BLACKLOCK, THOMAS (1721-1791).—­Poet, b. near Annan of humble parentage, lost his sight by smallpox when 6 months old.  He began to write poetry at the age of 12, and studied for the Church.  He was appointed Minister of Kirkcudbright, but was objected to by the parishioners on account of his blindness, and gave up the presentation on receiving an annuity.  He then retired to Edinburgh, where he took pupils.  He pub. some miscellaneous poems, which are now forgotten, and is chiefly remembered for having written a letter to Burns, which had the effect of dissuading him from going to the West Indies.  He was made D.D. in 1767.

BLACKMORE, SIR RICHARD (c. 1650, d. 1729).—­Poet, one of the Court Physicians to William III. and Anne, wrote several very long and well-intentioned, but dull and tedious, poems, which, though praised by Addison and Johnson, are now utterly forgotten.  They include Prince Arthur, Creation, Redemption, Alfred.  As may be imagined, they were the subject of derision by the profaner wits of the day.  B. was a successful physician and an excellent man.

BLACKMORE, RICHARD DODDRIDGE (1825-1900).—­Novelist and poet, b. at Longworth, Berks, ed. at Tiverton School and Oxf., practised for a short time as a lawyer but, owing to his health, gave this up, and took to market-gardening and literature at Teddington.  His first pub. was Poems by Melanter (1853), followed by Epullia (1855), The Bugle of the Black Sea (1855), etc.; but he soon found that fiction, not poetry, was his true vocation.  Beginning with Clara Vaughan in 1864, he produced fifteen novels, all of more than average, and two or three of outstanding merit.  Of these much the best in the opinion of the public, though not of the author, is Lorna Doone (1869), the two which rank next to it being The Maid of Sker (1872) (the author’s favourite) and Springhaven (1887).  Others are Cradock Nowell (1866), Alice Lorraine (1875), Cripps the Carrier (1876), Mary Anerley (1880), and Christowell (1882).  One of the most striking features of B.’s writings is his marvellous eye for, and sympathy with, Nature.  He may be said to have done for Devonshire what Scott did for the Highlands.  He has been described as “proud, shy, reticent, strong-willed, sweet-tempered, and self-centred.”

BLACKSTONE, SIR WILLIAM (1723-1780).—­Legal Writer, posthumous s. of a silk mercer in London, was ed. at Charterhouse School and Oxf., and entered the Middle Temple in 1741.  His great work is his Commentaries on the Laws of England, in 4 vols. (1765-1769), which still remains the best general history of the subject.  It had an extraordinary success, and is said to have brought the author L14,000.  B. was not a man of original mind, nor was he a profound lawyer; but he wrote an excellent style, clear and dignified, which brings his great work within the category of general literature.  He had also a turn for neat and polished verse, of which he gave proof in The Lawyer’s Farewell to his Muse.