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special protection was always very unequivocally claimed by that predominant English party to whom Blake's success was peculiarly acceptable. On the other hand, a taste for the marvellous is even still more prevalent; and simply as an extraordinary event, the more surprising the version of the story, the more would it be cherished by the multitude. In a word, it is difficult to believe that an officer of the high character and experience of Blake, would risk his reputation by an act which nothing but a most unusual phenomenon could prevent from being at once fatal to himself and injurious to his country.

Rapin, who seems never to have been cordial to the memory of this great seaman, on account of his success against the Dutch, remarks, that however heavy the loss to the Spaniards in ships, money, men, and merchandise, the English gained nothing by this enterprise, but glory. Dr. Johnson however, tersely and justly observes, that in warfare an increase of military reputation is an increase of power, and that he who weakens his enemy, in effect strengthens himself. As respects Spain, this was particularly the case, for her South American treasures had become the chief source of her power of annoyance. This is not to defend the vain glory of war, or to vindicate its barbarities: the more clearly indeed it is shown that havoc and destruction are inevitably connected with it, the more plainly is proved the wickedness of that policy which would wantonly inflict its horrors, or create artificial pretexts for the calamities which are its inseparable attendants.

To return to the Admiral: the union of skill and bravery in this transaction is forcibly evinced by the fact that the loss of the English amounted, in killed and wounded, to about 200 men only, without the destruction of a single ship. An affair, which must have been very afflicting to him, occurred in this battle, and the manner in which he acted in respect to it exhibits the clear and patriotic spirit of the man most characteristically. His brother, Captain Hum-. phrey Blake, who commanded a ship for the first time, showed some lack of courage and talent as an officer, which convinced Blake that he was altogether

Rapin, Hist. of Eng., English 8vo. edition, vol. xi. p. 96.

Life of Blake in Gent. Mag,

Lives, English and Foreign, vol. ii. p. 121.

unfit for the profession of arms; and with the inflexible spirit of an ancient Ro man, the Admiral immediately cashiered and sent him home. What adds to the fine spirit of this conduct is, that he continued to regard him kindly as a brother notwithstanding, and at his death left him his paternal estate. A stranger to fear himself, he was enough of a philosopher to be satisfied, that a constitutional temperament is not always to be corrected by the will; and that a man may be useful in the peaceable walks of society, whom it is impossible to stimulate into military ardour. His country, its service, and its renown, were preferred to everything else in the mind of Blake: those saved harmless, he was again enabled to indulge his domestic affections; and in all his dealings with vanquished enemies, he was uniformly one of the most humane and placable of men.

As soon as the news of this extraordinary piece of service reached England, the Protector sent his secretary to acquaint the Parliament, who ordered a public thanksgiving, and directed that a diamond ring of the value of 500l. should be sent to the Admiral. One hundred pounds were also voted to the Captain who brought home the news; and the thanks of the House were ordered to be conveyed to all the officers and seamen employed, by the mouth of their commander. As the affair of Santa Cruz was the concluding exploit of this valiant seaman, so the honours thus conferred upon him proved the last tes timonials of respect that he was destined to receive from his beloved and grateful country. Returning towards the Mediterranean, after cruising some time before Cadiz, he discovered that his end was rapidly approaching, and became anxious to reach England. This, however, he was never again to behold, for he died just as the fleet reached Plymouth Sound. As he approached the Channel, it is said that he frequently inquired if the land was seen; but the exact circumstances attendant on his death are not recorded. He yielded up his gallant spirit on board the St. George, on the 17th day of August, 1657, having just completed his fifty-ninth year.*

The life and death of Blake will remind the reader of two distinguished Admirals of modern times :-the splendour of his career resembling the heroic Nelson's-and its close, that of the indefatigable and devoted Collingwood!

• Mercurius Politicus, p. 375.

Nothing was wanting on the part of the Protector, the Parliament, or the people, to evince their high estimation of a man who had so ardently and disinterestedly devoted himself to the service of his country. The day after he died, he was embalmed and wrapped up in lead; his bowels were buried in the Great Church, at Plymouth, and his body sent round with the fleet to the Downs, and thence conveyed by water to Greenwich. There it lay in state, until the 4th of September, when it was borne up the Thames in a barge, covered with black velvet, and adorned with escutcheons and devices, to Westminster. Besides his brother, relations, and domestics, the funeral was attended by Oliver's Privy Council, the Commissioners of the Admiralty and Navy, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London, the Field Officers of the Army, and other persons of office or quality, who followed in a great number of barges and boats, covered with black cloth, and marshalled by the Heralds at Arms, who arranged the procession. On landing, they proceeded through a guard of several regiments of foot, drawn up to receive the procession at the Abbey; General Lambert, with whom the deceased had been on terms of great intimacy, being present. The procession having reached the Cathedral, the body was interred in a vault constructed for the purpose in Henry the Seventh's Chapel. It is melancholy to be obliged to add, that at the Restoration the shadowy honour of an interment in the Abbey was no longer to be allowed to this great commander, whose body was dug up with those of Cromwell, Ireton, and many more. Some distinction was however made: the remains of Blake were decently reinterred in St. Margaret's Churchyard, while the bones of the others were treated with the greatest ignominy. The propriety of this transaction as regards Blake was questioned at the time, even among the friends to the restoration; at present it will be regarded with unmixed disgust. The naval services of this valiant man were so truly national; he had done so much to render the power and character of his country respected, and in such strict accordance with the ideas entertained of public duty on all sides, that any manifes

Kennet's Register and Chronicle, p. 536. Neal's Hist. of the Puritans, vol. iv. p. 174. Grey's Examination of Neal's Hist., vol. iii. p. 318.

tation of disrespect to the ashes of so illustrious a patriot, was as revolting to good feeling as to good policy. In every point of view, indeed, posthumous revenge is mean and disgraceful; and those who can derive satisfaction from insulting the remains of men, before whose ascendency they were forced to bend while living, only doubly proclaim their natural inferiority.

To the public and professional character of Blake the testimonies are numerous; and with a little abatement on the score of party feelings, nearly unanimous. It has been already remarked, that, in common with many other distinguished characters of the day, he appears to have formed his notions of patriotism from the republican models of antiquity.* Love of country, and devotion to its greatness, freedom, and independence, were, theoretically at least, the primary duty of every wise and virtuous republican of Greece and Rome; and Blake adopted that principle with a stoical firmness of soul, which enabled him to excel nearly the whole of his contemporaries in fulfilling his high notions of the sacrifices due from a patriot to the public good.

From the moment Blake entered public life, he never seems to have indulged in any sort of cabal or intrigue for political influence; the peculiar openness and sincerity of his conduct being vouched for by all who have written about him.+ His freedom from every thing like a passion for acquisition, was equally conspicuous; for notwithstanding the immense sums which passed through his hands, so upright was his conduct as a public servant, that he scarcely left 5007. behind him, in addition to his paternal estate of about 2007. per annum. Love of fame may very possibly be thought to have been a considerable incentive: it might be so, but the love of fame is injurious only so far as it conduces to a selfish performance of extraordinary actions, with a view to mere personal no

The celebrated Hobbes was so impressed with the effect of the Greek and Roman historians and orators on the mind of the youth of the preceding age, that in the spirit of his opinions concerning pasrejection in the education of Englishmen. sive obedience, he goes near to advise their total

The testimony given of this quality is peculiarly lively and spontaneous. "He (Blake) was," says Whitelock, "a man of as much gallantry and sincerity as any of his time, and as successful." Bates, although a very decided royalist, in his Elenchus Mortuum, is equally prompt in the praise of Blake's honour and frankness.

toriety; while, on the contrary, it may be deemed a salutary stimulus to ardent exertions in the fulfilment of duty. It is sufficient to ensure a high estimation of the character of Blake, that with the total absence of all views which, in the general opinion of mankind, are pronounced mean, selfish, or interested, he rendered the greatest services to his country; to advance whose welfare and reputation, formed the constant passion of his life.

As a warrior, both on sea and land, Blake forms a remarkable instance of the latent aptitude for a peculiar line of exertion, which may exist in men before they have any opportunity of displaying it. He was forty before the civil war broke out, and nearly fifty before he served at sea, and that as a commander at once. The mere fact of fighting ably and bravely at sea, would not distinguish him from many of his colleagues; but he no sooner stepped on ship-board, than he gave a new character to naval warfare, and made the most striking improvement in this impertant service, by the strength of his own genius, unaided by experience. The testimony of Lord Clarendon is unequivocal on this point, and it cannot be given better than in his own words.

"He (Blake) was the first man who declined the old track, and made it manifest that the science might be attained in less time than was imagined, and despised those rules which had been long in practice, to keep his ship and men out of danger, which had been held, in former times, a point of great ability and circumspection; as if the principal art requisite in the captain of a ship, had been, to be sure to come home safe again. He was the first man who brought the ships to contemn castles on shore, which had been thought ever very formidable, and were discovered by him to make a noise only, and to fright those who could rarely be hurt by them. He was the first that infused that proportion of courage into the seamen, by making them see, by experience, what mighty things they could do if they were resolved, and taught them to fight in fire as well as upon water; and though he hath been very well imitated and followed, he was the first that gave the example of that kind of naval courage and bold and resolute achievements."*

It is scarcely necessary to add, that the foregoing passage from a writer who

• Hist, of the Rebellion, vol, iii, p, 602,

cannot be suspected of partiality, is conclusive as to the high professional merits of Blake, who seems to possess an indisputable claim to the honour of having infused a great portion of that peculiar energy and spirit into the English navy, by which it has ever since been distinguished. The fact that both in his own days, and subsequently, he has been accused of rashness, will derogate but little from the justness of these pretensions. When a man of invention and enterprise ventures boldly, and is uniformly successful, it is both more generous and more just, to attribute the success to his superior capacity, than to dwell invidiously upon apparent temerity, or surprising good fortune. Every case no doubt is, strictly speaking, individual, and must rest upon its own merits; but the naval annals of Britain would have been very different from what they are, had a too calculating spirit of caution been prevalent in those whose deeds they record.

There is another point of view, in which the character of Blake, as a commander, exacts attention, and that owing to the very peculiar nature of the times, and the consequent object of the expeditions in which he was engaged. A general disposition prevailed, particuĨarly on the part of maritime and commercial powers, to take advantage of the disorders in England; and in consequence, much spoliation and insult had been endured by English merchantmen. To this cause of irritation was subsequently, added a manifest reluctance to act fairly towards the Commonwealth, unless when prompted by fear. On this account, Blake, especially in his later services, was frequently called upon to exercise a discretion in his negociations, which peculiarly evinced the spirit and character of the man. It is not to be denied that, in some instances, he displayed the overbearing features of the republicanism of antiquity, and, alive only to the honour of his own country, neglected the consideration which is due to the feelings and rights of others; but this was the prevailing spirit of all the leaders of the Commonwealth, and all men must be judged with an allowance for the predominant sentiment of the times. The sword-inhand intercourse of the Admiral with the Courts of Spain and Portugal, the Duke of Tuscany, and others in the Mediterranean, more particularly illustrate the existence of the disposition here alluded to, as relates to specific

24

national objects. The following characteristic anecdote, related by Bishop Burnet, exhibits a like spirit in reference to a minor point. Although a similar piece of conduct at present, would scarcely be deemed justifiable, it requires a strong exertion of reason to be altogether out of humour with it.

"While Blake lay in the road of Malaga, before the war broke out with Spain, some of his seamen, going ashore, met the Host carrying about, and not only paid no respect to it, but laughed at those who did. One of the Spanish priests put the people upon resenting this indignity, and they fell upon them and beat them severely. When they returned to their ships, they complained of this usage; upon which Blake sent a trumpet to the Viceroy to demand the priest, who was the chief instrument in that ill usage. The Viceroy answered, that he had no authority over the priests, and so could not dispose of them. General Blake, upon that, sent him word that he would not inquire who had the power to send the priest to him, but if he were not sent within three hours, he would burn their town. The Spaniards, hearing this, obliged the Viceroy to send the priest to Blake, and he justified himself upon the petulant behaviour of the seamen. Blake answered, that if he had sent a complaint to him of it, he would have punished them severely, since he would not suffer his men to affront the established religion of any place at which he touched; but he took it ill that he had set on the Spaniards to do it, for he would have him and the whole world to know, that none but an ENGLISHMAN should chastise an ENGLISHMAN. then treated the priest civilly and sent He him back, being satisfied that he had him in his power. Cromwell was much delighted with this, and read the letter in council with great satisfaction, saying that he hoped he should make the name of an Englishman as great as ever that of a Roman* had been."+

Had a commander so distinguished as Blake, died within a century of the present time, materials would, most likely, have abounded for a very particular account of his deportment, manners, and conduct in private life; with all those various minor points of character which are so necessary to individualize a portrait, and render it exclusively that of the person whom it is

Another proof of the classical tendency of the Republican spirit of that age.

Burnet's Hist, of His Own Times, fol, edit, vol, i,

p. 80, 81.

It

intended to represent. In the time of Blake, there was no periodical press on the alert to diffuse all sorts of information respecting celebrated men; even to a fatiguing extreme. Quartos and ocmonths of the decease of any person of tavos did not then appear within three ill-digested as formal biography, at least the least notoriety; which if crude and form a collection of all the matter of fact and hearsay, known or in circulation, for the exercise of sounder judgment and more prudent consideration in after time. We however learn, that in person Admiral Blake was under the middle size; but that his features were prepossessing and manly, with a quick, lively, and intelligent eye. his youth, he was distinguished by grahas already been observed, that from vity, and simplicity of manners, occasionally enlivened by a humorous bluntness of speech. Some homely lines of Winstanley, in his 'English Worthies,' intimate, that he, who made so many men tremble, was himself peculiarly embarrassed and confused in the company of wonien; a fact which may account for his always remaining a bachelor. He was pious, without displaying any of the affectation and hypocrisy which mingled so much with the religious pretensions of the age, and which prevailed to an almost ludicrous excess among the party to which he was attached. Sincerity and the absence of everything bordering on intrigue, or dissimulation, were indeed the characteristics of Blake. the very extent of his fortune, and his He was liberal to purse was always open to his officers; body; and to his sailors he proved himhe was strictly just and humane to every self a parent. amiable and softer qualities with the This mixture of the most fervent courage, invincible fortitude, and eminent talents, is not unprecedented, although rare. It is well for human nature that the union may exist; dual, his profession, and the country and to the honour at once of the indiviwhich gave him birth, it has seldom been exhibited more conspicuously and more uniformly than in ADMIRAL ROBERT BLAKE. *

The fortunes of the brothers of the Admiral are

involved in some obscurity; but it Is asserted by the
author of 'Lives, English and Foreign,' that his
nonconformity, after the restoration, as to be induced
brother Humphrey was so much harassed for his
to sell his estate and repair with his family to Caro-
lina. A considerable family of the name certainly
lived in that state; the head of which was one of
the Lord Proprietors.
the family are also to be found in the West of
Several descendants of
England.

LIFE OF DR. ADAM SMITH.

Introduction.

It is well known that the late lamented Dugald Stewart, amidst the profound and comprehensive studies to which his life was dedicated, became the biographer of three of his countrymen-two of them being amongst the most distinguished of whom Scotland has to boast: these were, Dr. Robertson the historian, and Adam Smith. His friend and tutor, Dr. Reid, we place, where we conceive the world has placed him, in a rank far below these, and where we cannot but think Mr. Stewart would himself have placed him, if his affectionate remembrance of his early instructor had left his judgment perfectly impartial with respect to Dr. Reid's merits as a philosopher.

Since the days of the Memorabilia, when Xenophon became the biographer of Socrates, there has been seen perhaps no proportion so equal betwixt the writer and his subject, as when Dugald Stewart wrote the "Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Adam Smith." Yet, congenial as was the theme, and beautifully as he has illustrated the writings, there is a deficiency in the life. It was observed of Mallet, that he wrote the life of Lord Bacon, and forgot that he was a philosopher. This, at least, cannot be said of Mr. Stewart. He has kept the philosopher so much in mind, that he has almost forgotten the man. In his review of the works of the distinguished person, in his criticism and his comments, we find everything that we can desire and might expect, even from the pen of Mr. Stewart; but we look in vain for those traits of personal character, those slight yet important incidents and anecdotes which marked the individual, which, when preserved and depicted, form the great charm of biography, and which serve, far more than the most laboured disquisition or panegyric, to recommend to us, and quicken our interest in, the circumstances by which the subject of the memorial acquired his celebrity. Mr. Stewart seems to have entertained a difference of opinion upon this point; possibly he deemed it beneath the dignity of the life of a philosopher.

Yet the earliest and most amusing, if not most accurate of biographers thought otherwise. "It is not always," says Plutarch, "in the most distinguished exploits that men's virtues or vices may be best discerned; but frequently an action of small note, a short saying or a jest distinguishes a person's real character more than the greatest battles or the most important actions. As painters labour the likeness in the face, so must we be permitted to strike off the features of the soul, in order to give a real likeness to these great men." Upon this principle has this inimitable writer left us a record of the lives of upwards of fifty warriors, legislators, and statesmen, investing them with an interest and a wisdom which will delight and instruct the last generations of mankind.

There may have been biographers who have carried their passion for detail and minute anecdote somewhat too far, but even in such cases we feel it is rather ungrateful to condemn them; and we might take the very extreme of this class, even Boswell himself, with all his faults, and almost challenge the world to produce another book of biography of equal interest with the Life of Johnson.

But betwixt Plutarch and Boswell there is an interval, almost as wide as between Auchinleck and Charonea; and Mr. Stewart ought not, perhaps, strictly to have conformed himself to the example of either. Yet we cannot but regret that much that would interest us has been lost for ever; those many peculiarities, those lights and shadows which would have made us familiar with the man, and given a graphic reality to the portrait. Mr. Stewart was the personal friend of Adam Smith during many of his latter years; and for all that related to him previously, it would have been the easiest thing in the world to have collected information and anecdote in the

society of Edinburgh. If it be one object, as it must be presumed of the biographer, to extend the fame of the person whose life he undertakes to record, surely it must be obvious how

Plutarch-Life of Alexander. B

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