bsence of her lord the "forbidden fruit" is too tempting
to be resisted, the door is opened, and the young wife finds the floor
covered with the dead bodies of her husband's former wives. She drops
the key in her terror, and can by no means obliterate from it the
stain of blood. Blue Beard, on his return, commands her to prepare for
death, but by the timely arrival of her brothers her life is saved and
Blue Beard put to death.

Dr. C. Taylor thinks Blue Beard is a type of the castle-lords in the
days of knight-errantry. Some say Henry VIII. (the noted wife-killer)
was the "academy figure." Others think it was Giles de Retz, marquis
de Laval, marshal of France in 1429, who (according to Mezeray)
murdered six of his seven wives, and was ultimately strangled in 1440.

Another solution is that Blue Beard was count Conomar, and the
young wife Triphyna, daughter of count Guerech. Count Conomar was
lieutenant of Brittany in the reign of Childebert. M. Hippolyte
Violeau assures us that in 1850, during the repairs of the chapel of
St. Nicolas de Bieuzy, some ancient frescoes were discovered with
scenes from the life of St. Triphyna: (1) The marriage; (2) the
husband taking leave of his young wife and entrusting to her a key;
(3) a room with an open door, through which are seen the corpses of
seven women hanging; (4) the husband threatening his wife, while
another female [_sister Anne_] is looking out of a window above; (5)
the husband has placed a halter round the neck of his victim, but the
friends, accompanied by St. Gildas, abbot of Rhuys in Brittany, arrive
just in time to rescue the future saint.--_Pelerinages de Bretagne_.

BLUE KNIGHT (_The_), sir Persaunt of India, called by Tennyson
"Morning Star" _or_ "Phosphorus." He was one of the four brothers
who kept the passages of Castle Perilous, and was overthrown by sir
Gareth.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 131 (1470);
Tennyson, _Idylls_ ("Gareth and Lynette").

[Illustration] It is evidently a blunder in Tennyson to call the
_Blue_ Knight "Morning Star," and the _Green_ Knight "Evening Star."
The reverse is correct, and in the old romance the combat with the
Green Knight was at day-break, and with the Blue Knight at sunset.

BLUE-SKIN, Joseph Blake, an English burglar, so called from his
complexion. He was executed in 1723.

BLUFF (_Bachelor_), celibate philosopher upon social, domestic, and
cognate themes.

"Give me," he says emphatically, "in our