B L A 



B L A 



castigate the authors of works of an immoral tendency, and 

 he Wok this opportunity of retaliating on hi* assailants. He 

 always reprehended with severity the license of the M.ij:.-, 

 inn!, though no Puritan, lamented the licentiousness which 

 the Restoration. It was probably this course, 

 . than the alleged dullness of his writings, that occa- 

 sioned the ridicule of the day to bo so strongly directed 

 against hi:. The ' Creation,' a philosophical poem, is not 

 undeserving of commendation; indeed there are severul im- 

 portant iMtittOlluJi in its favour. Addisuii states that it 

 undertaken with so good an intention, and executed 

 with so great a mastery, that it deserves to be looked upon 

 as one of the most useful and noble productions in our 

 English verse.' Dr. Johnson, in his ' Life of Blackmore,' 

 iliat if he had written only this poem it 'would have 

 transmitted him to posterity among the first favourites of 

 the English Muse.' At a later day, Cowper, although he 

 confesses that Blackmoro has ' written more absurdities in 

 verse than any writer of our country,' acknowledges that 

 ' he shines in his poem called the " Creation." ' Since this 

 opinion was expressed this poem has been gradually sink- 

 ing into the neglect which Blockmorc's other writings ex- 

 perienced much sooner. 



In November, 1713, Sir Richard commenced a periodical 

 paper, called the ' Lay Monk,' which appeared three times 

 a week. He was induced to undertake this publication 

 from a belief that he could do good by it; but it only 

 reached forty numbers. It may be mentioned to his credit 

 that the purity of his private character was never once 

 called in question by his most bitter critics. His temper 

 was serious, and he was a firm supporter of what he con- 

 sidered the interests of virtue and religion. 



(Johnson's /tre* of the Poets; Cowper's Letters ; Biog. 

 Brit.) 



BLACKNESS, situated in the parish of Caniden in 

 Linlithgowshire, is a small sea-side village, on the south 

 hank of the Forth, four miles east of Borrowstonncss, live 

 of Cjueenst'erry, and about eighteen miles west from 

 Edinburgh. Blackness appears to have been a Roman sta- 

 tion ; a stone with an eagle on it, and a Vespasian of gold 

 have been found there, with numerous axes, pots, and 

 several vases, evidently Roman. Blackness at one time 

 was the port of Linlithgovv. Blackness Castle, which stands 

 on the point of a small peninsula projecting from the vil- 

 lage into the Frith of Forth, was the principal state -prison 

 in Scotland during the reign of James VI. At the union of 

 Scotland and England, Blackness was one of the four forts 

 agreed to be kept up in Scotland. It is now garrisoned by 

 a master-gunner and barrack-master, and the defences are 

 scarcely worth notice, consisting merely of a wall with a few 

 port-holes and two irregular lolty towers. 



(Sir Robert Sibbald's History, Antient and Modern, of 

 the Sheriffsdome of Linlithgow, $-c. Kdin. 1710; Chalmers' 

 Caledonia, vol. i. Lond. 1807; Chambers' Gazetteer, Edin. 

 1 832 ; East and West Views, and Plan rif the Castle of 

 Blackness, King's Library, British Museum ; Sinclair's Sta- 

 tistical Account of Scotland, vol. i. ; Sibbald's Theutrum 

 Scotiee; Sibbald's Portus, Culonice, ct Castella Romano, 

 &c. Edin. 1811; Sibbald's Historical Emntiries concern- 

 ing the Roman Monuments and Antiquities in the North 

 Pirrt of Britain, $*. Edin., 1707.) 



BLACKPOOL, a watering-place on the coast of Lan- 

 cashire, between the (estuaries of the Ribble and \Vv re, is 

 a village and chapelry in the township of Layton with War- 

 breck, in the parish of Bispham, and in the hundred of 

 Araounderness ; 4 miles S.W. of I'oulton, miles W.N.W. 

 of Kirkham, 18 miles W.N.W. of Preston, 27 miles S.W. 

 of Lancaster, and 235 miles from London. The dark 

 peaty-coloured pool, from which its name is derived, is at 

 the south end of the village, near a house called Fox Hall, 

 once the residence of the Tyldcsleys, but now a farm-house. 



The situation of Blackpool gives it many advantages 

 over the other watering-places along the same coast. Its 

 elevation above the sea at low water is considerable, but in 

 MM ln/n tides the spray is thrown against the buildings 

 that run along the parade. On a favourable day. the pro- 

 montory of Fumes*, the Cumberland hills, and the moun- 

 tains of North Wales ore distinctly visible, and at times 

 the Isle of Man may be seen. 



The tide does not recede from the shore, opposite the vil- 

 lage, more than half a mile ; when it comes in, if accom- 

 panied with wind, the furco of the waters 19 to great that 

 it has been found necessary to make an artificial barrier of 



stones against the bank to prevent its being undermined. 

 The inroads upon the hiizh clay cliffs that lie northwards of 

 the village towards Norbreck, also in the parish of H>pham, 

 .-how the encroachments of (lie -ia in this direction, (in 

 the other side of the a-stunry of the RibMc, near Southpnrt, 

 the contrary operation is g"im: forward, 1. ,:ions 



of sand being made there. The extent of these encroach- 

 incnts in the neighbourhood of Blackpool cannot be <!. 

 ascertained. Tradition states that a 1 , which is 



standing upon the sands above half a mile from the shore, 

 called Penny Stone, marks the spot where a public-1. 

 formerly stood. However this may be, it is certain that the 

 high tides occasionally wash down considerable portions of 

 the banks. The old road to Bispham has long disappeared, 

 and parts of the new road are rapidly following it. 



Blackpool is recommended to visitors by the fine hard 

 sands, and by the healthy bracing air, which however , 

 keen for persons labouring under some complaints. Many 

 of the native inhabitants attain a great age. The shell 

 banks on the north side of the village are large and 

 numerous, and afford, along with an immcn-e 1111111' 

 the more common sorts, marine specimens not found in 

 any other locality. The clay and marl which compos, 

 heights north of Blackpool, after falling down and I 

 rolled about on the pebbles, form a kind of pudding, v. 

 when hardened by the salt water and the air, become^ a 

 stone, and is often used for gate-posts by the farmers. 



The hotels are large, and occupy commanding situa- 

 tions facing the sea. In the same line with them, for 

 about a quarter of a mile, is a number of lo: 

 chiefly for the accommodation of visitors, forming a long 

 but irregular range of buildings in front of the sea, al the 

 distance of about a hundred yards from the edge of the 

 steep bank that keeps oil" the tide. On the water's edge of 

 this hank is a broad terrace-walk, which forms the 

 promenade of the place, between which and the- house 

 road for earn 



An episcopal place of worship was erected here in 1 s-Jl . 

 which is under the parochial jurisdiction of Bispham. There 

 is also a free-school, where thirty boys are educated on the 

 system of Dr. Bell. For the accommodation of 1 1 

 a news-room, a coffee-room, and a library, arc open daring 

 the season. 



The whole of the adjacent country, which is within the. 

 district called the Fylde, is one of the richest parts of the 

 county of Lancaster. No trade is carried on in the vu 

 but those persons who are not engaged in attending upon the 

 visitors find employment in the fishing-boats, or in the 

 fields. The population of Blackpool is about 800, exclusive 

 of visitors, who, at the height of the season, amount to 800 

 or 1000 more. 



BLACK ROCK, in the barony of Half Rathdowne and 

 county of Dublin in Ireland, is pleasantly situated about mid- 

 way upon the railroad lately completed between Dublin and 

 Kingstown. Black Rock has long been a favourite watering- 

 place, but the increased facility of communication i- 

 hkcly to give the advantage to situations farther down the 

 bay. The town has not latterly been on the increase, though 

 at present (1835) it is improving. 



BLACKROD, a chapelry and cjtisidcrable manufactur- 

 ing village in the parish of Bollon-lo-Moor : it stands on tin- 

 edge of some elevated ground, above the river DuugUs, which 

 forms its boundary on the N.E. and N.W., about half a 

 mile from the main road between Bolton and Chorley, 

 within two miles of Horwich, seven miles of Bolton, and 

 five miles of Chorley. 



Few of the inhabitants have been employed in agricul- 

 ture for many years. In the census of 180 1, out of li.J.i 

 persons, 1551 belonged to families c-nuagcd in manufactures, 

 and the proportion appears to be rather mcrea-cd than di- 

 minished ir. favour of trade by the returns of 183 1, when the 

 population was 2591 persons. The people are employ ed either 

 in hand-loom weaving, or at the print and bleach-works in 

 the adjacent village of Horwich. There are no cotton-mills 

 or power-looms in the place. Nankeen.; were formerly the 

 chief article of manufacture, but latterly many oth-r mil t 

 cloth have been introduced, and are as much woven as the 

 staple article. 



Blackrod is a place of great antiquity, being the site, as 

 some suppose, of the Roman station named Coccium by 

 Antoninus, and llifriiiliiniim\>y Ptolemy: Rigodunum how- 

 ever seems more likely to be Ribchester on the Ribble. 

 The roads from it are visible in all directions, and the names 



