time, Commonwealth).

BLIFIL, a noted character in Fielding's novel entitled _The History
of Tom Jones, a Foundling_ (1750).

Blifil is the original of Sheridan's "Joseph Surface" in the
_School for Scandal_ (1777).

BLIGH (_William_), captain of the _Bounty_, so well known for the
mutiny, headed by Fletcher Christian, the mate (1790).

BLIMBER (_Dr._), head of a school for the sons of gentlemen, at
Brighton. It was a select school for ten pupils only; but there was
learning enough for ten times ten. "Mental green peas were produced at
Christmas, and intellectual asparagus all the year round." The doctor
was really a ripe scholar, and truly kind-hearted; but his great fault
was over-tasking his boys, and not seeing when the bow was too much
stretched. Paul Dombey, a delicate lad, succumbed to this strong
mental pressure.

_Mrs. Blimber_, wife of the doctor, not learned, but wished to be
thought so. Her pride was to see the boys in the largest possible
collars and stiffest possible cravats, which she deemed highly
classical.

_Cornelia Blimber_, the doctor's daughter, a slim young lady, who kept
her hair short and wore spectacles. Miss Blimber "had no nonsense
about her," but had grown "dry and sandy with working in the graves
of dead languages." She married Mr. Feeder, B.A., Dr. Blimber's
usher.--C. Dickens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).

BLIND BEGGAR OF BETHNAL GREEN, Henry, son and heir of sir Simon de
Montfort. At the battle of Evesham the barons were routed, Montfort
slain, and his son Henry left on the field for dead. A baron's
daughter discovered the young man, nursed him with care, and married
him. The fruit of the marriage was "pretty Bessee, the beggar's
daughter." Henry de Montfort assumed the garb and semblance of a blind
beggar, to escape the vigilance of king Henry's spies.

Day produced, in 1659, a drama called _The Blind Beggar of Bethnal
Green_, and S. Knowles, in 1834, produced his amended drama on
the same subject. There is [or was], in the Whitechapel Road a
public-house sign called the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green.--_History
of Sign-boards._

BLIND EMPEROR (_The_), Ludovig III. of Germany (880, 890-934).

BLIND HARPER (_The_), John Parry, who died 1739.

John Stanley, mnsician and composer, was blind from his birth
(1713-1786).

BLIND HARRY, a Scotch minstrel of the fifteenth century, blind from
infancy. His epic of _Sir William Wallace_ runs to 11,861 lines. He
was minstrel in the cour