92 B L A 
the fubjeft, but the agent, in the affair : it being his prac¬ 
tice to droll out in dark, nights, and, where lie met with 
a helplefs or drunken man, to give him the difcipline of 
the blanket. 
To BLAN'KET, v. a. To cover with a blanket: 
My face I’ll grime with filth ; 
Blanket my loins; tie all my hair in knots. Shakefpeare. 
BLANK'LY, adv. In'a blank manner; with white- 
nefs; with palenefs ; with confufion. 
\ BLANK'OF (John Teunifz), a painter of eminence, 
was born at Alkmaar in 1628; and received his earlied 
inftruction from Arent Tierling ; but afterwards became 
fucceffively the difciple of Peter Scheyenburg, and Ctefar 
Van Everdingen. When he had paffed fome years under 
thofe matters, he went to Rome, where he was dudioufly 
diligent in copying the works of the bed matters, and was 
admitted into the fociety of Bentvogels, who gave him 
the name of Jan Maat (which fignifies mate or companion), 
and by that name he is moft generally known. His fub- 
jedts were landfcapes, with views of rivers, havens, and 
ports, which he executed with a light free pencil ; and in 
the reprefentation of ttorms and calms (as nature was his 
model) he detcribed thofe fubjedts with ttriking precifion. 
The pictures of this matter which are mod commended, 
are the Italian fea-ports. Hi's mod capital performance is 
a view of the fea-diore, with the waves retiring at ebb tide; 
which is defcribed by Houbraken as being wonderfully 
beautiful and natural. He died in 1670. 
BLANKS, f A kind of white money coined by Hen. V. 
in thofe parts of France which were then (object to Eng¬ 
land, the value whereof was 8d. Thefe were forbidden 
to be current in this realm, 2 Hen. VI. c. 9. 
BLANK VERSE, f. Verfes without ihimcs. 
BLANQUE'FORT, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Gironde, and chief place of a canton, in the 
dittridt of Bourdeaux : five miles north of Bourdeaux. 
BLAN'QUET, f. A fort of pear. 
BLAN'QJJILLE, f. A final] diver coin current in 
Morocco, and in all that part of the coad of Barbary; it 
is worth about three half-pence of .our money. 
BLAN'ZAC, a town of France, in the department of 
the Gard, and chief place, of a canton, in the didridl of 
Uzes: three miles fouth-fouth-wed of Uzes. 
BLAN'ZAC, a town of France, in the department of 
the Charente, and chief place of a canton, in the didrict 
of Angoulefme, on the Nay : four leagues fouth-fouth- 
wed of Angoulefme. 
BLARE, f. A fmall copper coin of Berne, nearly of 
the fame value with the ratz. 
To BLARE, v. a. \blaren , Low. Sax.] To fwell, or 
melt away., as a candle does ; alfo to bellow. 
BLAREG'NEIS, a town of Hainault, near which the 
Englith and their allies under the duke of Marlborough 
obtained a very bloody victory over the French, in 1709. 
This is called th battle of Ma/plaquct. See Ma lplac^uet. 
BLA'RINGHEM, a town of France r in the department 
of the North, and chief place of a canton, in the didridt of 
Hazebrouck : two leagues fouth-eudof St. Omer, and one 
and three quarters vved-fouth-wed of Hazebrouck. 
BLASE, bithopof Sebadia in Cappadocia, in the fecond 
and third centuries, differed death under Diocletian by 
decapitation, after being whipped and having his flelh 
torn with iron combs. He js a perfon of great note among 
the clothiers, who, in their procedions relative to the wool¬ 
len trade, always carry a reprefentation of him as the in¬ 
ventor or patronof the art of wool-combing ; though that 
art mud have been known long before his time. It is 
difficult to fay how the invention came to be attributed to 
him ; but it had probably no better origin than the cir- 
cumdance of his being tortured by indruments ufed in 
combing of wool. 
BLASE, f A military order indituted by the kings 
of Armenia, in honour of St. Blafe above-mentioned. Juf- 
tinian calls them knights of St. Blafe and St. Mary, and 
3 
B L A 
places them not only in Armenia, but in Paleftine. They 
were admitted under a vow to defend the church of Rome, 
and to follow the rules of St. Bafil. The prccife year ot 
their ettablidiment is not known ; but they appear to have 
commenced about the fame time with the knights templars 
and hofpitallers; to the former of which they bore a near 
affinity, the regulars being the fame in both. 
BLA'SIA, f. [from Blafio Biagi, an Italian monk. ] In 
botany, a genus of cryptogamia algae. It is called bla- 
fia pufilla, or dwarf blatia, and grows on the fides of ditches 
and brooks, and in moitt thady places in’a fandy foil, in 
many parts of Europe. With us, on Hountlow-heath, 
and near Mancheder and Halifax. 
BLA'SII ZEL'LA, a town of Germany, in the circle 
of Upper Saxony, and principality of Gotha, in which is 
a manufadture of fire arms: fixteen miles fouth of Gotha. 
BLASIMONT', a town of France, in the department 
of the Gironde, and chief place of a canton, in the didridt 
of La Reolle : feven leagues ead of Blamont, and three 
and a half north of La Reolle. 
BLAS'KETS, or Ferriter Islands, a cinder of 
iflands in the Atlantic Ocean, near the wed coad of Ire¬ 
land; the larged being about three miles long, and about 
half a mile broad. This ifiand lies at the north fide of 
the entrance into Dingle Bay. Lat. 52. 5.N. Ion. 10. 22. 
W. Greenwich. 
To BLASPIIE'ME, v.a. [ blafphemer , Fr. blafphemare , 
Lat. fiXcirtpvpsTv, Gr.] To fpeak in terms of impious ir¬ 
reverence of God. To fpeak evil of.—And does blafpheme 
Ills breed. Shakejpearc. 
Thofe who from our labours heap their board, 
Blafpheme their feeder, and forget their lord. Pope. 
To BLASPHF/ME, v. n. To fpeak blafphemy. 
BLASPH E'MER, f. A wretch that fpeaks of Godin 
impious and irreverent "terms : 
Deny the curd blafph'cmer’& tongue to rage, 
And turn God’s fury from an impious age. Ticked. 
BLAS'PHEMOUS, adj. [It is ufually fpoken with the 
accent on the firft fyliable, but ufed by Milton with it on 
the fecond.] Impioufly irreverent with regard to God : 
And dar’d thou to the Son of God propound 
Toworthip thee accord; now more accord 
For tliis attempt, bolder than that on Eve, 
And more blafphemous ? Milton. 
BLAS'PHEMOUSLY, adv. Impioufly; with wicked 
irreverence.—Where is the right ufe of his reafon, while 
he would blafphcmonfly fet up to controul the commands 
of the Almighty ? Swift. 
BLAS'PIfEMY, f [ blafpheme , Fr. blafphemia, Lat. 
of ^Aacr<P'/5ji/.ia, q. t 3 hu, 7 rl;n^ to hurt, and reputation, 
Gr.] Blafphemy , driftly and properly, is an oflering of 
fome indignity, or injury, unto God hintfelf, either by 
words or writing. Ay Life. —Among the Greeks, to blaf¬ 
pheme was to ufe words of evil omen, or that portended 
fomerhing ill, which the ancients were careful to avoid, 
fubdituting in lieu of them other words of fofter and 
gentler import, lometimes the very reverfe of the proper 
ones. This offence is condituted by any reproachful 
words fpoken of the Deity. Augufiine fays, Jam vuloo 
blafphemia non accipitur nifi mala verba de Deo dicere. Ac¬ 
cording to Linwood, blafphemy is an injury offered to 
God, by denying that which is due and belonging to him ; 
or .attributing to him what is not agreeable to his nature. 
By the Molaic law, blafphemy was punitlied u‘ith death ; 
Levit. xxiv. 13—16. As alfo by the civil law; Novel. 
77. In Spain, Naples, France, and Italy, the pains of 
death are not-now inflieied. In the Empire, either am¬ 
putation or death is made the puniflunent of this crime. 
By the canon law, blafphemy was punithed only by a 
folenm penance ; and by cudom either by a pecuniary or 
corporal punidiment. By the Englith laws, blafphemies 
of God, as denying his being or providence, and all con¬ 
tumelious reproaches of Jefus Chrid, ifcc. are offences by 
the 
