B L O 
what it appears to be at a difiance. It is feated at one ex¬ 
tremity of the city, on an eminence wliofe declivity, to¬ 
ward the centre of the city, joins that of another emi¬ 
nence at the other end, on which is built a magnificent 
caftle ; fo that both thefe firuflares form, as it were, the 
two horns of a crefcent. In this caftle was born the good 
Louis XII. and here, in 1588, Henry III. at a meeting 
of the ftates general, which lie had convoked, caufed the 
duke of Guile, and his brother the cardinal, to be aftalli- 
nated. Here are fome fine fountains, and'a new bridge, 
one of the belt in France. Blois is ftill an epifcopal fee, 
and the terrace of the bi(hop’s palace affords a charming 
walk. This city has defervedly the reputation of being 
one of thofe in which the French language is fpoken with 
the greateft purity ; but this mult be underftood of perfons 
who have received a liberal education ; for, whatever 
fome geographers may aflert, the common people exprefs 
themfelves as badly here as in other places. Blois is 
forty-feven miles well of Tours, and ioq fouth-weft of 
Paris. Lat.47.34. N. Ion. 19. 1. E. Ferro. 
BLO'MARY, f. The firft forge in the iron-mills, 
through which the metal paftes, after it has been firft 
melted from the mine. 
BLOM'BERG, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Weftphalia, and county of Lippe : twenty-two miles north- 
north-eaft of Paderburn, and eight fouth-eaft of Lemgovv. 
BLOME'HOLM, a town of Sweden, in the diftrift of 
Balms. 
BLONAY', a barony and caftle of Swiflerland, in the 
canton of Berne, about one mile and a half from the lake 
of Geneva. 
BLOND (Chriftopher le), painter of portraits in mini¬ 
ature, was born in 1670. Very few circumftances relative 
to his education or life are mentioned by any writers till 
Jie was known at Rome in 1716. By the folicitation of 
Overbeke he was induced to go to Amfterdam, and in that 
pity was employed to paint fmall portraits for bracelets, 
rings, and fnuff-boxes ; of which, although they were 
painted in water-colours, yet the colouring was as lively 
and natural as if they had been painted in oil. After he 
had refided for fome years in the Low Countries, he went 
to England, and fet up a new method of printing mezzo- 
tinto plates in colours fo as to imitate the pictures of which 
they were copies. In this manner he executed in Eng¬ 
land feveral large plates, from piftures of the greateft 
mailers, and difpofed of the prints by lottery. He com¬ 
municated his fecret in a thin quarto, intitled Coloritto, or 
The Harmony of Colouring in Painting reduced to Me¬ 
chanical Practice, under eafy Preceptsand infallible Rules.” 
Le Blond next fet on foot a project for copying the car¬ 
toons of Raphael in tapeftry, and made drawings from the 
pictures for that purpofe. Houfes were built and looms 
erefted at the Mulberry Ground at Chelfea ; but the ex- 
pences being too great, or the contributions not equal to 
the firft expectations, the fcheme was given up. He then 
went to Paris, where he died in 1740. Le Blond was alfo 
author of a treatife, in French, on ideal beauty. It was 
publiflied in 1732, and fince tranfiated into Englifh, 
BLONDEL' (David), a Proteftant minifter, diftinguifh- 
ed by his (kill in ecclefiaftical and civil hiftory, was born 
at Chalons fur Marne, and was admitted minifter at a fy- 
nod of the ifie of France, in 1614. He wrote, j. A De¬ 
fence of the Reformed Churches of France, 2. A work 
againft the decretal Epiftles. 3. De Epifcopis et Prefby- 
teris; and other pieces. Bayle informs 11s that he had a 
very lingular way of ftudying ; he lay on the ground, and 
had round him the books which he wanted for the work 
he was about. He died in 1655, aged fixty-four. 
BLONDEL' (Francis), a celebrated French mathema¬ 
tician and military engineer. He was born at Ribemond 
in Picardy in 1617. While he was yet but young, he was 
chofen regius profeffbr of mathematics and architecture at 
Paris. Not long after he was appointed governor to Lewis- 
Henry de Lomenix, count de Brienne, whom he accom¬ 
panied in his travels from 1652 to 1655, of which he pub- 
■ Vol. III. No. 120. 
B L O I2 7 
liflied an account. He enjoyed many honourable employ ¬ 
ments, both in the navy and army ; and was entrufted with 
the management of feveral negociations with foreign prin¬ 
ces. He arrived at the dignity of marflial de camp, an! 
counfellor of date, and had the honour to be appointed 
mathematical preceptor to the dauphin. He was a mem¬ 
ber of the Royal Academy of Sciences, director of the 
Academy of Architecture, and lefturer to the Royal 
College : in all which he fupported his ch a rafter with 
dignity and applauds. Blonder was no lefs verfed in the 
knowledge of the belles lettres ■ than in the mathematical 
feiences, as -appears by the comparifon he publifhed be¬ 
tween Pindar and Horace. He died at Paris the 22d of 
February 1686, in the fixty-ninth year of his age. His 
chief mathematical works were, r. Cours d’ Architefture, 
Paris, 2675, folio. 2. Refolution des quatre principaux 
Problemes d’Architecture. Paris, 1676, folio. 3. Hiitoire 
du Calendrier Romain. Paris, 1682, 4fo. 4. Cours de 
Mathematiques. Paris, 1683,410. 3. L’Art de jetter des 
Bombes. La Haye, 1685, qto. Betides a new method of 
fortifying places ; and other works, 
BLONDEL'(John Francis), was born at Rouen in 1705, 
of a family diftinguifhed by their Ikiil in architefture, lie 
prepared for running the fame courfe by the ftudy of the 
belles lettres, the mathematics, and the art of drawing, 
Inftrufted in the praftice of that art by his uncle, he was 
capable of giving leflons in it before he had readied the 
age of thirty-five; and he was the firft who opened a pub¬ 
lic fchool at Paris. Being elected in 1735 a member of 
the academy of architecture, he was afterwards chofen 
profeffbr at Paris. He died January 9, 1774, in the fixty- 
ninth year of his age. He wrote, 1. A Courfe of Archi¬ 
tefture, 6 vols. 8vo. 1771—1773. 2. Or the Decoration 
of Edifices, 1738, 2 vols. 4to. 3. Difcourfe on Architec¬ 
ture, nmo, It was he who furniflied all the articles re¬ 
lating to architefture in French Encyclopedic. 
BLONDET', phyfician at Pithiviers, and intendant of 
the mineral waters of Segrai, died in 1759, with the repu¬ 
tation of a very able praftitioner. He wrote two differ- 
tations : one, On the Nature and Qualities of the Mineral 
Waters of his department, 1749, i2mo; the other, On the 
Epidemical Difeafes of Cattle, 1748, 12010. 
BLON'DUS (Flavius),, an hiftorian, born at Forli, ifi 
Italy, in 1388, was fecretary to Eugenius IV. and other 
popes. He compofed a great many books ; and, among 
others, a General Hiftory from the year 400 to 1440. He 
died in 1463. 
BLONDVAU'RY, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Charente : five leagues eaft of Confolens. 
BLO'NIC, a town of Poland, in the palatinate of 
Tfcherfk : fixteen miles weft of Mafovia. 
BLOOD,/! [ blod , Sax.] The red liquor that circulates 
in the bodies of animals.—But flefh, with the life thereof, 
which is the blood thereof, fhall you not eat. Gerifis ,— 
Child ; progeny : 
We’ll no more meet, no more fee one another : 
But yet thou art my flefh, my blood, my daughter. Shak. 
Family; kindred.— According to the commonlaw of 
England, in adminiftrations, the whole blood is preferred to 
the half blood. Ayliffe. —Defcent ; lineage.—Epithets of 
flattery, deferved by few qf them ; and not running in a 
blood , like the perpetual gentlenefs of the Ormond family. 
Dry den. —Blood royal ; royal lineage.—Give 11s a prince 
o’ til’ blood, a fon of Pi,am. Shakefpcare. —Birth ; high ex¬ 
traction.—I am a gentleman of blood and breeding. Shake¬ 
fpeare. —Murder; violent death.—The voice of thy bro¬ 
ther’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. Gcncfs, iv. 
jo.—Life.—When wicked men have flain a righteous per- 
fon in his own lioufe, upon his bed, fhall 1 not therefore 
now require his blood at your hand ? 2 Samuel, iv. u, 
For Blood. Though his blood or life was at a ftake : 
a low phrafe. —A crow lay battering upon a miifcle, and 
could not, for his blood, break the lliell to come at the fifli. 
Jiff range, —The carnal part of man. — Flefh and blood 
K k hath 
