BLOUNT, Thomas, a learned English writer of the seventeenth century, born at Bordesley in Worcestershire. He had not the advantage of a university education; but, by strength of genius and great application, he made a considerable progress in literature. Upon the breaking out of the Popish plot in the reign of King Charles II. he was much alarmed on account of his reputation as a zealous Catholic; and being seized with a palsy, he died in December, 1679, aged sixty-one. He wrote, 1. The Academy of Eloquence, containing a complete English rhetoric;

2. Glossographia, or a Dictionary interpreting such hard words, whether Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, &c. as are now used in our refined English tongue; 3. Boscobel, or the History r of his Majesty’s Escape after the Battle of Worcester; 4. A Law Dictionary; 5. Animadversions upon Sir Richard Baker’s Chronicle; 6. Fragmenta Antiquitatis; and other works.

Blount, Sir Henry, an English writer, born at his father’s seat in Hertfordshire in 1602. After a regular education, he set out on his travels in 1634, and becoming acquainted with a janissary at Venice, accompanied him into the Turkish dominions. Having been abroad two years, he returned and published a relation of his travels in the Levant, which went through several editions. He was knighted by Charles I. and was at the battle of Edge-Hill, at which time he is supposed to have had the charge of the young princes; but after the king’s death he was employed by the parliament and by Cromwell. Nevertheless, on the restoration of the royal family he was appointed high sheriff of the county of Hertford, and lived as a private gentleman for above twenty years. He published, 1. An Account of his Travels; 2. Six Comedies written by John Lilly, under the title of Court Comedies;

3. The Exchange Walk, a satire; and, 4. An Epistle in praise of Tobacco. He died on the 9th of October 1682.

Blount, Sir Thomas Pope, baronet, an eminent writer, and the eldest son of the former, was born at Upper Holloway, in the county' of Middlesex, on the 12th of September 1649. He was educated under the eye of his father, and always distinguished himself as a lover of liberty, a sincere friend to his country, and a true patron of learning. He was advanced to the degree of baronet by King Charles II. in whose reign he was elected burgess for St Alban’s [7:4:712]in two parliaments, and was knight of the shire in three parliaments after the Revolution. He wrote in Latin, 1. A Critique on the most celebrated Writers; 2. Essays on several subjects; 3. A Natural History, extracted out of the best modern writers; and, 4. Remarks upon Poetry, with characters and censures of the most considerable poets, whether ancient or modern. He died on the 30th of June 1697.

Blount, Charles, younger brother of Sir Thomas Pope Blount, had also an excellent capacity, and was an eminent writer. His “Anima Mundi, or An Historical Narration of the Opinions of the Ancients concerning Man’s Soul after this Life, according to Unenlightened Nature,” gave great offence, and was complained of to the Bishop of Lortdon. But the work which rendered him best known, was his translation of Philostratus’s Life of Apollonius Tyanaeus, published in 1680; which was soon suppressed, as an attack on revealed religion. Another work of a similar complexion he published the same year, called “Great is Diana of the Ephesians;” in which, under colour of exposing superstition, he struck at revelation. In 1684 he printed a kind of introduction to polite literature. In the warmth of his zeal for the Revolution, he wrote a pamphlet to prove King William and Queen Mary conquerors; but was condemned to be burnt by both houses of parliament. The close of his life was singularly unhappy; for, after the death of his wife, he became enamoured of her sister, who was only scrupulous about their union on account of their prior connection by marriage. On this subject he wrote a letter, as the case of a third person, with great learning and address. But the archbishop of Canterbury and other divines deciding against him, and the lady on this growing inflexible, these circumstances threw him into a frenzy, during which he shot himself, in 1693. After his death his miscellaneous pieces were collected and published.