m greatly, and on which he occupied his
indefatigable pen, was the question of the _bonde-maal_, the adopting of
a national language for Norway distinct from the _dansk-norsk_
(Dano-Norwegian), in which her literature has hitherto been written.
Bjornson's strong and sometimes rather narrow patriotism did not blind
him to the fatal folly of such a proposal, and his lectures and
pamphlets against the _maal-straev_ in its extreme form did more than
anything else to save the language in this dangerous moment. Bjornson
was one of the original members of the Nobel committee, and was
re-elected in 1900. In 1903 he was awarded the Nobel prize for
literature. Bjornson had done as much as any other man to rouse
Norwegian national feeling, but in 1903, on the verge of the rupture
between Norway and Sweden, he preached conciliation and moderation to
the Norwegians. He was an eloquent advocate of Pan-Germanism, and,
writing to the _Figaro_ in 1905, he outlined a Pan-Germanic alliance of
northern Europe and North America. He died on the 26th of April 1910.

See Bjornson's _Samlede Vaerker_ (Copenhagen, 1900-1902, 11 vols.);
_The Novels of Bjornstjerne Bjornson_ (1894, &c.), edited by Edmund
Gosse; G. Brandes, _Critical Studies_ (1899); E. Tissot, _Le drame
norvegien_ (1893); C.D. af Wirsen, _Kritiker_ (1901); Chr. Collin,
_Bjornstjerne Bjornson_ (2 vols., German ed., 1903), the most complete
biography and criticism at present available; and B. Halvorsen, _Norsk
Forfatter Lexikon_ (1885). (E. G.)

BLACHFORD, FREDERIC ROGERS, BARON (1811-1889), British civil servant,
eldest son of Sir Frederick Leman Rogers, 7th Bart. (whom he succeeded
in the baronetcy in 1851), was born in London on the 31st of January
1811. He was educated at Eton and Oriel college, Oxford, where he had a
brilliant career, winning the Craven University scholarship, and taking
a double first-class in classics and mathematics. He became a fellow of
Oriel (1833), and won the Vinerian scholarship (1834), and fellowship
(1840). He was called to the bar in 1837, but never practised. At school
and at Oxford he was a contemporary of W.E. Gladstone, and at Oxford he
began a lifelong friendship with J.H. Newman and R.W. Church; his
classical and literary tastes, and his combination of liberalism in
politics with High Church views in religion, together with his good
social position and interesting character, made him an admired member of
their circles.