fame, character, or reputation; to find fault with; to pass an unfavourable judgment upon; to rebuke, to chide, to censure, to reprimand, to reprehend.

The phrase "is to blame," is a remnant of old English idiom. Is to, and is to be, are all we now have to supply the place of the Latin future participles, in rus and dus. Culpaturus and culpandus, would by Chaucer have been translated without distinction, is to blame. Spernendus est, he renders, it is to despise.

Tho ys moder y slaw was, me blamede hym ther fore.
R. Gloucester, p. 68.
Roberd thou ert blame, thou did ageyn resoun,
Certes thou has don schame tille alle that bere coroun.
R. Brunne, p. 173.
"Damasele," he seyde tho, "thy louerd ssal abbe an name
Vor hym, & vor hys eyrs, vayr wythout blame.
R. Gloucester, p. 432.
Ac neyther is al blameles, the bisshop ne the chapeleyn
For ignorantia non excusat. as ich have herd in bookes.
Piers Plouhman, p. 221.

And thei camen nygh and reisiden hym and seiden: comaundour we perischen, and he roos and blamede the wynd and the tempest of the watir, and it ceesside and pesiblete was maad.-Wiclif. Luke, c. 8.

This blamyng that is maad of manye, suffisith to him that is such oon.-Id. 2 Corynth. c. 2.

Men schulen be louynge hemsilff, coueitouse, high of berynge, proude, blasfemeris; not obedient to fadir and modir, unkynde, cursid withouten affeccioun, withouten pees, false blameris. Id. Tyte, c. 3.

Immortal God, thou savedst Susanne

Fro false blame, and thou merciful mayde,
Mary I mene, doughter to seint Anne,
My socour be, or elles shall I die.

Chaucer. The Man of Lawes Tale, v. 5059.

He that is irous and wroth, as sayth Senek, he may not spike but blameful thinges, and with his vicious wordes he stirreth other folk to anger and to ire.

Id. The Tale of Melibeus.

This maie a kynge well vnderstonde,
Knighthode mite betake on honde
Whan that it stont vpon the nede,
He shall no rightfull cause drede
No more of warre than of pees,

If he wyll stonde blameless.-Gower. Con. A. b. vii.

Now if we should for this matter breake the rule of charitie, and euery man hate his neighbour that would not thinke as he doth, then were we greatly to blame and in jeoperdie of condemnation.-Frith. Workes, p. 150.

If thys is to be feared in such as shew thys prepostorous zeale agaynste that whiche is blameworthy, what shall we thinke of those that vnder the pretence of zeale deface the minister, and the word that he preacheth, for doing that which is lawfull, and the whiche of duetic he ought to do. Whitgift. Defence, p. 260.

For throughout the whole world, in every place, at all times, and in all mens mouths, fortune alone is sought unto and called upon: she only is named and in request; shee alone is blamed, accused, and endited.

Holland. Plinie, b. ii. c. 12.

Nathlesse, he shortly shall againe be tryde,
And fairely quite him of th' imputed blame,
Else be ye sure, he dearely shall abide,
Or make you good amendment for the same.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 1.

If he had not freedom of will to determine himself towards good and evil, as he pleased, he must then be under a fatal necessity of doing whatsoever he should happen to do; and then as he could give no proof of his temper and inclination, so there could be no such thing as acceptableness to God when he did well, nor blamableness when he did otherwise. Goodman. Winter Evening Conference, p. 3.

Neither can I see how it should be blamelesse, objecting such fancies and imaginations as it doth; which to withstand and resist were not blamable, but rather to give place and follow them.-Holland. Plutarch, p. 886.

For nature hath her zodiac also, keeps her great annual circuit over human things, as truly as the sun and planets in the firmament; hath her anomalies, hath her obliquities in assentions and declinations, accesses and recesses, as blamelessly as they in heaven.-Millon. Tetrachordon.

There is another [difficulty] remaining in the thing itself, which is concerning the blamelessness, or being void of offence.-Goodwin. Of Gospel Holiness, b. i. c. 4.

To this we owe much of the innocency, and in some respects blamelessness, cf our lives, that we have not been a scandal to the Gospel, a shame to the good, and a scorn to the bad.-Hopkins. Works, p. 292.

This Robert Grosted whose learning (in Hebrew, Greeke. Latine, and other languages.] ioined with vertue, and good life, wan to him perpetuall commendation, was a manifest blamer of the Pope, and king.-Stowe. Hen. III. an. 1253.

It is hard to say how far saints may fall, or how often into offence and blameworthiness. Goodwin. Gospel of Holiness, b. i. c. 4.

But if we receive the grace of God in vain, and take no care to perform the condition, and do neglect to implore the grace and assistance of God's H. Spirit to that purpose, we have none to blame but ourselves.-Tillotson, vol. i. Ser. 46. It is the excess, not the thing itself, that is blameable. Prior. Preface to Solomon. Not simple Nature's unaffected sons, The blameless Indians, round the forest-cheer, In sunny lawn or shady covert set, Hold more unspotted converse.

Thomson. To the Memory of Lord Talbot.
We give to chance, blind chance, ourselves as blind,
The glory of thy work; which yet appears
Perfect and unimpeachable of blame,
Challenging human scrutiny, and prov'd
Then skilful most when most severely judg'd.

Cowper. Task, b. v.
I therefore took occasion to observe, that the world in
general began to be blameably indifferent as to doctrinal
matters, and followed human speculations too much.
Goldsmith. Vicar of Wakefield, c. 14.
Medon, live
To share that glory. Thee to perish here,
No law, no oracle enjoins. To die,
Uncali'd, is blameful.
Glover. Leonidas, b. x.
Thrice happy land! though freezing on the verge
Of arctic skies; yet, blameless still of arts
That polish to deprave, each softer clime.

Mallet. Amyntor & Theodora, c. 1. The disturbance and fear, which often follow upon a man's having done an injury, arise from a sense of his being blameworthy; otherwise there would, in many cases, be no ground of disturbance, nor any reason to fear resentment or shame.-Butler. Analogy of Religion, pt. i. c. 3.

A wise man may frequently neglect praise, even when he has best deserved it; but, in al; matters of serious consequence, he will most carefully endeavour so to regulate his conduct as to avoid, not only blameworthyness, but, as much as possible, every probable imputation of blame.

Smith. Moral Sentiments, pt. iii. c. 2. BLANCH, v. Į Fr. Blanc; It. Bianco; BLANCHER. Sp. Blanco; A. S. Blican; Ger. Blicken, blinken, to shine, to glitter, to twinkle or blink; lucere, coruscare, micare; and by consequence, dealbare, to whiten; quia (album) flectit, (Skinner.) præ reliquis coloribus copiosissimam lucem re

Blanch, blench, and blink, are probably the same word differently written and applied. See also BLEACH.

To blanch; to brighten, to whiten, (lucescere, dealbare,) and thus-To give a fair appearance, a fair face to any thing; and also as, to blench or blink, (qv.)

To avoid or cause to avoid, to evade, escape, or shun, to shrink, or start away from, to startle. Blancher, cited from Sidney, is used exactly as blencher in Beaum. and Fletch.

Wallnuttes, if they be blanched, are supposed to be good for the stomake.-Sir. T. Elyot. Castel of Helth, b. ii. c. 14. And so many days were spent, and so many ways used, while Zelmane was like one that stood in a tree waiting a good occasion to shoot; and Gynecia a blancher, which kept the dearest deer from her.-Sidney. Arcadia, b. i.

Ah! now I see the sweetest dawn,

Thrice welcome to my longing sight!
Hail, divine beauty! heavenly light!
I see thee through yon cloud of lawn
Appear; and, as thy star does glide
Blanching with rays the east on every side.
Sherburne. Sun Rise.

To those choice waters, I most fitly may compare.
Wherewith nice women use to blanch their beauties rare.
Drayton. Poly-Olbion, s. 21.
Hector, you know, applause

Of humour hath beene farre from me, nor fits it, or in warre
Or in affaires of court, a man, imploid in publick care,

To blanch things further than their truth, or flatter any

powre.

Chapman. Homer. Iliad, b. xii.

The judges of that time thought it was a dangerous thing

to admit Ifs and Ands to qualifie the words of treason, whereby every man might expresse his malice and blanch his danger.-Bacon. Hen. VII. p. 134.

186

Now, Sir, concerning your [Milton's] travels, wherein I may challenge a little more privilege of discourse with you. I suppose you will not blanch Paris in your way. Reliquia Wottonianæ, p. 343.

This Spanish inquisition is

A trappe, so slylie sett; As into it wise, godly, rich, By blanchers bace as [are] fett.

Warner. Albion's England, b. ix.

Men of wit and confidence will always make a shift to say something for any thing: and some way or other blanch over the blackest and most absurd things in the world. Tillotson, vol. i. Ser. 20,

Then the sleek brightening lock, from hand to hand,
Renews its circling course: this feels the card;
That, in the comb, admires its growing length;
This, blanch'd, emerges from the oily wave;
And that, the amber tint, or ruby, drinks.

BLAND, adj.
BLANDIMENT.
BLANDISH.

BLANDISHING, N.

Dyer. The Fleece, b. ii. Lat. Blandus, soothing. Of uncertain etymology. Sir T. More and Hall write blandiment.

BLA'NDISHMENT. Soothing, mild, gentle, lulling, caressing, flattering.

If he flater or blandise more than him ought for any necessitee; (in certain he doth sinne.)

Chaucer. The Persones Tale. For thou wert wont to hurtelen and dispisen her with many words. wha she was blandishing and present, and pursudest her with sentences that were drawen out of mine entre, that is to say, of mine information.-Id. Boecius, b. ii.

If the worlde frowne vpon the: vnneth it mai be that thy vertue (which all lift vpwarde shoulde have God alone to please) shal somewhat vnto the blandishing of the woride & fauore of ye people icline.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 16.

Womans blandiments he chauged into the desire of hea uenly ioyes and dispising ye blast of vaine glorie which he before desired, now with all his mind he began to scke the glore and profite of Christes churche.-Id. Ib. p. 4.

The Kyng aunswered her [Quene Anne] with fair wondes, and with dissimulynge blandimentes and flatterynge lesynges comforted her, and biddynge her to be of good comforte, fer to his knowledge she shoulde haue none other cause.

Hall. Rich. III. an. 3. The force of that fallacious fruit, That with the exhilirating vapour bland About their spirits had plaid, and inmost powers Made erre, was now exhar'd.-Milton. Par. Lost, b. ix. The rose yeelds her sweete blandishment, Lost in the fold of lovers' wreathes, The violet enchants the sent

When earely in the spring she breaths.

Habington. Castara, pt. ii. Ah! could'st thou here thy humble mind content, Lowly with me to live in country cell, And learn suspect the courts' proud blandishment, Here might we safe, here might we sweetly dwell

P. Fletcher. To Mr. J. Tomkins Array'd in arms, and bland in voice and look, Besides Hippomedon her stand she took; Yet, while her artful tale the warrior heard. He fear'd her looks, and wonder'd why he fear'd.

Lewis. Thebaid of Statius, b. ix.

In former days a country life,
For so time-honour'd poets sing,
Free from anxiety and strife,
Was blandish'd by perpetual spring.

Cooper. The Retreat of Aristippus, Ep. 1.
So tranquil Nature's works appear,'
It seems the sabbath all the year:
As if, the Summer's labour past, she chose
The season's sober calm for blandishing repose.

Fawke. An Autumnal Ode. O could I steal From Harmony her softest-warbled strain Of melting air! or Zephyr's vernal voice! Or Philomela's song, when love dissolves To liquid blandishment his evening lay.

BLANK, v. BLANK, n. BLANK, adj. BLANKNESS.

blanck;

In the morne and liquid dew of youth,
Contagious blastments are most imminent.

Shakespeare. Hamlet, Act i. sc. 3.

But it may be noted, that the blossoms do not forthwith discover the blast; an old experienced countryman having once given me notice of a blasty noon, and within a day or two shewing the proof upon the cherry-blossoms then flagging, but not much altering their colour till two days more were past.-Boyle. Works, vol. iii. p. 154.

He [the debaucher] blasts all the fruit he tastes, and where the brute has been devouring there is nothing left worthy the relish of the man.-Spectator, No. 199.

And see where surly winter passes off,
Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts:
His blasts obey, and quit the howling hill,
The shatter'd forest, and the ravag'd vale.

Thomson. Spring.

And though no gathering clouds the day control,
Through skies serene portentous thunders roll:
Fierce blasting bolts from northern regions come,
And aim their vengeance at imperial Rome.

Rowe. Lucan. Pharsalia, b.i.

The secrets of th' abyss to spy,
He passed the flaming bounds of place and time:
The living throne, the sapphire-blaze,
Where angels tremble, while they gaze,
He saw but, blasted with excess of light,
Clos'd his eyes in endless night.

Gray. The Progress of Poesy. Such is the disposition of mankind, if they cannot blast the action, they will censure the vanity.

Melmoth. Pliny, b. i. Let. 8.

But now I come vnto my course againe,
To his atchiuement of the blatant beast;
Who all this while at will did range and raine,
Whil'st none was him to stop, nor none him to restraine.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. vi. c. 12.

Our voyage is to the Ile of Dogges, there where the blattant beast doth rule and raigne renting the credit of whom it please.-The Returne from Pernassus, Act v. sc. 4.

Hind. The Panther's breath was ever fam'd for sweet; But from the Wolf such wishes oft I meet: You learn'd this language from the blatant beast, Or rather did not speak, but were possess'd.

Dryden. The Hind & Panther, pt. ii.

Led by the blatant voice along the skies,
He comes, where faction over cities flies;
A talking fiend, whom snaky locks disgrace,
And numerous mouths deform her dusky face.

Parnell. Queen Anne's Peace. BLATTER. Lat. Blaterare, from Blatire, BLATTEROON. which Vossius says you may derive from the Gr. Bλarov, for BANтov, cast, thrown forth; añо тоν Bаλλew, to throw.

To throw out, (sc.) idle words, to speak foolishly, to babble, to blab.

For before it [the tongue] she hath set a pallisado of sharp teeth, to the end that if peradventure it will not obey reason, which within holdeth it hard as if with a strait bridle, but it will blatter out and not tarry within, we might bite it until it bleed again, and so restrain the intemperance thereof. Holland. Plutarch, p. 159.

She [a ship] roade at peace, through his onely paines and

excellent indurance, how ever envy list to blatter against

him.-Spenser, On Ireland.

I will endeavour to lose the memory of him, and that my thoughts may never run more upon the fashion of his face, which you know he hath no cause to brag of: I hate such blateroons.-Howell, b. ii. Let. 75.

To spread or disperse, to divulge, to publish, to proclaim: also to display or set forth conspiAnd also restricted to cuously, ostentatiously. the heraldic blazonry of arms.

This lady brought in her right hond
Of brenning fire a blasing brond
Whereof the flame and hote fire
Hath many a lady in desire
Of loue brought.

Chaucer. Rom. of the Rose.

While I was glorious in worldly wolefulnesse, and had soche goodes in wealth, as maken manne rich, tho was I drawe into compaignies that loos, prise, and name yeuen : tho louteden blasours, tho curreiden glosours, tho welcomeden flatterers, tho worshipped thilke, that now deinen not to looke.-Id. The Testament of Loue, b. i.

Tho laye there certaine woodde clifte
Of whiche the peces nowe and efte
She made hem in the pittes wete,

And put hem in the firye hete,
And toke the bronde, with all the blaze,
And thries she began to rase
About Eson.
Gower. Con. A. b. v.
And there withall the blazing of her eyne,
Was like the beames of Titan, truth to tell,
Which glads vs all that in this world do dwell.

Gascoigne. Dan Bartholomew. I can nat tell you what was this knyghtes name, nor of

what countre, but the blasure of his armes was goules, two fusses sable, a border sable. Berners. Froissart. Cronycle, vol.i. c. 281. So spake the Father; and, unfoulding bright Toward the right hand his glorie, on Blaz'd forth unclouded Deitie the Son.

A traine of powder was made, and set on fire, which gave to the blessed martyr of God, a blaise, and scorched his left hand and that side of his face, but neither kindled the wood nor yet the coales.-Knox. Hist. of the Reform. p.6. Vtterers of secrets he from thence debard, Babblers of folly, and blazers of crime.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 9. Large shells of nuts their covering helmet yield, And o'er the region, with reflected rays, Tall groves of needle for their lances blaze, Dreadful in arms the marching mice appear.

Parnell. Battle of the Frogs and Mice, b. ii. Others are of opinion that it foretells battell and bloodshed, and believe it of the same prognostication as the tail of a blazing star.-Spectator. No. 127.

But when their chains were cast aside,
See the glad scene unfolding wide,
Clap the glad wing, and tower away,
And mingle with the blaze of day.

Parnell. A Night Piece on Death.
Near, and more near, the swimming radiance roll'd;
Along the mountains stream the lingering fires,
Sublime the groves of Ida blaze with gold,
And all the heaven resounds with louder lyres.
Beattie. The Judgment of Paris.

If of Dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and constant.-Johnson. Life of Pope.

But now friend Cornelius, sith I haue blasened his vaunt, hearken his vertue and worthinesse.-Golden Boke, Let. 2. Well, if it were folie to bewaile things which are vnpos a blason of good understanding.

sible to be recouered, sith Had I wist doth seldome serue as

Gascoigne. Advertisement to the Reader Indeed a silence does that tomb befit, Where is no herald left to blazon it.

Donne. Elegies upon the Authour

The hag lay long revolving what might be,
The blest event of such an embassy:
Then blazons in dread smile her hideous form;
So lightning gilds the unrelenting storm.

Garth. The Dispensary, c. 2. His whole mind was blazoned over with a variety of glit tering images; coronets, escutcheons, &c.

Goldsmith. Citizen of the World, Let. 104

My honourable friend has not brought down a spirite imp of chivalry to win the first achievement and blazon arms on his milk-white shield in a field listed against him.

Burke. On the Duration of Parliamen

These historians, recorders, and blazoners of virtues an arms, differ wholly from that other description of hist rians, who never assign any act of politicians to a goo motive.-Id. A Letter to a Noble Lord.

BLE. Able, ible; Lat. Bilis, from the Goth Abal, strength, power, force. The Lat. term nation in Bilis (with few exceptions) was use passively; (e. g.) Arable, that may be ered ploughed; Audible, that may be heard; and th contraction into ile, docile, that may be taught and was thus contradistinguished from the term nations, ive and ic, which were used actively (e. g.) Coercive, that can or may coerce; Didacti that can or may teach. In the decay of the La language, adjectives terminating in Bilis, us with an active signification, were introduced great numbers; and many transferred into o own English: thus, Comfortable, that can or ma that does comfort; Conducible, that can or ma that does, conduce. Sensible, we use, to denote full of sense ;-which can feel, which may be fel he is a sensible man; very sensible of the cold; a of any sensible change of the weather. Ma words of this description are considered by Too to have been received by us from French wor in Ble, which were taken corruptly from Itali words in Vole. As It. Confortevole; Fr. Co fortable: It. Capevole; Fr. Capable. The abu seems too firmly established, and too widely sprea to admit of any but a very partial remedy. S Ic, IVE.

BLEACH, v. BLEACH, n. BLEACH, adj. BLEACHER. BLEACHERY.

See BLACK. A. S. Blican, at can, dealbare; Ger. Bleiche Dut. Bleycken; Sw. Bleka: To whiten, to make pale, white.

Some one, for she is pale and bleche,
Some one, for she is soft of speche.-Gower. Con. A. b
When shepherds pipe on oaten strawes,
And merrie larkes are ploughmans clockes;
When turtles tread, and rookes and dawes,
And maidens bleach their summer smockes.

Shakespeare. Loue's Labour Lost, Act v. sc After that, they be spred abroad and displaied open to sunne, and left without dores to take all weathers both and night, and to bee bleached, untill they be drie and whi Holland. Plinie, b. xvi. c. There runneth likewise out of vines a certaine gum, wh is passing good for the bleach, scabs, and seals in li children. Id. Ib. b. xiii. c. 11.

Virgil, to give this thought likewise a cloathing of poe describes some spirits as bleaching in the winds. Tatler. No.

Immortal liberty, whose look sublime, Hath bleach'd the tyrant's cheek in every varying clin Smollett. Ode to Independe In the price of linen we must add the wages of the f dresser, of the spinner, of the weaver, of the bleacher, together with the profits of their respective employers. Smith. Wealth of Nations, b. i. On the side of the great bleachery are the public walls

Penn

A. S. Blac. The same w as Bleach, differently appli the earth, the herba bleached or bleaked, blighted blacked, by cold, piercing, withering winds;

BLEAKLY.

then applied to that which is exposed to cold, piercing winds; to that which is chill, dreary, de

salate.

By the fourthe seale, the beast, the voyce, and the pale marest thou vnderstande the heretykes, whiche dyd race wares and a long tyme vexe the holy churche with te doctrine. And haue made it, as it were pale & Baked for very sorow & heuynes.-Udal. Rev. c. 6. With bleak and with congealing winds

The earth in shining chains he binds;

And still as he doth farther pass,

Quarries his way with liquid glass.-Cotton. Winter.

Being shipped at Deepe, the sea used us hardly and, ara night and a great part of the day following, sent us well wind-beaten to that bleak haven whence we set -Bp. Hall. Some Specialities.

Those limbs, in lawn and softest silk array'd,
From sun-beams guarded, and of winds afraid,
they bear angry Jove? can they resist
The parching dogstar, and the bleak north-east?
Prior. Henry & Emma.

The inhabitants of Nova Zembla go naked, without compling of the bleakness of the air: as the armies of the ther nations keep the field all winter.-Addison. On shrubs they browze, and, on the bleaky top Of rugged hills, the thorny bramble crop.

Dryden. Virgil, Geor. 3.

What should they do beset with dangers round,
No neighbouring dorp, no lodging to be found,
But besky plains, and bare unhospitable ground.

Id. The Hind & Panther, pt. iii.

For is there aught that Nature's hand has sown
To bo and ripen in the hottest zone?
We raise it here, in storms of wind and hail,
On the beak bosom of a sunless vale.

BLEAR, . BLEAR, adj. BLE ARNESS. BLEAREDNESS.

Cawthorn. Of Taste. Skinner and Junius coincide

with Minshew, that Blear is the Dut. Blaer, pustula; and Skinner adds that Blaer is

from the Ger. Blaen, tumescere; from the A. S. Blanc-an, flare, inflare, (q.d.) cutis inflatio.

To bear the sight, (met.) is to dim, impede, or obstruct the sight, as if disordered with pustules

or blains,

He blessede hem wt hus bulles, & blerede hure eye.

And Samuel answered: what meaneth the the bleatinge of the shepe i myne eares, and the noyse of the oxe whiche I heare.-Bible, 1551. 1 Sam. c. 15.

Set in my ship, mine eare reacht, where we rod
The bellowing of oxen, and the bleate
Of fleecie sheepe.

Chapman. Homer. Odysses, b. xii.
Then suddenly was heard along the main
To low the ox, to bleat the woolly train.-Pope. Ib.
Ere yet we reach'd the coast the bleat of sheep
And lowings loud of oxen in the stall,
Came o'er mine ear.

The humble shepherd to his rays,

Cowper. Ib.

Having his rustic homage paid, And to some cool retired shade Driven his bleating flocks to graze;

Sits down delighted with the sight

Of that great lamp, so mild, so fair, so bright.
Sherburne. The Sun Rise.
The Troians (like a sort of ewes pend in a rich man's fold,
Close at his dore, till all be milkt; never baaing hold,
Hearing the bleating of their lambs) did all their wide

host fill

With shouts and clamours.

Chapman. Homer. Iliad, b. iv. The wolf, who from the nightly fold, Fierce drags the bleating prey, ne'er drunk her milk, Nor wore her warming fleece. Thomson. Spring.

In time his [Shenstone's] expenses brought clamours about him, that overpowered the lamb's bleat and the linnet's song; and the groves were haunted by beings very different from fauns and fairies.-Johnson. Life of Shenstone.

In cold stiff soils the bleaters oft complain Of gouty ails, by shepherds term'd the halt: Those let the neighbouring fold or ready crook Detain; and pour into their cloven feet Corrosive drugs. Dyer. The Fleece, b. i. BLEB. Skinner says, from the Ger. Blaen, tumescere, turgescere, to swell. See BLUB. "A blister; also a bubble in the water.

Piers Ploukman, p. 4. (Grose.)

Phebus, (quod he) for all thy worthinesse

For all thy beautee, and all thy gentillenesse,

For all thy song, and all thy minstralcie,

For all thy waiting blered is thin eye,

With on of litel reputation.

North."

And were not the angels a great deal better employed in the beholding the worth of their Creatour, than to diminish their own happinesse, by attending those, whom nothing can make happie? looking on this troubled passing stream of the perishing generations of men, to as little purpose water.-More. Song of the Soul, Conclusion.

Sire, he wold say, an emperour mote nede
Be vertuous, and haten tyrannie.
For which he made him in a bathe to blede
On bothe his armes till he muste die.

Chaucer. The Monkes Tale. v. 14,425.

In this meane tyme in Englōde, ye Jewys in dyuerse placis of the realme, as Lyncoln, Staunforde, & Lynne, were roboyd & spoyled; and at Yorke to the nombre of cccc. & mo, cutte theyr mayster veynes & bled to deth. Fabyan. Rich. I. an. 1181.

And said whimple alas, there nis no more
But thou shalt fele as wel the blode of me
As thou hast felt the bleding of Tisbe
And with that word, he smote him to the hart.
The blode out of the wound as brode start
As water, whan the conduit broken is.

Chaucer. Legend of Thisbe of Babilon. Whereupon he [Cato] called for all his men, one after another, and very angerly asked them his sword, and gave one of them such a blow on his face, that his nose fell a bleeding, and his hand was all bloody withall.

North. Plutarch, p. 660.

The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to day,
Had he thy reason, would he skip and play?
Pleas'd to the last, he crops the flowery food,
And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood.

Pope. Essay on Man, Epist. 1.
Patriots have toil'd, and in their country's cause
Bled nobly; and their deeds, as they deserve,
Receive proud recompense. We give in charge
Their names to the sweet lyre.-Cowper. Task, b. v.
BLEMISH, v.
BLE'MISH, n.
BLE MISHLESS.

BLE MISHMENT. BLEMISHING, N.

To blemish, is to affix some blame, some cause of blame; some stain, some spot, which sullies, taints or tarnishes the original soundness, fairness,

or purity. And henceTo taint, to tarnish, to sully; to deform, to disfigure.

And thus it suffiseth not onley, that they reuerence ne auaile me naught, but if thou of thy fre will, rather be blemished with mine offencion.-Chaucer. Boccius, b. i.

But whenne he [Chas. IX.] came to mennes astate he then was ryght sorry, and wolde saye full often, to his famyliers, a prince is greatly blemysshed whenne he lakketh conynge of lecture.-Fabyan, an. 1483.

For if ye do ye shall gretely abate the honoure of the lady, and also blemyssheth the honoure of the quene of Castell her doughter, for then ye sholde make her worse then a bastarde. Berners. Froissart. Cronycie, vol. ii. c. 43.

To see how Christ was prophecied and described therein, cosider & marke, how that the kidde or lambe must be without spot or blemish, and so was Christ onely of all makind, in the sight of God and of his laws.

Tyndall. Workes, p. 439.

But now the Frenchemen haue fortified, victailed and manned their tounes, and we haue spent tyme and dooen losse of vs and greate blemishyng of our honours.

BLEE. A. S. Bleoh, from Blewan, efflorescere, to blow, to bloom. In Ritson's Ancient Songs,

I followed mast (alwayes) that least was worth.
Gascoigne. The Fruite of Fetters. p. 27, "Hire bleo blykyeth so bright." Applied

And leste thou shouldste suppose by space

my talke myghte ouergrow

In balke the beareeyde Crispins roole

whose tounge on pattans free

Did retchlesse run, euen here I cease

not one word more of me.

Drant, Horace. The first Satyre.

The Jewe putteth awaye his wife for stench of breth, for

res of the eyes, or for any such like fautes, where as christen men, there is but one cause onely whitche teeth wedlocke, and that is the breache of the fayth & se of matrimony-Udal, Mark, c. 10.

Thy bright eyes, bleare and wrinkle: and so change Thy frine at all parts, that thou shalt be strange Ta al the wooers-Chapman. Homer. Odysses, b. xiii. Et say the eyes bee enflamed and bleered onely, without any extraordinarie moisture appearing in them, the little acles lying within the loines of a swine, rosted and afterwards panned to a cataplasme, and so applied, do quite rid way the same bleeredness.-Holland. Plinie, b. xxviii. c. 11. They, who be loath and take heed to offend and hurt them

generally to

The complexion, hue, colour.
Mine herte oppressed is so wonderfully,
Onely for him which is so bright of blee,
Alas I trowe I shal him neuer see.

Chaucer. Lamentations of Mary Magdalen.
There beth rosis of red ble,
And lilie likful for to se.

Uncertaine Auctors. Hickes, vol. i. p. 230.
Before him came a dwarffe full lowe,
That waited on his knee,
And at his backe five heads he bore,
All wan and pale of blee.-Sir Cauline. Percy, Poem 2.

Forth then hyed our king, I wisse,
And an angry man was hee;
And soone he found queene Elinore,
That bride so bright of blee.
Id. Ib.
BLEED.
Skinner pre-
A. S. Blæd-an.
BLEEDING. fers the Dut. Blosen, rubescere; a

are bleare-eyed or otherwise given to the paine and in- colore, scilicet: to grow red; to blush, or bloom.

Hall. Hen. VIII. an. 4. If any natural blemish blot our face, You do protest, it gives our beauty grace.

Drayton. Mrs. Shore to Edw. IV.

Full many lords, and many knights her loued,
Yet she to none of them her liking lent,
Ne euer was with fond affection moued,
But rul'd her thoughts with goodly gouernement,
For dread of blame, and honours blemishment.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iv. c. 2.

A life in all so blemishlesse, that we
Enoch's return may sooner hope, than he
Should be outshin'd by any.-Feltham. Lusoria, c. 37.

The earl thinking there might remain some grudge of the last years' falling out, caused Sir Walter Ralegh and Sir Francis Vere to shake hands; "which we did both," says he, "the more willingly, because there had nothing passed between us that might blemish reputation."

Thenne shalt the blench at a bergh.

And thus thinkende I stonde still Without blenchinge of mine eie, Right as me thought that I seie

Piers Plouhman, p. 122.

Of paradis the most ioie.-Gower. Con. 4. b. vi.

For now if ye so shuld haue answered him as I haue shewed you, thoughe ye shoulde haue somwhat blenched him therwith, yet he might & wold of likelyhod haue gone further with you & haue asked you wherby ye know yt ye shoulde beleue the churche.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 205.

Lyke as the good husbande, when he hath sowen his grounde, setteth vp cloughtes or thredes, whiche some call shailes, some blenchars, or other lyke shewes, to feare away byrdes, whiche he foreseeth redye to deuoure and hurte his corne.-Sir T. Elyot. The Governor, b. i. c. 23.

Zanch. I feel the old man's master'd by such passion, And too high rackt, which makes him overshoot all His valour should direct at, and hurt those That stand but by as blenchers.

Beaum. & Fletch. Love's Pilgrimage, Act ii. sc. 1. Made old offences of affections new, Most true it is, that I have look'd on truth Askance and strangely; but, by all above, These blenches gave my heart another youth, And worse essays prov'd thee my best of love.

Shakespeare, Son. 110.

The noble lord who then conducted affairs, and his worthy colleagues, whilst they trembled at the prospect of such distresses as you have since brought upon yourselves, were not afraid steadily to look in the face that glaring and dazzling influence at which the eyes of eagles have blenched.

Burke. On American Taxation.

BLEND, v. A. S. Blendan; Sw. Blanda, BLENT, part. Sperhaps from Be-lanan: Blanan, blan-ed, bland; and upon this past part. the verb, Bland-an. See To LEND.

To mix, to mingle; to confound, to give to each ingredient some quality or qualities of the other.

To see both blended in one flood,
The mother's milk, the children's blood,
Makes me doubt if Heaven will gather
Roses hence, or lillies rather.

Crashaw. Upon the Infant Martyr.

But not that matters wilde, and mylde without reason should goo Blended as one. Nothing is a greater sacriledge than to prostitute the great name of God to the petulancy of an idle tongue, and blend it as an expletive, to fill up the emptiness of a weak discourse.-Bp. Taylor, vol. i. Ser. 23.

Drant. Horace. Art of Poetry.

He mourned still, and wept ful sore

I sweare by the holy roode
The teares he for his master wept
Were blent water, and bloude.

Old Robin of Portugale. Percy.

BLENT, is the past tense and past part. Blinned, blind, blint or blent, from the A. S. Blinnan; to stop, (sc.) the sight, the vision. See BLIN.

Lucifer loke ne myghte. so lyght hym a blent.
Piers Plouhman, p. 359.

O sely preest, o sely innocent,
With covetise anon thou shalt be blent.

Chaucer. The Chanones Yemannes Tale, v. 16,544.

Lo Argus, which that had an hundred eyen,
For all that ever he coude pore or prien,
Yet was he blent, and, God wot, so ben mo,
That wenen wisly that it be not so.

Id. The Marchantes Tale, v. 9985.

Alas! alas! that I ne had yblent,
His hote love is cold, and all yqueint.

Chaucer. The Miller's Tale, v. 3751. Richard Coer de Leon. Weber, vol. ii.

He blent away with a leap.

BLESS, or BLISS. BLESSED. BLESSEDLY.

Lo this is euen the vary grounde, this is the perfytte cause, That most mislyke themselues so muche, And can no reason pause In blesfuines. Drant. Horace, Sat. b. i. s. 1 Blessed, who walk'st not in the worldling's way; A. S. Bliss-ian, blessian, Blessed, who with foul sinners wilt not stand: blithsian, lætari, lætificare, to Blessed, who with proud mockers dar'st not stay; Nor sit thee down amongst that scornful band. make blithe, (qv.) joyous or P. Fletcher, Psal glad.-A. S. Blithe, be-lithe; But since so it pleaseth him, whose wisdom and goodn blissom, blithsome; i. e. Be-guideth all, put thy confidence in him, and one day we sh lissom, be- lithesome. Lithe, blessedly meet again, never to depart. lithesome, and lissom, still used in the north, for BLE'SSFULNESS. quiet, still, gentle, pliant, flexible; from the A. S. Lysan, to loosen or slacken. And, hence, consequentially

BLE'SSEDFUL. BLE'SSEDNESS. BLE'SSER. BLESSING.

The deeps and the snows, the hail and the rain, the bi of the air and fishes of the sea, they can and do glorify G

and give him praise in their capacity; and yet he gave th no speech, no reason, no immortal spirit, no capacity eternal blessedness.—Bp. Taylor, vol. ii. Ser. 12.

Id. Holy Living, s. 4. Of Humi The assurance of a future blessedness is a cordial that revive our spirits more in the day of adversity, than all wise sayings and considerations of philosophy.

To loosen; or dissolve, to release, to relieve (sc.) When thou hast said or done any thing for which t the tightness, stiffness; to alleviate, to soothe or receivest praise or estimation, take it indifferently, soften the harshness; to mitigate, to assuage, to return it to God; reflecting upon him as the giver of still, quiet or tranquillize-the violence or turbu-gift, or the blesser of the action, or the aid of the design. lence, the pain or anguish; to pacify, to please, to gratify; to communicate or confer ease, pleasure, joy, gladness, happiness, prosperity; to bestow a wish, a prayer, for happiness, or well being. piness, be conferred upon you. Bless you; may ease, pleasure, prosperity, hapI bless you; I (as far as my wishes and prayers are effectual to do so) confer prosperity, happiness upon you.

Hii blessede hem echon,
And toke hem al to God grace, & to batayle wende annon.
R. Gloucester, p. 406.
Theruore he gaf hym hys blessynge, & al hys tresour therto,
And he adde hys moder erytage al clene of gyfte al so.
Id. p. 421.

Thus gate was that werre pesed, withouten lore,
That noither partie com nerre, I blesse Anselme therfore.
R. Brunne, p. 97.
Sonne, on my blessyng trowe thou not his sawe,
Bot late hem haf endyng, as a traytour thorgh lawe.
Id. p. 270.
That they ben cursed of Christ. I can hem wel proue
Withouten his blessinge bare beth thei in her werkes.
For Christ seyde hymselfe to swiche as hym folwede.
Y blissed most they ben, that men ben in soule:
And alle power in gost, God hym selfe blesseth.
Picrs Ploulman. Crede.
And all the wise that evere were. by ouht ich can aspie
Preisede poverte for beste. yf pacience hit folwe
And bothe bettere and blessedere, by many folde than
richesse.

Id. p. 209.

Tillotson, vol. i. Se

I took up Homer, and dipped into that famous speech Achilles to Priam, in which he tells him, that Jupiter by him two great vessels, the one filled with blessings, the other with misfortunes; out of which he mingles a c position for every man that comes into the world. Tatler, No. The very babe Knows this, and 'chance awak'd, his little hands Lifts to the gods, and on his innocent couch Calls down a blessing. Mason. Caracia

BLIGHT, v. Perhaps from the A. S. Lih BLIGHT, n. Sbelihtan, to alight, to desce to fall upon, to strike upon;-to strike, to bl as lightning; and thus

To destroy, to wither up, to desolate. BLACK, BLEAK.

Blights are often caused by a continued dry easterly w for several days together, without the intervention showers, or any morning dew, by which the perspiratio the tender blossoms is stopp'd, so that in a short time colour is changed and they wither and decay.

Miller. Gardener's Diction

Tho' they could not hinder brave and active spirits budding out into noble beginnings, of most hopeful be to the common wealth; yet could [they] by stopping channel of supplies or encouragements,, blite them

Blesse ghe men that pursuen ghou, blesse ghe and nyle advancing to any fruitful or profitable conclusions. ghe curse.-Wiclif. Romayns, c. 12.

Blesse them whiche persecute you: blesse, but curse not. Bible, 1551. Ib. Therefore I gesside necessarie to preie brethren that thei come bifore to ghou, and make redi this bilright blessyng to be redi so as blessyng and not as auarice. for I geic this thing, he that sowith scarsli schal also repe scarsli, and he that sowith in blessyngis schal also repe of blessyngis.

Wiclif. 2 Corynth, c. 9. Wherefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, to come beforehand vnto you for to prepare youre good blessing promysed afore, that it might be ready: so that it be a blessing, and not a defraudyng. This yet remember, how that he which soweth lyttel, shall reape lytell, & he that soweth plenteously shall reape plenteously.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

O leve brother, quod this Arius,
Yeve me a plant of thilke blessed tree,
And in my gardin planted shal it be.

Chaucer. The Wif of Bathes Prol. v. 6346.
Proserpina, whiche doughter was
Of Ceres, befell this cas,
While she was dwellyng in Cecile,
Hir mother in that ilke while
Upon her blessynge, and hir hest
Bad, that she shulde ben honest,
And lere for to weaue and spinne
And dwelle at home, and kepe her inne.

Gower. Con. A. b. v. For the soule doeth not perishe whiche departeth from the bodye, nor the bodye doeth not altogether go to destruction, that in tyme to come shal liue more blessedlye, and be immortall.-Udal. John, c. 9.

For in this xxxi. Psalme discribeth he also this blessedfull state of man, declared now by the gospel, shewing that yt it is not giue & receiued, as due vnto vs for the workes of

Oldys. Life of Ra The Lady Blast, you must understand, has such a p cular malignity in her whisper, that it blights like an eas wind, and withers every reputation that it breathes up Spectator, No.

Trust not, ye ladies, to your beauty's power,
For beauty withers like a shrivelled flower;
Yet those fair flowers, that Sylvia's temples bind,
Fade not with sudden blights or winter's wind.
Gay. Eclogues. The Tea-T

I suspect it will be found, that whenever the blig wind and those frosts at blooming time have prevailed produce of the wheat crop will turn out very indifferen

Dodsley. Agriculture,

A. S. Blindan, blindi Ger. Blinden, or blend Dut. Blinden, from the Blinnan, to stop, (Jur and after him Tooke.)

To stop or stay; to s impede, obstruct, pre or hinder, (sc.) the si the vision, the percept

To blind-fold; to fold any thing over the e the sight, the vision (lit. and met.) so as to bli stop, prevent the sight, &c.

So longe hom spedde baddeliche, that hii mizte as bline.-R. Gloucester, p. 566.