BLIGH, WILLIAM. 



BLIZARD, SIR WILLIAM. 



722 



She wrote a great many novels, of which ' The Repealers ' was the first 

 in point of time ; and the ' Victim of Society," the ' Two Friends,' and 

 the ' Belle of a Season,' were the most popular. When portraying the 

 habits of fashionable society she was on familiar ground, and could 

 write with effect ; when she treated of subjects of more general interest 

 she lost her power. The majority of her novels and tales are of little 

 literary worth, and none perhaps are likely to have a very long vitality. 

 One of her most pleasant books, after the ' Conversations with Lord 

 Byron,' is her ' Idler in Italy/ published in two volumes in 1839. The 

 'Idler in France' and ' Desultory Thoughts and Reflections,' are of 

 inferior value. Lady Blessington also contributed slight tales, sketches, 

 and verses to the magazines and annuals; and for several years she 

 edited ' Heath's Book of Beauty ' and the ' Keepsake ;' she also for a 

 few years edited another annual called the ' Gems of Beauty.' She 

 likewise for a time contributed to the ' Daily News ' and ' Sunday 

 Times * newspapers. 



To this literary industry Lady Blessington was incited by pecuniary 

 necessity, brought about by her splendid style of living. But both 

 her jointure and her literary earnings proved insufficient to meet her 

 expenditure; and when the fumino in Ireland cut off in a great 

 measure the returns of the Bleasington property, it became necessary 

 in 1849 to dispose of the costly fittings and furniture of Gore House. 

 Count Ii'Orsay had gone to Paris in the hope, as was understood, of 

 obtaining a post under Louis Napoleon, with whom he had been on 

 terms of much intimacy. Lady Blessington followed him in April 

 1S49, and died at Paris almost suddenly on the 4th of June, 1849. 

 Count D'Orsay died at Paris August 4, 1852. 



(Madden, the Literary Life and Correspondence of the Countess of 

 Blessinyton.) 



BLIGH, WILLIAM, born in 1753, the commander of the ship 

 ' Bounty ' at the time when she was piratically seized in the South 

 Seas. The description given by Captain Cook of the bread-fruit and 

 edible fruits of various descriptions in the South Sea Islands induced 

 a number of the West India merchants to take measures for introducing 

 them into the West India colonies. On the advantages likely to result 

 from such a design being strongly represented to George III., orders 

 were given to prepare a vessel for the purpose. The arrangements 

 were superintended by Sir Joseph Banks, who named the vessel the 

 'Bounty.' Bligh, then a lieutenant, who had already sailed with Cook 

 in those quarters, was appointed to the command, and sailed from 

 Spithead for Otaheite on tho 23rd December 1787. On the 26th of 

 October following they reached their destination, and remained at the 

 island until April 4th, 1789. The number of bread-fruit plants taken 

 on board was 1015, besides a number of other plants. The whole were 

 under the care of competent persons who had been selected by Sir 

 Joseph Banks. Laden with these valuable plant* the vessel proceeded 

 on her voyage to Jamaica. On the morning of the 28th of April the 

 captain was seized in his cabin, while asleep, by Mr. Christian, who 

 was the officer of the watch, and three other individuals ; his hands 

 were tied behind him, and he was threatened with instant death if he 

 gave the least alarm. The mutineers then put him into the ship's 

 launch, with eighteen of the crew, and cast them adrift. They had 

 been allowed to collect twine, canvass, lines, sails, cordage, a twenty- 

 eight gallon cask of water, 150 Ibs. of bread, with a small quantity of 

 ruin and wine. They had also a quadrant aud a compass, but no map, 

 ephemeris, or sextant. They were left to struggle with cold and hunger 

 in an open boat deeply laden, and some thousands of miles from any 

 hospitable shore. They were near the island of Tofoa at the time of 

 leaving the ship, in 19 S. lat, 184 E. long. ; and; they landed, in 

 order, if possible, to increase their stock of provisions, but a sudden 

 attack by the natives compelled them to embark without obtaining 

 more than a trifling quantity of bread-fruit, plantains, and cocoa-nuts. 

 They caught on their voyage a few sea-birds, and spent a few days 

 among the coral islands off the coast of New Holland, which enabled 

 them to get a comparatively comfortable meal or two of oysters, clams, 

 and dt>g-n*h, relieved them from the fatigue of being constantly in the 

 same position in the boat, and enabled them to enjoy good rest at 

 flight. On the 14th of June they arrived at Timor. They had reached 

 this island in forty-one days after leaving Tofoa, having in that time 

 run by the log a distance of 3618 nautical miles with scarcely anything 

 to support life, without shelter from the weather, and without the 

 loss of a single man. To the prudence, firmness, and seamanlike 

 qualities of Bligh their safety may be chiefly ascribed. Lieutenant 

 Bligh proceeded as soon as possible to England, where he landed 

 March 1 4th, 1790. Of the companions of his perilous voyage five died ; 

 and one, who wag left behind, was never heard of afterwards. The 

 adventures of the mutineers in tho ' Bounty,' after Bligh and Ma com- 

 panions had been cast adrift, are narrated under ADAMS, JOUN. 



The relation of the treatment which Lieutenant Bligh had expe- 

 rienced, and of the hardships which he had encountered, highly excited 

 the public sympathy. He was again sent out to the South Sens, and 

 was completely successful in conveying to the West Indies a supply 

 of the bread-fruit plant. He was also promoted to the rank of com- 

 mander, and the ' Pandora' frigate, Captain Edwards, was gent out to 

 Otaheite, for the purpose of apprehending the mutineers. The 

 'Pandora' reached that island March 23rd, 1791, where fourteen of 

 the mutineers were found, apprehended, and kept on board in irons. 

 On the 8th of May 1791, the 'Pandora' left Otaheite, aud, after an 



B100. DIV. VOL. I. 



ineffectual search of several months, with a view to discover the place 

 of Christian's retreat and the fute of the ' Bounty,' she was wrecked 

 on the 29th of Augusf on the coral rocks near New Holland, when four 

 of the mutineers and thirty-one of the ship's company lost thtir lives. 

 The survivors, consisting of eighty-one of the crew and officers of the 

 'Pandora,' and ten of the mutineers of the 'Bounty,' proceeded in four 

 open boats to Timor, which they reached in sixteen days. Captain 

 Edwards, of the ' Pandora,' finally reached Spithead with his prisoners 

 on the 19th of June 1792. On the 12th of September following a 

 court-martial was assembled at Portsmouth, under the presidency of 

 Lord Hood, for the trial of the ten surviving mutineers, and on the 

 18th they delivered their verdict. Four of them were acquitted, and 

 six were found guilty and sentenced to death, of whom two were 

 recommended to mercy. On the 24th of October the king's warrant 

 was received at Portsmouth, ordering the execution of three out of 

 the four men who were condemned without recommendation, and 

 granting a respite to the fourth, who subsequently received his 

 majesty's pardon ; the other two received a full pardon, and one of 

 them, a young midshipman named Heywood, afterwards honourably 

 distinguished himself in the service. 



It was much disputed at the time whether the mutiny of the ' Bounty ' 

 was occasioned by the harsh conduct of Bligh, or whether the muti- 

 neers were seduced from their duty by the prospects of a life of ease 

 and pleasure in the delightful islands of the South Seas. During their 

 stay at Otaheite they had been exposed to temptations which must 

 have had some influence on their future conduct. On the other hand, 

 it is certain that Bligh's conduct was often coarse and arbitrary, and 

 that both officers and men felt indignant at his treatment of them. 

 There is the best reason for believing that the mutiny was not the 

 result of a maturely-formed conspiracy, but that " the plot was con- 

 ceived and carried into execution between the hours of four and eight 

 A.M. of the 29th of April" (Marshall, ' Naval Biography,' article 

 ' Heywood.') The two or three preceding days, Bligh, in the united 

 capacities of commander aud purser, had acted in a manner more than 

 usually arbitrary. 



In 1806 Bligh was appointed governor of New South Wales, where 

 his acts appear to hava been extremely tyrannical, and his use of the 

 powers vested in him most impolitic and even illegal. (Wentworth, 

 ' Statistical, Historical, aud Political Description of New South Wales,' 

 p. 200.) His conduct became at length so unbearable, that on the 26th 

 of January 1808 he was arrested by order of the other civil and military 

 officers of the colony, and his government was thus summarily termi- 

 nated. The excesses with which he is charged are of so shameful and 

 atrocious a character as almost to indicate insanity, and ought to bo 

 taken into account in forming our estimate of his conduct on board 

 the 'Bounty.' (See Wentworth's second edition, p. 203, and the note.) 

 Bligli died in December 1817. Nothing was heard of the 'Bounty' 

 until 1809, when an American vessel touched at the island which 

 Christian had selected as a retreat. [ADAMS, JOHN.] 



The mutiny of the ' Bounty' has partly been made the subject of ono 

 of Lord Byron's poems, entitled the ' Island," which contains many 

 passages of great beauty. The account of Bligh's voyage to the South 

 Seas was published in 4to, pp. 264, London, 1792, and contains charts, 

 engravings, and a portrait of Bligh. A popular account, entitled ' The 

 Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S. Bounty : 

 its Cause and Consequences,' forms one of the volumes of the ' Family 

 Library.' 



(Narrative of the Mutiny on board 1I.M.S. Bounty, by Lieutenant 

 W. Bligh; Minutes of the Proceedings on the Court-Martial, with, an 

 Appendix, by Edward Christian, brother of Fletcher Christian.) 



BLIZARD, SIR WILLIAM, was born in 1748 at Barnes Elms, in 

 Surrey, where his father was an auctioneer. His early education was 

 neglected, but he was apprenticed to a surgeon and apothecary at 

 Mortlake. During his apprenticeship he devoted himself to self- 

 improvement, and paid much attention to botany. On leaving Mort- 

 lake, he became assistant to a surgeon in London, and attended during 

 that time hospital practice at the London Hospital, and the lectures 

 of William and John Hunter and Mr. Pott. His assiduity recom- 

 mended him to his teachers, and he was soon elected surgeon to the 

 Magdalen Hospital On the decease of Mr. Thompson in 1780, he 

 was elected surgeon to the London Hospital. About this time he 

 connected himself with Dr. Maclaurin as a teacher of anatomy, and 

 they lectured together, first at a small place in Thames-street, after- 

 wards in Mark-lane, and in 1785 at the London Hospital. Imperfect 

 as such an institution was for teaching medicine, it was the first that 

 was established in London in connection with any of the large 

 hospitals. 



In 1787 Mr. BHzard was appointed professor of anatomy to the 

 old Coiporation of Surgeons, and in the year following was unani- 

 mously ra elected. He was afterwards appointed an examiner. He 

 was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1787. He took an 

 active interest in procuring for the old Corporation of Surgeons the 

 new charter, under which the new institution was called the Royal 

 College of Surgeons of London. By a charter granted in 1844, it is 

 now called the Royal College of Surgeons of England. On the granting 

 of the first charter, Mr. Blizard was appointed, in conjunction with 

 Sir Everard Home, a professor of anatomy. He was president of tho 

 college twice during his life, and delivered the Huuteriau Oration three 



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