ. Historique; M'Crie, Life of 

 Melville, vol. i. pp. 16, 17.) 



BLACK, JOSEPH, was born in France on the banks of the Garonne 

 in the year 1728. His father, though a native of Belfast, aud also his 

 mother, were of Scotch descent. In 1740 Joseph Black was sent to 

 Belfast, and six years afterwards to the University of Glasgow, where 

 he continued his studies with great assiduity and success, devoting his 

 attention chiefly to physical science. Having chosen the profession of 

 medicine, he went to complete his medical studies at Edinburgh in 

 1750 or 1751 : he had previously had the advantage of attending 

 Dr. Cullen's lectures on chemistry at Glasgow. This science, in which 

 he was destined to act so important a part, strongly excited his 

 attention, and he pursued it experimentally with great vigour and 

 commensurate success. 



The chemical subject which seems first peculiarly to have excited 

 his attention was the causticity of lime ; a property till theu supposed 

 to b3 due to the absorption by the lime of some igneous ngency. He 

 placed the question on a scientific basis, by ascertaining the chemical 

 difference between quick lime and other forma of the carbonate. 

 Black wrote in 1754 an inaugural thesis on the subject, ' De Acido a 

 cibis orto et de Magnesia,' and a treatise entitled ' Experiments on 

 Magnesia, Quicklime, and other Alkaline Substances,' iu 1755, in which 

 his views were much more fully developed. In 1756 he was appointed 

 professor of anatomy and lecturer on chemistry in the University of 

 Glasgow, where he continued till 1766, when he was appointed to the 

 chemical chair in Edinburgh. Between the years 1759 and 1763 he 

 matured the speculations on heat which had for a long period occa- 

 sionally occupied his thoughts. Boerhaave has recorded an observation 

 made by Fahrenheit, that water would become considerably colder 

 than melting snow, without freezing, and would freeze in a moment 

 if disturbed, and in the act of freezing emitted many degrees of heat. 

 This notice seems to have supplied Dr. Black with some vague notion 

 that the heat received by ice during its conversion into water is not 

 lost, but is contained in the water. He instituted a train of careful 

 experiments on this subject, which bore out his idea; in the melting 

 of ice, and in the boiling of water, there is a large amount of heat 

 absorbed, which is not sensible to the thermometer, and is therefore 

 named by him 'concealed' or 'latent' heat. It was this discovery 

 that mainly urged Watt to the adoption of improved arrangements iu 

 the steam-engine. 



Black wrote a paper in the 'Philosophical Transactions' on the 

 freezing of boiled water ; and another in the Edinburgh ' Transactions' 

 on the hot springs of Iceland. He was never married. Ho died 

 November 26, 1799, in his seventy-first year. 



As a lecturer, Black was thus characterised by Dr. Robison ('Preface' 

 to Black's ' Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry ') : " He became 

 one of the principal ornaments of the University ; aud his lectures 

 were attended by an audience which continued increasing from year to 

 year, for more than thirty years. It could not be otherwise. His 

 personal appearance and manners were those of a gentleman, and 

 peculiarly pleasing. His voice in lecturing was low, but fine ; and his 

 articulation so distinct, that he was perfectly well heard by an audience 

 consisting of several hundreds. His discourse was so plaiu and perspi- 

 cuous, his illustration by experiment so apposite, that his sentiments 

 on any subject never could be mistaken even by the most illiterate ; 

 aud his instructions were so clear of all hypothesis or conjecture, that 

 the hearer rested on his conclusions with a confidence scarcely exceeded 

 in matters of his own experience." 



BLACKLOCK, THE REV. THOMAS, D.D., a divine of the Estab- 

 lished Church of Scotland, and a writer of poetry, was born at Annan 

 iu 1721. Before he was six months old he lost his sight, and it was 

 partly to this misfortune that he owed his future distinction. Beiug 

 precluded from the usual enjoyments of youth, he imbibed a stronger 

 love of learning, which his father, who was a tradesman of an intel- 

 ligent mind, took pains to gratify by reading to his son the works of 

 the best authors. His father did not possess the means of giving his 

 son a liberal education, but notwithstanding this disadvantage his 

 intellectual progress was very rapid, and the mental concentration 

 which his loss of sight occasioned became habitual to him. At an 

 early age he acquired some knowledge of the Latin language from his 

 more fortunate companions who attended the grammar-school ; and in 

 iis twelfth year he produced verses which indicated considerable 

 :alent. When he had reached his twentieth year his sister was united 

 ;o a man above her own rank of life, and young Blacklock now enjoyed 

 the advantage of mixing with more intelligent society. His father's 

 death, which occurred not long afterwards, appears to have greatly 

 affected him. In a poem entitled 'A Soliloquy,' written after tho 

 death of his father, Blacklock expresses himself with much feeling, 

 jut with piety and resignation, on hw holpleas condition. Having 



2z 



