At a time when a nation is engaged in a war with an enemy, whose
insults, ravages, and barbarities have long called for vengeance, an
account of such English commanders as have merited the acknowledgments
of posterity, by extending the powers, and raising the honour of their
country, seems to be no improper entertainment for our readers [41].
We shall, therefore, attempt a succinct narration of the life and
actions of admiral Blake, in which we have nothing further in view,
than to do justice to his bravery and conduct, without intending any
parallel between his achievements, and those of our present admirals.
Robert Blake was born at Bridgewater, in Somersetshire, in August,
1598; his father being a merchant of that place, who had acquired a
considerable fortune by the Spanish trade. Of his earliest years we
have no account, and, therefore, can amuse the reader with none of
those prognosticks of his future actions, so often met with in
memoirs.
In 1615, he entered into the university of Oxford, where he continued
till 1623, though without being much countenanced or caressed by his
superiours, for he was more than once disappointed in his endeavours
after academical preferments. It is observable, that Mr. Wood, in his
Athenæ Oxonieuses, ascribes the repulse he met with at Wadham college,
where he was competitor for a fellowship, either to want of learning,
or of stature. With regard to the first objection, the same writer had
before informed us, that he was an early riser and studious, though he
sometimes relieved his attention by the amusements of fowling and
fishing. As it is highly probable that he did not want capacity, we
may, therefore, conclude, upon this confession of his diligence, that
he could not fail of being learned, at least, in the degree requisite
to the enjoyment of a fellowship; and may safely ascribe his
disappointment to his want of stature, it being the custom of sir
Henry Savil [42], then warden of that college, to pay much regard to
the outward appearance of those who solicited preferment in that
society. So much do the greatest events owe sometimes to accident or
folly!
He afterwards retired to his native place, where "he lived," says
Clarendon, "without any appearance of ambition to be a greater man
than he was, but inveighed with great freedom against the license of
the times, and power of the court."
In 1640, he was chosen burgess for Bridgewater by the puritan party,
to whom he had recommended himself by the disapprobation of bishop
Laud's violence and severity, and his non-compliance with those new
ceremonies, which he was then endeavouring to introduce.
When the civil war broke out, Blake, in conformity with his avowed
principles, declared for the parliament; and, thinking a bare
declaration for right not all the duty of a good man, raised a troop
of dragoons for his party, and appeared in the field with so much
bravery, that he was, in a short time, advanced, without meeting any
of those obstructions which he had encountered in the university.
In 1645, he was governour of Tauntou, when the lord Goring came before
it with an army of ten thousand men. The town was ill fortified, and
unsupplied with almost every thing necessary for supporting a siege.
The state of this garrison encouraged colonel Windham, who was
acquainted with Blake, to propose a capitulation, which was rejected
by Blake, with indignation and contempt; nor were either menaces or
persuasions of any effect, for he maintained the place, under all its
disadvantages, till the siege was raised by the parliament's army.
He continued, on many other occasions, to give proofs of an
insuperable courage, and a steadiness of resolution not to be shaken;
and, as a proof of his firm adherence to the parliament, joined with
the borough of Taunton, in returning thanks for their resolution to
make no more addresses to the king. Yet was he so far from approving
the death of Charles the first, that he made no scruple of declaring,
that he would venture his life to save him, as willingly as he had
done to serve the parliament.
In February, 1648-9, he was made a commissioner of the navy, and
appointed to serve on that element, for which he seems by nature to
have been designed. He was soon afterwards sent in pursuit of prince
Rupert, whom he shut up in the harbour of Kinsale, in Ireland, for
several months, till want of provisions, and despair of relief,
excited the prince to make a daring effort for his escape, by forcing
through the parliament's fleet: this design he executed with his usual
intrepidity, and succeeded in it, though with the loss of three ships.
He was pursued by Blake to the coast of Portugal, where he was
received into the Tagus, and treated with great distinction by the
Portuguese.
Blake, coming to the mouth of that river, sent to the king a
messenger, to inform him, that the fleet, in his port, belonging to
the publick enemies of the commonwealth of England, he demanded leave
to fall upon it. This being refused, though the refusal was in very
soft terms, and accompanied with declarations of esteem, and a present
of provisions, so exasperated the admiral, that, without any
hesitation, he fell upon the Portuguese fleet, then returning from
Brasil, of which he took seventeen ships, and burnt three. It was to
no purpose that the king of Portugal, alarmed at so unexpected a
destruction, ordered prince Rupert to attack him, and retake the
Brasil ships. Blake carried home his prizes without molestation, the
prince not having force enough to pursue him, and well pleased with
the opportunity of quitting a port, where he could no longer be
protected.
Blake soon supplied his fleet with provision, and received orders to
make reprisals upon the French, who had suffered their privateers to
molest the English trade; an injury which, in those days, was always
immediately resented, and if not repaired, certainly punished. Sailing
with this commission, he took in his way a French man of war, valued
at a million. How this ship happened to be so rich, we are not
informed; but as it was a cruiser, it is probable the rich lading was
the accumulated plunder of many prizes. Then following the unfortunate
Rupert, whose fleet, by storms and battles, was now reduced to five
ships, into Carthagena, he demanded leave of the Spanish governour to
attack him in the harbour, but received the same answer which had been
returned before by the Portuguese: "That they had a right to protect
all ships that came into their dominions; that, if the admiral were
forced in thither, he should find the same security; and that he
required him not to violate the peace of a neutral port." Blake
withdrew, upon this answer, into the Mediterranean; and Rupert, then
leaving Carthagena, entered the port of Malaga, where he burnt and
sunk several English merchant ships. Blake, judging this to be an
infringement of the neutrality professed by the Spaniards, now made no
scruple to fall upon Rupert's fleet in the harbour of Malaga, and,
having destroyed three of his ships, obliged him to quit the sea, and
take sanctuary at the Spanish court.
In February, 1650-1, Blake, still continuing to cruise in the
Mediterranean, met a French ship of considerable force, and commanded
the captain to come on board, there being no war declared between the
two nations. The captain, when he came, was asked by him, "whether he
was willing to lay down his sword, and yield," which he gallantly
refused, though in his enemy's power. Blake, scorning to take
advantage of an artifice, and detesting the appearance of treachery,
told him, "that he was at liberty to go back to his ship, and defend
it, as long as he could." The captain willingly accepted his offer,
and, after a fight of two hours, confessed himself conquered, kissed
his sword, and surrendered it.
In 1652, broke out the memorable war between the two commonwealths of
England and Holland; a war, in which the greatest admirals that,
perhaps, any age has produced, were engaged on each side; in which
nothing less was contested than the dominion of the sea, and which was
carried on with vigour, animosity, and resolution, proportioned to the
importance of the dispute. The chief commanders of the Dutch fleets
were Van Trump, De Ruyter, and De Witt, the most celebrated names of
their own nation, and who had been, perhaps, more renowned, had they
been opposed by any other enemies. The states of Holland, having
carried on their trade without opposition, and almost without
competition, not only during the unactive reign of James the first,
but during the commotions of England, had arrived to that height of
naval power, and that affluence of wealth, that, with the arrogance
which a long-continued prosperity naturally produces, they began to
invent new claims, and to treat other nations with insolence, which
nothing can defend, but superiority of force. They had for some time
made uncommon preparations, at a vast expense, and had equipped a
large fleet, without any apparent danger threatening them, or any
avowed design of attacking their neighbours. This unusual armament was
not beheld by the English without some jealousy, and care was taken to
fit out such a fleet as might secure the trade from interruption, and
the coasts from insults; of this Blake was constituted admiral for
nine months. In this situation the two nations remained, keeping a
watchful eye upon each other, without acting hostilities on either
side, till the 18th of May, 1652, when Van Trump appeared in the
Downs, with a fleet of forty-five men of war. Blake, who had then but
twenty ships, upon the approach of the Dutch admiral, saluted him with
three single shots, to require that he should, by striking his flag,
show that respect to the English, which is due to every nation in
their own dominions; to which the Dutchman answered with a broadside;
and Blake, perceiving that he intended to dispute the point of honour,
advanced with his own ship before the rest of his fleet, that, if it
were possible, a general battle might be prevented. But the Dutch,
instead of admitting him to treat, fired upon him from their whole
fleet, without any regard to the customs of war, or the law of
nations. Blake, for some time, stood alone against their whole force,
till the rest of his squadron coming up, the fight was continued from
between four and five in the afternoon, till nine at night, when the
Dutch retired with the loss of two ships, having not destroyed a
single vessel, nor more than fifteen men, most of which were on board
the admiral, who, as he wrote to the parliament, was himself engaged
for four hours with the main body of the Dutch fleet, being the mark
at which they aimed; and, as Whitlock relates, received above a
thousand shot. Blake, in his letter, acknowledges the particular
blessing and preservation of God, and ascribes his success to the
justice of his cause, the Dutch having first attacked him upon the
English coast. It is, indeed, little less than miraculous, that a
thousand great shot should not do more execution; and those who will
not admit the interposition of providence, may draw, at least, this
inference from it, that the bravest man is not always in the greatest
danger.
In July, he met the Dutch fishery fleet, with a convoy of twelve men
of war, all which he took, with one hundred of their herring-busses.
And, in September, being stationed in the Downs, with about sixty
sail, he discovered the Dutch admirals, De Witt and De Ruyter, with
near the same number, and advanced towards them; but the Dutch being
obliged, by the nature of their coast, and shallowness of their
rivers, to build their ships in such a manner, that they require less
depth of water than the English vessels, took advantage of the form of
their shipping, and sheltered themselves behind a flat, called Kentish
Knock; so that the English, finding some of their ships aground, were
obliged to alter their course; but perceiving, early the next morning,
that the Hollanders had forsaken their station, they pursued them with
all the speed that the wind, which was weak and uncertain, allowed,
but found themselves unable to reach them with the bulk of their
fleet, and, therefore, detached some of the lightest frigates to chase
them. These came so near, as to fire upon them about three in the
afternoon; but the Dutch, instead of tacking about, hoisted their
sails, steered toward their own coast, and finding themselves, the
next day, followed by the whole English fleet, retired into Goree. The
sailors were eager to attack them in their own harbours; but a council
of war being convened, it was judged imprudent to hazard the fleet
upon the shoals, or to engage in any important enterprise, without a
fresh supply of provisions.
That, in this engagement, the victory belonged to the English, is
beyond dispute, since, without the loss of one ship, and with no more
than forty men killed, they drove the enemy into their own ports, took
the rearadmiral and another vessel, and so discouraged the Dutch
admirals, who had not agreed in their measures, that De Ruyter, who
had declared against hazarding a battle, desired to resign his
commission, and De Witt, who had insisted upon fighting, fell sick, as
it was supposed, with vexation. But how great the loss of the Dutch
was is not certainly known; that two ships were taken, they are too
wise to deny, but affirm that those two were all that were destroyed.
The English, on the other side, affirm, that three of their vessels
were disabled at the first encounter, that their numbers on the second
day were visibly diminished, and that on the last day they saw three
or four ships sink in their flight.
De Witt being now discharged by the Hollanders, as unfortunate, and
the chief command restored to Van Trump, great preparations were made
for retrieving their reputation, and repairing those losses. Their
endeavours were assisted by the English themselves, now made factious
by success; the men, who were intrusted with the civil administration,
being jealous of those whose military commands had procured so much
honour, lest they who raised them should be eclipsed by them. Such is
the general revolution of affairs in every state; danger and distress
produce unanimity and bravery, virtues which are seldom unattended
with success; but success is the parent of pride, and pride of
jealousy and faction; faction makes way for calamity, and happy is
that nation whose calamities renew their unanimity. Such is the
rotation of interests, that equally tend to hinder the total
destruction of a people, and to obstruct an exorbitant increase of
power.
Blake had weakened his fleet by many detachments, and lay with no more
than forty sail in the Downs, very ill provided both with men and
ammunition, and expecting new supplies from those whose animosity
hindered them from providing them, and who chose rather to see the
trade of their country distressed, than the sea officers exalted by a
new acquisition of honour and influence.
Van Trump, desirous of distinguishing himself, at the resumption of
his command, by some remarkable action, had assembled eighty ships of
war, and ten fireships, and steered towards the Downs, where Blake,
with whose condition and strength he was probably acquainted, was then
stationed. Blake, not able to restrain his natural ardour, or,
perhaps, not fully informed of the superiority of his enemies, put out
to encounter them, though his fleet was so weakly manned, that half of
his ships were obliged to lie idle without engaging, for want of
sailors. The force of the whole Dutch fleet was, therefore, sustained
by about twenty-two ships. Two of the English frigates, named the
Vanguard and the Victory, after having, for a long time, stood engaged
amidst the whole Dutch fleet, broke through without much injury, nor
did the English lose any ships till the evening, when the Garland,
carrying forty guns, was boarded, at once, by two great ships, which
were opposed by the English, till they had scarcely any men left to
defend the decks; then retiring into the lower part of the vessel,
they blew up their decks, which were now possessed by the enemy, and,
at length, were overpowered and taken. The Bonaventure, a stout
well-built merchant ship, going to relieve the Garland, was attacked
by a man of war, and, after a stout resistance, in which the captain,
who defended her with the utmost bravery, was killed, was likewise
carried off by the Dutch. Blake, in the Triumph, seeing the Garland in
distress, pressed forward to relieve her, but in his way had his
foremast shattered, and was himself boarded; but, beating off the
enemies, he disengaged himself, and retired into the Thames, with the
loss only of two ships of force, and four small frigates, but with his
whole fleet much shattered. Nor was the victory gained at a cheap
rate, notwithstanding the unusual disproportion of strength; for of
the Dutch flagships, one was blown up, and the other two disabled; a
proof of the English bravery, which should have induced Van Trump to
have spared the insolence of carrying a broom at his top-mast, in his
triumphant passage through the Channel, which he intended as a
declaration, that he would sweep the seas of the English shipping;
this, which he had little reason to think of accomplishing, he soon
after perished in attempting.
There are, sometimes, observations and inquiries, which all historians
seem to decline by agreement, of which this action may afford us an
example: nothing appears, at the first view, more to demand our
curiosity, or afford matter for examination, than this wild encounter
of twenty-two ships, with a force, according to their accounts who
favour the Dutch, three times superiour. Nothing can justify a
commander in fighting under such disadvantages, but the impossibility
of retreating. But what hindered Blake from retiring, as well before
the fight, as after it? To say he was ignorant of the strength of the
Dutch fleet, is to impute to him a very criminal degree of negligence;
and, at least, it must be confessed, that from the time he saw them,
he could not but know that they were too powerful to be opposed by
him, and even then there was time for retreat. To urge the ardour of
his sailors, is to divest him of the authority of a commander, and to
charge him with the most reproachful weakness that can enter into the
character of a general. To mention the impetuosity of his own courage,
is to make the blame of his temerity equal to the praise of his
valour; which seems, indeed, to be the most gentle censure that the
truth of history will allow. We must then admit, amidst our eulogies
and applauses, that the great, the wise, and the valiant Blake, was
once betrayed to an inconsiderate and desperate enterprise, by the
resistless ardour of his own spirit, and a noble jealousy of the
honour of his country.
It was not long, before he had an opportunity of revenging his loss,
and restraining the insolence of the Dutch. On the 18th of February,
1652-3, Blake, being at the head of eighty sail, and assisted, at his
own request, by colonels Monk and Dean, espied Van Trump, with a fleet
of above one hundred men of war, as Clarendon relates, of seventy by
their own publick accounts, and three hundred merchant ships under his
convoy. The English, with their usual intrepidity, advanced towards
them; and Blake, in the Triumph, in which he always led his fleet,
with twelve ships more, came to an engagement with the main body of
the Dutch fleet, and by the disparity of their force was reduced to
the last extremity, having received in his hull no fewer than seven
hundred shots, when Lawson, in the Fairfax, came to his assistance.
The rest of the English fleet now came in, and the fight was continued
with the utmost degree of vigour and resolution, till the night gave
the Dutch an opportunity of retiring, with the loss of one flagship,
and six other men of war. The English had many vessels damaged, but
none lost. On board Lawson's ship were killed one hundred men, and as
many on board Blake's, who lost his captain and secretary, and himself
received a wound in the thigh.
Blake, having set ashore his wounded men, sailed in pursuit of Van
Trump, who sent his convoy before, and himself retired fighting
towards Bulloign. Blake ordered his light frigates to follow the
merchants; still continued to harass Van Trump; and, on the third day,
the 20th of February, the two fleets came to another battle, in which
Van Trump once more retired before the English, and, making use of the
peculiar form of his shipping, secured himself in the shoals. The
accounts of this fight, as of all the others, are various; but the
Dutch writers themselves confess, that they lost eight men of war, and
more than twenty merchant ships; and, it is probable, that they
suffered much more than they are willing to allow, for these repeated
defeats provoked the common people to riots and insurrections, and
obliged the states to ask, though ineffectually, for peace.
In April following, the form of government in England was changed, and
the supreme authority assumed by Cromwell; upon which occasion Blake,
with his associates, declared that, notwithstanding the change in the
administration, they should still be ready to discharge their trust,
and to defend the nation from insults, injuries, and encroachments.
"It is not," said Blake, "the business of a sea-man to mind state
affairs, but to hinder foreigners from fooling us." This was the
principle from which he never deviated, and which he always
endeavoured to inculcate in the fleet, as the surest foundation of
unanimity and steadiness. "Disturb not one another with domestick
disputes, but remember that we are English, and our enemies are
foreigners. Enemies! which, let what party soever prevail, it is
equally the interest of our country to humble and restrain."
After the 30th of April, 1653, Blake, Monk, and Dean sailed out of the
English harbours with one hundred men of war, and finding the Dutch
with seventy sail on their own coasts, drove them to the Texel, and
took fifty doggers. Then they sailed northward in pursuit of Van
Trump, who, having a fleet of merchants under his convoy, durst not
enter the Channel, but steered towards the Sound, and, by great
dexterity and address, escaped the three English admirals, and
brought all his ships into their harbour; then, knowing that Blake was
still in the north, came before Dover, and fired upon that town, but
was driven off by the castle.
Monk and Dean stationed themselves again at the mouth of the Texel,
and blocked up the Dutch in their own ports with eighty sail; but
hearing that Van Trump was at Goree, with one hundred and twenty men
of war, they ordered all ships of force in the river and ports to
repair to them.
On June the 3rd, the two fleets came to an engagement, in the
beginning of which Dean was carried off by a cannon-ball; yet the
fight continued from about twelve to six in the afternoon, when the
Dutch gave way, and retreated fighting.
On the 4th, in the afternoon, Blake came up with eighteen fresh ships,
and procured the English a complete victory; nor could the Dutch any
otherwise preserve their ships than by retiring, once more, into the
flats and shallows, where the largest of the English vessels could not
approach.
In this battle Van Trump boarded viceadmiral Penn; but was beaten off,
and himself boarded, and reduced to blow up his decks, of which the
English had got possession. He was then entered, at once, by Penn and
another; nor could possibly have escaped, had not De Ruyter and De
Witt arrived at that instant, and rescued him.
However the Dutch may endeavour to extenuate their loss in this
battle, by admitting no more than eight ships to have been taken or
destroyed, it is evident that they must have received much greater
damages, not only by the accounts of more impartial historians, but by
the remonstrances and exclamations of their admirals themselves; Van
Trump declaring before the states, that "without a numerous
reinforcement of large men of war, he could serve them no more;" and
De Witt crying out before them, with the natural warmth of his
character: "Why should I be silent before my lords and masters? The
English are our masters, and by consequence masters of the sea."
In November, 1654, Blake was sent by Cromwell into the Mediterranean,
with a powerful fleet, and may be said to have received the homage of
all that part of the world, being equally courted by the haughty
Spaniards, the surly Dutch, and the lawless Algerines.
In March, 1656, having forced Algiers to submission, he entered the
harbour of Tunis, and demanded reparation for the robberies practised
upon the English by the pirates of that place, and insisted that the
captives of his nation should be set at liberty. The governour, having
planted batteries along the shore, and drawn up his ships under the
castles, sent Blake an haughty and insolent answer: "there are our
castles of Goletta and Porto Ferino," said he, "upon which you may do
your worst;" adding other menaces and insults, and mentioning, in
terms of ridicule, the inequality of a fight between ships and
castles. Blake had, likewise, demanded leave to take in water, which
was refused him. Fired with this inhuman and insolent treatment, he
curled his whiskers, as was his custom when he was angry, and,
entering Porto Ferino with his great ships, discharged his shot so
fast upon the batteries and castles, that in two hours the guns were
dismounted, and the works forsaken, though he was, at first, exposed
to the fire of sixty cannon. He then ordered his officers to send out
their long boats, well manned, to seize nine of the piratical ships
lying in the road, himself continuing to fire upon the castle. This
was so bravely executed, that, with the loss of only twenty-five men
killed, and forty-eight wounded, all the ships were fired in the sight
of Tunis. Thence sailing to Tripoli, he concluded a peace with that
nation; then returning to Tunis, he found nothing but submission. And
such, indeed, was his reputation, that he met with no further
opposition, but collected a kind of tribute from the princes of those
countries, his business being to demand reparation for all the
injuries offered to the English during the civil wars. He exacted from
the duke of Tuscany 60,000_l_. and, as it is said, sent home
sixteen ships laden with the effects which he had received from
several states.
The respect with which he obliged all foreigners to treat his
countrymen, appears from a story related by bishop Burnet. When he lay
before Malaga, in a time of peace with Spain, some of his sailors went
ashore, and meeting a procession of the host, not only refused to pay
any respect to it, but laughed at those that did. The people, being
put, by one of the priests, upon resenting this indignity, fell upon
them and beat them severely. When they returned to their ship, they
complained of their ill treatment; upon which Blake sent to demand the
priest who had procured it. The viceroy answered that, having no
authority over the priests, he could not send him: to which Blake
replied, "that he did not inquire into the extent of the viceroy's
authority, but that, if the priest were not sent within three hours,
he would burn the town." The viceroy then sent the priest to him, who
pleaded the provocation given by the seamen. Blake bravely and
rationally answered, that if he had complained to him, he would have
punished them severely, for he would not have his men affront the
established religion of any place; but that he was angry that the
Spaniards should assume that power, for he would have all the world
know, "that an Englishman was only to be punished by an Englishman."
So, having used the priest civilly, he sent him back, being satisfied
that he was in his power. This conduct so much pleased Cromwell, that
he read the letter in council with great satisfaction, and said, "he
hoped to make the name of an Englishman as great as ever that of a
Roman had been."
In 1650, the protector, having declared war against Spain, despatched
Blake, with twenty-five men of war, to infest their coasts, and
intercept their shipping. In pursuance of these orders he cruised all
winter about the straits, and then lay at the mouth of the harbour of
Cales, where he received intelligence, that the Spanish Plata fleet
lay at anchor in the bay of Santa Cruz, in the isle of Teneriffe. On
the 13th of April, 1657, he departed from Cales, and, on the 20th,
arrived at Santa Cruz, where he found sixteen Spanish vessels. The bay
was defended on the north side by a castle, well mounted with cannon,
and in other parts with seven forts, with cannon proportioned to the
bigness, all united by a line of communication manned with musketeers.
The Spanish admiral drew up his small ships under the cannon of the
castle, and stationed six great galleons with their broadsides to the
sea: an advantageous and prudent disposition, but of little effect
against the English commander; who, determining to attack them,
ordered Stayner to enter the bay with his squadron: then posting some
of his larger ships to play upon the fortifications, himself attacked
the galleons, which, after a gallant resistance, were, at length,
abandoned by the Spaniards, though the least of them was bigger than
the biggest of Blake's ships. The forts and smaller vessels being now
shattered and forsaken, the whole fleet was set on fire, the galleons
by Blake, and the smaller vessels by Stayner, the English vessels
being too much shattered in the fight to bring them away. Thus was the
whole Plata fleet destroyed, "and the Spaniards," according to Rapin's
remark, "sustained a great loss of ships, money, men, and merchandise,
while the English gained nothing but glory;" as if he that increases
the military reputation of a people, did not increase their power, and
he that weakens his enemy, in effect, strengthens himself.
"The whole action," says Clarendon, "was so incredible, that all men,
who knew the place, wondered that any sober man, with what courage
soever endowed, would ever have undertaken it, and they could hardly
persuade themselves to believe what they had done; while the Spaniards
comforted themselves with the belief, that they were devils, and not
men, who had destroyed them in such a manner. So much a strong
resolution of bold and courageous men can bring to pass, that no
resistance or advantage of ground can disappoint them; and it can
hardly be imagined bow small a loss the English sustained in this
unparalleled action, not one ship being left behind, and the killed
and wounded not exceeding two hundred men; when the slaughter, on
board the Spanish ships and on shore, was incredible." The general
cruised, for some time afterwards, with his victorious fleet, at the
mouth of Cales, to intercept the Spanish shipping; but, finding his
constitution broken, by the fatigue of the last three years,
determined to return home, and died before he came to land.
His body was embalmed, and having lain some time in state at Greenwich
house, was buried in Henry the seventh's chapel, with all the funeral
solemnity due to the remains of a man so famed for his bravery, and so
spotless in his integrity; nor is it without regret, that I am obliged
to relate the treatment his body met, a year after the restoration,
when it was taken up by express command, and buried in a pit in St.
Margaret's church-yard. Had he been guilty of the murder of Charles
the first, to insult his body had been a mean revenge; but, as he was
innocent, it was, at least, inhumanity, and, perhaps, ingratitude.
"Let no man," says the oriental proverb, "pull a dead lion by the
beard."
But that regard which was denied his body, has been paid to his better
remains, his name and his memory. Nor has any writer dared to deny him
the praise of intrepidity, honesty, contempt of wealth, and love of
his country. "He was the first man," says Clarendon, "that declined
the old track, and made it apparent that the sciences might be
attained in less time than was imagined. He was the first man that
brought ships to contemn castles on shore, which had ever been thought
very formidable, but 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 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 the water;
and, though he has been very well imitated and followed, was the first
that gave the example of that kind of naval courage, and bold and
resolute achievements."
To this attestation of his military excellence, it may be proper to
subjoin an account of his moral character, from the author of Lives,
English and Foreign. "He was jealous," says that writer, "of the
liberty of the subject, and the glory of his nation; and as he made
use of no mean artifices to raise himself to the highest command at
sea, so he needed no interest but his merit to support him in it. He
scorned nothing more than money, which, as fast as it came in, was
laid out by him in the service of the state, and to show that he was
animated by that brave, publick spirit, which has since been reckoned
rather romantick than heroick. And he was so disinterested, that
though no man had more opportunities to enrich himself than he, who
had taken so many millions from the enemies of England, yet he threw
it all into the publick treasury, and did not die five hundred pounds
richer than his father left him; which the author avers, from his
personal knowledge of his family and their circumstances, having been
bred up in it, and often heard his brother give this account of him.
He was religious, according to the pretended purity of these times,
but would frequently allow himself to be merry with his officers, and,
by his tenderness and generosity to the seamen, had so endeared
himself to them, that, when he died, they lamented his loss, as that
of a common father."
Instead of more testimonies, his character may be properly concluded
with one incident of his life, by which it appears how much the spirit
of Blake was superiour to all private views. His brother, in the last
action with the Spaniards, having not done his duty, was, at Blake's
desire, discarded, and the ship was given to another; yet was he not
less regardful of him as a brother, for, when he died, he left him his
estate, knowing him well qualified to adorn or enjoy a private
fortune, though he had found him unfit to serve his country in a
publick character, and had, therefore, not suffered him to rob it.
* * * * *
The following brief synopsis of Blake's life, differing, in some
slight particulars, from Johnson's memoir, is taken from Aubrey's
Letters, ii. p. 241.