84 B L A 
geographical works and his imprelllons. In the competi¬ 
tion of his Atlaffes he employed the mod fkilt'ul geogra¬ 
phers, and the belt workmen. Some of his maps have 
not yet been excelled in neatnefs. There is by him, an 
Atlas, in 3-vols. fob Amfterdam, 1638; ATreatile on 
file Globe:,' &?e. This excellent printer died at Amfter- 
Jam, tiie place of his nativity, in 1638, at the age of 
iixty-jeven. His two Ions, John and Corneiilis, gave in 
1663, a new-edition of their father’s Atlas, in 14 vols. 
folio : th.e Celedial and the Maritime Atlas, forming each 
a-Separate volume, are comprifed in that number. This 
collection fells dear, efpecially when the maps.are colour¬ 
ed. A lire, in which they loft almolt :he whole of their 
/took in trade, contributed not a little to enhance the price 
of this book. John Blaeu is alfo author of the defigns ot 
the Nouveau Theatre d’ltalie ; Amfterdam, 1704, 4 vols. 
fol. with plates. 
BLA'PARDS, a name given to the albinos, or white 
negroes, peculiar to the ilthmus of Darien, in America. 
Thev were unnoticed by naturalifis till the year 1680, 
though Cortez, a century before, had deferibed them in 
his letters to the emperor Charles V. Of this extraordi¬ 
nary people Mr. Pauw gives the following account : 
“ The Blafards, or white negroes, though bor-n of black 
or copper-coloured parents, have never been black ; they 
are met with principally towards the center of Africa, and 
at the extremity of the fouth of Alia, as well as in the 
iifhmus ot Darien. They are called Dondos by the Afri¬ 
cans, and Kackcrlakes by the Indians. They are low of 
ftafure, their colour a faded white, like that of paper or 
muffin ; they are born of this colour, and never change 
St any age. Their fight is To Weak, that they cannot bear 
the broad day, during which they keep clofe, but.lally 
forth at twilight, or by moonlight, when they range the 
forefts, and hunt, with alacrity, even the larger game. 
Their eyes, in form and effeft, refemble thofe of cats ; 
their hair, in Africa, iswoolly ; in Afia, long and pendent, 
either white as fhow, or reddifh, verging on yellow. Thefe 
men, of the colour of chalk, with the eyes of cats or owls, 
are found only in the torrid zone, to the tenth degree, or 
thereabouts, of the equator; at Loango, Congo, and An¬ 
gola, in Africa ; at Ceylon, Borneo, and Java, in Afia ; 
at New Guinea, in the Terrae Auflrales ; and at Darien, 
in America. But what is mod remarkable, wherever 
found, they are held in the higheft degree of refpecd and 
veneration; not by the vulgar alone, but by the fove- 
reigns of Africa and the Indies, who confider the poffef- 
fion of them in their courts, and about their perfons, as an 
article of magnificence; looking on them as beings dif- 
tinguifhed, not difgraced, by nature. It is curious to find, 
by the letters of Cortez, that the fame idea was enter¬ 
tained of thefe Blafards in America, and that Montez.uma 
had three or four of thefe creatures in his court.” For a 
further account of this curious people, and a correct en¬ 
graving of them, fee Ai.binos, vob i. p. 240. 
BLA'FART, f. A fmall coin, current at Cologne, 
worth fomething more than a farthing of our money. 
BLAGAITZ'KI, a town of Croatia: ten miles north- 
north-wed of Sluin. 
BLAG'NAC, a town of France, in the department of 
the Upper Garonne, and chief place of a canton, in th6 
didridi of Toulon fe, on the Garonne ; three miles north- 
wed of Touloufe. 
BLAGOVETSCHEN'SKOl, a town of Rudia, in the 
government of Archangel, near the fouth-ead coad of the 
White Sea : feventy miles fouth-wed of Archangel. 
BLA'GRAVE (John), an eminent mathematician, 
who flouridied in the 16th and 17th centuries. He was 
the fecond fon of John Blagrave, of Bulmardi-court, near 
Sunning, in Berklhire. From a grammar-fchool at Read¬ 
ing, he was lent to St. John’s college, in Oxford, where 
he applied himfelf chiefly to the dudy of tire mathema¬ 
tics. From hence he retired to his patrimonial feat of 
Southcote-lodge, near Reading, where he (pent the red of 
his life, in a retired manner, without marrying, that he 
B L A 
might have more leifure to purfue his favourite dudies;- 
which lie did with great application and fuccefs. After a 
life thus fpent in dudy, and in ads of benevolence to all 
around him, he died in 1611 ; and w'as buried at Reading, 
in the church of St. Lawrence, w here a fumptnous monu¬ 
ment w as ereded to his memory. He left 1 lie bulk of his 
fortune to the poderity of his three brothers, which were 
very numerous. There have been mentioned various a6ts 
of bis beneficence in private life, for the encouragement 
of learning, the reward of merit, and the relief of didrefs. 
Some of thefe were the refult of a quaint humorous dif- 
polition, dilcovered chiefly in his legacies. One thefe was 
ten pounds, to be annually difpofed of in the following 
manner: On Good Friday, the church-wardens of each of 
the three pari Hies of, Reading are to fend to the town-hall 
“ one virtuous maid, who lias lived five years with her 
mader:” there, in the prefence of the magiftrates, thefe 
three virtuous maids throw dice for the ten pounds. 
1 he year following, the two lofers are returned with a 
fredi one, and again the third year, till each has had three 
chances. He alfo left an annuity to eighty poor widows, 
who (liould attend annually, on Good Friday alfo, and 
hear a fermon, for the preaching of which he left ten (hil¬ 
lings to the minider. He took care alfo for the main¬ 
tenance of his fervants, rewarding their diligence and 
fidelity, and providing amply for their fupport. Thus it 
appears he was not more remarkable for his fcientific 
knowledge, than for his generofity and philanthropy. His 
works are, 1. A Mathematical Jewel. Loud. 1585, folio^ 
2. Of the Making and Ufe of the Familiar Staff. Loud. 
1390, 4to. 3. Adrolabium Uranicuin Generale. Lond. 
1596, 4to. 4. The Art of Dyalling. Loud 1609,410. 
BLA'GRAVE (Jofeph), a noted adrologer, was au¬ 
thor of a large fupplement to Culpepper's Herbal, with a 
new Traci of Chirurgery, 8vo. He was alfo author of 
the Adrological Practice of Phyfic, 8vo ; and Introduc¬ 
tion to Altrology, 8vo. 1682. He was a brenuous advo¬ 
cate for the dodtrine of the dars. D ed about 1688. 
BLAIN, f. [ blegene , Sax. bleync, Dut.] A pudnle; a, 
botch; a blider. It is alfo a didemper incident to cattle, 
being a certain bladder growing on the root of the tongue,- 
againd the windpipe, which fwells foas to flop the breath. 
It comes by great chafing and heating of the domach, 
and is, perceived by the head’s gaping and holding out 
his tongue, and foaming at the mouth. To cure it, call 
the bead, take fortli his tongue, and then, flitting the 
bladder, wadi it gently with vinegar and fait. 
BLAIN, a town of France, and principal place of a 
didridt, in the department of the Lower Loire : eighteen 
miles north-north-wed of Nantes, and forty fouth of Ren¬ 
nes. Near this town the royalilts were defeated, with 
great lofs, by the French republicans,in December, 1793. 
BI.AIN'VILLE, a town of France, in the department 
of the Channel, and chief place of a canton, in the dis¬ 
trict of Coutap.ces : five miles wed of Coutances, and 
thirteen north of Granville. 
BLAIN'VILLE-SUR-L’EAU, a town of France, in 
the department of the Meurte, and chief place of a can¬ 
ton, in the didridt of Luneville: four miles fouth-wed of 
Luneville and twelve fouth-ead of Nancy. 
BLAIR (John), w\is chaplain to the famous Sir Wil¬ 
liam Wallace, who w as balely put to death by order of 
Edward I. of England. After the famous battle of Ban¬ 
nockburn, in 13x2, Thomas Randolph, earl of Murray, 
took Blair into his family, and promoted him to a living, 
where he fpent the remainder of his days in eafe and re¬ 
tirement. He died during the reign of king Robert Bruce. 
He w-rote a mod elegant Latin poem on the death of Wal¬ 
lace, of which there is a beautiful tranflation in Hume’s 
Hidoryof the Douglalfes. 
BLAIR (James), an eminent divine, was born and bred 
in Scotland, where he had a benefice in the epifcopal 
church ; but, meeting w ith fome difeouragements, he came 
to England, in the reign of Charles II. and was fent by 
Dr. Compton, bilhop of London, as. a miliionary to Vir¬ 
ginia, 
