B L A 



alum of the country, purchafcd this, with other mines; 

 but failin; in his iinjiill Ipeculations, was obliged toreliiiquidi 

 tlitf works at Blackburn. (Sec Alum.) Blackburn con- 

 tains 2^52 houfes, iiiQ^'o inhabitants, and is 211 miles 

 N.W. from London. Aikin's dtfcription of the country 

 round Manchellcr, 4to. 1 795. 



Blackburn, the n.ime of a river in Scotland, cele- 

 br;itcd for its romantic cafcadts, for the bold and piilurcfquc 

 fcencry adorning its banks, and for a fmgnlar natural bridge 

 which llrctchcsacrofs tlic ilream, in the parilh of CalUetown. 

 The latter is deemed one of the grcatcft curiofities in Scot- 

 land. " It is 55 fett long, 10 fett wide, and the thicknefs 

 of the arch is 2 feet four inches of folid ilone. It is not 

 compofed of one entire rock, but has the appearance of 

 many llonts of about one foot and a half fqiiare, fet nratly 

 together. The bridge flopes a little downwards, and the 

 water lulhes under the arch, through an opening of 31 feet. 

 Among the cafcades, which ornament and enliven this 

 Ilream, is one of above 37 feet in height, and 20 feet in 

 width; ano.her 31 feet high, and 36 feet broad; and a 

 third 27 feet in height. Thefc waterfalls, combining with 

 the romantic character of the rocks, and the coi.ftant roar 

 of the daftiing dream, piefent a great number of highly 

 piAurefq'.;c and interelling fcents. In this wild and roman- 

 tic vale, nature appears in various forms, now beautiful, then 

 awful, fomc limes fublime, and frequently terrible." Sir 

 John Sinclair's (latiftical account of Scotland, vol. xvi. com- 

 municated by thj Rev. Mr. Arklc. 



BLACKBURNE, Francis, in B'lograpLy, a clergyman 

 of the church of England, diftinguifhed by his firm attach- 

 ment to the caufe of civil and religious liberty, and by his 

 zealous exertions in the promotion of it, was born oi re- 

 fpeftable parents at Richmond, in Yorkfhire, on the 9th of 

 June 1705. Having purfued a courfe of claffical education, 

 firil at Kendal in Wcltmorland, and afterwards at the free 

 fchools of Hawkfluad in Lancaflilre, and of Sedbergh in 

 Yorklhlre, he was admitted, in May 1722, penfioner of 

 Catherine hall, in the univerfity of Cambridge ; where he 

 took the degree of batchelor of arts, and was chofen con- 

 duit or chaplain-fellow of the focitty ; and on this title he 

 was ordained deacon in March 172S. At this time he flat- 

 tered himfelf with the expectation of a foundation-fellowfhrp ; 

 but his avowal of fentiments with regard to ecclefiallicaland 

 civil liberty, which he had acquired by the perufal of the 

 writings of Locke, Hoadly, &c. rendered him obnoxious to 

 a majority of the fellows, who, being high royalills on the 

 principle of hereditary right, fet afide his juil claims as the 

 only qualified candidate, and precluded his eleftion, by in- 

 dulging Mr. Addenbrokc with an extraordinary year of 

 grace, and thus keeping the felluwfliip full. This difap- 

 pointment induced him to refign his condudlfhip, to quit the 

 univerfity, and to live in retirement with iiis uncle, Thomas 

 Comber, cfq. of Eall Newton, near Htlmfley, in Yorkfhire, 

 till fome church preferment might occur. His views, in- 

 deed, were particularly dircfted to the 'living of Rich- 

 mond, the place of his nativity ; to which he was inducted 

 upon the death of the incumbent in 1739, having previoufly 

 qualified himfelf for it by taking priell's orders. During 

 the interval of his letirement at Eaft Newton, he cafually 

 found fome old books that had formerly belonged to his 

 greatgrandfather, an Oliverian jullicc ; and by the perufal 

 of thefe he was led to entertain favourable fentiments of the 

 manners and principles of many excellent old puritans, to 

 admire their unalfcded and difinterefled piety, and their zeal 

 for the fpiritual good of mankind, and to cherifli that mode- 

 ration and liberality of temper, and that ardent concern for 

 Lberty, which dillinguilhcd his future conduft. As foon as 



B^L A 



he was invcfled with a parochial cure, lie devoted liimfclf 

 with excmplp.-y diligence to the ftudies and duties appro- 

 priate to his pailoral office, which he difcharged, during a 

 refidence among his parilhioners of 48 years, no lefs to their 

 fatisfaftion and improvement, than to his own honour. His 

 fir!l appearance as an author was in the year 5742, when he 

 publilhed an " Afii'/.c Sennor," preached at York. About 

 the fame time he wrote two p:imph!ets concerning the illegal 

 removal of the confidory court and its records from Richmond 

 to Lancafter, which, in confequence of a petition from the 

 mayor and corporation to the bifhop of Clitfter, were reftored. 

 In 1 748, he employed a young perfon, who was his curate, to 

 tranflate Erafmus's preface to his pavaplirafe on the gofpel of 

 St. Matthew ; and having written " A Preliminary Difcourfe 

 addiefi"ed to the Roman Catholic gentry and laity of Great 

 Britain," he circulated a cheap cdituni of it, recommending it 

 to the public, partly as an antidote agr.infl; popery, but chiefly 

 as an encouragement to the common people to be diligent in 

 reading the fcripturcs, f.r the information and improvement 

 of themfelves and families in Ciniftian knowledge and 

 Chrittian piety. It was not, however, till the year 1750, 

 that Mr. Blackhurne began to dillinguifli himfelf as a writer 

 in defence of Chiillian liberty. A work had been publiflicd 

 in ihepreceding year, intitled " Free aud Candid Difquifitions 

 relating to the Church of England." This work contained 

 many pertinent obfervations on exilling defects and impro- 

 prieties in the ellabliflitd forms of the church, and propofals 

 for revifiug the liturgy, and ameiiding fuch paffages as were 

 liable to reafonable objeftions. Mr. Blackhurne was fuf- 

 pefted by many, who were acquainted with his fentiments on 

 the fubjcft of an ecclefiallieal reform, to have had a concern 

 in this publication. But though he had correfponded with 

 the compiler and editor of it, and liad feen the greateft part 

 of the work in manutcript, he had neitlier written nor fug- 

 gelled a fingle line or word. Indeed, he difapproved tlic 

 liyle and fpirit of it ; and thought them by no means adapted 

 to the occafion, nor likely to produce eftefl. " He was ra- 

 ther, perhaps too much (fays his biographer), inclined to 

 look upon thofe who had in their hands the means and the 

 power of reforming the errors, defects, and abufes in the 

 government, forms of worfhip, faith and difcipline of the 

 eftablidied church, as guilty of a criminal negligence, from 

 which they fliould have been roufed by fharp and Ipirited 

 expoftulations." Neverthelefs, he thought it his duty to 

 repel the attacks of the adverfaries of this work ; and ac- 

 cordingly, he publiflied, without the knowledge of its edi- 

 tor, or any of his more confidential ailociates, an " Apology 

 for the Authors of the Free and Candid Difquifitions," 

 1750. But though he engaged in this controverfy, his at- 

 tention was not diverted from parochial duties ; for his next 

 pubKcation was " A (hoit Difcourfe on the Nature, Obli- 

 gation, and Benefits of Family Religion," which he pub- 

 lilhed at his own expence, and diftributed among his parifh- 

 ioners. In this fame year 1750, notwithftandiiig the publi- 

 cation of his " Apology," he was collated to the archdea- 

 conry of Cleveland, and alfo to the prebend of Bilton, by 

 Dr. Matthew Hutton, then archbiihop of York, to whom 

 he had been for fome years titular chaplain. Towards the 

 clofe of the year 1752, he had an opportunity of perufing 

 the charge delivered uy Dr. Butler, biiliop of Durham, to 

 the clergy of his dioccfe at his primary vifitation in 1 75 1 ; 

 and he found in it fome d^ drines which were, in his opinion, 

 fo diametrically oppofite to the principles on which the pro- 

 teflant reformation was founded and fupported, as to deferve 

 being expofed and cenfuref*, in order to prevent the mifehief 

 which they might do under the fanCtion of his name. Ac- 

 cordingly, he wrote ftriduies upon them ; and, in oppofition 



to 



