BLENHEIM (German, Blindheim), a small village of Germany, in the kingdom of Bavaria, and circle of Svvabia, situated on the left bank of the Danube, a few miles below Hochstadt. It is only remarkable as the scene of the defeat of the French and Bavarians, on the 13th of August 1704, by the English and the Austrians under the duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene. Population, 751.
BLENHEIM HOUSE, a princely mansion erected by Parliament for the duke of Marlborough at Woodstock, near Oxford, and, with the manor of Woodstock, settled on the duke and his heirs, in consideration of his military services, and especially his decisive victory at Blenheim. The large sum of 500,000 was voted for the purchase of the manor and the erection of the building, which, notwithstanding the strictures of Swift and the criti cisms of Evans and Walpole, is a magnificent pile, built by Sir John Vanbrugh, in a massive Italo-Corinthian style. The front from wing to wing extends to 348 feet ; and the great hall is a lofty and noble apartment in good proportions. There are a considerable number of fine pictures in the Blenheim collection, the most noted being " The Young St Augustine and Pope Gregory," by Titian ; " Europa," " Esther," and " The Massacre of the Innocents," by P. Veronese ; " St Jerome," by Tintoretto ; " Magdalen," by C. Dolce ; many historical subjects, by Rubens ; portraits by him and Vandyck ; and " The Woman taken in Adultery," and " Isaac blessing Jacob," by Rembrandt.
BLESSINGTON, Margaret Power, Countess of, novelist and miscellaneous writer, was born near Clonmel, Tipperary, Ireland, September 1, 1790. Her childhood was made unhappy by the bad temper, improvidence, and loose living of her father, and by the reduced circumstances of the family. Her early womanhood was made unhappier still by her compulsory marriage at fifteen to one Captain Farmer, whose drunkenness involved him in debt, and whose debts brought him to the King s Bench prison, where he was killed by a fall in one of his drunken fits, in October 1817. His wife had some time before left his house, and in February 1818 she was married a second time to the earl of Blessington. Celebrated for her wit, her literary accomplishments, her generosity, and her social attractions, she was no less distinguished by her passion for pleasure and her craving for show and a high style of living. In the gratification of these tastes debts were accumulated, and the estates of the earl soon became burdened with " incum- brances." In the autumn of 1822 they set out on a Con tinental tour, and remained abroad till the death of the earl, which took place at Paris in May 1829. Some years earlier they had become acquainted with Count Alfred d Orsay, a man of fashion and seeker of pleasure, who was then serving in the army, but quitted it for the sake of joining them. In 1827 he had connected himself with the family by his marriage with the only daughter of the earl by a former wife. After Lord Blessington s death Count d Orsay, who had separated from his wife, came to England with the countess, and they lived together in London till her death. The home of the beautiful and brilliant coun tess (first Seamore Place, and afterwards Gore House, Kensington) became a centre of attraction for whatever was distinguished in literature, learning, art, science, and fashion. Ambitious of the distinction of authorship, Lady Blessington had published in 1822 her first work entitled Sketches, in two volumes. Ten years later she made herself favourably known by a Journal of Conversations with Lord Byron, which appeared first in successive numbers of the New Monthly Magazine, and soon afterwards as a separate work. This was followed by a long series of works, most of them novels of high life, several of which obtained con siderable popularity. Her Idler in Italy and Idler in France were rendered temporarily attractive by personal gossip and anecdote, descriptions of nature, and senti ment. Lady Blessington was for some years editor of Heath s Book of Beauty and the Keepsake, the popular annuals of the day, and also contributed largely to magazines and newspapers. Early in 1849, in consequence of failing resources, the splendours of Gore House were extinguished ; its furniture and decorations were sold to pay debts, and its presiding genius withdrew to Paris, whither her friend Count d Orsay had previously gone. She died there, June 4, 1849. Her Literary Life and Correspondence, 3 vols., edited by It. R. Madden, appeared in 1855.
BLICHER, Steen Steensen, Danish lyrical poet and novelist, was born at Vlum in Viborg, Jutland, on the llth October 1782. He was extremely delicate in constitution, and after having passed a year or two at the university, which he joined in 1799, was compelled to give up his studies on account of a consumptive complaint. He accepted a situation as tutor in a family at Falster, and by vigorous physical exercise and flute-playing succeeded in restoring himself to health. He afterwards returned to the university, and completed his course in 1809. Several years were then spent at his father s parsonage, preparing for the ministry and managing the farm. In 1819 he was called to the church of Thorning, and in 1825 to a more remunerative charge at Spentrup. Here he died in 1848. Blicher was first known by his translations of Ossian, but his early poems did not attract much attention. He then contributed to a literary journal, the Nordlyset, in which appeared the first of his Jutland tales (Jydske Romanzer). The popularity of these romances was surpassed by that of the National Noveller, which give an admirable picture of country life in Jutland. His collected poems, some of which had appeared as early as 1814, were published in 2 vols., 1835-36 ; the novels appeared in 5 vols., 1833-36. A short sketch of his own life and character was prefixed by him to the complete collection, Old and New Novels (Gamle og nye Noveller) 7 vols., 1846-47. Blicher also translated Goldsmith s Vicar of Wakefield.
BLIDAH, the chief town of an arrondissement in the province of Algiers in Algeria, about 30 miles inland from the capital, on the railway from that city to Oran. It lies at the base of the Algerian Atlas, in the midst of the fertile plain of Metija, and is beautifully surrounded with orchards and gardens, which afford a pleasant contrast to its ramparts and towers. It has well-built modern streets with frequent arcades, and numbers among its buildings several mosques and churches, a Franco-Arabic and a Protestant school, extensive barracks, and a military hospital. Water is abundantly supplied by an aqueduct fed by the Oued-el- Kebir. As the centre of a flourishing district and a post on one of the main routes in the country it enjoys an extensive traffic, and the inhabitants maintain a thriving trade in oranges, raisins, grain, cotton, and tobacco. The products of the neighbouring copper-mines and of the cork tree and cedar-groves are also of importance. In the vicinity are the two villages of Joinville and Montpensier, which owe their origin to the military camps established by Marshal Valee in 1838; and on the road to Medeah are the tombs of the Marabut Mohammed-el-Kebir and his two sons. Blidah was a town of some importance under the Turks, but in 1825 it was nearly destroyed by an earthquake. It was not till 1838 that it was finally held by the French, though they had been in possession for a short time eight years before. In 1867 it suffered from another earthquake which also nearly ruined the village of Chiffa. Population in 1872, 8113.
