052 



OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. (BATES BLANCO.) 



advise Prince Bismarck in his negotiations with 

 Thiers. 



Bates, Harry, English sculptor, born in b 

 venaire in 1850: died in London. Jan. 30. 1899. 

 He practiced architectural decoration for many 

 years before he studied art. He won a traveling 

 scholarship in 1883 with a relief of Socrates 

 Teaching, and went to Paris and studied under 

 Rodin. His panels representing scones from the 

 Odyssey attracted attention at the Royal Acad- 

 emy as revealing a new talent. He exhibited 

 .Eneas in 188f>. Homer in 1880, and Rhodope 

 and panels of Psyche in 1887. His works in re- 

 lief with their highly decorative effect were most 

 admired. In 1SJJ2 he showed a bronze group ex- 

 pressive of force and action, representing hounds 

 held in leash by a hunter, which secured his elec- 

 tion as associate member of the Royal Academy. 

 His 'Pandora, exhibited at the same time, is in 

 the Tate Gallery. He made a large equestrian 

 statue of Lord Roberts, with a pedestal crowded 

 with elaborate designs, which has been set up in 

 Calcutta, and near it a companion statue of Lord 

 Kansdowne. His masterpiece is considered to be 

 his allegorical representation of Love and Life, 

 a female figure in ivory being crow r ned by a 

 winged male figure in bronze, with the terrestrial 

 sphere for a pedestal. 



Baumann, Oskar, an Austrian explorer, born 

 in Vienna, June 25, 18(34; died there, Oct. 12, 1899. 

 He came from a family of geographers, and 

 studied history and geography in the university 

 and practiced in the map department of the In- 

 stitute of Military Geography. In 1883 he under- 

 took explorations in Montenegro, and in 1885 he 

 went to Africa with the Austrian Congo expedi- 

 tion. He examined the lower Congo with Cha- 

 vanne, and worked up the river alone. In 1888 he 

 went to German East Africa with Hans Meyer 

 to map the country, and was taken captive by 

 the Arab rebels in Usambara, the exploration of 

 which he resumed in 1890 for the German East 

 Africa Company. He journeyed to Kilimanjaro, 

 and made preliminary surveys for the railroad 

 from Tanga to Korogwe. In 1892 he led an ex- 

 pedition, sent out by the German Antislavery 

 Society, from Tanga through the Massai country 

 to Victoria Nyanza. He was appointed Austrian 

 consul in Zanzibar, but was recalled because he 

 wrote a satirical account of German officialism 

 in East Africa for a Vienna newspaper. His notes 

 and sketch maps furnished data for all subse- 

 quent investigations in East Africa. He pub- 

 lished books of travel and contributed many ar- 

 ticles to geographical magazines. 



Becque. Henri, French dramatist, born in 

 Paris, April 9, 1837: died there in May, 1899. 

 His first work was the libretto of an opera, Sar- 

 danapale, the subject taken from Byron, which 

 was set to music by Vietorin Joncieres, and per- 

 formed without much success at the Theatre 

 Lyrinue in 1867. In 1808 his comedy L'Enfant 

 Prodigue was given at the Vaudeville, and in 

 1870. at the Porte St. Martin, Michael Pauper, 

 a drama of socialistic tendencies. In 1878 La 

 Navette was produced at the Gymnase, inau- 

 gurating the pessimistic drama in France. He 

 changed to another vein in Honnetes Femmes 

 in 1880, but in 1882 produced at the Theatre Fran- 

 c.ais Les Corbeaux. a satirical comedy of con- 

 temporaneous French manners, which for a long 

 time no manager would present on account of 

 ts cynical gloom, although it contains scenes of 

 great power and incontestable beauty. When it 

 was finally acted at the Comexlie Franchise it was 

 received with mingled hisses and applause. Na- 

 vette was a one-act drama. In 1885 La Parisi- 



enne was played at the Renaissance. This pro- 1 

 voked much discussion at first, and was finally i 

 accepted as one of the masterpieces of the modern I 

 drama. After that Henri Becque gave his time | 

 to criticism and polemics, lectures and congresses. | 

 He published a volume called Querelles Litte- I 

 raires. Although his plays did not become popu- 

 lar, the young school of French dramatists have j 

 draw r n their inspiration from Les Corbeaux and ! 

 La Parisienne. 



Blaikie, William Garden, Scottish clergy- 

 man, born in Aberdeen, Feb. 5, 1820; died in 

 North Berwick, June 11, 1899. He was educated * 

 at the university in his native city, and was or- 

 dained in the Church of Scotland in 1842 as pas- 

 tor of Drumblade. In 1843 he united with the 

 Free Church of Scotland, and in 1868 became Pro- 

 fessor of Apologetics and Pastoral Theology at 

 New College, Edinburgh. He was one of the : 

 best-known clergymen of his denomination, and 

 from 1888 to 1892 acted as president of the Pan- 

 Presbyterian Alliance. He also belonged to many 

 ecclesiastical associations, and edited several 

 periodicals. His published books include Six Lec- 

 tures to the Working Classes (1849); David, 

 King of Israel (1856); Bible History (1860); : 

 Outlines of Bible Geography (1861); Better Days 

 for Working People, a widely popular w r ork 

 (1863) ; Heads and Hands in the World of Labor 

 (1865) ; The Head of the House (1866) ; Counsel 

 and Cheer for the Battle of Life (1867): Memo- 

 rials of Andrew Crichton (1868) ; Life and the 

 True Light (1869); For the Work of the Minis- 

 try (1873); Glimpses of the Inner Life of Our 

 Lord (1876); The Personal Life of David Living- 

 stone (1880); Christianity and Secularism Com- 

 pared in their Influence and Effects (1882) ; Pub- 

 lic Ministry and Pastoral Methods of Our Lord 

 (1883) ; My Body (1883) : The Witness of Pales- 

 tine to the Bible (1883); Leaders in Modern 

 Philanthropy (1884); The Preachers of Scotland 

 (1888); The First and Second Books of Samuel 

 (Expositor's Bible, 1888); The Family (1889); .3 

 After Fifty Years (1893); The Book of Joshua 

 (Expositor's Bible, 1893); Heroes of Israel 

 (1894); Non-Christian Philosophies of the Age 

 (1894) ; Summer Suns in the Far West (1895). 



Blanco, Antonio Guzman, ex-President of 

 Venezuela, born in 1829; died in Paris, France, 

 July 29, 1899. He was the son of a distinguished 

 statesman, and became an ardent and active Lib- 

 eral politician at an early age. He was elected 

 Vice-President in 1865, and in the civil war of 

 1866 he took the field under Gen. Falcon and 

 helped greatly to the triumph of the federalist 

 cause. While Falcon was away in 1870 rebellion 

 again broke loose, and revolution and anarchy 

 were in sight when Blanco by a bold stroke seized 

 the capital and placed himself at the head of a 

 provisional government. His dictatorship was 

 legally regularized by his election to the presi- 

 dency in 1873. He ruled despotically and by un- 

 scrupulous methods, yet he aimed to advance 

 his country in civilization, and helped much to 

 improve its material development, its public 

 credit, and its ways of communication. In 1874 

 he dissolved all the monasteries in Venezuela. 

 After introducing a new code of law r s, he resigned 

 the presidency in 1877. His successor, Alcontara, 

 was unpopular, and the admirers of Blanco over- 

 threw him and proclaimed Blanco President 

 again. Blanco returned from Paris and assumed 

 the presidency, which he carried on successfully 

 till 1884. He'then retired, but in September, 1886, 

 he resumed the office, which he laid down finally 

 in August, 1887. His life was thenceforth spent in 

 Paris in the enjoyment of his wealth. 



