BLIND HARRY or HENRY THE MINSTREL (_fl._ 1470-1492).--Is spoken of by John Major in his _History of Scotland_ as a wandering minstrel, skilled in the composition of rhymes in the Scottish tongue, who "fabricated" a book about William Wallace, and gained his living by reciting it to his own accompaniment on the harp at the houses of the nobles. Harry claims that it was founded on a Latin _Life of Wallace_ written by Wallace's chaplain, John Blair, but the chief sources seem to have been traditionary. Harry is often considered inferior to Barbour as a poet, and has little of his moral elevation, but he surpasses him in graphic power, vividness of description, and variety of incident. He occasionally shows the influence of Chaucer, and is said to have known Latin and French. BLIND, MATHILDE (1841-1896).--Poetess, _b._ at Mannheim, but settled in London about 1849, and _pub._ several books of poetry, _The Prophecy of St. Oran_ (1881), _The Heather on Fire_ (1886), _Songs and Sonnets_ (1893), _Birds of Passage_ (1895), etc. She also translated Strauss's _Old Faith and New_, and other works, and wrote Lives of George Eliot and Madame Roland. Her own name was Cohen, but she adopted that of her stepfather, Karl Blind. BLOOMFIELD, ROBERT (1766-1823).--Poet, _b._ at Honington in Suffolk, lost his _f._ when he was a year old, and received the rudiments of education from his mother, who kept the village school. While still a boy he went to London, and worked as a shoemaker under an elder brother, enduring extreme poverty. His first and chief poem, _The Farmer's Boy_, was composed in a room where half a dozen other men were at work, and the finished lines he carried in his head until there was time to write them down. The manuscript, after passing through various hands, fell into those of Capel Lofft, a Suffolk squire of literary tastes, by whose exertions it was _pub._ with illustrations by Bewick in 1800. It had a signal success, 26,000 copies having been sold in three years. The Duke of Grafton obtained for him an appointment in the Seal Office, and when, through ill-health, he was obliged to resign this, allowed him a pension of 1s. a day. Other works were _Rural Tales_ (1804), _Wild Flowers_ (1806), _The Banks of the Wye_ (1811), and _May Day with the Muses_ (1817). An attempt to carry on business as a bookseller failed, his health gave way, his reason was threatened, and he _d._ in great poverty at Shefford in 1823. B.'s poetry is smooth, correct, and characterised by taste and good feeling, but lacks fire and energy. Of amiable and simple character, he was lacking in self-reliance.