BLARNEY STONE 



765 



BLASTING 



verse line a ten-syllable line having five feet 

 of two syllables each, the second of which is 

 accented. Such a line is an example of iambic 

 pentameter, and is divided and accented thus: 

 To him' | who In' | the love' | of na' | ture holds' | 

 The concluding stanza of Thanatopsis very 

 well illustrates the effects produced by blank 

 verse, which critics agree is admirably adapted 

 to use in poems that combine harmony of 

 sound and dignity of music with nobility of 

 thought : 



So live, that when thy summons comes to join 

 The innumerable caravan, that moves 

 To that mysterious realm, where each shall take 

 His chamber in the silent halls of death, 

 Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night, 

 Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and 



soothed 



By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, 

 Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 

 About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. 



BLARNEY, blahr'ni, STONE, a stone much 

 kissed because of the superstitious belief that 

 it will give to those who kiss it the power of 

 saying easily things which flatter, compliment 

 or persuade. From this has come the expres- 



BLARNEY CASTLE 



The stone on the highest point of the corner in 

 center of picture is the Blarney stone, and bears 

 date of 1703. It is held in place by two iron bars. 



ion blarneying. This stone is in a wall near 

 the top of Blarney Castle, Blarney, Ireland, a 

 village of about 1,000 people, near the city of 

 Cork. Tourists from every part of the globe 

 visit the castle just to kiss the stone. It is 

 commonly believed that the Blarney Stone 

 legend originated because the first owner of 

 the castle delayed its surrender in medieval 

 times by promises and flattering speech. 



BLASHFIELD, EDWIN ROWLAND (1848- ), 

 an American artist whose wall paintings, adorn- 



ing some of the finest buildings in the United 

 States, have brought him into the front rank 

 of decorative painters. He was born in New 

 York City. After studying in Paris under the 

 famous French painter, Leon Bonnat, he spent 

 several years in France, Italy, Greece and 

 Egypt, returning to the United States in 1881 

 and beginning work as a figure painter. Of his 

 early canvases, the best known are Christmas 

 Bells and The Angel with the Flaming Sword. 

 Since 1892 he has given- his time entirely to 

 decorative painting. Some of his splendid 

 achievements in this field are the central dome 

 of the Library of Congress in Washington, 

 picturing the Development oj Civilization; in 

 the Baltimore courthouse, Washington Resign- 

 ing His Commission and Lord Baltimore's 

 Edict oj Toleration; and the ceiling of the great 

 ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New 

 York, representing Dance and Music. 



Blashfield's work is characterized by delicate 

 and beautiful coloring. He is a member of the 

 National Academy of Design, and with his 

 wife has written Italian Cities and edited 

 Vasari's Lives of the Painters. 



BLASPHEMY, blass' fee mi, a term, orig- 

 inally meaning profanity, but now applied to a 

 spoken or written insult to the Diety. From 

 the earliest days blasphemy has been an of- 

 fense against man's laws, and once was punish- 

 able with death or other severe penalty. In 

 England until 1547 blasphemous persons were 

 whipped and imprisoned; until 1825 the legal 

 punishment in Scotland was death, and by the 

 present laws of that country the offense is 

 punishable by imprisonment. In the United 

 States and Canada the punishment for blas- 

 phemy was formerly imprisonment and whip- 

 ping, but, as in England, the law has fallen 

 gradually into disuse. The Bible declares that 

 at the final day there shall be a strict account- 

 ing for blasphemy. 



BLAST FURNACE, the name given to the 

 common smelting-furnace, used for obtaining 

 iron from its ores with the aid of a powerful 

 blast of air. This device is fully described in 

 the article IRON, under the subhead The Blast 

 Furnace. 



BLASTING, the operation of breaking up 

 masses of rock or other hard substances, by 

 means of explosives. Previous to the inven- 

 tion of gunpowder the usual method of blasting 

 was by heat, followed by quick cobling. Hanni- 

 bal in forcing his way over the Alps is supposed 

 to have employed this method by lighting fires 

 against rocks and then dashing cold water on 



