408 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



lished separately in 1840, "Organization of I^abor," 

 which had already appeared in the "Revue," a work 

 which gained the favor of the working classes; was 

 member of the Provisional Government of 1848, and 

 eventually of the National Assembly; threatened with 

 impeachment, fled to England; returned to France on 

 the fall of the empire, and was elected to the Chamber 

 of Deputies in 1871. Blanc wrote an elaborate and well- 

 written "History of the French Revolution." Died at 

 Cannes. 1882. 



Blanche of Castile (bl&nsh). Queen of Louis VIII. 

 of France, and daughter of Alphonso IX., King of Cas- 

 tile, was born about 1186. On the death of her hus- 

 band, in 1226, she was declared Regent of France, in 

 which capacity she displayed great energy and address. 

 After carrying on the government during the absence of 

 her son Louis IX. in the Holy Land, she died in 1252. 



lilashtield. Edwin Hem land, artist; born in New 

 York, December 15, 1848; educated at Boston Latin 

 School; studied at Paris. 1867, under Leon Bonnat, also, 

 receiving advice from Gdrome and Chapu; exhibited at 

 1'ans Salon, yearly. 1874-79, 1881. 1891, 1892; also 

 several years at Royal Academy, London; returned to 

 United States in 1881; has exhibited genre pictures, 

 portraits, and decorations. Among his paintings are 

 " Christmas Bells " and " Angel with the Flaming Sword." 

 Decorated one of domes of Manufacturers Building, 

 World's Columbian Exposition; Collis P. Huntington's 

 drawing room, and great central dome, Library of Con- 

 gress. Has lectured on art at Columbia, Harvard, Yale, 

 etc. Author: (with Mrs. Blashh'eld) " Italian Cities," co- 

 editor (with Mrs. Blashfield and A. A. Hopkins): "Vas- 

 ari's Lives of the Painters." 



Blavatsky, Mme., a theosophist, born in Russia, 



1813, was a great authority on theosophy, the doctrines 

 of which she professed she derived from the fountainhead 

 in Thibet. Died, 1891. 



Blind, Karl, born in 1826, German revolutionist, 

 began his agitation when still a student, and in 1847 was 

 imprisoned for a short time. He took part in the rising 

 of 1848. and then fled to Alsace, from whence the French 

 Government sent him to Switzerland. He joined Struve 

 in the second Black Forest insurrection, and was con- 

 demned to a long term of imprisonment, but was lib- 

 erated by the people. Being banished from France, and 

 a f ueit ive from Germany, he went to Belgium, and after- 

 wards to England, where he has written industriously in 

 support of his political ideas. It was Blind'sson-in-law 

 who attempted Bismarck's life in 1866. 



Bloomfleld, Robert (bloom'fi'ld), an English poet; 

 was born in 1766. Reared in humble life, his genius 

 found development in the poem entitled the "Farmer's 

 Boy," which attained very great popularity. Died, 1823. 



Blucher, Gerhard Leberecht von, born in 1742. 

 Prussian field marshal and Prince of Wahlstadt, first 

 entered the Swedish, but soon passed to the Prussian 

 army, in which he served during the Seven Years' War. 

 He went through the Polish campaign of 1772, and 

 gained rapid promotion during the struggle with the 

 French invaders begun in 1792. In the campaign of 



1814, Blucher held high command, and though defeated 

 by Napoleon, he beat Marshal Marmont, and entered 

 Paris with the Allies. In the Waterloo campaign he 

 commanded the Prussian army in Belgium, and was 

 severely defeated by Napoleon at Ligny. However, by 

 out-mano3uvring Grouchy, he was able to arrive at 

 Waterloo in time to decide the victory for the Allies and 

 pursue the routed French army. He then retired from 

 active service and died four years later. Died, 1819. 



Bpccacio (bok-kft-tahe-o) , Giovanni, a much-admired 

 Italian novelist, born at Paris in 1313. His works are 

 prized for their tenderness, but they often offend deco- 

 rum. His most celebrated work is the Decameron, a 

 collection of one hundred stories, supposed to have been 

 recited in ten days by a company of ladies and gentle- 

 men, who had withdrawn to the country to escape the 

 plague which raged at Florence in 1348. He died in 

 1375. 



Bodley, Sir Thomas, a diplomatist in the time of 

 Queen Elizabeth, was born in Paris in 1544. The uni- 

 versity library of Oxford was rebuilt by him, and he 

 bequeathed his fortune to support 'it. It has ever since 

 been called the Bodleian Library. He died in 1612. 



Boerhaave (bo'-er-h&v), a celebrated physician, born 

 in 1668, in Voorbout near Leyden. He studied much, 

 successfully labored in his profession, and was univer- 

 sally esteemed by his contemporaries. His writings, 

 which are numerous, were much admired. He died in 

 1738. 



Bogardus, James, born in 1800; American inventor 

 of great fecundity, who worked for some time as a watch- 

 maker and engraver in New York. Among his inven- 

 tions were the king-flyer for cotton spinning (1828); 



the eeeentrie mill (lXL".n ; the dry-gas meter (1832); 

 a dynamo-meter. :uul a pyrometer (1848). In 1847 he 

 built the first structure of cast iron in the United States. 

 Died. 1875. 



Boileau-Despreaux (boy-lo-da-pro'), Nicolas, a 

 critic, poet, and satirist, who lived in the time of Louis 

 \1\., was born in 1636. His "Art of 1'oetry," his 

 epistles, and his satires, gained him the title of "Master 

 of Parnassus." He was the friend of Moliere, La Fon- 

 taine, and Racine. With the last he was appointed 

 historiographer of France, and received a pension of 

 2,000 livres. He died in 1711. His brothers Giles and 

 James were also much esteemed writers. The former 

 died in 1669; the latter in 1716. 



Bok, Edward William, editor of "The Ladies' 

 Home Journal" since 1888; vice-president "The Curtis 

 Publishing Co.;" born in Helder, Holland, October 9, 

 1863; came to the United States at the age of 6; edu- 

 eated at Brooklyn public schools; stenographer with 

 Western Union Telegraph Co.; Henry Holt & Co., 

 1884-85; Scribner's 1885-88; Author: "The Young 

 Man in Business"; "Successward." 



Bpker, George Henry, born in 1824, American poet; 

 his first published poem was "The Lesson of Life " (1847), 

 and this was followed by two tragedies, which were pro- 

 duced on the stage. For ten years he was secretary of 

 the Union League, Philadelphia, and his "Poems of the 

 War" proved very popular. In 1869 he went as United 

 States Minister to Constantinople. He published in 

 1882 an elegy, "The Book of the Dead." 



Bolingbroke (boi ' -ina-brook) , Henry St. John Vis- 

 count, an KiiKlish statesman, born in Battersea in 1672. 



j Having studied at Oxford he entered parliament in 1700, 

 and in 1704 became secretary of war. He afterwards 



i became secretary of state for foreign affairs, and nego- 



| tiated the Treaty of Utrecht. In 1712, he was raised to 

 the peerage. On the accession of George I. he was 

 impeached of high treason, when he fled the country, and 

 became secretary of state to the first pretender. He 

 was attainted, and hisestate seized; but in 1723 he was 

 permitted to return. His estates were restored, but he 

 was not allowed to sit in parliament. He wrote against 

 the ministry, and his productions were admired for their 

 eloquence and vigor. He again withdrew to France in 

 1735, but returned to England on the death of his father, 

 and died in 1751. 



Bolivar, Simon, the founder and first president of 

 the Republic of Colombia, known as "The Liberator of 

 South America." Born in Venezuela, 1783, he was 

 educated in Madrid, and traveled in Europe and the 

 United States. When the revolt against the Spanish 

 yoke broke out in Venezuela, he joined it, but had to fly. 

 In 1813 he returned, and gathering a force together, 

 defeated General Monteverde at Caracas. The tide then 

 turned, and Bolivar fled to Jamaica, but he shortly re- 

 turned, and after varying fortune in 1819 won the battle 

 of Bojaca, resulting in the inauguration of the Republic 

 of Venezuela in the same year, to which was afterwards 

 united New Granada. In 1822 Bolivar went to help the 

 Peruvians in their struggle for liberty, and was given the 

 chief command. After a long campaign he won the 

 great battle of Ayacucho. Upper Peru was constituted 

 a separate republic with the title of Bolivia. As Presi- 

 dent of Colombia he had to endure much factious hos- 

 tility; but though he tendered his resignation more than 

 once it was never accepted, the supreme power being 

 confirmed in him in 1828. Died, 1830. 



Bonaparte, Charles Joseph, lawyer, secretary of 

 the navy, United States, since July 1, 1905; born in 

 Baltimore, June 9, 1851 ; grandson of Jerome Bonaparte, 

 King of Westphalia; graduate of Harvard in 1871; 

 Harvard Law School in 1874; since then in law practice 

 in Baltimore; prominent in reform movements; mem- 

 ber of board of Indian commissioners, 1902-04; Repub- 

 lican presidential elector from Maryland, 1904; chairman 

 council of National Civil Service Reform League; pres- 

 ident of National Municipal League; member of Execu- 

 tive Committee National Civic Federation; overseer at 



! Harvard, 1891-1903; trustee Catholic University of 

 America since 1904; awarded Laetare medal by Uni- 

 versity of Notre Dame, 1903. 



Bonapartes, The. The family to which the Em- 

 peror Napoleon I. belonged came from Corsica. The 

 father, Carlo Maria Bonaparte, born in 1746, was a lawyer 

 and an adherent of Paoli, the insurgent. Died, 1785. 

 The mother, Letizia Ramolini, born in 1750, was cele- 

 brated for her beauty; and with the title, "Madame 

 Mere," lived in Paris during the rule of Napoleon. Died, 

 1836. (1) Joseph, born in 1768, the eldest son, prac- 

 ticed as an advocate, and married a merchant's daughter 

 at Marseilles. He was commissary-general to the army 

 in Italy under Napoleon, and in 1797 was sent as ambas- 

 sador to the pope. An able diplomatist, he negotiated 



