THOMAS, the historian, was the son of Mr Samuel Carte prebendary of Lichfield, and born in 1686. When he was reader in the abbey-church at Bath, he took occasion in a 30th of January sermon, 1714, to vindicate Charles I. with respect to the Irish massacre, which drew him into a controversy with Mr Chandler the dissenting minister; and on the accession of the present royal family, he refused to take the oaths to government, and put on a lay habit. He is said to have acted as a kind of secretary to Bishop Atterbury before his troubles: and in the year 1722, being accused of high treason, a reward of 1000l. was offered for apprehending him; but Queen Caroline, the great patroness of learned men, obtained leave for him to return home in security. He published, 1. An edition of Thuanus, in seven volumes, folio. 2. The life of the first Duke of Ormond, three volumes, folio. 3. The History of England, four volumes, folio. 4. A Collection of original Letters and Papers concerning the affairs of England, two volumes octavo; and some other works. He died in April 1754. His History of England ends in 1654. His design was to have brought it down to the Revolution; for which purpose he had taken great pains in copying every thing valuable that could be met with in England, Scotland, France, Ireland, &c.—He had (as he himself says, p. 43. of his Vindication of a full answer to a letter from a bystander), "read abundance of collections relating to the time of King Charles II., and had in his power a series of memoirs from the beginning to the end of that reign, in which all those intrigues and turns at court, at the latter end of that king's life, which Bishop Burnet, with all his gout for tales of secret history, and all his genius for conjectures, does not pretend to account for, are laid open in the clearest and most convincing manner by the person who was most affected by them, and had the best reason to know them."—At his death, all his papers came into the hands of his widow, who afterwards married Mr Jernegan, a member of the church of Rome. They are now deposited in the Bodleian library, having been delivered by Mr Jernegan to the university, 1778, for a valuable consideration. Whilst they were in this gentleman's possession, the earl of Hardwick paid 200l. for the perusal of them. For a consideration of 300l. Mr Macpherson had the use of them; and from these and other materials compiled his history and state-papers. Mr Carte was a man of a strong constitution and indefatigable application. When the studies of the day were over, he would eat heartily; and in conversation was cheerful and entertaining.

CARTE-Blanche, a sort of white paper, signed at the bottom with a person's name, and sometimes affixed with his seal, giving another person power to superscribe what conditions he pleases. Much like this is the French *blanc signé*, a paper without writing, except a signature at the bottom, given by contending parties to arbitrators or friends, to fill up with the conditions they judge reasonable, in order to end the difference.