BLAIR ATHOLE BLANE. 



311 



ceedings ; and it will be allowed by those who 

 watched him through his career, as the publisher 

 of a literary and political miscellany, that those 

 qualities were more than once very severely tested. 

 He dealt by parties exactly as he did by individ- 

 uals. Whether his principles were right or wrong, 

 they were his, and he never compromised or com- 

 plimented away one tittle of them. No changes, 

 either of men or of measures, ever dimmed his eye, 

 or checked his courage. To youthful merit he was 

 a ready and a generous friend ; and to literary per- 

 sons of good moral character, when involved in pe- 

 cuniary distress, he delighted to extend a bountiful 

 hand. He was in all respects a man of large and 

 liberal heart and temper. 



During some of the best years of his life he found 

 time, in the midst of his own pressing business, to 

 take rather a prominent part in the affairs of the 

 city of Edinburgh, as a magistrate ; and it must be 

 admitted by those who most closely observed, and 

 even by those who most constantly opposed him 

 in that capacity, that he exhibited, on all occasions, 

 perfect fairness of purpose, and often, in the con- 

 duct of debate, and the management of less vigor- 

 ous minds, a very rare degree of tact and sagacity. 

 His complete personal exemption from the slightest 

 suspicion of jobbing or manosuvring was acknow- 

 ledged on all hands ; and, as the civic records can 

 show, the most determined enemy of what was 

 called reform was, in his sphere, the unwearied, 

 though not always the triumphant, assailant of 

 practical mischiefs. 



Mr Blackwood died at his house in Ainslie 

 Place, Edinburgh, on Tuesday the 16th of Septem- 

 ber, 1834, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. His 

 two eldest sons continue the bookselling business. 



BLAIR ATHOLE; a parish in Perthshire, Scot- 

 land, about thirty miles in length and eighteen in 

 breadth. The district is very rugged and bleak in the 

 mountainous parts, but very beautiful in that part 

 which is more properly Blair Athole namely, the 

 valley around Athole house, which is situated on the 

 bank of the Tilt, near its confluence with the Garry. 

 (See Athole in Encyclopedia.) The view of the 

 country from the opening of the Pass of Killie- 

 cranky is one of the finest in Scotland, comprising 

 a striking variety of mountain and valley. The 

 villageof Blair- Athole stands to the north of Athole 

 house, on the road from Edinburgh to Fort Augus- 

 tus, from which a road diverges at this point to 

 Brae-Mar. It is twenty miles north of Dunkeld. 

 In the church of Blair-Athole lie the remains 

 of John Graham of Claverbouse, Viscount Dun- 

 dee, who fell at the battle of Killiecranky, July 



2(3, 1689 Population in 1821, 2493; in 1831, 



J77!);in 1841,2231. 



BLANCHARD, WILLIAM, an eminent come- 

 dian, was a native of York, where he was brought 

 up by an uncle, the printer of one of the newspa- 

 pers, who apprenticed him to the same business. 

 At the age of seventeen, however, he left home to 

 join a company of comedians at Buxton, in Derby- 

 shire, then under the management of Mr Welsh. 

 He made his debut under the assumed name of 

 Bently, in the part of Allen a Dale, in " Robin 

 Hood," and a favourable reception induced him to 

 pursue his theatrical career. His success continu- 

 ing, he was induced after a year or two to appear 

 in his proper name, and performed some of the most 

 usual tragic characters, as Romeo, Young Norval, 

 Barnwell, &c. When he had attained the age of 

 twenty, he became a manager on his own account, 



and opened theatres at Penrith in Cumberland, 

 Hexham in Northumberland, and Barnard Castle, 

 and Bishop's Auckland in Durham. After a few 

 seasons he relinquished management, a poorer man 

 than when he commenced. In 1793, he was en- 

 gaged by Mr Brunton, for the Norwich company ; 

 in which he had abundant opportunities for the 

 display of his talents. In particular his performance 

 of rustic characters, old men, smart servants, sailors, 

 &c. obtained him applause, and rendered him an 

 established favourite throughout that circuit. His 

 increasing reputation attracted the attention of the 

 managers of Covent Garden, who at once engaged 

 him for five years, commencing with the season of 

 1800. On the 1st of Oct. he made his first bow 

 to a London audience, in the characters of Acres 

 in " The Rivals" and Crack in " The Turnpike- 

 gate." His correct delineation of the numerous 

 characters which he successively assumed in play, 

 farce, and opera, made him a universal favourite. 

 His Fluellen, Menenius, Polonius, Pistol, Sir An- 

 drew Aguecheek, Sir Hugh Evans, and many 

 others, were evidences of the soundness of his 

 judgment and versatility of his talents. He died at 

 Chelsea, 9th May, 1835, aged 66. 



BLANE, SIB. GILBERT, of Blanefield, Ayrshire, 

 and Culverlands, Berkshire, Bart. M. D., Physician 

 in Ordinary to the King, Fellow of the College of 

 physicians and of the Royal societies of London and 

 Edinburgh, Member of the Imperial Society of Sci- 

 ences at St Petersburg, &c. was the fourth son of 

 a family of opulent Scottish merchants, one of 

 whom, Thomas, was some time settled in Londoi. ; 

 and William, junior to Sir Gilbert, purchased the 

 estate of Wingfield Park, Berks. Sir Gilbert was 

 born at Blanetield, Ayrshire. Aug. 29, (O. S.) 1749. 

 He commenced life as a navy surgeon, and was 

 present at the engagement between the English and 

 French fleets in the West Indies, on the 12th of 

 April, 1782, of which he wrote an account we be- 

 lieve his first published work. He shortly after 

 published a valuable work, entitled " Observations 

 on the Diseases incident to Seamen." He rose gra- 

 dually in his profession, until he attained the rank 

 of physician to the fleet, and was honoured with the 

 acquaintance and friendship of his late Majesty. 

 In 1788 he was selected to deliver the Croonian 

 lecture, on muscular motion, before the Royal So- 

 ciety, which lecture was published in 1790. We 

 also find in their transactions, vol. 80., an account 

 by him of the Nardus Indica or spikenard ; in which 

 paper he attempted to collect what was known by 

 the ancients respecting this odoriferous herb. His 

 ideas respecting medical education, and certain 

 topics connected with it, he gave to the world in 

 1819, under the title of" Medical Logic," and the 

 work has run through several editions. In 1822, 

 he published " Select Dissertations on several Sub- 

 jects of Medical Science," most of which, we be- 

 lieve, had before appeared as separate papers in some 

 of the medical periodicals. For some time he had 

 retired from public life, when we find him once 

 more coming forward in 1831, and addressing his 

 "Warning to the British Public against the alarm- 

 ing Approach of the Indian Cholera." These, with 

 some pamphlets on subjects of ephemeral interest, 

 and contributions to medical periodicals, constitute, 

 we believe, the whole of his literary labours. Sir 

 Gilbert Blane was for some time physician to St 

 Thomas's Hospital ; and having been appointed 

 successively physician to the household, and one 

 of the physicians in ordinary to his late Majesty, 



