ROBERT BLAKE, THE REPUBLICAN ADMIRAL. "Chiefly you who ride the deep, FOR naval prowess, Britannia has, for long ages past, stood proudly pre-eminent among the nations. Again and again has her maritime superiority been challenged; again and again has it been made manifest to the world. The annals of antiquity record no such deeds of daring on the mighty deep as are narrated in the biographies of British mariners, "Whose flag has braved, a thousand years, The battle and the breeze." Conspicuous in the brilliant galaxy of names of imperishable fame, is that of Robert Blake, one of those remarkable men, who in History's theatre ap ROBERT BLAKE. pear almost fortuitously yet most opportunely on the stage to play their part in the drama of national crises, or in the accomplishment of ever-memorable undertakings. Robert Blake and Oliver Cromwell were born in 1599. Robert Blake and Napoleon Buonaparte were born on the 15th of August. It was Oliver Cromwell and his colleagues who gave Blake the opportunity to become a pattern to British admirals: it was Napoleon Buonaparte that gave occasion for Nelson to consummate what Blake commenced two hundred years previously, namely, the establishment of the supremacy of Britain on the great pathway of the nations. Humphrey Blake was a member of a highly respectable Somersetshire family. Little is known of his history, except that having as a merchant engaged in the Spanish trade, he amassed a large fortune, and purchased an estate at Bridgewater. There he resided, and there, at the date already given, his eldest son, Robert, was born. The old house, and the secluded garden, in which the future hero played and studied, became in after ages, objects of interest. It is said that Humphrey Blake had a "numerous" family. He died when Robert was in his sixteenth year. We are not informed how many children he had, or how many survived him. Robert and his brother Humphrey are the only ones mentioned in history. Of their mother nothing is recorded, and of their early domestic history very little can be ascertained. HIS SCHOOL DAYS. At an early age, Robert was sent to the Free School of his native town. The school was at that period considered to be one of the best of its kind. Robert manifested considerable aptitude to learning, and in this he appears to have differed from other members of the Blake family, who turned their attention more to mercantile pursuits. His progress at the Bridgewater Free School is said to have been highly satisfactory to his friends. He assiduously studied navigation and the art of shipbuilding, in addition to Greek and Latin, and other ordinary subjects of school routine. When, in 1615, his father died, Robert, at his own request, was entered a member of St. Alban's Hall, Oxford, thence he removed to Wadham College, where, in 1617, he was admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Recorded particulars of his university career are but few, and those few are questionable authority. The only known literary production of his, consists of verses on the death of William Camden, the celebrated antiquarian; but these do not possess more than the ordinary merit of college exercises. Clarendon, who is scrupulously chary of commendation respecting any of the republican party, informs us that Blake's learning was as extensive as requisite for any gentleman of fortune who was not desirous of becoming a member of a learned profession. It is by no means improbable that Blake had some thoughts of entering the church; for, as a university student, he was remarkable for gravity of deportment, early rising, and the same studious application which he had shewn as a school-boy. Our conjecture is strengthened by the fact that, in 1619, he became a candidate for a fellowship in Merton college, of which the warden, Sir Henry Saville, was no less. remarkable for his erudition than for his whimsical regard to the personal comeliness of ecclesiastical dignitaries. It is said that Blake was foiled in his endeavours to obtain the fellowship, mainly through the opposition of Sir Henry, who objected that he was not tall enough for such university distinction! Allowing a wide margin for the eccentricities of so eminent a scholar as Sir Henry Saville undoubtedly was, his objection appears so frivolous, if not preposterous, that there is little reason to doubt that if his opposition alone prevented Blake from becoming Fellow of Merton college, it arose from principle rather than from caprice. There is good reason for believing that Blake belonged, or was regarded as belonging, to what would now be designated the low-church party, whilst Sir Henry Saville was undisguisedly a highchurchman. Under such circumstances, any excuse was better than none for keeping him out of a fellowship. Certain it is that there is no evidence to shew that he lost his election from deficiency in the requisite scholastic attainments. His failure in obtaining the desired fellowship, did not induce him to relinquish his college studies; he remained at the university for about five years subse HIS CHARACTER. quently. His principal amusements were fishing and fowling. One of his biographers asserts that he was addicted to hunting and stealing swans. No doubt the Oxonians of the seventeenth century were as fond of frolic as are those of the present day; and the swan-stealing was most probably the mere capturing of the aquatic biped as a test of dexterity. Be this as it may, Blake's marauding expeditions, if not entirely fabulous, do not appear to have involved him at any time in disgrace, or even to have been seriously urged to his discredit. In fact, no particular instance, as in the case of the Bard of Avon, is quoted to shew the predatory propensities of Blake, whose career from the beginning to the end is untarnished by a single act of meanness, much less dishonesty. We have no clue to the ultimate views of Robert Blake in remaining for about nine years at the university. Had he contemplated entering the church, his opinions must have undergone considerable modification since the affair of 1619. His opposition to the intolerance of the party of which the unfortunate Archbishop Laud may be considered the representative, must have acquired considerable strength. When Blake quitted Oxford, he settled on his patrimonial estate at Bridgewater. How he passed his time there, it were useless now to inquire. We are told, however, that he was remarkable for gravity of deportment, sincerity, and sound judgment; that, although somewhat austere in his manner of life, he was affable, and plain-spoken, and vivacious in |