717 



BLANC, LOUIS. 



BLANCHARD, LAMAN. 



718 



which many suppose to have been a species of chronic insanity, He 

 was so exclusively occupied with his own ideas, that he at last per- 

 suaded himself that his imaginings were spiritual realities. He thought 

 that he conversed with tha spirits of the long departed great of 

 Homer, Moses, Pindar, Virgil, Dante, Milton, and many others : some 

 of these spirits sat to him for their portraits. He remained at Felpham 

 three years, and then returned to London. The first work after his 

 return was his ' Jerusalem,' comprising 100 designs, of figures of men, 

 spirits, gods, and angels ; and for which, tinted, he charged twenty-five 

 guineas. His next work was a series of 12 designs to Blair's 'Grave,' 

 for Cromek the engraver, who paid him twenty guineas for the twelve ; 

 the engraving of them was intrusted to Schiavonetti. These were 

 followed by hit ' Canterbury Pilgrimage,' a picture in water-colours or 

 distemper, exhibited in his brother's house in 1809, with some other 

 of his paintings in the same manner, of which he printed a 'Descrip- 

 tive Catalogue,' containing many critical heresies, some sense, and 

 much that is wild aud absurd. Charles Lamb speaks of the ' Canter- 

 bury Pilgrims' in a letter to a friend as a work with "wonderful 

 power aud spirit, but hard and dry, yet with grace." In the same 

 letter he says, " I have heard of his poems, but never seen them. 

 There is one to a tiger, which I have heard recited, beginning 



'Tiger, tiger, burning bright, 

 Through the deserts of the night ' 



which is glorious. But, alas ! I have not the book, and the man is 

 flown, whither I know not to Hades or a madhouse but I must 

 look on him aa one of the most extraordinary persons of the age.'' 



In the ' Descriptive Catalogue' of his exhibition he makes some excel- 

 lent remarks upon the character of Chaucer's writings; and some 

 excessively severe remarks upon the ' Canterbury Pilgrimage ' of 

 Stothard. He seems to have injured himself very much in the 

 opinion of the world by the extremities he went to in tins catalogue ; 

 he was comparatively neglected after its publication, and the demand 

 for his works very much declined. He became extremely poor, but 

 he still continued to produce new works, as 'Twenty-one Illustrations 

 to the Book of Job,' which are among his best productions ; two works 

 of prophecies, one on America, in eighteen plates, the other on Europe, 

 in seventeen ; and a long series of illustrations to Dante, of which how- 

 ever he engraved only seven. His last performance was a likeness of 

 his faithful wife, who, through his eccentricities reduced to the extreme 

 of poverty, was never even inclined to complain. Blake himself never 

 regretted his poverty : he considered himself a martyr in the cause 

 of poetic art, and he pitied his fortunate contemporaries for their 

 inordinate love of pain. He died on the 12th of August 1828. 



A very elegant edition of the ' Songs of Innocence," Sec., was pub- 

 lished in London (by the late Mr. \V. Pickering) in 1839, exactly half 

 a century after their first appearance, with a Preface containing some 

 excellent remark* upon Blake's character. There is a good portrait of 

 Blake by T. Phillips, R.A., of which there is a print prefixed to the 

 notice of Blake in ' The Lives of the most Eminent British Painters,' 

 &c., by Allan Cunningham. 



BLANC, LOUIS, a political and historical writer, was born October 

 28, 1813. His father had been Inspector-general of Finances under 

 Joseph Bonaparte, at Madrid. His mother was a native of Corsica, 

 aud he lived with her in that island till he had attained the age of 

 seven years. He was then sent to the Lyceum at Rodez, in the 

 French department of Aveyron, where he pursued his studies till the 

 year 1830. The French revolution of that year deprived his father 

 of the means of supporting his family; but Louis Blanc, by the 

 assistance of an uncle and by giving lessons in mathematics, was 

 enabled to complete his education. In 1832 ho removed to Arras, 

 hi the department of Pas de Calais, as tutor to the children of M. 

 Hallet, a maker of machines. While in this situation several articles 

 written by him on political and literary subjects were inserted in the 

 journal called ' Le Progre* du Pas de Calais.' 



In 1834 Louis Blanc removed to Paris, where he obtained an 

 engagement as a sub-editor of the periodical entitled 'Bon Sens.' In 

 January 1837 he was appointed editor, but hi 1838 he resigned his 

 situation in consequence of a dispute with the proprietors of the 

 journal on the subject of railroads, Louis Blanc being decidedly of 

 opinion that they ought to be undertaken and managed by the govern- 

 ment, whilst the proprietors maintained that they ought to be left to 

 private enterprise and industry. The other writers employed on the 

 'Bon Sens' retired with Louis Blanc, who in 1839 established the 

 periodical called ' La Revue du Progres,' the main object of which 

 was to form and support a combination of certain sections of the 

 democratic associations then existing. In 1840 he published his 

 treatise on the ' Organisation of Labour ' (' Organisation du Travail '), 

 in which he laid down bis doctrines of political and social reform, 

 the essential principle of those doctrines being that men, instead of 

 labouring for themselves, should labour for the community, each 

 individual contributing according to his capabilities, and receiving his 

 recompense according to his requirements, under the administration 

 of a central government. These doctrines were widely spread some 

 years ago among the working classes in this country as well as in 

 France, but have now nearly died out, at least in the United King- 

 dom. Louis Blanc does not, we believe, in the least degree sympa- 

 thise with those oeialiU who advocate principles of spoliation. Not 



long afterwards he published his ' Histoire des Dix Ans ' (1830-1840). 

 He was active in the French revolution of 1848, and was elected a 

 member of the provisional government which was formed after the 

 expulsion of the king Louis-Philippe. He has the merit of having 

 I induced his colleagues, during their short period of political power, 

 to pass the decree which abolished the punishment of death for 

 political offences. An accusation was soon afterwards got up against 

 him with respect to his conduct on the 15th of May 1848, and so 

 powerful was the party opposed to him that his friends advised him 

 to leave the country. He made his escape to London, where he has 

 since continued to reside, chiefly employed in writing his ' Histoire 

 de la Revolution Fransaise,' a well-written and valuable addition to 

 the historical library of the first French revolution. The seventh 

 volume of this history was published at the latter end of the year 

 1855, and brings down the narrative to the termination of the trial of 

 Louis XIV. 



(Nouvelle Biographie Universelle.) 



BLANCHARD, FRANCOIS, was born at Andelys, in the depart- 

 ment of Eure, France, in 1738. Although illiterate, and little 

 acquainted with the physical sciences, he displayed very early a strong 

 mechanical genius. His first experiment, when only sixteen years old, 

 was the construction of a machine, moving mechanically, with which 

 he traversed a space of seven leagues, and on which he subsequently 

 made some improvements. At nineteen he invented a hydraulic 

 machine ; and next a flying vessel, which was capable of raising itself 

 twenty feet from the ground. These ingenious toys, for they were 

 little better, served to introduce him to the court of Versailles. When 

 the brothers Montgolfier invented their balloon in 1783, a fresh 

 direction was given to the genius of Blanchard. He immediately con- 

 structed a balloon with wings and a rudder, thinking to be able to 

 steer it, and ascended for the first time on March 2, 1784. The wings 

 and rudder were found to be useless ; but he had also invented a 

 parachute, which, on his first ascent, was merely taken up in order to 

 break the fall in case of accident. On January 7, 1785, M. Blanchard 

 and Dr. Jeffries undertook to cross tho channel in a balloon. They 

 started from Dover, and landed in the forest of Guiennes, but they 

 had been obliged to disencumber themselves of everything of weight 

 in order to avoid falling into the sea. For this exploit he received a 

 gift of 12,000 francs from the king of France, and a pension of 1200 

 livres. From this time he continued making repeated ascents in 

 various countries ; in one of which, landing near Kufstein in Tyrol, 

 he was thrown into prison as a propagator of revolutionary doctrines. 

 He afterwards figured at New York, aud styled himself, aeronaut of 

 both hemispheres, citizen of the principal towns of both worlds (the 

 old and new), member of foreign academies, and pensioner of the 

 French empire. While making his sixty-sixth ascent at the Hague in 

 1808, he was struck with apoplexy; from this he never entirely 

 recovered, and he died at Paris, March 7, 1809. His wife was less 

 fortunate : she had participated in his labours, and continued them. 

 In 1819 while ascending from the Tivoli gardens at Paris, the balloon 

 burst, she fell, and was found dead in the car. (Nouvelle Biographie 

 Vniverselle ; Comiersatiom-Lezikon.) 



BLANCHARD, JACQUES, whom D'Argenville dignifies with the 

 title of the French Titian, was born at Paris in 1600. He was first 

 instructed by his maternal uncle Jerome Balled, and afterwards by 

 Horace le Blanc, at Lyon. He visited Italy, and arrived in Rome, in 

 1624, and having studied there two years, he went to Venice, where 

 he remained also two years. He found the works of the Venetian 

 masters more suited to his taste, and models of imitation better 

 adapted to his abilities, than the more severe compositions of the 

 Romans. After spending some time at Turin and Lyon, Blanchard 

 returned to Paris an accomplished painter, and by a series of easel 

 pictures, which followed in rapid succession, he acquired a name as a 

 oolourist without a rival in France. He had however a short career ; 

 he died of consumption, aged only thirty-eight, in 1638. He left a 

 son, Gabriel, who became a distinguished painter. Blanchard's princi- 

 pal works at Paris are a gallery in the Hotel de Bouillon, containing 

 thirteen pictures from ancient mythology, painted in oil upon the 

 wall ; the ' Descent of the Holy Ghost ' in the church of Notre 

 Dame ; ' A Nativity,' and several holy families. The majority of his 

 works are of small dimensions : they are chiefly of religious subjects. 

 He painted also many portraits. There are about seventy engravings 

 after the works of Blanchard, by himself and by other engravers. 

 (D'Argenville, Abrerje de la Vie des plus fameux Peintres.) 



BLANCHARD, LAMAN, was born at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, 

 May 15, 1803. His father having removed to London, Laman was 

 educated at St Slave's school, Southwark. He commenced the 

 business of life as reader in a printing office. From boyhood he had 

 exhibited a great fondness for poetry, and considerable aptitude in 

 verse making ; and his first venture in authorship was a small volume 

 of poetry entitled ' The Lyric Offering, 1 published in 1828. Before this 

 however, in 1827, he had received the appointment of secretary to 

 the Zoological Society. This office he held till 1831, when he resigned 

 it to become acting editor of the ' New Monthly Magazine.' From 

 this time till his death his talents were wholly devoted to writing for 

 the periodical press, to which he was one of the most varied and 

 prolific contributors. His contributions consisted of poema, essays, 

 tales, sketches, and brief pointed paragraphs ; whatever in fact was 



