For two or three years (1841-1844) he wrote for _The
Times_, and he helped to found _The Guardian_ in 1846; he also did a
good deal to assist the Tractarian movement. But he eventually settled
down to the life of a government official. He began in 1844 as registrar
of joint-stock companies, and in 1846 became commissioner of lands and
emigration. Between 1857 and 1859 he was engaged in government missions
abroad, connected with colonial questions, and in 1860 he was appointed
permanent under-secretary of state for the colonies. Sir Frederic Rogers
was the guiding spirit of the colonial office under six successive
secretaries of state, and on his retirement in 1871 was raised to the
peerage as Baron Blachford of Wisdome, a title taken from his place in
Devonshire. He died on the 21st of November 1889.

A volume of his letters, edited by G.E. Marindin (1896), contains an
interesting Life, partly autobiographical.

BLACK, ADAM (1784-1874), Scottish publisher, founder of the firm of A. &
C. Black, the son of a builder, was born in Edinburgh on the 20th of
February 1784. After serving his apprenticeship to the bookselling trade
in Edinburgh and London, he began business for himself in Edinburgh in
1808. By 1826 he was recognized as one of the principal booksellers in
the city; and a few years later he was joined in business by his nephew
Charles. The two most important events connected with the history of the
firm were the publication of the 7th, 8th and 9th editions of the
_Encyclopaedia Brittannica_, and the purchase of the stock and copyright
of the Waverley Novels. The copyright of the _Encyclopaedia_ passed into
the hands of Adam Black and a few friends in 1827. In 1851 the firm
bought the copyright of the Waverley Novels for L27,000; and in 1861
they became the proprietors of De Quincey's works. Adam Black was twice
lord provost of Edinburgh, and represented the city in parliament from
1856 to 1865. He retired from business in 1865, and died on the 24th of
January 1874. He was succeeded by his sons, who removed their business
in 1895 to London. There is a bronze statue of Adam Black in East
Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh.

See _Memoirs of Adam Black_, edited by Alexander Nicholson (2nd ed.,
Edinburgh, 1885).

BLACK, JEREMIAH SULLIVAN (1810-1883), American lawyer and statesman, was
born in Stony Creek township, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, on the 10th
of January 1810. He was largely self-edu