BLAKE 764 



In the field of imperial politics, which he 

 entered in 1892 at the request of the Irish 

 Nationalists, he rendered good service to the 

 cause of Home Rule. He was conspicuous in 

 1896 as one of the committee to investigate 

 South African affairs. In early life Blake was 

 a strong supporter of imperial federation, but 

 he later became less outspoken and even ques- 

 tioned the wisdom of such a plan. In addition 

 to his political activities he practiced law most 

 of his life and appeared in many important 

 cases, both in England and in Canada. He was 

 vitally interested in education, founded several 

 scholarships in political science in the Uni- 

 versity of Toronto and served a term as chan- 

 cellor of that institution. U.H.L. 



BLAKE, ROBERT (1599-1657), a famous Brit- 

 ish admiral who distinguished himself in the 

 naval battles of the seventeenth century that 

 wrested the supremacy of the seas from the 

 Dutch. During the civil war between Charles I 

 and Parliament, in which he aided Cromwell, 

 he destroyed the squadron of the Royalist gen- 

 eral, Prince Rupert, and as a reward for his 

 services was made sole admiral of the English 

 fleet. Between 1652 and 1653 he won a series 

 of victories over the Dutch Admiral Van 

 Tromp, and forever ended Holland's claim to 

 being mistress of the seas. 



In 1654 Cromwell sent Blake to the Mediter- 

 ranean, where he succeeded in upholding the 

 dignity of the British flag in contest with the 

 Dutch, the Spanish and the French. He at- 

 tacked Tunis, the dey of which had insulted the 

 British flag, routed an army of 3,000 Turks, and 

 at Algiers and at Tripoli set free all the English 

 held there as slaves. 



BLAKE, WILUAM (1757-1827), an English 

 engraver and poet who occupies a unique place 

 among English poets by reason of the unusual 

 character of his writings. His poetry, which 

 he himself illustrated with drawings of great 

 beauty and originality, has the imaginative 

 quality of Spenser's work, the spirit and ring 

 of the Elizabethan lyrics, and also many ele- 

 ments of the writings of the Romantic poets 

 who followed him love of children and ani- 

 mals, and an appreciation of the beauty that 

 lies in ordinary life. His best-known poems are 

 found under the titles Songs of Innocence and 

 Songs of Experience. 



Charles Lamb regarded him as one of the 

 most extraordinary men of his age, and Swin- 

 burne has characterized him as "the single 

 Englishman o/ supreme and simple poetic 

 genius of his time." 



BLANK VERSE 



BLANC-MANGE, blah manzh' , a popular 

 dessert having the appearance of jelly. It is 

 whitish in color and is made of Irish moss, 

 cornstarch, arrowroot and other starchy sub- 

 stances, boiled with milk and flavored. Fre- 

 quently chocolate and various fruit juices are 

 added. Served with cream or sauce, blanc- 

 mange is a wholesome and agreeable dessert, 

 pleasing to the eye as well as the taste. The 

 name comes from the French blanc, meaning 

 white, and manger, meaning to eat. 



BLANC, MONT. See MONT BLANC. 



BLAND, RICHARD PARKS (1835-1899), for 

 many years the leader of free coinage senti- 

 ment in the national House of Representatives 

 and the author of the famous Bland- Allison bill 

 of 1878, which was passed over President Hayes' 

 veto. He was born near Hartford, Ky., and 

 after wandering as far west as California finally 

 returned to Missouri to practice law. He was 

 elected to the lower house of Congress in 1872, 

 where he served until his death, with the ex- 

 ception of the years between 1895 and 1897. 



The Bland-Allison bill, through which his 

 name became famous, provided for the pur- 

 chase by the government of not less than 

 $2,000,000 nor more than $4,000,000 worth of 

 silver bullion a month. 



This bill was in effect until repealed by the 

 passage of the Sherman Law in 1890. Bland 

 was a prominent candidate for President at the 

 Democratic convention in Chicago in 1896, but 

 he withdrew in favor of William Jennings 

 Bryan, who was nominated because of a bril- 

 liant appeal on the silver issue, known as the 

 "cross of gold" speech. However, Byran was 

 defeated in the ensuing election by William 

 McKinley, after which the coinage of silver 

 ceased to be a political issue. 



BLANK VERSE, poetry written without 

 rhyme, a form employed in some of the noblest 

 and sweetest poems. The name blank here 

 refers to the lack of the rhyme at the ends 

 of lines of poetry, which the ear expects to 

 hear. The first English poet to employ blank 

 verse was Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, who 

 in the sixteenth century translated into un- 

 rhymed verse two books of Virgil's Aeneid. 

 Marlowe and Shakespeare brought this form 

 of verse to perfection, and since their time it 

 has been used by practically all the English 

 poetic dramatists except Dryden, and by Mil- 

 ton, Tennyson, Browning, Wordsworth and 

 other writers in many different forms of poetry. 



A familiar example of blank verse is Bryant's 

 Thanatopsis, in which is used the typical blank 



