LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE ROBERT BLAKE unb (General at 3ca. BASED ON FAMILY AND STATE PAPERS. HEPWORTH DIXON. LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193 PICCADILLY. MDCCCLII. PHIllTED BY ROBSON, 1EVET, AUD PKAVKLVX Great New Street, Fetter Lane. TO HIS EXCELLENCY SIR WILLIAM REID, K.C.B. GOVERNOR OF MALTA, AND AUTHOR OF "THE THEORY OF THE LAW OF STORMS,' te f^t^torn is gtatrfullp tnsmbrtf. Cable of Contents. CHAPTER I. THE SCHOLAB. 1599-1625. PA6E West of England in the seventeenth century Taunton and Bristol The Severn merchants Admiral Blake's ancestry Humphrey Blake of Plansfield Sara Williams Birth of Robert Blake His brothers and sisters Bridgwater in the seventeenth century Home of the Blake family Perils of the merchant-service Piracy in the south of Europe Blake at school At Oxford Decline of the family fortunes College efforts at independence William Blake at Oxford Death of Humphrey Blake Fa- mily matters Development of character 1 CHAPTER II. THE REVOLUTION. 1625-1645. The coming revolution Laud and his party Remonstrance from Somersetshire Charles marries a Papist State of affairs in Ire- land and Scotland Revolt of the Covenanters Meeting of Short Parliament Blake returned for Bridgwater Rebellion in Ire- land The royal standard raised at Nottingham The two parties in the field Battle of Edgehill Blake astir in Somersetshire Prince Rupert Siege of Bristol Blake commands at Prior's Hill fort The town surrenders Rupert threatens to hang Blake Rapid progress of the Royalists Blake at Bridgwater Death of his brother Lyme Invested by Prince Maurice Brilliant and successful defence by Blake Maurice retires . . .25 CHAPTER III. TAUNTON. 1645-1649. Essex advances into the west Blake's daring conception Capture of Taunton Battle of Marston Moor Charles marches towards Exeter Determines to avoid Taunton Capitulation of Essex's army Blake harasses the royal army Position of Taunton Sir Francis Doddington Wyndham before the town Blake's letter Means of defence Wyndham repulsed Blockade Vandruske breaks the cordon Goring's crew Quarrels in the royalist camp Cavaliers resolve to recover Taunton Sir John Grenville in the leaguer Concentration of troops The siege VI CONTENTS. PAOK renewed Wellington House burnt Distress of the defenders Blake appeals to Parliament Relief sent down The stratagem The storm Retreat of the royalists Effect on the garrison Rejoicings in London Goring before Taunton Cavalier blun- der Blake's practical sarcasm Welden in danger Battle of Naseby Final relief of Taunton The club-men Capture of Dunster Castle Blake's political views Cromwell's jealousy A new career opening ........ 68 CHAPTER IV. NAVAL COMMAND. 1649-1650. Part taken by the navy in the civil war Batten Commotions in the fleet Batten goes over to the royalists with his ships Prince of Wales in the Downs Rupert made admiral of the revolted fleet State of the exile court Rupert's proposal He turns pirate Blake made General at Sea Change of flag The new system Distribution of the parliamentary fleets Rupert at Kinsale Hopes of the royalists in Ireland Blake sails for Ireland Kin- sale blockaded Roundhead triumphs Rupert escapes to sea His piracies Arrives in Portugal Blake in pursuit His in- structions John, king of Portugal Blake off Belim Castie Party spirit in Lisbon Rupert courts the mob and the priests Attempts to assassinate Blake Portugal declares for Rupert Blake's vigorous policy Captures the Brazil fleet John sues for peace The princes leave the Tagus Treaty with Portugal . 114 CHAPTER V. CAVALIER-CORSAIRS. 1650-1651. Rupert as a corsair Statements of our historians Fortifies the Channel Islands Isles of Scilly Sir John Grenville Rupert's intentions How the exiled court was supplied with money Lawless adventures A new fleet sent to the south under Penn Blake's orders from home Rupert at Malaga At Veles-Malaga Burns six English ships Blake in full chase Incident at Carthagena Murder of Ascham at Madrid Corsair fleet des- troyed The two princes received at Toulon They escape to South America Reprisals against France Romantic combat Blake returns to England Attacks the Isles of Scilly Captures Tresco Preparations for an attack on St. Mary's Battle between frigates and batteries Grenville surrenders Sir George Carteret Daring of Jersey pirates Strength of the island Elizabeth Castle Blake's advice to the Navy Commission State of the fleet Wrongs of the seamen Sails for Jersey Attempts to land New dispositions Landing effected Elizabeth Castle cannon- aded Carteret's gallant defence Surrender of the islands . . 147 CONTENTS. * CHAPTER VI. THE DUTCH WAR. 1652. Desire of an alliance with Holland The Orange party Events in the United Provinces St. John at the Hague Navigation Act Dutch carrying-trade Sudden opening of the war Tromp at- tacks Blake in the Downs A drawn battle Explanations and negociations Blake captures Dutch prizes Augmentation of the Navy Merchants in danger The northern fisheries New disposition of the fleet Blake in the north Tromp in the Downs Capture of herring-boats Tromp sails for the north A terrible storm Blake master at sea De Witt Vendome's fleet taken Fall of Dunkirk Battle of the North Foreland The Dutch retreat Effects of the victory in England . .186 CHAPTER VIL TBOMP. 1652-1653. De Witt disgraced Tromp's youth and education Again in com- mand Frederick III., King of Denmark The fleets in winter quarters Tromp appears in the Downs Battle off Dover Complaints of the English officers Three commissioners sent to the fleet New equipments Royalists in command of ships Project of the exiles Several captains broken New fleet in the Channel Great battle of Portland Blake wounded Second day's battle Third day's battle Tromp escapes into Zealand Killed and wounded Cromwell disperses the Long Parliament Blake's opinions on that event Contrasts and resemblances Blake declares to stand by the service Battle of the Gable Blake expected Arrives A glorious victory Humiliation of Holland Condition of the two fleets Letter from Blake En- glish capture numerous vessels from the enemy Sickness in the fleet Blake dangerously ill Put on shore Final action of the war Rewards of the English Admirals 216 CHAPTER VIII. THE MEDITERRANEAN. 1654. Blake still sick at Knoll Way of life Goes on board at Spithead The Brest Pirates Preparation of a secret armament France and Spain await the thunderbolt Two fleets sail from the Solent The expedition Blake in the south of Europe The Duke of Guise invades Naples Alarm in Rome Reparation exacted from Florence Plague in the Fleet Blake sick Storm and peril The fleet at Tunis Preparations for defence Negociation Return to Cagliari for bread The Dey's defiance Blake's ruse Brilliant attack on Porto Ferino Explanations sent to Vlll CONTENTS. PAGE Constantinople Venetian courtesy The Knights of Malta Treaty with Algiers A noble incident Effects of this cruise in the Mediterranean ........ 266 CHAPTER IX. THE SPANISH WAR. 1654-1656. Penn's treasonous offer War with Spanish America The reasons for it Diplomacy of Cardinal Mazarine Peace with France Affairs of the Vaudois A fray at Malaga A priest surrendered to heretics Blake at Cadiz Failure of Penn's expedition Philip declares war Cadiz blockaded Spaniards venture out to sea The fleets in presence Blake sails for Lisbon His health failing rapidly Return to England The great admirals out of service Dangers increasing Fresh services Blake goes on board the Naseby His farewell letter His will He sails for Spain Blake's plans Blockade of Cadiz Skirmishing at sea Affairs of Portugal The English ambassador shot at in public Blake near Lisbon Instant reparation demanded and obtained Ludicrous alarm in Rome Cromwell's suggestions Can Gibraltar be stormed ? New proposals from London A terrible storm Blake in great peril Six ships put out of service Brilliant exploit at Malaga The fleet sails for Aviero Bay Stayner captures the Mexican fleet Tragic story of the Badajoz family General Montagu returns to England .... 295 CHAPTER X. SANTA CRUZ. 1656-1657. Blake's design A winter campaign Spaniards make new prepara- tions Receive secret aid from Holland The Barbary corsairs Effects of the war on mercantile interests Deplorable state of the English fleet Welcome news Silver fleets at Santa Cruz Blake at the Canaries The Dutchman's warning The attack began The Spanish fleet annihilated English retire from the harbour Criticisms on Santa Cruz Effect of the intelligence in London Cromwell's letter Court-martial on Humphrey Blake Vigorous proceedings against the Dutch Blake confined to his cabin His last public service Liberation of Christian slaves The passage home Dies in Plymouth Sound The corpse carried to Greenwich Magnificence of his funeral The Stuarts disinter his remains ......... 338 PREFACE. THE story of the renowned Admiral, Robert Blake, and in it the Naval History of England during one of its most brilliant periods, has not hitherto been written with either accuracy of outline or copiousness of detail. Readers of the Common- wealth annals know how prominent is his place in contem- porary literature how many of his letters are preserved in Tlmrloe and other collectors how frequent are the references to him in the Journals of the House, in broadsides, pamphlets and the various newspapers. But even these sources of infor- mation have almost wholly escaped the attention of such writers as have formally undertaken his memoirs. The chief autho- rity for such slight notices of Blake as appear in our Encyclo- paedias and Biographical Dictionaries is an extremely meagre and incorrect memoir published in a work having the title Lives : English and Foreign. 1704. It was on this foundation that Dr. Johnson based his spirited sketch for the Gentleman's Magazine. After-writers followed his lead ; from the author of the article "Blake" in the Encyclopaedia Britannica the best and most copious of modern accounts down to Mr. Gor- ton, who wrote a memoir of twenty-four pages for the Useful Knowledge Society. Of these notices it is sufficient to say that, with one or two exceptions, the writers did not even trouble themselves to con- sult the Blake Correspondence in Thurloe. Not one of them X PREFACE. appears ever to have seen the two printed documents which are really valuable originals for the Admiral's life. These works are entitled : 1. An Encomiastick or Elegiack Enumeration of the Noble Atchieve- ments and unparallel'd services done at Land and Sea by that Truly Honourable General, Robert Blake, Esq., Late one of his Highnesses Generals at Sea, who after nine years' Indefatigable Service in that high Employment, Exchanged this Earthly Tabernacle for an Eternal House not made with Hands, Blessed by dying in the Lord, in Plymouth Sound, September the seventh, 1657, aged 59. London : printed by Tho. Roycroft 1658. 2. The History and Life of Robert Blake, Esq., of Bridgewater, General and Admiral of the Fleets and Naval Forces of England. Contain- ing a Full Account of his Glorious Atchievements by Sea and Land, more especially by Sea; where he obtained surprising Victories over the Dutch, French, Spaniards and others, Turks as well as Chris- tians. To which is added a sketch of a comparison between the Two Great Actions against the Spaniards at Santa Cruz and Porto Bello. Written by a gentleman who was bred in his Family. Lon- don : printed for J. Millan, opposite the Admiralty Office, near Whitehall ; and R. Davis, at the corner of Sackville Street, Piccadilly, [without date, but probably written in 1740]. These works are both scarce. Many of the facts which they contain are not preserved elsewhere. They are both unquestionably genuine. Yet, so far as I know, they have never been referred to by writers on Blake or on the Com- monwealth history. The Elegiack Enumeration is a rhymed chronicle, of twenty- eight pages, with little merit as verse, but of importance for some of its facts and anecdotes, which I have found nowhere else. I quote a favourable specimen of the versification from near the conclusion : " If now some British Plutarck, kindly prest With love of vertue sparkling in his breast, PREFACE. Xi Should in historick style limme out this brave And English Aristides, and from [the] grave Redeem his memory, for his Renown This one thing more (his worthy Gests to crown) May added be, the glory of them all ; That during these long Warres, wherein the fall Of thousands he beheld, as many rise To fortunes high (true valour's meed and prize), Yet he, postponing with heroick zeale His private interest to the publick weale, Himself would not advance by these vast spoiles, Still him attending from those bloudy broiles (Though millions siezed by his conduct, so skilled In arms and Counsell the English Coffers fil'd), Who with his native portion well content, For his dear countrie's good, was gladly spent." But a small portion, however, of the existing materials for a picture of the public and private life of Blake exists in the printed form. These materials are chiefly to be found in the voluminous Correspondence of the Navy Commissioners, lately removed from Deptford to the Tower, in the Orders and In- structions sent to the Generals and Admirals at sea, preserved in the Admiralty Office at Whitehall, in the collection of Naval Mss. in the State-Paper Office, in the ancient Rolls de- posited at Carlton Bide, in miscellaneous original documents at the British Museum, and in Family Papers. The following list comprises most of the Ms. papers which have been, or are at present, in my hands, to which I am indebted for valuable information : i. The original Letters written by Blake to the Navy Commissioners during the years 1649-1655, in the Deptford Mss. ii. The originals written by Blake to the officers of the Dockyard during the same period, in Deptford Mss. in. Copies of Letters written by the Navy Commissioners to Blake, in the Admiralty Books at Whitehall. Xll PREFACE. iv. Various Blake Mss. consisting of Copies of Wills, genealogical notes and other domestic papers, furnished to me by S. W. Blake, Esq., of Venne House, and by William Blake, Esq., of Bishop's Hull, in Somersetshire, the present representatives of the Blake family. v. The collection of Naval Mss. in the State- Paper Office, vi. The Parish Registers of Bridgwater from 1563 to 1645. vn. A list of the mayors of Bridgwater, copied from panels in the Townhall. vni. Copies of bequests to the poor of Bridgwater, from panels in St. Mary's Church and in the Workhouse. ix. The Baker Mss. A collection of inscriptions, drawings and notes on the Blake property in. and about Bridgwater, together with extracts from old wills, rent-rolls and title-deeds, placed in my hands by William Baker, Esq., Secretary to the Somersetshire Archaeological Society. x. The Heralds' Visitations of Somerset in 1623, Harl. Mss. 1141. xi. Michaelis Recorda, 4 Eliz. Rot. 68, Record Office, xn. Hilarii Recorda, 20 Eliz. Rot. 59, Record Office, xin. A Ms. account of the siege of Lyme, belonging to George Roberts, Esq., of that town. xiv. Various Roberts Mss. including plans, notes, extracts from the contemporary mayor's accounts, and from the Chute House papers, furnished to me by the same gentleman. xv. Landsdowne Mss., volumes, 733 and 817. xvi. Burghley Papers (in Lansdowne Coll. 115). xvn. Ms. Reports of the Judges of the Court of Admiralty, State- Paper Office. xvm. Navy Lists in Add. Mss. 17, 503. xix. Blake's Letter to Col. Bennett in Add. Mss. 12098. xx. Copies of Blake Despatches from the Mediterranean, in Add. Mss. 9304. xxi. Ayscough Mss. 6125. xxn. An account of Blake's death, from Wood's Mss. in Ashmole Museum, E. 4, No. 8560. xxin. Extracts from the Ms. Chronicle of Plymouth. xxiv. The Order of General Blake's Funeral, in Add. Mss. 12514. From these copious sources, aided by the results of a care- PREFACE. xiii ful examination of the squibs, satires and broadsides of that time, I have endeavoured to recover a more distinct image of the Puritan Sea-King to find, if it were possible, in forgotten nooks and corners the anecdotes and details which were re- quired to complete a character thus far chiefly known by a few heroic outlines. How far the work realises my own idea, or answers the necessity which called it into existence, others must pronounce. But be its faults of execution many or few, it was undertaken with the hope of contributing in its degree to a better appreciation than now obtains of the more mode- rate men of our revolutionary era a labour necessary to be undertaken somewhere. The Portrait affixed to this volume is copied from a mezzo- tint engraving in the British Museum. There are or were four so-called Portraits of Blake. One hangs in the Townhall of Bridgwater, where it has been placed within these dozen years : it is undoubtedly spurious. Another is in Greenwich Hospital; it is a composition by H. P. Briggs, R.A., painted in or about 1828-9 : yet this fancy sketch has been engraved as a Portrait of Blake ! The third, in the dining-hall of Wad- ham College, Oxford, a copy of which is in the possession of William Blake, Esq., of Bishop's Hull, is probably an origi- nal ; but its history is not known : it was engraved fifteen or sixteen years ago by Mr. Charles Knight. The fourth painting was formerly in possession of the antiquary, Joseph Ames, who had it engraved January 24, 1740, by Captain Thomas Pres- ton, and dedicated it " to ye citizens of London." Ames de- scribes the portrait in his " Catalogue of Heads" thus briefly "Own hair Laced neckcloth Buff coat." It is quite pos- sible that the Wadham Portrait and the Ames Portrait may have been painted from the same individual at different ages. They are both fine heads and full of character ; but I consider XIV PREFACE. the latter as of rather better authority Ames being well ac- quainted with such matters and almost a contemporary, and I have consequently chosen it as the illustration for this vo- lume. There are several other pretended heads of Blake on broadsheets and in periodicals; but they are evidently not genuine. It only remains for me to express the thanks which I owe to so many kind friends for the assistance rendered so readily in my search for the materials here embodied. To T. Duffus Hardy, Esq., Keeper of the Tower Records, I am in- debted for many facilities in the inspection and copying of extracts from the Deptford Mss. Hardly less signal are my obligations to William Blake, Esq., of Bishop's Hull, near Taun- ton ; to George Roberts, Esq., of Lyme Regis, author of the Life of Monmouth; and to William Baker. Esq., of Bridgwater, for their valued communications, including old deeds, wills, drawings, facsimiles, and local and family traditions, as well as for personal attentions during my visits to the localities con- nected with Blake's history. Nor must I omit to express my grateful sense of the kindness of Silas Wood Blake, Esq., of Venne House, Wiviliscombe, the present owner of Admiral Blake's property at Knoll and of many other family relics, in furnishing me with various family papers, deeds, wills and genealogies. My sincere thanks are also due to John Barrow, Esq., of the Admiralty, and to W. C. Lemon, Esq., of the State- Paper Office, for aid so readily given me in the inspection of documents at their respective offices. Thomas Ward, Esq., of Overstowey ; Henry Bernard, Esq., of Wells ; and the Rev. John Poole, of Enmore, have kindly undertaken inquiries or supplied me with local information. The Rev. T. G. James, Vicar of Bridgwater, zealously aided my search among the parish registers ; and the Rev. Mr. Jones, Unitarian Minister PREFACE. XV of the same town, lent his valuable assistance in the collection and examination of local traditions and documents. Many other friends at Bristol, Bridgwater, Taunton, Lyme and Ply- mouth contributed their time and local knowledge to the com- pletion of my store of biographical materials : but I will only further venture to name my obligations to Richard John King, Esq., of Bigadon, Devonshire, to the Rev. Mr. Warre, and Messrs. Kinglake and May of Taunton Dean. W. H. D. ST. JOHN'S WOOD TERRACE, REGENT'S PARK. *,* In the extracts made from Blake's Letters in the following work the spelling has been modernised, and to prevent any confusion as to the identity of the ships spoken of, the prefix St. (never used by a Puritan sailor) has been retained in such cases as the St. George, St. Andrew, &c. ROBERT BLAKE, CHAPTER I. 1599-1625. IN the early part of the seventeenth century the coun- ties lying between the South Channel and the river Severn were among the most active, wealthy and cul- tivated in England. While Liverpool was still a swamp, and Manchester but a straggling hamlet Leeds a clus- ter of mud huts, and the romantic valley of the Calder a desolate gorge, the streets of Taunton, Exeter and Dunster resounded with arts and industry; and the merchant-ships of Bridgwater and Bristol were daily going out or coming in from the remotest corners of the earth. The fairest fields, the largest cities, the proudest strongholds lay in this region. The vales of Stroud, Honiton and Evesham still bear away the palm of rural beauty; when the vine was an English plant, it at- tained its highest perfection on the sunny slopes of Somerset and Devon ; and a royal sybarite, whose taste at least has never been impugned, declared that in those days the south-west coast was the only part of England fit for the habitation of a gentleman. B 2 ROBERT BLAKE. The towns were in equal repute with the country. Taunton was famous for its woollens while the Plan- tagenets were yet on the throne ; in later times a band of industrious Flemings, flying from the persecutions of the Duke of Alva, brought their knowledge, enterprise and capital into the town, and under their teaching it soon obtained an equal reputation for serges. Parlia- ment fostered these rising trades, and " Tauntons" were then as well known in the markets of Europe as are now Manchester cottons or Spitalfields silks. While the Yorkshire breeder of sheep was either too indolent or too ignorant to work the wool which grew so plentifully on his native downs into an article of trade, the work- men of the western city obtained by the process wealth, cultivation and political power. 1 Bristol, inferior in po- pulation and maritime resources to London alone, had long aspired to the honours of a western metropolis. Its history looked back to the remotest times. Its docks, its streets, its religious edifices, its ancient gates and decaying fortifications, all bore testimony to its long- established grandeur. The city of London barely fur- nished larger returns to the royal exchequer ; com- missions, commissioners and. pursuivants levied money under many pretexts from its opulent traders, and the armies of Ireland and Scotland were frequently re- cruited among its hardy and adventurous population. From its excellent situation as a point of departure for the west and south, it gradually obtained a mono- poly of Irish commerce ; and its vessels visited the har- bours of Portugal and Spain, whence they brought 1 Acta Regia, iv. 319; Toulmin's History of Taunton, 3G8-370. ROBERT BLAKE. 3 home the treasures of two worlds in exchange for the woollen cloths which then constituted our only manu- facture. As its great houses increased in means, their enterprises took a bolder range. No longer satisfied to share their golden harvests with the more fortunate Iberian, they sought by the path of new discovery to gain for their own port such advantages as Columbus had won for the Spaniard and Vasco de Gama for the Portuguese. Cabot had sailed from their river on his first adventure, and four of the five small vessels that com- posed his fleet were supplied by the Severn merchants. In that and subsequent voyages, undertaken at their expense, he had added Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and North America as far as the inlet of the Chesapeake, to the known regions of the world, establishing a con- nexion with Hispaniola, Porto Rico and the coasts of Brazil, which was not quite abandoned even after the government, in virtue of a treaty to that end, gave up the rights of English discovery in those regions to the crown of Arragon and Castile. Inspired by these suc- cesses in the far west, they fitted out an expedition for the Arctic Ocean, and sent it forth with orders to search for a new passage northward to China and Hindustan. These spirited men pursued their enterprise with ad- mirable zeal, and only failed to rival the fame of more celebrated discoverers because nature herself had left nothing for them to find in that direction. 1 One of the most active of the Severn merchants in the latter part of the sixteenth century was Humphrey ' Hakluyt, iii. 4-700 ; Thurlow, iv. 44; Boishworth, ii. 336;. Seyeri" History of Bristol, ii. 277-295.. 4* ROBERT BLAKE. Blake of Plansfield and Bridgwater. This man's father, Robert Blake, a person whose success in life was illus- trated by many virtues, had been the first of his family to step out of the narrow circle of a country life and interrupt the old traditions by removing from Tuxwell, the seat of his ancestors for several generations, to Bridgwater, where he hoped to share the harvests then so abundantly reaped in the field of Spanish commerce. 1 The oldest Blake or Blacke, as the name is sometimes spelt in the Records whose story is in any way known, is one Humphrey, who lived in the reign of Henry VIII., Mary and Edward VI., and held the estate of Tuxwell, in the parish of Bishop's Lydyard, county of Somerset, in capite, by payment of the fortieth part of a knight's fee. 2 He died towards the close of 1558, and the pro- perty then passed to his son John, who immediately conveyed it to one Thomas Blake, probably the deceased Humphrey's brother. 3 This Thomas, who was great- grandfather to the admiral, seems to have been in se- rious trouble about the middle of Queen Elizabeth's reign, as he at that time made over to his friends and neighbours, James Clark and Mathew Stradling, 4 the titles of his estate ; but the occasion for this transfer, whatever it may have been, soon passed away, and the property was re-conveyed to its former owner, from whom it descended in the course of nature to his son 1 Herald's Visitation, 1623, Harl. Mss. 1141. 2 Michaelis Recorda, 4 Eliz. Rot. 68, Record Office. 3 Hilarii Recorda, 20 Eliz. Rot. 59, Record Office. 4 One of the Stradlings married a Blake: Parish Register, April 29, 1582. ROBERT BLAKE. 5 Robert. 1 This more active and ambitious personage married a lady named Margaret Symonds, 2 and settled in Bridgwater, where he improved his fortune by com- mercial enterprise, and during a long life retained the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens. Three several times he had the honour to serve as chief ma- gistrate in his adopted town ; namely in 1573, 1579 and in 1587, as appears by the inscriptions still preserved on panels in the Townhall of Bridgwater. At his death, which occurred in 1591, he bequeathed 24QL, equal to more than lOQQl. of our present money, to relieve the poor and repair the causeways ; thus setting an example of liberality to his townsmen and descendants which the latter at least piously and honourably followed. 3 Humphrey, his son, succeeded to the business ; but his temper seems to have been too sanguine and adventurous for the ordinary action of trade, with its small risks and quick returns. Although he married a co-heiress, yet his bold speculations sometimes turned out so ill as to cause him not only serious losses but even threaten to involve the family fortunes in ruin. This possible end of his speculations seemed, however, as yet far oif; and in 1 Michaelis Recorda, 4 Eliz. Rot. 68. 2 Harl Mss. 1141. 3 The following is copied from panels in the parish church of Bridg- water : ' Robert Blake of this Town, Gentleman, did give towards pious uses y e sum of two hundred and forty Pounds, which sum is in y e custody of y e Common Councell of this Borough, to remain as a stock for ever, y e profitt or interest thereof to be yearly distributed at y e discretion of y e Maior, Aldermen, and Burgesses for y e time being, towards y e reliefe of y e poor people of y e said Borough, and reperation of y e Cawsies within y e said Parish. He died Ano 1592." 6 ROBERT BLAKE. the meantime, inheritor of a good estate and a name held in universal respect, he made a considerable figure in the locality, living in one of the best houses in Bridgwater, and twice filling the chair of its chief magistrate. 1 His marriage with Sara, daughter and co-heiress of Humphrey Williams, made him master of Plansfield that Plansfield which is described by all previous writers who have treated of Blake's parentage^^the original seat of his family. The precise way in whh the estate came into his possession is not ascertained ; wnetlfer it came to him directly in right of his wife, or was ppr- chased with part of her dowry ; but it is certain thawbe was the first member of the Blake family who owned that property, for in the Herald's Visitation of Somerset in 1623, he is styled Humphrey Blake of Plansfield, son of Robert Blake of Bridgwater. 2 Sara Williams, the admiral's mother, was descended by a collateral line from the knightly owners of Plans- field, an extremely good Somersetshire family. The estate had lapsed to the Crown on the death of Sir Nicholas Williams, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; but it was restored to his widow Mabel, and probably continued in the family of Williams until carried with the female inheritor to that of the Blakes. 3 1 Inscription in TownhalL 2 HarL Mas. 1141. * What further information ha* fallen in my way about Plansfield, I throw into a note, for the benefit of any future historian of Somerset. 4th May, 21 Hen. VII. There is a grant in tail male (b*redibasma- colis de corpore legitime procreatis) to Sir Jobs William*, knight, of the Manner o' Plainsfield, Wyke, Lenehill, Stogursey, WorthentoB, Burn- Downende, Puriton, Wolarington, Chi 1 ton, Edinton, Catcote, ROBERT BLAKE. 7 The firstfruits of this marriage, the future admiral and general of England, came into the world about the end of August, 1599, and received the rite of baptism at the parish church of Bridgwater on the 27th of Sep- tember. 1 He was called Robert in pious remembrance of his grandfather. Many other children followed the first born in rapid succession ; in all twelve boys Hum- Bridgewater, Taunton, Milverton, Durston, Asheholt, Advoc Ecclesia de Asholt, Tuxwell, Milverton, Dunster, Netherstowey, Overstowey, Padenoller, in co. Somerset, et Exbridge et Bauntoa, in co. Devon, or parts of the said lands and mannore. " It appears by this grant that this mannor was the estate of Thomas Trowe, esq. (held in capite of the Crown), and forfeited by hia attainder in Parliament with others, his conferates, for adhering to Piers Warbeck, temp. Hen. VII. Vide Rol. Pal. 19, Hen. VII. n. 21. Vide Inquisi- tion, virtute oflicii, temp. Hen. VII. n. 224, found upon the attainder of the said Thomas Trowe, that he was seized of the mannor of Plains- field, with its appurtenances, held in capite (vide Esch. 24 Hen, VII. no. 64). The said Sir John Williams died seized of Plainsfield (Esch. 2 Eliz. pars 2*', no. 67). Reginald Williams died soiled of Plainsfield in Sept. (ibid. no. 69). John Williams died seized of Plainsfield in the February following (Esch. 1 1 Eliz. no. 124). Sir Nicholes Williams died seized of this mannor of Plainsfield and appurtenances without leaving any heir male of his body, whereupon the Crown again seized thereof (1'at 26 Elit. p. 16). Queen Eliz. demised the scite of the mannor of Plainsfield for twenty-one years, by lease for twenty-one years (Pat. 33 Eliz. pars nona). Queen Elizabeth granted the mannor of Plainsfield, with all the appurtenances, in fee, to Welles and Wytham. "In the Book of Implements (Liver F, fol. 118; Order, 12 Eliz.), there is an entry for assigning dower to Matoell, wife of Rafc Stafford (formerly wife of Nicholes Williams), the mannor of Plainsfield, lands in Tuxwell, Asholt, Mylverton, Dunton, Nethenrtowey, Overstowey, Pad- noller, Stogursey, and Wyke, and which Nichs. Williams hekl in grant from King Henry. 1 ' There is more information relating to this estute, and also to Tuxwell, in the rent-roll of Lord Egmont, from which these notes axe taken. Baker MSB. ' Register in parish church. s ROBERT BLAKE. phrey in 1600; William in 1603; George, who died in infancy, in 1604; George, the second of that name, in 1606; Samuel in 1608; Nicholas in 1609; Edward, who died in infancy, in 1611 ; Benjamin, who died in infancy, in 1612 ; Edward, the second of that name (he also died in infancy), in 161 S; Benjamin, second of the same name, in 1614; John, who died in infancy, in 1617; and Alexander in 1619. : The number of girls is not exactly ascertainable in consequence of irregularities in the registers, but the admiral's Will mentions two of his sisters, Bridget, who married a Mr. Bowdich of Chard, and another not referred to by her maiden name. The Herald's Visitation speaks of a Mrs. Burrage as being one of Humphrey Blake's daughters ; but this is probably no more than a misspelling of Bowdich. 2 Seven of the sons, Robert, Humphrey, William, George, Sa- muel, Nicholas and Alexander grew up to manhood. The other sister married Thomas Smythes of Cheapside, a celebrated goldsmith and banker, and went to reside with him in London. 3 After a lapse of two centuries and a half, it may still be possible to recover an idea, more or less faint, but true in its main features, of the mode in which this interesting family lived down there in the West of Eng- land, and of the influences under which the young com- mander passed the fifteen years of his childhood and early youth. Bridgwater, on the river Parrett, stands in the centre 1 Registers in parish church under these dates. 2 Harl. Mss. 1141, folio 107. 3 Office copy of Blake's will, March 13, 1655, in Blake Mss. ROBERT BLAKE. 9 of a rich plain, now covered with orchards and corn- fields, but in the seventeenth century little better than a wide morass, bounded on one side by the Quantock hills, and on the other, at a less distance, by the wooded slopes of the Poldons. The valley, about three miles in width, includes several spots famous in English story. There the victorious armies of the king of Wessex had been arrested. There our own Alfred had found shelter from the fury of the Danes. There, in later times, Monmouth fought and lost the battle of Sedgemoor. The town was built, as it is now, on both sides of the river ; but at that time the eastern suburb, joined to the main body of the town by an ancient and solid stone bridge of three arches, was inhabited almost exclusively by opulent traders and gentry. High street, leading through the corn-market where there was a famous inn, known to the country gentlemen for miles round as the Swan, and a picturesque old market-cross, was filled with fine shops; and the little town had an air of bustle and business. Lying on the great highway from Gloucester and Bristol to Taunton, Exeter and Plymouth, the western traffic of course all passed through it. Pack-horses, laden with Yorkshire wool, tinkled their merry bells along its streets and over its old bridge night and day. Yet even then the town seemed to have passed its prime. Grass already grew in some of its outlying streets, and many of its houses wore a fu- nereal aspect. In former times it had been defended by a wall and gates ; but nearly every vestige of these de- fences had been swept away. The Castle, once a royal appanage, held by the Queens of England as a dower, 10 ROBERT BLAKE. kept watch and ward over the surrounding country ; but though an imposing structure in the feudal era, it too had fallen from its high estate. Some faint rays of light from a distant past lingered about its decaying walls and turrets; in the wars of the Roses it had bravely withstood siege and storm ; and in spite of its changed condition it still boasted the proud honours of a virgin fortress. 1 The first object to catch a stranger's eye as he stands on the iron bridge, which in recent years has replaced the old stone edifice, is a row of young elms on the left bank of the stream ; those elm-trees grow in what was formerly Humphrey Blake's garden. On the same bank, a little below the bridge, lie such relics of the old for- tress as may still be traced. The house in which the admiral was born, in which he passed his youth, and in which, when at Bridgwater, he lived in the full blaze of his renown, still stands in what was formerly a part of St. Mary's-street ; a house two stories high, built of blue lias stone, with walls of immense thickness, heavy stone stairs, oak wainscots and decorated ceilings; alto- gether a habitation of Tudor origin and of unmistake- able importance in those times. The gardens, bounded by Durleigh brook, the river Parrett and the highway, were about two acres in extent, and seem to have been laid out with simple taste, mingling fruit-trees and flower- beds, scented plants and greenery for the kitchen. Though it stood within a few steps of the church and Corn Hill, the mansion nevertheless enjoyed a complete 1 Collinson's History of Somerset, iii. 75-77 ; LelancTs Itinerary, ii. 96; Fairfax Correspondence, iii. 235. ROBERT BLAKE. 11 rural seclusion; while the windows looked out over a wide expanse of valley away to the sunny slopes and summits of the Quantocks. It was in this secluded garden, by that old stone bridge, among the ships, native and fo- reign, lying at anchor in the stream, and under the guns of that grim fortress, that the ruddy-faced and curly- haired boy, Robert Blake, played and pondered, as was his habit, until the age of sixteen. From his father's garden he could daily see the extraordinary flow of tide known to seamen as a " bore" a phenomenon only met with in the Ganges, the Severn, and one or two other streams; and the conversation of his father and of his father's friends would contribute in no slight degree to fix his young mind on the sea and its affairs. 1 When it is said that Humphrey Blake was a mer- chant trading with Spain, it is not to be inferred that his days were spent in the pacific routine of the desk and the exchange. The life of a trader was then a life of peril and adventure. He mostly manned his own ship and sailed with his argosy. Like later cruisers among the Pacific islands, his course and his destination was rarely known before he quitted port. Failing in one harbour to dispose of his cargo, he spread his canvass in search of better markets. Experience of strange lands and stranger people was the daily incident of this change of place ; and he was compelled to hold his own, not merely against the duties, fines, and exactions of 1 With the aid of William Baker, Esq. secretary of the Somerset Archaeological Society, 1 have been able, from an inspection and com- parison of several old deeds, to confirm the Bridgwater traditions as to the site of Blake's house. 12 ROBERT BLAKE. the more legitimate powers, but against the still more unscrupulous and formidable corsair. Piracy was not, in the sixteenth century, the despicable calling it is now : in the opinion of that age, a pirate was but a soldier of fortune on another element. France, Germany and Italy were overrun with mercenary heroes, eager to sell their swords in any cause where good pay and a fair amount of profligacy were allowed ; and hundreds of distressed English gentlemen, as soon as the civil wars were over, took to the sea for bread in a similar spirit. In some parts of Europe entire districts lived on the plunder of unprotected vessels, long after the close of these troubles; and many persons still living can re- member a time when the daring valour of the Greek and Biscayan freebooters was the theme of winter tales and popular ballads. Nor were these unlicensed spoilers the worst enemies whom the peaceful merchant had to encounter at sea. The Moors of Africa had erected piracy into a national system. For ages the Salee rover had been a terror to the south of Europe ; and the Tu- nisian and the Algerine, equal to him in skill, daring, and fanaticism, had the advantage over him of better ports and larger privateers. No coast in Christendom was free from their incursions ; but their favourite stations were the bays and harbours of Portugal and Spain, as in these ports they found it easy to attack and capture stragglers from the fleets of two worlds. To the ordinary motives of the pirate, adventure and greed of gold, the Moor added the fiercer spurs of religious difference and hereditary hate. Europeans, it may be justly said, had forced the Moors into piracy as a measure of defence. JIOBERT BLAKE. 13 Their expulsion from Granada in the fifteenth century roused the worst passions of their nature ; and that band of armed priests, nestled behind the impregnable ramparts of Malta, and sworn to hold no truce with their race and faith,' a vow which they kept to the last letter, by frequent piratical descents on the coasts of Africa, marking their path along the shore with burning villages, slaughtered peasants and captive women and children, soon to be exposed by these Christian mission- aries in the slave-markets of Venice, Seville and Genoa, left them no other policy but that of revenge and re- taliation. In their undiscriminating rage, the followers of Mohammed waged war against the commerce of all civilised countries; when the opportunity offered, they seized both fleets and cargoes; and, like the Knights of Malta, carried off their prisoners for sale to the ba- zaars of Tunis, Tripoli and Algiers. 1 For protection against these formidable enemies, the merchant had to trust solely to his own bold heart and steady hand. His vessel, however small, carried some means of defence. The crew were well armed. Aids to escape were kept in readiness. From the British Chan- nel to the Straits of Gibraltar the course of the Severn adventurer lay through continual perils. Every rock and inlet along the coast had to be carefully examined for concealed enemies before his little barque could ven- ture on. The adventurer lived on deck, and eat, drank and slept with his mind on the alert and his brain ready 1 Morgan's History of Algiers, c. xviii.; Harl. Misc. viii. 398-402; Warburton's Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers, iii. 308-314; John Howard, 329-332, third edition. 14- ROBERT BLAKE. for every emergency. On his return from a successful voyage, many were the tales of perilous encounters, chance-escapes and valorous deeds which he had to tell his friends and children on the dark winter nights : and such stories were, no doubt, a part of the food on which the imagination of young Blake, silent and thoughtful from his childhood, was fed in the old man- sion at Bridgwater. 1 The rudiments of a more regular education he ob- tained at the grammar-school, then considered one of the best foundations of its kind in England. This edifice has long disappeared from the streets of Bridg- water ; but by a curious coincidence it has been replaced by another school of similar aims and character, con- ducted in the very house in which the admiral was born and in which he lived. At the grammar-school he made a decent progress with his Greek and Latin ; something of navigation, ship-building and the routine of sea duties he probably learned from his father or from his father's factors and servants. His own taste, however, his habit of mind and the bent of his ambition led to the field of literary endeavour; and, as he was the first of his race who had shewn any strong vocation to letters and learning, his father, proud of his talents and his studies, resolved that he should have every chance of rising to eminence in his chosen walk that means and education could confer. Nor was this early culture thrown away. At sixteen he was already prepared for the university, and at his own earnest desire was allowed to proceed to Oxford, where he matriculated as a member of St. Al- 1 Clarendon, vi. 41; Oxford, 1850. ROBERT BLAKE. 35 ban's Hall in Lent Term 1615, in company with Edward Reynolds, afterwards raised to the see of Worcester, and John Earl, subsequently bishop of Salisbury. 1 But little is known of Blake's college life. It is re- corded of him that he rose early, and was extremely assiduous at his books, lectures and devotions ; that he took great delight in field-sports, particularly in fishing and shooting. If any credit is to be attributed to an ancient piece of gossip, which, whether false or true, is of respectable age, and is preserved to us by a writer who revered his name and was intimate with several members of the family, his aquatic sports were some- times extended to the catching of swans, then as plenti- ful on the Isis as they still are on the Thames. There is no ground for this report beyond the common scandal of the time, and many writers have rejected it without examination : but if Shakespere in his youth had a passion for deer, why may not Blake in his youth have had a weakness for cygnets ? He had not been long at Oxford before his young ambition prompted him to try his strength against Robert Hegge and Robert Newlin in a contest for a scholarship of Christ Church, then vacant ; but he soon found that a student without friends or influence had little chance of success in that aristocratic college. The failure of his first effort did not, however, cast him down : he kept close at his books and looked steadily towards the future. Nevertheless, willing to accept such friendly 1 The History and Life of Robert Blake, Esq. written by a Gentle- man bred in his Family, 4; Bliss's Wood's Fasti, ii. 37U 2 History and Life, a ; Johnson's Works, xii. 42. 16 ROBERT HLAKE. support as came in his way unsought, he removed from St. Alban's Hall, where he had found and felt himself a stranger, to Wadham College, at the request of his father's friend, Nicholas Wadham, a Somersetshire man, who had then recently founded the noble edifice which bears his name. In this new college Blake remained several years ; there he took the usual honours and com- pleted his education : and in the great dining-hall of Wadham, among the effigies of poets, divines and an- tiquaries, a portrait of the admiral is still shewn with honest pride as that of its most illustrious scholar. 1 During the years which he remained at Wadham College, waiting for an opportunity to establish himself in some permanent position in the University, the family prospects were gradually growing darker at Bridgwater. On the whole, Humphrey Blake had been a decidedly unprosperous man; many of his most important ventures in trade had failed to realise a profit ; in some his actual losses had been severe. In these speculations much of his own and his wife's property was now gone ; and in the decline of life he found himself for the first time in debt and difficulty. 2 The absence of his former means chafed his ardent and ambitious mind ; the more so as his misfortunes had fallen on him when the energy and buoyancy of youth were passed, but not the cares and responsibilities of early manhood. He had married some- what late in life ; his family had nevertheless increased steadily and rapidly ; and now at fifty-seven or eight he found himself already an old man with no less than ten 1 History and Life, 5 ; Johnson's Works, xii. 42. 2 HarLMss. 1141, folio 107. ROBERT BLAKE. 17 children, varying in ages from Robert of twenty, down to little Alexander, then in the arms of his nurse. 1 These troubles preyed on his spirits, and with the in- creasing darkness of his fortunes his health too began to fail. Robert, in his humble rooms at Wadham College, shared in all the family fears and afflictions. He felt acutely the painful position in which his father stood, embarrassed with debts and surrounded with so many responsibilities; and the feeling gave a new and higher impulse to his desire to obtain a fellowship in one of the colleges. At this very time a vacancy occurred at Merton, and he offered himself as a candidate for the office not as in the earlier period of his academical career, from a boyish ambition to achieve honours and place, but from an almost sacred wish to be useful to his brothers, and to relieve his father of the modest ex- pense of his maintenance at Oxford. Alexander Fisher, John Earl, Edward Reynolds, his old comrades at St. Alban's Hall, and several other young men of parts and learning were in the lists. Had his efforts been crowned with success, had he gained the fellowship and its humble salary, it is probable that the future life of the renowned admiral would have passed in the seclusion of a college, among the books and studies he already loved so well : in which case Taunton would in all human probability have remained in royalist hands, the battle of Naseby would not have been fought, Tromp would have remained unconquered, Spain unscathed, Tunis and Santa Cruz 1 Parish register, April 13, 1619. C 18 ROBERT BLAKE. uncelebrated! How little did Sir Henry Savile, then warden of Merton College, dream that in rejecting Blake from his petty senate, he was turning back on the world one of those great master-spirits who were soon to over- turn the government, humiliate his adored sovereign, and on the ruin of the fallen house elevate England to the height of human grandeur ! But so it was. Sir Henry, a man of sense and acquirements, as witness his fine edi- tion of St. Chrysostom, had an eccentric distaste for men of low stature, and chose his senators, as the Prussian king did his grenadiers, by their height. The young Somersetshire student, thick -set, fair-complexioned, and only five feet six, fell below his standard of manly beauty ; and the loss of his election was then and there commonly attributed to this caprice of the learned war- den. But it is not unfair to suppose that other reasons may have influenced the adverse decision. Blake was already known to profess Puritan sentiments, and with that fearless frankness which distinguished him through life, he loudly protested against every attempt of the court and courtly prelates to impart a papistical charac- ter to the rubric of the Church. Sir Henry Savile, on the other hand, was a servile supporter of King James's policy in affairs spiritual. This difference of principles would account for the result of the election without the help of an unworthy and ridiculous caprice. It must, however, be stated that no writer of that time makes any reference to this difference of opinion as a ground of objection to Blake, 1 Blake remained five years at Oxford after this inci- 1 Bliss's Wood's Fasti, ii. 371; History and Life, 5. ROBERT BLAKE. 19 dent, and in good time took his degree of Master of Arts. 1 There seems to be no ground for supposing that want of learning was the bar to his advancement in the Uni- versity. He had read the best authors in Greek and Latin, and wrote the latter language at least sufficiently well for verse or epigram. Even in the busiest days of his public life, he made it a point of pride not to forget his classical studies. When out at sea, in chase of the enemy or fiercely cruising before a foreign station, his grave humour and never man had finer sense of sarcasm, or used that brilliant weapon with greater effect loved to find expression for its scorn and merriment in the satires of Horace and Juvenal ; thus in some degree re- lieving the stern fervour of Puritan piety with the more easy graces of ancient scholarship. In due course his brother William joined him at Wadham, where, in 1624, he was already a Bachelor of Arts, and on the death of the antiquary, Camden, furnished a Latin epi- graph to the book published by the University : Invida quam rapuit vitam parenti, Filius en patrise redidet arte suae. Vixisti nobis satis, 6 Cam dene, Tibiq. Flagitet Annales ni tua vita Tuos. 2 In the ninth year of his residence at Oxford, and in the twenty-seventh of his age, Blake was called to his 1 Wood says he only took the degree of B.A.; but Clarendon (vi. 41), Oldmixon (i. 420), and Bates (Elen. Mot Part ii. 228), all give him the higher title. 2 Camdeni Insignia, Oxon. 1624. Anthony Wood falsely attributes these lines to Robert Blake; and of course the error has been copied into all the " notices " of the Admiral. 20 ROBERT BLAKE. father's bedside. The old man had grown worse in health, and was probably no longer able to manage his affairs. At last his son abandoned the long-cherished idea of a college life, gave up his rooms at Wadham, and took up his abode in the old house at Bridgwater. In November of the following year, his father died, pro- bably without having made a will, as no reference is made to such a document in the family papers, and as no trace of it exists at Taunton, Wells, or the Preroga- tive Court in London. 1 As soon as the funeral rites were all over, Blake sur- veyed his position. The estate, such as it was, was en- cumbered with debts. His brothers Humphrey, William and George were of age or near it ; Samuel was seven- teen, Nicholas sixteen, Benjamin eleven, and Alexander six. Not one of them, with the possible exception of William, was settled in life ; and the four youngest had still to be in some measure educated as well as started in the world. There were also the widowed mother and two young girls to support out of the wreck of their former fortunes. The first thing, then, was to ascertain the amount of residue after paying all the debts ; and in order to clear off some of these claims, it is probable that Plansfield was at this time sold. When the debts were paid, it would seem that property, exclusive of the house in St. Mary's-street, of about two hundred pounds a year, was all that remained to the family, or rather to himself as the eldest son. The means were slight, the respon- sibilities heavy ; yet he accepted, and in due course achieved the task of rearing, educating and placing the 1 Parish Register, Nov. 19, 16'25. ROBERT BLAKE. 21 whole of that numerous family in the way of obtaining their own bread. Humphrey lived witb him, and fol- lowed his fortunes to the last, becoming in due time a commissioner of naval prizes and captain of a ship of war. After the restoration, he was persecuted for non- conformity, and at last quitted this country for Carolina, where some of his descendants still remain. Two of his daughters married in Bridgwater, and there are still Cranes and Normans in that town who claim to be their descendants. 1 William went to London, where he be- came a learned and successful man ; he attracted the notice of scholars, was created a doctor of civil law by the University of Padua, and when he died followed the example of his brother and grandfather in leaving a legacy to the poor of his native town. 3 He also left a number of legacies to his brothers, nephews and nieces. 3 George went to London, and became a goldsmith and banker of Cheapside. In after-life, probably after gaining a competence, he retired to Plymouth, where some of his children remained, but he himself afterwards settled at Minehead, on the Severn. One of his sons, Benjamin, had a taste for letters ; and a copy of verses written by him on the death of his uncle, Dr. William 1 Blake Mss. 2 Ibid. The following appears on a panel in St. Mary's church: " William Blake, Doctor of y e Civill Law, and Grandchild of the above said Robert Blake, did by his last Will and Testament bequeath unto the Poor of this Towne the sume of one hundred Pounds, which sume is in the custody of y e common Councell of this Borough, and the yearly interest thereof to remain to the poor people of this town for ever." He died 1667. 3 Blake Mss. ROBERT BLAKE. Blake, are still extant. 1 Samuel married early in life, and took to agriculture; as a farm, consisting of a house and about one hundred and fifty acres of land, orchard, garden, meadows and pasturage, at Pawlett, a village about four miles below Bridgwater, on the river Parrett, had been made over to him by his elder brother. 2 When the civil war broke out he joined his brother's company, and was one of the first martyrs of the good cause in the west of England. Nicholas engaged in the Spanish trade like his father and grandfather. He resided chiefly at Dunster and Minehead, successfully cultivated busi- ness, and acquired a moderate estate, which his descend- ants of Venne House still enjoy. 3 Benjamin went to sea, where he so far prospered as to rise ultimately to the rank of captain in the Commonwealth navy. Alex- ander probably took to farming. During the nine years spent at Oxford, Blake's cha- racter was slowly but soundly developed. When he returned to his native town, and again took up his resi- dence in the family mansion, he was already remarkable for that iron will, that grave demeanour, that free and dauntless spirit for which after-events found employ- ment, but did not create. Simple in his tastes and habits, there was already a dignity and refinement in every line of his noble countenance which bespoke com- mand, and seemed to presage victory. His manners, though somewhat austere in one so young, were relieved by a certain bluntness of address, while his peculiar sense of humour and great vehemence of passion rendered his conversation at once impressive, agreeable, and pictur- 1 Ms. in my own possession. * Blake Mss. 3 Ibid. ROBERT BLAKE. 23 esque. Abuses in Church and State, daily growing more corrupt and incorrigible, afforded an unfailing theme for his satire ; the formal profligacy which reigned at court, the moral laxity and doctrinal intolerance which marked so many religious professors, excited his intense indignation ; and both in public and in private places he never ceased to inveigh against them with bitter sarcasm and solid argument. The weak worldliness of the pre- lates, the mean subservience of the Church to royal vices and follies, drove young Blake, as they drove thousands of the ardent and uncorrupted, into Puritanism : the despicable pedantry, faithlessness and profligacy of the King, his favourites and his courtiers, insulting from their high station the moral sense of a virtuous, domes- tic and religious people, made him sigh for the republic of Pericles or of Scipio. The two theories were indeed near allied : the Puritan in religion became by an easy and natural progress a democrat in politics. The head of the State was the admitted head of the Church. The principles of divine right and irresponsibility which ruled in the one ruled also in the other. The King claimed to be the vicegerent of God in affairs spiritual as well as temporal ; and on this point the Church was in complete accord with royalty. After the death of James, his son Charles taught the divine right of kings, Laud con- tended for the divine right of kings and bishops. Op- position to the ideas which reigned at Lambeth led therefore by a single step to protests against abuses in the secular government. Yet there was scarcely one statesman in that age with sufficient clearness of vision to perceive how nearly the two sets of principles were %4> ROBERT BLAKE. allied. It was left for time and events to shew that the Puritan, living under the rule of Star-Chambers and Courts of High Commission, became almost as a matter of course an advocate for the Republic. When Blake quitted Oxford in 1624, this startling name had scarcely yet been heard in public ; the men who professed a re- verence for democratic institutions were few in number and obscure in rank, being for the greater part either poor scholars, fresh from the study of ancient history and poetry, with the glory of that august literature still lingering in their minds, or pious dreamers of an earthly Zion, in which the simple laws and social equality of an early Hebrew tribe should be tried once more amid the complex wants and infinite resources of modern civilisa- tion. But he never made a secret of his opinions. Long before the throne was considered to be in danger, he was marked by courtiers of sense and obser- vation as a person of avowed republican sentiments. He publicly- declared himself of the school of Scipio and Pericles. It was on the model of these ancient heroes that, as a boy dreaming of the classic world, he had endeavoured to form his own character; and in after-life it became his fortune to rival these celebrated men, not alone in their private virtues, but also in the splendour of their public achievements. 1 1 Clarendon, vi. 41; Laud's Remains (1700), 68. CHAPTER II. 1625-1645. Clje jaebolutton. FOR several years after his return from college and final settlement at Bridgwater, Blake's time and talents were chiefly occupied with the care of his aged mother who outlived her husband thirteen years, seeing her youngest son Alexander arrive at the age of manhood, 1 and in the education and settlement of his brothers and sisters. But he was a keen observer of public events, a politician by nature and early training ; and as the action of the court became suspicious to good Protestants and menacing to the nation's civil liberties, he bent the whole force of his genius to create and organise in his native county a party of resistance to its measures. Nor was this task very difficult. Commercial habits and su- perior education had already given a strong liberal bias to the men of that district ; and the instincts of ancient and unreasoning loyalty which still grew there were rudely disturbed by the King's friends. William Laud, ap- pointed to the see of Bath and Wells shortly after Blake quitted Oxford, in two or three years' adminis- tration of that important diocese, contrived by his zeal for high episcopacy and royal right, his personal ab- sence from the see, except when it became necessary to 1 Parish register, Dec. 27, 1638. SO ROBERT BLAKE. appear as a persecutor of conscience, and his fierce denunciation of all classes and degrees of non-confor- mity, however slight to rouse a spirit of opposition to the governing powers in Church and State, that increased in violence from year to year, and gradually bore down all counter-influences, until it finally exploded in the civil war. Possessed of the King's ear, Laud felt no scruple in turning the executive arm against his spiritual opponents, and even ventured an attempt to coerce the judges into instruments of his episcopal vengeance. On one occasion, when Lord Chief-Justice Richardson re- turned to London from the Somerset assizes, where he had heard and disposed of several cases in which the bishop took an interest with a moderation worthy of the bench in its better days, he was attacked with so much fury at the Council-board, that on retiring he remarked to his friends, he had been almost choked with a pair of lawn sleeves. Such a policy, carried out in the immediate vicinity of the town, and finding its victims in men generally respected, gave force and edge to the keen invective of the future admiral; and the still more famous and infamous proceedings of the same prelate, after his translation to Canterbury, in bringing Prynne, Burton, Bastwick, and many other pious and honourable men before the Star-Chamber and Court of High Commission, the clipping of ears, the branding of temples, the slitting of noses, the burning of tongues, the prisons, pillories, and public scourgings to which he resorted for the maintenance of his Popish dogmas, continued in the years which followed that event to call forth his most indignant denunciations. Nor was the ROBERT BLAKE. 27 spur of private resentment long wanting. Bishop Pierce, who after an interval succeeded Laud in the see of Bath and Wells, resolved to put down the famous Lectures with a heavy hand, and suspended Mr. Deverish, the minister of Bridgwater, for preaching as usual a lecture in his own church on market-day, and using a short prayer. But not satisfied with an act of authority which put an end to a system followed by the Church from the days of Elizabeth, Pierce attacked the church- warden, Humphrey Blake, and enjoined him to do penance for the crime of not presenting Deverish for ecclesiastical censure! 1 A bold remonstrance against these and similar prostitutions of the power exercised by the courts of conscience was signed by many leading liberals of Somerset, and by Robert Blake one of the first. . The remonstrants prayed the King to put an end to religious persecution, and inveighed against the Popish rites and ceremonies which Laud was then trying to intro- duce into the Church. Two Puritan divines, Deverish and Norman, were the chief clerical leaders of the movement party in Bridgwater; but their young lay ally was its real leader, and by his genius and activity the powerful local influence of the Stawells and Wyndhams, both ultra- royalist families, was thrown into the shade, while a com- manding position was obtained for the new opinions. 2 The aspect of affairs at court was lowering. Charles had not only married a French woman and a Papist 1 Scrap-book of the Rev. Mr. Jones of Bridgwater. * Laud's Diary, 34; Laud's Remains, ii. 67; Clarendon, vi. 41; His- tory and Life, 6-8. 28 ROBERT BLAKE. causes of deep offence to a people jealous of the slightest appearance of foreign influence in their councils but had entered into illegal and insulting engagements with the wily minister who then directed the policy of Ver- sailles. As the price of Henrietta Maria's hand, Riche- lieu had demanded that the young Queen and her court should have full right to the exercise of her religion that the children issuing from the marriage should be under the complete control of their mother and her ad- visers until the age of thirteen and that for the future all English Catholics should enjoy perfect freedom from the operation of laws against opinion, and be allowed to perform the services of their Church. 1 These stipula- tions, granted by Charles rather than forego the honour of an alliance with the blood of St. Louis, were agreed to in a series of secret articles ; but their purport was soon generally known, and this treason to the law of the land and the strong Protestant instincts of the people alarmed and enraged the whole country. Nor was the popular mistrust unjustified by events: the children of this unhappy alliance were so ill-trained in early life as eventually to forsake the religion of their country, and with that lapse to forfeit the splendid inheritance of their race. But seeing Popery openly enthroned at Whitehall, the people resented every appearance of an inclination towards Rome in the clergy whether that inclination shewed itself in the lofty character of their spiritual pretensions, in the pomp and circumstance of their way of life, or in the boldness of their hostility to freedom of thought. On all these points Laud was ob- Hard wicke Papers, i. 523-561; Cabala, 320; Prynne, 72. ROBERT BLAKE. 29 noxious to the more ardent Reformers ; and Charles him- self was scarcely less hateful. His stock was bad. The general disgust created by his father's claim to govern England not by the semi-divine right of genius like the first and last of the Tudor sovereigns, but by the ultra-divine right of royal birth was not allayed by any act of manly sincerity or generous explanation of his own policy. Questions of finance also arose to embar- rass parties and embitter the contest about principles of government in Church and State. Ireland and Scot- land were even less tranquil than the supreme country, though from different causes. Beyond the Tweed, the religious question alone occupied the field of contro- versy. By law, Charles was not head of the Church in Scotland, and his attempts aided by his complaisant Archbishop of Canterbury to bring its clergy under control, to rob them of their spiritual rights, to meddle with their ecclesiastical government, and to impose on their unwilling congregations his own favourite ritual, put his own power in peril and alienated from his person the friends to whom he might otherwise have looked in the worst extremities of his fortune. 1 In Ireland the elements of discontent were more numerous, but they nearly all had their origin in the religious disabilities im- posed on the Catholic masses. When pressed for money, Charles had sold certain graces or indulgences to a body of men in the western counties of the island for 120,000^., though well aware that the very word "indulgence" would have a startling and papistical sound in English ears. For this sum he consented to remove from the 1 Bibliotheca Regia, 125-138; Laud's Troubles, 101; Balfour, ii. 224. 30 ROBERT BLAKE. purchasers all penal laws enacted against their creed, to allow them a right to practise at the bar, and to exercise other functions at that time prohibited by statute. To the original infamy of this illegal sale, Charles added the still deeper infamy of taking the money and then refusing to fulfil the contract. When the poor dupes of his kingly word complained, he sent his stern lieutenant Strafford into Ireland with orders to repress the discontent with a strong arm, to assimilate the Irish to the English Church, and finally to over-ride the ancient constitution and make the King's power ab- solute at least across St. George's Channel. Strafford succeeded in this task as only a man of genius, without conscience, can succeed. Attacking the Catholics in their opinions, their liberties and their properties at the same time, he confounded every measure taken in their defence ; and by harassing suits and galling disabilities, invented by a faculty which seemed infinite in its re- sources and carried out with a vigour which knew no pause and counted no obstacle, he achieved such a suc- cess with the higher classes and in the rich towns as intoxicated his royal master. The old nobles of the country were brought over, some by threats, others by cajolery, still more by fashion, policy and personal ambi- tion. But the deputy's fierce and unscrupulous course of conversion fired the vindictive passions of the multi- tude, and the natural dread lest this rigorous policy should spread, arrayed against him the whole liberal and constitutional party in England. 1 The armed revolt against Charles began in his native 1 Clarendon, 1-212; Strafford Papers, i. 421-521 ; ii. 36-98. ROBERT BLAKE. 31 land. Harassed by Laud's agents, the Scotch Presby- terians took an oath and covenant to maintain their re- ligious independence at all hazards ; and when the King threatened them with the punishment due to rebels, instead of stealing back to their homes to escape the royal wrath, they flew to arms, boldly crossed the bor- der into England, and offered to put the issues of their quarrel to the ordeal of battle. The court raged with passion and insulted pride. But its contortions were as vain as they were undignified, for the reforming House of Commons made the cause of the Scotch Covenanters their own, and the royalist policy received its first sud- den and serious check. Strafford was impeached. Laud was lodged in the Tower. Finch the lord-keeper and secretary Windebank were driven into exile. Conces- sions were obtained for the English people ; and in the northern kingdom Charles was stript of his most coveted prerogative. 1 In the heat of his resentment against the Scots, the King had summoned the two Houses to meet again after a separation of many years ; the step had created an immense sensation in the country ; and the most liberal men of the middle and upper ranks were returned for nearly all the large towns. Blake was sent up as member for Bridgwater; and now he first met with Vane, Hampden, Cromwell and other leaders of the reform party. His legislative labours were, however, of the briefest duration this meeting of the House being that which is known in history as the Short Parliament. Charles wanted money to fight the Covenanters ; but 1 Balfour, 11. 366; Clarendon, i. 339-364. 32 ROBERT BLAKE. when he asked for it in his usual peremptory manner, the House replied with presenting a long list of griev- ances, and insisted that before any money-bills were laid on the table, an inquiry should be made into the state of the nation, especially in regard to the attempted innova- tions in religion, interference with the rights of private property and invasion of the privileges of Parliament. Neither threats nor cajoleries could overcome their re- sistance ; and after a vain trial of his strength on the constitutional ground, Charles suddenly dissolved the House in a fit of anger. 1 Events, however, soon com- pelled him to issue writs for a new election ; and before the year was out, the Long Parliament, fated to see and to survive so many governments, was sitting at West- minster. Of this famous assembly Blake was not a mem- ber until 1645, when he was returned for Taunton in the room of Sir William Portman, his seat for Bridgwater being occupied by Colonel Wyndham, governor of the castle, and a strenuous opponent of the popular party. 2 The noise of armament had not yet died away be- yond the Tweed when it arose in the sister country. There, a long-cherished hatred of the Saxon race em- bittered the quarrel about lands and religions. Under the powerful rule of Strafford, the ancient Celtic popu- lation had been made to feel its inferiority in a thousand galling forms ; for that statesman had always treated the country as a conquered province of the empire, subject to no law but that of the sword, and capable of no rights 1 Commons Journals, April 17 to May 4; Heath, 12-15; Laud's Troubles, 78. 2 Parliamentary History, ix. 39. ROBERT BLAKE. 33 but such as the prince, his master, might bestow and revoke at pleasure. Yet in spite of his agent's tyranny, and his own often-proved bad faith, the person and go- vernment of the King continued popular in Ireland : that very tendency towards papistical rites and doctrines which rendered him so suspicious in other parts of his dominions won for him the confidence and affection of his ignorant Catholic subjects. In his name, and as they pretended with his approval, they flew to arms. Treachery of a confederate caused the failure of an at- tempt to seize Dublin Castle ; but the insurrection spread into the remotest districts, and in one week from the outbreak, the entire open country and the chief towns in Longford, Leitrim, Cavan, Donegal, Derry, Mona- ghan, and other counties were possessed by the rebel hordes. With a confusion of purposes only possible in Ireland, the leaders declared by proclamation that their object in rising was to support the King against the popular members of the House of Commons, who, they said, had invaded the royal prerogative, intercepted the favours granted by the Crown to its subjects in Ire- land, and designed to root out the Catholic faith from that part of the empire. The King's cause was adopted as their own, and their blind fury was directed against the very men who had recently brought their great op- pressor to the scaffold. Under the drunkenness of un- expected success, their followers committed atrocities at which nature and history shudder. The English settlers, whether of ancient or of modern standing, were cast into prison, their goods and lands seized and divided, their children torn from them, their women ravished before D O* ROBERT BLAKE. their eyes, and their whole body, the grace, the soul, the sustaining element of the country, was treated with every barbarity which hate could devise and victorious passion inflict. In this outburst of popular insanity, more than forty thousand Protestant settlers were but- chered in cold blood. 1 Preparations were instantly made to check these atrocities. But who was to command the forces sent against the rebels ? Those rebels openly declared that they had the King's sanction for what they had done : a most unhappy declaration for the man in whose interests they professed to devastate and murder, as it rendered it impossible for the two Houses to entrust him with the means of action, and he found himself compelled either to admit that the rising had taken place at his instigation, or to transfer to his new Parliament the ge- neral conduct of the war. He chose the latter evil, and in one day his enemies became masters of a fleet and an army. That day the contest began in earnest. After he had ceded all control of the forces necessary to suppress the rebellion, Charles, alarmed at the false position in which he had placed himself, made an effort to get Ins creature Sir John Pennington appointed chief admiral in the Irish seas, a post of supreme importance at that mo- ment ; but as Parliament had reason to suspect that officer of an intention to employ the force under his command against the national movement, they refused to accept 1 Carte's Ormond, iii. 30-47; Nalson, 543-557; Clanricarde's Me- moirs, 6-38 ; Borlase's Reduction of Ireland, 230-233 ; Clarendon, i. 423. ROBERT BLAKE. 35 the nomination, and sent the Earl of Warwick as their vice-admiral into those waters. 1 Soon after this event, Charles raised the royal stand- ard at Nottingham, and called the loyal gentry of Eng- land to his aid. The two parties now in presence of each other, arming to dispute possession of the realm, and determine the principles on which it should be go- verned then and afterwards, were as distinct in character as in cause. On the King's side, notwithstanding his personal meanness, a large majority of the old families was arrayed ; men of high birth and gentle nurture ; brave by nature and from long habit loyal to the regal office ; and attached by ancient tradition or private in- terest to the forms of monarchy and episcopacy ; but at the same time devoid of strong convictions, of that sus- tained mental energy so needful in revolutions, and for the greater part of high moral character. On the other hand, instead of the gay heart and lust of pleasure which so universally marked the Cavalier, the Roundhead was distinguished by a grave demeanour, an austere life, a fiery enthusiasm and fixed beliefs. Between such oppo- nents the contest could not have been prolonged beyond a single summer had they commenced it in equal num- bers and with equal means. But their condition as soldiers was as various as their opinions. The royalists rode into the camp almost ready for the field. Many of them had been long familiar with the use of arms ; and nearly all had been accustomed to a country life, to hunting, sporting and the exercises which best prepare men for the hardships of a camp and the terrors of a 1 Rushworth, iv. 752 ; Clarendon, iii. 262. 36 ROBERT BLAKE. battle-field. Their enemies were in a great measure students, small farmers, and city tradesmen. To their hands, books and implements of trade or husbandry were more familiar than guns and broadswords. Devo- tion, courage, enthusiasm they could bring to the con- test, but they had the whole art and practice of war to learn from its very rudiments. 1 Charles quitted Nottingham for the west of England at the head of six thousand men, and such was the enthusiasm for his cause in those opening days of the great conflict, that by the time he had reached Shrews- bury his army had increased to nearly twenty thousand. This vast accession of strength induced him to turn his face towards London, the head-quarters of his most ac- tive and powerful enemies, in the hope of being able to crush them all at a single blow ; but he had scarcely quitted his halting place when the Earl of Essex was de- scried hovering with a considerable force on his flank and rear, ready to cut off his stragglers, intercept supplies, and enclose him between two fires, should he advance on the capital. He was forced to retreat or to give battle, and chose the latter in full confidence of victory. Six thousand men were slain in this encounter : Essex, some- what worsted, retired towards Coventry, and the King advanced his head-quarters to Oxford, whence he sent out flying squadrons of horse under Prince Rupert to spread terror and consternation to the suburbs of London. For a few days the city was distracted with false reports, and the popular leaders evinced a desire to treat ; but 1 Com. Jour. v. 327-385; Granville Penn's Memorials of Admiral Penn, i. 79 ; Clarendon, iii. 263, 331. ROBERT BLAKE. 37 unfortunately for the royal cause, while the terms of an understanding were being discussed under cover of an armistice, Ruthen, the King's Swedish general, made an unexpected attack on Brentford, and carried it by assault. The cry of treachery was then raised. London flew to arms. The trained bands marched out and en- camped on the common before the captured town. By rapid marches Essex brought up his army from the mid- land counties ; and instead of seizing Whitehall and the Tower, as he intended, Charles was compelled to throw himself behind the Thames; flying like a fugitive across the bridge at Kingston toward Reading and Oxford, in the latter of which cities he resolved to pass the winter months after fortifying with hasty works and strong garrisons all the more important places in the immediate vicinity. 1 Meanwhile Blake was on the alert in Somersetshire. Taking the King's hasty dissolution of the Short Par- liament as a signal for action, he began, with the aid of his young and fiery brother Samuel, to count his friends, to prepare arms and horses, to concoct watchwords and to keep a keen eye on the movements of the King's par- tisans. His was one of the first troops in the field, and both the horse and foot played a conspicuous part in the first action of any importance in the west of England, when Sir John Horner routed the newly raised forces of the Marquis of Hertford at Wells. From that date he was in almost every action of importance in the western counties, fighting his way gradually into military notice. 1 Com. Jour. v. 423-439; May, 168, et seq.; Rushworth, v. 33, et seq. ; Whitelocke, 65, 66. ROBERT BLAKE. He distinguished himself in the sharp encounter at Bod- min ; and gained the confidence of Sir William Waller by his conduct on the fiercely disputed field of Lans- down. Detached from the army to strengthen the gar- rison at Bristol, he missed the disastrous defeat at Roundway Down. Blake's attention was not, however, confined to the war. His knowledge of business, his ac- tivity, and his severe integrity pointed him out for other employments, and he was made one of the Committee for seizing and sequestrating the Estates of Delinquents in Somerset: a thankless office, the duties of which he nevertheless discharged for several years without giving rise to a single accusation of partiality or making for himself one personal enemy. But the camp was his true sphere of action ; his superiority to the men about him lay in the marvellous fertility, energy and compre- hensiveness of his military genius. Before the field of action was as yet occupied by large armies, he scoured the country with his intrepid dragoons, rousing the spirit of his friends, carrying terror to the hearths of his ene- mies, and levying contributions of money and horses on all towns and hamlets known to be disaffected to the na- tional cause. In the royalist camp Prince Rupert could alone be compared with him as a partisan soldier ; and that brilliant cavalry officer, fated to be foiled so often on land and sea by Blake, soon made the acquaintance of his redoubtable enemy at the siege of Bristol. 1 Rupert's youth had been passed like that of a hero of romance. The son of a Bohemian king and an English 1 Elegiac Enumeration, 5 ; Declaration and Ordinance of Parliament, March 31, 1643; History and Life, 8, 9. ROBERT BLAKE. 39 princess, he was connected in blood with half the reign- ing families in Europe, and his long pedigree stretched back through Charlemagne to Attila. Yet as a boy he had known nothing of the free grace of boyhood. Storms raged round his cradle from his birth. In an ante-chamber of the Hradschin he was one day snatched up by his nurse while sleeping in the midst of flashing fires and booming artillery ; Austrian and Bavarian troops were thundering at the gates of Prague ; and in the hurry of mortal fear the menial dropt her royal charge on the floor, where he was found by a chamber- lain of the palace, and flung into the last carriage that followed the unhappy court on its way to Breslau. Army after army rose to avenge the dethronement of his mother, the famous Queen of Hearts, but they struggled in vain against the more prosperous fortunes of the southern Germans. Rupert and his brother Maurice wandered from court to court, but dread of the imperial arms silenced every sentiment of pity in the royal palaces of Europe ; and Holland alone, in its pride of liberty and power, dared to offer an asylum to the un- happy fugitives. There Rupert passed his early youth. A hard student at the University of Leyden, a hunter and hawker over the flat fields of the Zuyder Zee, the crowned hero of many a courtly tournament, a volunteer at the siege of Rhynberg, he was already at the age of fifteen a man of the world and a soldier who had won his spurs in actual service. A brief visit to England, where Laud proposed to make him a bishop, the Queen to marry him to a rich heiress, and trie King, his uncle, to send him out as viceroy to Madagascar, led to an 4'0 ROBERT BLAKE. insane enterprise of his own for the recovery of his father's family dominions on the Rhine. Defeated and taken prisoner, he passed three heavy years in the fortress of Linz, varied only by a love-affair with the young Countess of Kuffstein, whom he abandoned for ever the moment he obtained his freedom. His temper soured and his passions inflamed by adversity, he next turned soldier of fortune, repaired to England, where his uncle's growing troubles promised a wide field for the exercise of his military talents, and was immediately named master of the royal horse. The Cavaliers were com- panions after his own heart. No sooner did he meet the high-spirited gentry of England than he became their leader. Brave, active, impetuous, no foe could withstand the vigour of his onset or escape the celerity of his pursuit. Within three months of his arrival he had already made his name a word of terror in the coun- try. But if his daring spirit and indomitable activity made him a dangerous enemy, it is nevertheless cer- tain that his cold heart, his lust of money, his ruthless cruelty, his contempt of law, made him a still more fatal friend. In spite of his valour, his vigilance and his suc- cess, history must denounce the King's warlike nephew as the real evil genius of his cause. 1 From his camp at Oxford, Charles ruled about a third of the territory of England. Wales and the whole border land adhered steadfastly to his banner ; and his dashing master of the horse, after taking the important town of Cirencester by surprise, proposed to consolidate the royal 1 Lansdowne Mss. 817; Clarendon, iii. 255-436; Howell's Letters, 91 ; Warburton's Rupert and the Cavaliers, i. 17-113. ROBERT BLAKE. 41 power in the west by the capture of Bristol and the line of fortresses along the Severn. With his uncle's con- sent, he first tried to reduce the city by treachery, but the faithless citizens who would have made themselves his accomplices and instruments were betrayed to the proper authorities, and received the reward of their in- tended treason ; whereupon he advanced at the head of fourteen thousand foot and six thousand horse, and sum- moned Colonel Fiennes, the commander, to yield the place to the King's officers. 1 Though torn with factions, like most other towns at that time, Bristol was capable of a long, if not a permanent defence. The regular troops within its walls counted in cavalry and infantry not less than two thousand men ; many of the citizens were armed ; the store of provisions was abundant and of ex- cellent quality ; shot and powder were also plentiful ; and a powerful park of brass ordnance was distributed among the forts and works. The lines, it is true, were incomplete. In many places the breastworks had not been carried to the proper elevation, and the ditch at some points required greater width and depth to render it defensible. But the castle within the town was a hold of some strength, and the minor forts along the line one of the most important of which, Prior's Hill, was en- trusted by Fiennes to Captain Blake offered several cen- tres of support to the garrison in their offensive opera- tions against the enemy. Had the chief command been in the hands of an able and resolute soldier, the city would not have fallen, or if so, not ingloriously. 3 1 Rushworth, iii. part ii. 154; Mercury, August 3, p. 74; Heath, 46. 2 Seyer, ii. 300-416 ; Cromwell's Letters, i. 297; Warburton, ii. 236. 42 ROBERT BLAKE. On Sunday morning, July 23, Rupert and Maurice sat down before the place with their whole army, supported by a not inconsiderable train of artillery, and from their head-quarters at Clifton a charming suburb even at that early time, they summoned the garrison to sur- render. This summons leading to no result, they spent that day and the night following it in reconnoitring the position, in exchanging a few shots with the outposts and driving in foraging parties of horse. Next day the two commanders prepared for more serious work ; Fiennes ordered the citizens, unless actually engaged in the de- fence, to keep within doors, leaving the streets free for the soldiers to act ; Rupert drew out his entire force in two lines, and marched them in order of battle within view of the forts, hoping to intimidate the besieged by his immense military superiority. But this display of his means of offence failing of its expected effect on the spirits of the garrison, he fixed his lines and began to erect batteries opposite to the various forts. Lord Gran- dison and a body of cavalry took possession of a rising ground, covered by a thick hedge, over against Prior's Hill, where Blake was stationed with a small body of men, and the labourers commenced a rude breastwork, on which, under cover of the darkness, they planted their field pieces unseen. At midnight two cannon-shots from Grandison's position lit up the sky and broke the silence with their rolling echoes. Blake quickly answered from Prior's Hill with a discharge of musketry and grape-shot. On the instant lights were observed moving along the be- leaguering lines, and a nocturnal cannonade commenced, spread rapidly to adjacent parts, and continued for about ROBERT BLAKE. 43 an hour. Next day grand preparations were made by the royalists to storm the rude works ; and when all was ready they advanced to the assault in six lines, the officers and soldiers wearing green boughs as a means of recognition in the hurry and disorder of the expected sack. The men in the first line bore fagots on their backs, those in the second drove carts laden with earth to fill the ditch, the third line was armed with muskets, the fourth bore long pikes with wild-fire at the points, the fifth carried hand-grenades, the sixth was armed like the third with muskets. The charge was made with Rupert's usual intrepidity. Parts of the shallow ditch were filled, the works were scaled in several places at the same mo- ment, and Cavalier and Roundhead met hand to hand in single encounters ; but after a fierce and long-continued struggle, the assailants were repulsed with loss at every point. While the infantry were advancing to storm, a squadron of royal horse was ordered to sweep round the outer lines, make an unexpected appearance before Frome Gate, cut down the sentries, and advance at a brisk pace on the rear of the garrison then engaged with the main body of the royal infantry. But this attempt also failed. The guard at Frome Gate was on the alert, and a hot fire from behind their sheltered positions soon put the horsemen to rout. The fighting went on simulta- neously at the forts. Two demi-cannon had been directed by Lord Grandison with some effect against the old walls at Prior's Hill ; but Blake's vigorous fire kept the assail- ants at bay, and when night came down, and the com- batants had time to count their losses, besides the usual casualties, Grandison had to deplore the death of his 44 ROBERT BLAKE. chief cannoneer; Blake, the mutilation of one of his three guns, and serious damage to his works. 1 The little garrison of Prior's Hill had slight breath- ing time allowed them. Before three o'clock in the morning, the grey dawn was streaked with bursting lights, and the sleep of the tired soldiers was broken by the cracking muskets of the Cornish division. The prince was already awake in his tent ; and on catching the first signal, drew out his troops, and disposed some squadrons of horse under cover of the rising grounds, ready to second the infantry in case of need, to check sallies, and enter the lines as soon as the foot had forced a passage. His design was to break the curtain between Prior's Hill and the next position, a small redoubt, strengthened by two fortified houses ; but finding his flank terribly confused and torn by Blake's steady and well-directed fire, he sent Grandison with a body of picked men to storm that post, while he advanced with the main body against the intervening curtain: the attack on Prior's Hill thus became the key to the entire operations of that day. Dividing his force, Grandison sent fifty musqueteers to begin the alarm on the line a little to the right of Blake's position, and another fifty to make a similar demonstration on the left. Within gun- shot of Prior's Hill the highway entered Bristol through the rude lines, the point of intersection being covered by a spur with a low breastwork, and barricaded by a gate of strong timbers. While the garrison at the Hill was distracted with the movements of the musqueteers, Colonel Lunsford, at the head of three hundred men, 1 Mercury, August 3, 74 ; Rupert Ms. in Warburton, ii. 237-246. ROBERT BLAKE. 45 fell on the curtain, but after a sharp struggle was driven back with loss. Major Sandars was then sent forward with two hundred and fifty men to storm the spur, and bravely rushing through the steady fire from the works up to the very gate, there came to a pike and pistol contest with its defenders. Nine hand-grenades were thrown into the works. Captain Fawcett fastened a petard to the timbers of the gate, but the explosion only shattered a few bars, without opening a practicable breach. After an hour and a half lost in fighting a series of skirmishes, in which he saw Captain Howell and many of his most gallant com- rades fall in vain, Grandison seemed to be convinced that so long as Prior's Hill remained in Blake's hands, the curtain could not be forced at that point ; and he consequently drew out his whole strength against the real key of the position. Elated by their success, the little garrison prepared to give the foe a warm welcome. The royalists, led on by their impetuous and exaspe- rated chief, rushed into the shallow ditch surrounding the fort again and again, but always to retire in confu- sion and with loss. Finding his ammunition about to fail, Blake ordered his men to hurl huge stones on the assailants below, while the best marksmen kept up a steady and destructive fire from the embrasures. Luns- ford at one moment placed a ladder against the wall and mounted as high as the palisades, but was then forced back. Lieutenant Ellis gained the line, but was in- stantly shot through the heart. Again the whole body advanced to an assault; again the heroic garrison re- pulsed them with slaughter. As the royalists retired in 46 ROBERT BLAKE. confusion, Blake, feeling, with the untaught instinct of military genius, that the decisive moment had come, let down the drawbridge, and sallied out at the head of his little troop. Rage and shame seized the royalist officers on seeing their men turn from the fire of a handful of rebels, and mounting a horse that stood near, Grandison shouted to them to follow him. At the sound of his voice the fugitives rallied once more, and were led a third time to the assault. At the ditch they met the Roundheads sallying out, Blake in front, and instantly the struggle was renewed, pistol and pike, sword and musket. Grandison was shot in the leg and disabled. Colonel Owen advanced to take his place; he received the contents of a musket in his head. Hotly pressed in front, their leaders both put out of action, without plan or directing mind, the royalists at last fell back in dis- order to their old position ; and having completely swept the line, and cleared the hill, so far as they came within range of his fire, Blake retired with his exhausted troops to their little fort in triumph. 1 At other points the fortunes of the day had been less favourable to the Roundheads. Between Brandon Hill and Windmill Fort, where the curtain was incomplete and the defence weakest, Colonel Washington broke over with his regiment of horse ; and the defenders falling back rapidly, he advanced at a brisk pace through the sub- urbs up to Frome Gate : but being unsupported by the prince, his ardour exposed them to the danger of being enclosed and cut off to the last man. From the win- dows and roofs of houses a flanking fire galled and 1 Rupert Ms. in Warburton, ii. 247-249; Clarendon, iii. 10. ROBERT BLAKE. 47 thinned his ranks ; some of his bravest officers fell at his side. Rupert himself hesitated to enter the broken line, and kept his troop waiting in a meadow at the foot of Brandon Hill, out of range from its guns. Had Fiennes made a vigorous movement at this time, he might have captured or cut to pieces the whole squadron, and se- riously damaged the reputation of Rupert's redoubtable cavalry. But the governor's heart failed him as soon as the enemy appeared before Frome Gate. To the aston- ishment of the Cavaliers he made signs for a parley; and before midnight, had already agreed to surrender the city next morning at nine o'clock, on condition that the inhabitants should not be plundered, and that the garrison should depart without their arms. Blake's in- dignation at this strange conduct in his superior officer was loudly and fiercely expressed. At first he could not believe that a man, who had evinced no want of courage in the House of Commons, could give up the second city in the empire after a few hours of not very serious fighting, and for his own part he refused to admit the terms of capitulation, and threatened to hold his little stronghold to the last man. In the confusion of his preparation for departure on the morrow, Fiennes forgot to acquaint the commanders of Prior's Hill and Brandon Hill forts with the nature of the important act which he had just concluded ; and this negligence after- wards became a serious charge against him, as putting in peril many valuable lives. When, therefore, at sun- rise a body of royalists appeared before the ditch to take possession of the little fort which they had vainly as- sailed the previous day, Blake replied to their summons 48 ROBERT BLAKE. with a volley of musketry that sent them back in reeling and broken columns. On hearing that the redoubtable commander at Prior's Hill refused to admit the articles of surrender, Rupert declared that he would hang him on the spot : how different might have been his own career had he but carried this threat into execution ! Twenty-four hours longer Blake still held his post and kept the Cavaliers at bay ; but then learning, from sources on which he could rely, the exact nature of the agreement with Fiennes, and that the Roundhead gar- rison was already on its march, he reluctantly quitted the position he had shewn himself so well able to de- fend. The timid governor was afterwards brought before a court-martial at St. Alban's, where he was tried for cowardice, convicted and sentenced to death, but his life was spared by the lord general Essex. Blake did not appear as a witness against him on the trial. 1 The loss of Bristol was but one of a series of mis- fortunes. Ten days previous to the capitulation, Waller had been worsted at Lansdown Heath ; a fortnight be- fore that disaster, the Fairfaxes had fought and lost a great battle on Adderton Moor, and were then shut up in Hull. Even Cromwell's genius failed to keep down the Lincolnshire royalists ; Gainsborough was taken by their partisans; Lincoln itself had to be abandoned. Hopton had encountered and dispersed the Roundheads at Stratton in Cornwall. With the exception of Lon- don, the Associated Eastern Counties, and a few isolated towns, the whole country appeared to be finally reduced 1 Elegiac Enumeration, 5; Mercury, August 3, 74; State Trials, iv. 186-298; Clarendon, vi. 41; Rupert Ms. in Warburton, ii. 247-249. ROBERT BLAKE. 49 to obedience. Liberty was in its last throes, and one more decisive victory might have put an end to constitutions and parliaments in England for many years. 1 With no, fear of meeting an enemy by the \vay, Charles passed from Ox- ford to Bristol, where he called a council to deliberate on the next movement. Rupert and the war-party ad- vised the King to march on London and finish the war by one bold and brilliant stroke. But more timorous councils prevailed, and it was first resolved to reduce Gloucester, the only city of any importance in the west still faithful to the national cause : a fatal determina- tion for the King, as it gave the Roundheads time to re- cover from the alarm of so many disasters. Rising to the height of the occasion, the London train-bands once more marched, with Essex and his levies, against the victorious Cavaliers. Charles burnt his huts and raised the siege of Gloucester at their approach, and the battle of Newbury, though undecisive, restored in some degree the equality of the two powers. 2 Meantime Blake received new employments from the Parliament. He was named one of the Somerset Com- mittee for Ways and Means, and appointed, as a reward for his exploits at Bristol, Lieut. -Colonel to Popham's regiment, the finest militia in the country, a body fifteen hundred strong, well equipped, and firmly attached to Roundhead principles. With a part of this force, in which his brother Samuel had command of a company, Blake made a rapid dash into Bridgwater, in the hope of 1 Rushworth, v. 271-285 ; Whitelocke, 70 ; Cromwell's Letters, i. 21C-7. May, iii. 140; Parl. Hist_xii. 329 j Somers Tracts, v.296. E 50 ROBERT BLAKE. surprising the castle and securing the town for the good old cause. Riding in by the old stone bridge on which lie had so often played as a child, he stationed his men on the Corn-hill and market-place, and made the Swan his head-quarters. But Wyndham was on the alert. The guns of the castle, forty in number, were prepared for action ; the royalist garrison was at least equal in strength with his own regiment ; and under the energetic influence of the Luttrels, Trevelyans, and other county families, instigated and supported by a majority of the clergy, the townsmen themselves evinced no great eagerness to throw off the Cavalier yoke. Without ordnance, field- stores, or other necessary supplies, Blake did not venture to sit down and lose his time before the castle ; so he called in his scouts and patrols, and gave inarching or- ders for the south coast, where the regiment had been already destined for service in the defence of Lyme. A painful domestic incident marked his departure from his native town. Samuel, his younger brother, a gallant but imprudent officer, strayed from head-quarters: at a small village ale-house, the Shoulder of Mutton, at Pawlett, some four miles down the river, he heard it said that a captain of array and one of his follower; were crossing the river at Combwich passage to beat up recruits for the King's service. This intelligence he ought to have carried at once to his brother, instead of which his zeal and rashness induced him to mount his horse and ride after the two officers. At Streachill he came up with them, a quarrel ensued, and he was killed in the fray, leaving behind him a widow and two young children. Blake was terribly shocked, but he bore the ROBERT BLAKE. 51 misfortune in the true spirit of a Roundhead. " When the news came to Bridgwater," says one who lived in his family and often heard the circumstance referred to, " the officers of the regiment were seen to cabal together in little companies, five or six at a place, and talk of it very seriously, none of them being forward to tell Colonel Blake what they were talking about. At last he asked one of them very earnestly, and the gentleman replied with some emotion, Your brother Sam is killed, explaining how it came to pass. The colonel, having heard him out, said, Sam had no busi- ness there. And, as if he took no further notice of it, turned from the Corn-hill or market-place into the Swan Inn, of chief note in that town, and shutting himself in a room gave way to the calls of nature and brotherly love, saying, Died Abner as a fool dieth!" The same writer adds : " But the sorrow of heroic minds, as it is more powerful than that of the general, so it is sooner spent; and collecting his own great soul within itself, and remembering the duty and resignation to the Divine will, he was in a short time composed both in thought and look, and leaving the Swan room, conversed with his officers on the Corn-hill about their march to the south coast. After this gush of grief, he was never known to bewail his brother's untimely death, or let it dwell in his memory." But this sorrow was the more profound because it found no vent in words : to the end of his great career he never ceased to think with kind- ness and regret of poor Sam, the only one of his brothers who resembled him in the dauntless intrepidity of his nature ; and to the orphan children thus suddenly com- 52 ROBERT BLAKE, mitted to his charge he became the best of fathers. The oldest boy, Robert, evinced at an early age a longing for the sea ; he entered the navy, and served with distinction in the fleets of his uncle ; the younger, Samuel, shewed a more pacific disposition. It was to the young seaman, Captain Robert Blake, that the great admiral bequeathed, as the true heir to his naval glories, the gold chain be- stowed on him by Parliament for his eminent services to the Commonwealth. 1 After the fall of Bristol the royal army, increased by new levies, separated into two grand divisions. Rupert and the King turned northward, Maurice went into the west with orders to reduce the few towns on the south- west coast still holding out for Parliament. Lord Car- narvon led the advanced guard of this latter army, a powerful squadron of horse, and in a few weeks swept the country from the Severn to the sea. Dorchester struck without a blow. Weymouth, Corfe Castle and Portland Island fell into Cavalier hands; and these great losses were followed by those of Barnstaple, Dartmouth and Exeter. The natural strength of Plymouth still set the land-forces at defiance, but with the exception of two or three insignificant places like Poole and Lyme, this was the only centre of influence still retained by the Roundheads. Maurice, flushed with the glories of a triumphant inarch, tried the effect of a sudden storm at Plymouth ; but failing in this attempt, he left a detach- ment of his army to blockade the impregnable fortress, and with a force of nearly twenty thousand men moved 1 Office-copy of Blake's will, March 13, 1655; Ordinance for raising money, August 3, 1643; History and Life, 12, 13. ROBERT BLAKE. 53 along the coast, intending to punish the petty garrisons of Lyme and Poole, on his way towards London. 1 Lyme was at that date a little fishing town with nine hundred or a thousand inhabitants. Built in a narrow valley, at the dip between two hills, it was overlooked from the heights on three sides, and the cliffs com- manded the whole inner line of the bay. Three narrow lanes, leading towards Charmouth, Axminster and Sid- mouth, cut by a few irregular streets, formed the heart of the town. Generally the houses were built of soft stone and covered with thatch, the better sort having cu- rious old gables and balconies opening out pleasantly to the sea. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, stood on a rising ground on the left, but every part of the grave- yard, roof and steeple was overlooked from the brow of Colway hill. As a port Lyme was of slight importance, the water being shallow and the shore dangerous. Only vessels of the smallest tonnage could run in for shelter behind its ancient Cobb, a low sea-wall built out four or five hundred yards from the town to break the tremendous force of the Atlantic waves, yet as no other place of refuge offered itself for several leagues along that stormy coast, its roadstead sometimes swarmed with small vessels, the property of London merchants, and therefore good prize for the expectant royalists. The town-defences consisted of a dry ditch, a few earth- works hastily thrown up and three small batteries, Davies' fort, standing a little above Church Cliffs on a high ground looking towards Uplyme, but which has long since fallen into the sea Gun Cliff and the fort at 1 Clarendon, iii. 131, 249 ; Warburton, ii. 302-307. 54" ROBERT BLAKE. Cobb Gate, two low batteries on the sea-shore, covering the bay, but of little use against an enemy making his attack from the hills. Into this cluster of poor cottages Blake threw himself with part of Popham's regiment to protect the ships from marauding Cavaliers. Colonel Ceely, civil governor of the town, had won distinction for himself in many daring sallies against flying corps of royalists ; but when it became known that Maurice was bringing down the great army from Devonshire, he gave up the entire direction and responsibility of the defence to Blake, whose hold of this obscure and unfortified town became one of the most remarkable events of the war. 1 As the Prince came down from the hills of Somerset, Blake counted his forces, and found the number did not exceed five hundred men. The town, though its spirit was good, afforded little aid, for its whole population fell short of a thousand souls ; but with the assistance of Colonel Weir, Captain Pyne and Governor Ceely, a body of volunteers, some of them from Charmouth and other neighbouring villages, was drilled for service. Earth- works, hastily thrown up, connected the points of the de- fence from Davies' fort, on the High Cliff, along the slopes beyond the town to Holme Bush Fields near the Cobb. Two large houses, standing on opposite sides of the valley, about a mile from the line Colway House, an ancient residence of the Cobham family, and Haye, a substantial farm, were occupied as outposts. Foraging parties were sent out in all directions, with orders to 1 Ms. of Siege of Lyme ; plan of siege in Roberts Mss. ROBERT BLAKE. 55 bring back fodder, cattle and other necessaries, for all of which receipts were duly given. 1 Blake's comrades were still working at the rude de- fences when the glittering array of the royal army sud- denly appeared above the brow of Uplyme Hill. The vast expanse of bright sea, the green slopes of that secluded valley, broken to the view by clumps of trees, orchards and corn-fields, and the white houses of the town as they lay, serene and picturesque, in the morn- ing sun, touched some chords of sentiment even in the grim bosom of civil war, and the Cavalier host rent the air with a loud shout of surprise and admiration. It was not until evening that Maurice descended into the valley, drove the outposts from Haye and Colway House, and summoned Blake and Ceely to surrender. 2 The extreme weakness of the place was well known to the enemy ; so that when the Prince found his summons answered with a haughty defiance, he impetuously called to his trumpeters to sound a general charge. The in- fantry sent a shower of hand-grenades into the town, and in the disorder caused by their explosion, a power- ful squadron of horse rode down on the lines, expecting to carry them sword in hand at the first onset. But the tactics which had baffled the royalists at Prior's Hill pre- vailed again at Lyme; after a fierce struggle between pike and sabre, the horse, unable to force an entrance, drew off, and retired up the valley. The foot then ad- vanced in deep columns to storm; again and again they 1 Chute House Mss. In these accounts I find " a good fat bullock" valued at three pounds ; a truss of hay " at a very small value," four shillings. 2 Lyme Ms. 56 ROBERT BLAKE. advanced ; but always to fall back with loss of men and character before that unwavering and deadly fire. Fu- rious at this sudden check to his career of arms, Maurice rode down to the scene of confusion, rallied the broken ranks, and gave the word to charge once more ; but the men refused to obey the word, until he wheeled round his cavalry and drove them on by a few pistol-shots in their rear. It was all in vain. Volleys of case-shot met them in front from an enemy protected by cover from their fire; and as their ranks thinned, the line staggered, broke, and the men turned and fled beyond hope of recal that day. The Prince then changed his plan. Convinced by the firmness of the first day's resistance, that, con- temptible as Lyme might seem to the King and his coun- cil, he must either sit down to the labours of a regular siege, or march away with his great army, leaving this vigilant enemy in his rear and with the stain of discom- fiture on his hitherto victorious banner. Between these two courses there was indeed no choice ; so he drew off his forces to a short distance, took up his own residence at Colway House, and threw up a few works on which to plant his siege artillery. More than eight weeks that fine army lay on the slopes over Lyme, baffled by an enemy with only a handful of men, and mud-works for ramparts ! At Oxford, the affair was an inexplicable marvel and mystery. Every hour the court expected to hear that the " little vile fishing town," as Clarendon contemptuously calls it, had fallen, and that Maurice had marched away to enterprises of greater moment; but every post brought word to the wondering council, that Colonel Blake still held out, and that his spirited ROBERT BLAKE. 57 defence was rousing and rallying the dispersed adherents of Parliament in those parts. While the western divi- sion of the royalists was wasting its time and strength in an obscure corner, neither port, nor fortress, nor high- way, the most important towns and castles lay open to the enemy, and some of them actually fell into their hands. Lyme itself remained unshaken. Day after day, week after week, storm, stratagem, blockade, failed to make any apparent impression on the little garrison. Maurice felt the bitter humiliation of his position ; un- able to account to his uncle and his brother for the delay of its capture, he sacrificed the lives of his men like a wanton prodigal to secure success. How often would the thought occur to him if Rupert had only hung that Captain Blake at Bristol! In London the press was filled with the wonders of this remarkable defence ; and Roundhead writers used it as a set-off against their own prolonged failures at Latham House. Yet the Cavaliers fought before the breastworks at Lyme with the most resolute gallantry, and some of the best blood in the west of England flowed into those shallow trenches. After the siege was raised, and the royalists had time to count up and compare their losses, they found to their sur- prise and horror that more men of gentle blood had died under Blake's fire at Lyme, than had fallen in all the other sieges and skirmishes in the western counties since the opening of the war. 1 Within the town, all was activity, confidence, enthu- siasm. The volunteers from Uplyme, Charmouth, and the villages along the sea-coast, raised the effective 1 Lyme Ms. 58 ROBERT BLAKE. force of the garrison to nearly a thousand men ; many of them rude of speech, unused to arms, unbroken by discipline, but hardy, fearless and devoted to the good cause. After a week's service in that fierce school, under that steady command, they stood fire like veteran soldiers; and they brought into the camp a spirit of disin- terestedness quite unusual in men of the sword. Under pressure of the defence, they served without pay, and lived on short commons ; many of them had no shirts or other linen, few wore shoes and stockings, and still fewer could boast of a full suit of clothes. Yet no murmur was ever heard: each man felt some portion of the greatness of the issues then at stake, and ordinary suffer- ings seemed as nothing when borne in the name of free- dom and of God. Nor was this martial ardour confined to the hardier sex ; women not only tended the sick, and waited on the wounded, but wrought at the ditch and barricades, loaded the bandoliers with powder and shot, and even learned to handle the musket with effect. One heroine stood in the ranks during the whole time of a furious attempt to storm, and fired sixteen rounds of shot at the enemy's columns. 1 Possessed of a regular siege train, Maurice had an immense superiority in the more distant fighting. His batteries, placed on the cliffs and slopes above the line of defence, gradually silenced the little forts in the town. Cobb Gate was destroyed by a battery erected at Holme Bush, which battery also swept the bay, and prevented the arrival of vessels, except under cover of night. A powerful battery was erected on Colway Hill to act 1 Lyme Ms. ROBERT BLAKE. 59 against Davies' fort the key of the defence, but the earth^wall on that side being hastily strengthened six or eight feet, the cannon-shots spent their force on them to no purpose. In the narrow streets and lanes of the town, destruction went on slowly but certainly. Hand- grenades were picked up in every yard; many houses had been rendered untenable ; those on the hill-side near the road to Sidmouth had been utterly destroyed ; the vessels in the harbour suffered much from the land batteries ; but not an inch of the line had been won not an opening into the town had been effected. About seven at night on May 6th a grand attack was made by surprise. Six days the Royalists had lain quiet in their tents, and the town-people had been employed in se- curing their fishing-boats from the rage of a tempest; the soldiers, a little off guard, were at supper and the approach of the storming party three separate columns, supported by musqueteers, was concealed by a thick fog. Roused, however, by the enemy's signals, the Roundheads flew to arms, and met their assailants with valour and impetuosity superior to their own. Some companies of Royalists, fighting as if they had resolved to take the place that night at all costs, forced their way through the rude works, and pressed on with shouts towards the market square ; but the defenders closed behind them, and cut off from their comrades in the narrow alleys of an unknown town, the enemy in front, flank and rear, they perished almost to a man. The as- sailants having failed in their onset, the fog and darkness came in aid of the defence; and in less than an hour after the signal to storm the breastwork had been given, GO ROBERT BLAKE. the Cavaliers were driven off from every part of the cres- cent, leaving behind them a huge assortment of pikes, muskets, hand-grenades and ladders. A hundred men lay dead in the trenches. By death, wounds, and desertion, Maurice lost between four and five hundred men that night. Colonel Blewett, one of the best soldiers in the royal camp, fell, pierced with three balls, while gallantly leading his column across the works. The day he joined the camp before Lyme, the generals told him it was a mere breakfast matter, and that they would carry the town before they dined! Captain Pawlett and many other officers were left dead in the fields. Next morning, Maurice sent to beg the body of his friend Blewett, and Blake at once consented to restore it if his men should not be disturbed while searching for the body, and pick- ing up the other spoil. He would not, he said, in such a case make conditions, but he would appeal to the Prince's magnanimity to set at liberty a Mr. Harvey, Ceely's brother-in-law, who had been seized when going about his usual affairs, and was then a prisoner in the camp. Blewett's corpse was found, washed and put into a new shroud and coffin ; but Maurice refused to restore Mr. Harvey, and told them they might keep the late colonel if they pleased. Indignant at this reply, Blake had the coffin carried to the line, opposite the entry on Holme Bush, where he signalled the heralds to come for it. " Have you," said he, scornfully, as the men approached, " have you any command to pay for the shroud and coffin ?" They answered, " No." Curling his fine black whiskers with his finger, as was his habit when in anger, he added with superb dis- ROBERT BLAKE. 61 dain "Nevertheless, take them: we are not so poor but we can give them to you." 1 In the meantime, having the sea still open at night, Blake was urgent in his appeals to Parliament for suc- cour. Provisions and ammunition were both failing; some of his most active partisans had fallen at his side in the daily encounters, and his little garrison was ra- pidly losing its strength by death, wounds and sickness. But to the Cavaliers he still presented the same resolute front. Late one night his scouts brought word that early next morning the enemy intended a surprise ; against this plot he resolved to use counter-plot ; there- fore, when the assailants, moving with great caution, came to the works, they found them more deserted than they had dared to hope; the few men on guard fled before them into the town, and Cavaliers to the number of four hundred followed them into the net of close and intricate alleys where Blake had laid his ambush. Not a single man escaped. Cut off from their friends and enclosed in a ring of fire, poured on them from the cover of windows, doors, and parapets, as well as from the soldiers in the streets, they struggled gallantly to gain some open space, but after a great part of their body had fallen in heaps, choking the way and rendering it still more difficult to advance or retreat, the rest laid down their arms and were made prisoners of war. A parley took place shortly after this signal disaster, when Blake told one of the royalist generals that he did not wish for advantage of position : the officer, then stand- ing on the low breastwork, pointed out its weakness to 1 Lvme Ms. 6% R6BERT BLAKE. his notice, and spoke with the confidence of a soldier of its speedy capture. " Here," said the commander of the garrison characteristically, "you see how weak our works are ; they are not things wherein we trust ; there- fore tell the Prince that if he wishes to come into the town with his army to fight, we will pull down ten or twelve yards, so that he may come in with ten men abreast, and we will fight him." The Royalists replied that they would come into the town when they could do so to their own advantage: which did not happen in Blake's time. 1 The twenty-third of May found the two commanders anxiously counting up the store of bread and powder. Indeed the crisis was at hand ; in two weeks more the last sack of flour would be consumed, and if no relief came in by sea the heroic garrison would be starved out, and either forced to surrender or cut their way through the beleaguering hosts. But with the fortune that at- tends the brave, they descried on that very evening a sail rounding Portland Point; and when the next morning dawned the fleet of the Earl of Warwick was seen in the offing, lying as near to the shore as the dan- gerous form of the coast would allow. He had brought by order of Parliament a small relief of provisions and some military stores. The sailors sent on land with these supplies were so shocked to see the naked and deplorable condition of the little garrison of whose prowess they had heard so much, that they immediately returned to the ships and spread the touching details of the story among their comrades. These noble fellows at once 1 Lvme Ms. ROBERT BLAKE. 63 made a collection of all the articles they could spare ; and many a man that day gave up his best shoes, his warmest shirt, and more than half his ration to the de- fenders of Lyme. They contributed from their scanty stores, thirty pair of boots, a hundred pair of shoes, a hundred and sixty pair of stockings, a heap of old clothes, a good round number of shirts, and a consider- able quantity of bread and fish. Nor was this the largest part of their generous sacrifice : they proposed to the commissariat to give up for the same uses a fourth of their daily allowance of bread for the next four months, in all nine thousand pounds weight. While these ar- rangements were being made in their favour on board, the garrison was fighting in the streets. Blake was at the head of a sallying party about to issue from the gate, when Captain Southern, sent by Maurice to make ano- ther desperate effort to carry the town by assault before Warwick could send re-inforcements on shore, began the attack. The shock was brief but terrific. Colonel Weir, Blake's most active and efficient officer, was shot in the abdomen ; Captain Pyne, his gallant master of the horse, received a wound which soon proved mortal ; Blake himself was hurt in the foot, enough to make him limp ever after. Sixty Cavalier corpses strewed the ground ; among them Captain Southern, who for a freak had that day dressed himself in Lord Pawlett's armour a man most hateful to the people of Lyme, and after- wards heavily mulcted for his share in these transactions for the express benefit of the town. 1 Few had done so much for the defence as Captain 1 Harl. Mss. 3G8 ; Com. Jour. August 5, 1648. 6t ROBERT BLAKE. Pyne ; and Blake, true to the Roundhead idea, ordered a solemn funeral to be performed in his honour. Un- fortunately the death-bell, tolling from St. Michael's Tower, and the usual volleys fired at a soldier's grave, informed the Cavaliers, who from Black Venne and Col- way Hill could look down into the very churchyard, that another mournful act of the drama was in progress and the attention of men drawn off from the defence ; and as the people in their mourning attire turned slowly from the chancel where they had paid the last duties to their old companion in arms, a cry of attack was raised along the streets, and a cannonade, louder, fiercer and better sustained than on any former occasion commenced from all the batteries. After thundering at the works until noon, tearing away the earth-walls in several places, bursting through roofs and knocking down chim- neys, the foot advanced with their scaling-ladders, hand- grenades and long pikes. Three points were assailed at once, from Charmouth road, from Uplyme and from the high grounds above Holme Bush. The outraged Roundheads met the attacking parties with the fury of demons. That day blood flowed down the steep gutters, and both the rivulet and the town-water were died crim- son. The royalist gentry held their ground resolutely ; but their ardour was no longer seconded by that of the common soldiers, and they were three times driven back with shame and loss to their entrenchments. Yet their repulses were dearly bought, and in the diary of the defence this day was marked as that on which the town suffered most severely in the lives of its garrison. 1 1 Lyme Ms. ROBERT BLAKE. 65 When all was still again, Blake went on board the fleet and arranged with Warwick the details of an ope- ration for the ensuing day. In pursuance of this scheme three hundred men were secretly landed from the ships ; the fleet then weighed anchor, and stood away eastward towards Charmouth, making feints of a wish to throw a body of men on shore at some favourable point. Maurice, anxiously watching this movement from the heights, con- cluded that the Earl had taken part of the garrison on board with the intention of throwing them on his rear or flank, and he sent his cavalry and a few hundred foot along the brow of the cliffs, to wait on this suspicious movement, and, if possible, prevent a lauding. By firing a few broadsides towards the cliffs, Warwick drew this force to the east of Seatown, seven or eight miles from Lyme, where he commenced a more steady cannonade, and made appear as if he designed to send a body of men towards Chideock Castle. This movement induced the Royalists to throw up a breastwork. Meanwhile, as Blake had foreseen, the Prince resolved to make a grand and final attempt to carry the works by storm. Three thousand men were chosen for this forlorn hope ; arranged in three deep columns, and ordered to support and suc- ceed each other in the attack. By the accession of three hundred seamen Blake could now muster about twelve hundred men, and as Maurice's formidable cavalry was away among the hills beyond Seatown, the two forces were nearer equal than they had been in any previous encounter ; with the advantages for Lyme of concentra- tion, narrow streets, houses, every one of which was a little fortress, and the works in advance, such as they 66 ROBERT BLAKE. were. At six in the evening, while there were still three good hours of daylight, the first shots were ex- changed, and until past eight the slope leading to Up- lyme was like a battle-field, and the firing so swift and fierce as to give the town an appearance of being wrapt in flames. Some houses were set on fire and destroyed, others were battered down with shot ; but the sight of burning thatch and falling rafters only served to inflame still more the courage of the people. A full third of the town was already in ruins, and even had he succeeded, Maurice would have gained nothing at Lyme but glory and a heap of stones. 1 The first column fought for half an hour with much gallantry ; it then retired, and the second column occupied its post. By half-past seven it was also broken, and the last column advanced with tre- mendous shouts on the now almost exhausted garrison. Falling back a little, so as to recover breath under the cross fire from the nearest houses, the defenders there made a vigorous stand, and in half an hour the result was no longer doubtful. Blake then gave his final orders. Advancing from all sides, as if quickened with new life, his officers appeared on both flanks of the enemy, while he pressed them steadily in front. A little after eight o'clock the column was cut through, and the soldiers fled in disorder to their entrenched quarters. Stragglers continued to fire their pieces at intervals until night-fall ; but the battle was already over. That day cost King Charles five hundred of his bravest followers. 2 Maurice had made his last effort, and it had failed. Cannonades were repeated again and again, but the 1 Mayor's Accounts in Roberts Mss. 2 Lyme Ms. ROBERT BLAKE. 67 crisis was now past ; for Essex was moving westward with a large army, and the Prince felt that his position before Lyme was no longer tenable. As a parting salute he fired into the town a quantity of red-hot balls and bars of twisted lea History and Life, 42 ; Whitelocke, Nov. 30 ; Falle, 39. 182 ROBERT BLAKE. off from the mainland and surrounded by rocks and seas, commanding the island though not commanded by it, Elizabeth Castle was universally considered an im- pregnable fortress. The nearest point of land on which a fort could be raised against it was more than three- fourths of a mile distant, and the sunken rocks lay so near the surface all round, that a frigate or man-of-war could not approach it within several furlongs. With plenty of men and an occasional supply of provisions from France, Carteret hoped to hold this rock until a change of fortune came to his royal master ; and into this fortress the chief Cavalier gentry, the clergy of the island and a picked garrison retired at the approach of the Roundheads on St. Heliers, which town they at once entered and secured. Having already battered down a strong fort at St. Mary's, Blake believed he could also damage Elizabeth Castle from his fleet ; and therefore while Colonel Haynes invested Mount Orgueil by land, he himself carried his frigates into St. Aubin's Bay, and planting them as near the fortifications as the pilot could find sea-room for them, he opened a tremendous fire on its old walls. The garrison answered with a loud cannonade. But at the very outset of this furious attack, an accidental shot from the Victory produced a most disastrous moral effect on the defenders. A cannon-ball struck the little church on the rock, splintered the stones and killed several persons ; at which Lady Carteret was so alarmed that she earnestly entreated her husband to make terms with the Admiral before the island was blown to pieces. The commander was himself firm ; but so many persons, ROBERT BLAKE. 183 male and female, came to him with their fears, that he was forced to send away his best boats with them that very night to France. Neither Lady Carteret nor the ladies and gentlemen who accompanied her in her hasty flight could have been of much use in the defence. But seeing these persons going on board under cover of the dark night, a part of the regular garrison, equally de- sirous of saving their own lives, made an attempt to get off at the same time ; and all who were taken in the act of trying to escape were hanged as deserters. Still further to dispirit the defenders, Mount Orgueil surrendered after a fortnight's siege: Sir Philip Car- teret obtaining from Blake the promise of an amnesty and act of oblivion for himself and his comrades in arms, a promise which was in due time confirmed to them by Parliament. Twenty brass and iron guns, as many barrels of powder, a thousand stand of arms, and two months' provisions for seventy men, were the spoils of the victors. The land forces were then moved to a hill near St. Hilary's and opposite the Castle, but the or- dinary field-artillery was of no use in that peculiar ser- vice, and Blake had to send to Plymouth for mortars of greater calibre. From these mortars a succession of missiles were thrown into the castle ; many of the houses were knocked down and multitudes were killed by the exploding grenades ; but, without one word of encouragement from his master, one message of hope from Lord Jermyn, Carteret gallantly held his little rock two months longer, though at a terrific sacrifice of human life, when a large magazine of stores was blown up and eighty otficers and men were buried in 184 ROBERT BLAKE. the ruins. This crowning calamity induced him to hoist a white flag, and after a parley, to surrender on condition of being taken, with such officers as chose to go, and landed safely at St. Maloes, on the 1 coast of Normandy. The garrison had been reduced to three hundred and eighty men. A great park of artillery, and stores of powder, shot, bread, beer, beef, salt, wine and brandy, were found in the remaining magazines. After these signal successes, Cornet Castle, in Guernsey, sur- rendered without a blow, and the English seas were at last cleared of every enemy to the Commonwealth of England. l For this important service Blake received the special thanks of Parliament, as did also Colonel Haynes. A public thanksgiving was ordered for these victories and for the conquest of Limerick, which city had been taken about the same time. The election of members for the Council of State being about to take place, Blake was nominated by Parliament, in a full House, one of that supreme body. His hands were already pretty full. He was a Commissioner for sequestrating the Estates of Somerset Delinquents a Commissioner for purging the Ministry of improper persons a Com- missioner of the Navy and Admiralty a member of the House of Commons and a member of the Council of State. And now, as if these offices implied no cares and duties, he was appointed, in the probable event of a fierce and sanguinary war with Holland, sole General- at-Sea for the ensuing year. 2 1 Relation Ms. in Falle, 41, 42; Parl. History, xx. 79; History and Life, 42-44 ; Clarendon, v. 286-7. J Blake to Navy Com., Dec. 27, Dept. Mss. ROBERT BLAKE. 185 But this accumulation of offices and honours did not prevent the great seaman from looking with care and courtesy to the interest of his humblest companions in glory. His letters at this as at every other time exhibit his characteristic kindness of heart, shewing the utmost readiness to hear complaints and to rectify grievances. One of his earliest suggestions to the Navy- Commis- sioners, after the reduction of the Channel Islands left them at leisure to think of abuses at home, was a strong recommendation for them to adopt the plan of paying the seamen's wages in the port in which they were discharged, and as soon as they came on shore ; so as neither to give them the trouble of walking to Lon- don nor to keep them waiting several days at Ports- mouth or Plymouth, in idleness, at great expense, and at a distance from all the salutary influences of family and home. His regard for minor and individual cases of distress was illustrated by numerous special applications to the Commissioners. Every sufferer found a zealous advocate in his beloved Admiral. And although abuses of many kinds continued to prevail at the Admiralty Office and in the dock-yards, defying every effort of the courageous naval reformer, there is good reason to suppose that when Blake pleaded the cause of his own seamen, he generally obtained justice for the ap- plicants. 1 1 Blake to Navy Com., January 21, Dept. Mss. CHAPTER VL 1652. Cfye Uutd) 3ar. A CHERISHED dream of the English Republicans had been the idea of forming the United Provinces of Hol- land and the new insular Commonwealth into one mighty Protestant state. The Dutch were then the greatest naval power in the world. The sea seemed to be their native element, and their fleets of war and commerce were known in every port, from the farthest east to the remotest west. Their colonial empire was only inferior in extent to that of Spain; while their wealth, energy and valour, gave promise of its indefinite expansion. England possessed a larger home territory, better harbours, and a finer geographical position. Its population was more numerous ; its maritime resources were scarcely, if at all, inferior ; and its land forces, after putting down the proudest chivalry of Europe, were no longer to be compared with the mere merce- nary troops of Italy and the Empire. The amalgama- tion of the two Commonwealths would, therefore, have produced a vast and powerful Republic, capable, should the need arise, of combatting all the crowns of the Con- tinent. Such a union would have been able to dictate peace even to powers like France and Spain. It would have secured the ascendency of Protestant ideas and a ROBERT BLAKE. 187 liberal policy in the north and west of Europe ; and would have furnished a vantage-ground from which knowledge and free institutions might have contended with greater effect against the ignorance, bigotry and despotism which in modern times have found their strongholds in the east and south. But this splendid conception was opposed by commercial jealousies and dynastic interests. William, second Prince of Orange of that name, had married in the palmy days of Stuart rule, a daughter of Charles I. ; so that in addition to his princely antipathy to commonwealths, he was urged to thwart the idea of such an alliance by the powerful motive of a possible succession for his wife and children to the English throne. He was extremely popular with the lower classes of his countrymen ; and so long as he lived, the two Protestant states remained on bad terms. He refused to extend to the Parliament's agents the ordinary protection of Dutch laws. Dorislaus, its first envoy, was murdered at the Hague by followers of Montrose. Strickland, who succeeded to the perilous office, suffered daily insults in the public streets. Yet no redress could be obtained. Recent prosperity, a career of victory unrelieved by chance or check, had raised the pride of Holland to the highest. Within a few years the renowned Admirals of the Republic had humbled the power of Spain, punished the insolence of Dunkirk, compelled the Prince of Salee and the Deys of Tunis and Algiers to sue for peace, and made the Sul- tan of Fez and Morocco tremble on his distant throne. After such successes, nothing seemed to them beyond the reach of their ambition ; and many of their people, 188 ROBERT BLAKE. led by the Orange party, were anxious for a rupture with England at the moment of its supposed exhaustion, in the confident belief that in a few weeks they would be able to wrest from it that vain but fiercely disputed right to be considered mistress of the narrow seas. 1 But the Prince of Orange died somewhat suddenly, leaving the heir to his honours and passions yet unborn ; and the democratic party, comprising nearly all that was liberal and enlightened in Holland, seized the oppor- tunity to abolish the office of Stadtholder and restore the pure form of republican government. Their success encouraged the English leaders to believe that, even if their favourite idea of a complete fusion could not be realised, a close alliance, offensive and defensive, might be formed between the two states. Oliver St. John was sent over as ambassador to the States-General to propose a treaty of trade and friendship. His reception was at first cordial and flattering ; but the negociations went on slowly and uncertainly. After a long consideration of the English proposals, their High Mightinesses offered a counter project. Debates, interviews, and written ex- planations multiplied ; time wore on ; and at length St. John found that his leave of absence had expired. His pride was hurt at these delays. The exile court was still at the Hague, and in addition to his ill success with the States-General, he was subject to frequent out- rages from the Cavaliers. The Dutch, on their side, were angry with Parliament for having fixed a day for its agent's return, fancying it intended as a sarcasm or 1 Thurloe, i. 112-124, 174 ; Colliber's Columna Rostrata, 93 ; Cor- nelius Van Tromp (1697), 6-11. ROBERT BLAKE. 189 a menace. Probably the true cause of tbe delay was a desire on the part of Holland not to commit herself to the new Commonwealth until the result of the Scotch invasion should be seen : St. John answered their com- plaints in haughty language, and took his leave, war between the two countries already raging in his heart. 1 As soon as the battle of Worcester had put an end to every doubt as to the stability of the Common- wealth, Dutch statesmen saw their mistake ; and in turn the States-General sent envoys to assuage the wrath of Parliament, and endeavour to resume the negociation at the point where it had been interrupted. But new causes of offence were now in the way, and the terms once rejected could no longer be obtained. Some Eng- lish merchants, in consequence of complaints made to the Council of State of their losses by Dutch privateers, had received letters of marque against the ships of that nation ; and in a short time more than eighty prizes had been secured in the ports of our east coast. But a still more serious obstacle to negociation had arisen in passing the famous Navigation Act. The Dutch were a nation of traders. Their whale, cod and herring fisheries occupied a great number of vessels ; but the largest and best part of their commercial navy was employed in the carrying trade. Amsterdam and Rotterdam were the exchanges of Europe ; and the shipowners of these rich ports made their largest fortunes by transporting the produce of art and nature from one country to another. Under the Stuarts, England had neglected this import- 1 Parl. Hist. xix. 454-474; Whitelocke, 463; Mercurius Politicus, 44-46; Carte's Coll. i. 427;. Heath, 285-287. 190 ROBERT BLAKE. ant branch of naval industry ; but the Navigation Act, in declaring that no goods, the produce of Asia, Africa or America, should be imported into England except in vessels either belonging to subjects of the Common- wealth, or to the countries from which the goods were imported, put a period, so far as these islands, with all their colonies, connexions and dependencies, were con- cerned, to that lucrative and fruitful branch of Dutch en- terprise. The first prayer of the new Ambassador, there- fore, was that this severe law of exclusion should be re- pealed, or if not repealed at once, that its action should be suspended during the progress of negociation. But while urging this point in the name of peace, they were careful to hint before the Council of State that they were then fitting out a powerful fleet for the protection of their trade. Parliament took the hint as a menace, and replied by ordering its captains to exact all those honours to the red cross which had been claimed by England in the narrow seas from the Saxon times. This order soon raised new troubles. Commodore Young, falling in with a Dutch fleet returning from Genoa, sent to request the Admiral of the convoy to lower his flag ; the latter refused to comply with a demand so unex- pected without first consulting his superiors ; and Young poured a broadside into the ships. A sharp action ensued, but the Dutchman was obliged to strike. To revenge what they professed to think an insult to their colours, the States-General fitted out a fleet of forty-two sail and placed it under the command of their renowned Admiral, Tromp, with instructions to use his experienced discretion as to when and how far he would insist on ROBERT BLAKE. 191 the point of supremacy ; but he was positively required to repel on all occasions, and at all hazards, attacks on the traders of the Republic, and to support the dignity of its flag. Tromp's wily genius was well suited to the execution of these vague and plastic orders. 1 War had not yet been declared, and the ambassadors were still in London talking of peace, when the Dutch Admiral suddenly appeared in the Downs. Bourne, stationed with a squadron of the fleet near Dover, de- spatched a messenger with intelligence of this visit to Blake, then cruising in the James off Rye Bay, in the usual manner of the summer guard. Suspecting that some evil design was in contemplation, Blake instantly gave his orders, and in a few hours his whole force was under sail for the Straits. Next morning he saw for the first time his celebrated enemy lying in and about Dover roadstead ; when he came within ten or twelve miles of the nearest ships, Tromp weighed anchor and stood out to sea, but without either lowering his flag or offering any explanation of this act of defiance. Blake fired a signal- gun to call attention to the omission. No answer was returned. To a second and a third shot Tromp replied derisively by a single gun, still keeping his course, with the flag flying proudly at mast-head. Over against Calais road, it was observed by the English that he fell in with a ketch coming full speed from Holland, the captain of which evidently brought important orders, for he soon after veered round and made towards Blake, his own ship, the Brederode, being in the van. The English offi- Scobell, ii. 176; Clarendon, v. 278; Columna Rostrata, 93; Cor- nelius Tromp, 12, 13; Granville Penn, i. 419-421. 192 ROBERT BLAKE. cers were rather mystified by these movements ; but in spite of the presence of the Dutch ambassador in Lon- don, the Admiral felt a strong impression that Tromp had received instructions to offer battle, and he lay-to and got his squadron into as good a fighting posture as he could on so short a notice. The Dutch had a vastly supe- rior force. Tromp counted forty-two men-of-war and frigates. Blake only fifteen. He had sent orders for Bourne to join him with his squadron of eight ships; but these were not yet in sight, and possibly would not arrive in time for the engagement which seemed to threaten. The disproportion of vessels did not, however, indicate the true disproportion of force. As a rule the English ships were larger than those of Holland, car- rying more guns and a greater body of men ; but, on the other hand, the Dutch ships were manned by veteran seamen, while the great body of men on board the Eng- lish fleet were raw soldiers sent from the camp and en- tirely unaccustomed to the new service. 1 When the two fleets came within musket-range, Blake, affecting not to notice the enemy's menacing attitude, shot out from his main body and advanced towards the Brederode to speak with its commander about the refu- sal of honours formerly paid to the royal colours ; but the Dutch ship sent a broadside into the James and stopt her short. Blake and several of his officers were in the cabin when this salute burst on them, smashing all the glass, and severely damaging the stern. He lifted his eyes from his papers, and coolly observed " Well, it is not very civil in Van Tromp to take my flag-ship 1 Blake to Navy Com., March 7, 1653, Dept. Mss. ROBERT BLAKE. 193 for a brothel, and break my windows !" As he spoke, another broadside rolled from the decks of the Brede- rode. Curling his black whiskers round his fingers, as he always did in anger, he called his gunners to return the fire, and in a short time the battle became general. 1 The English admirals then in service had not hither- to seen maritime war conducted on a grand scale, like Trorap and the officers who had served under his orders in the great contest with Spain ; and only one of them, Vice-admiral Penn, had received a regular naval educa- tion. When the Council of State appointed Blake to the sole command against Holland, they gave him two blank commissions, that he might select his own vice and rear-admirals for the ensuing year ; and in conjunc- tion with Cromwell, he had named Penn and Bourne to these important stations. Penn went on board the Triumph, sixty-eight guns, taking young Robert Blake, son of the Admiral's late brother Samuel, as his lieute- nant ; Bourne raised his flag on board the St. Andrew, of sixty guns. But not supposing it possible that their navy would be assailed while the Dutch envoys were still in London soliciting peace, Penn had got leave of absence from his ship, and was then on a visit to his family ; so that Blake had to contend with inferior power against the greatest nautical genius of the age, without having at his side a single person of practical knowledge as a seaman. At four o'clock the contest began with a rapid suc- cession of broadsides. On the part of Blake at least, 1 History and Life, 48-50 ; Granville Penn, i. 421-443; Clarendon, v. 279 ;. Cornelius Tromp, 18-21. O- 194 ROBERT BLAKE. no line appears to have been formed ; fleet met fleet and ship grappled ship as they chanced to fall in each other's way. From the first onset, the James, a 50-gun ship, carrying 260 men, bore the brunt of the action. 1 The recollection of Lyme and Taunton, of Scilly and Carthagena, fierce as it was, faded before this terrific work. More than seventy cannon-balls were lodged in his hull ; his masts were completely blown away ; and his rigging was torn into ribands by the tremendous gunnery of the Dutch. His master, one of his mates, and several of his other officers fell, dead or wounded, at his side. For four hours the shot of the enemy flew about and around him without intermission. Six men were killed, thirty-five were desperately wounded, and many more were hurt; but his crew maintained the unequal contest with a bravery and resolution after his own heart. As night came down, their energies were roused to new life by the thunder of Bourne's cannon bursting suddenly in the enemy's rear. The sound of artillery, booming along the waters, had reached the rear-guard, consisting of the St. Andrew and seven other ships, and Bourne immediately crowded sail and stood out to sea in hope of sharing in the battle. He arrived in the crisis of the engagement, and his 300 additi- onal guns sufficed to turn the scale of victory. Unable or unwilling to engage this new enemy, Tromp retired from the scene about nine o'clock with the fast-fading light, leaving his intended surprise and destruction of the English fleet at best a drawn battle. Blake was 1 Add. Mss. 17,503. ROBERT BLAKE. 195 too much disabled to follow in his wake, his mizen- mast being shot away, his sails and cordage all torn and broken. He came to an anchor about four miles off the Ness, and spent the night in repairs and preparations for the morrow. But when day dawned the Dutch were not in sight. Far as the eye could reach, the Channel shewed no trace of an enemy : and the Com- monwealth was once more lord of the narrow seas. During the fight two Dutch ships had been boarded and taken ; but one of them was so much damaged in the action that it was feared she would go down in the night, so that after rifling her holds and cabins the crew turned her adrift; the other capture, a ship of thirty guns, was brought in safely and manned for im- mediate service. Young Robert Blake greatly distin- guished himself this day. In the absence of Vice- admiral Penn, he commanded the Triumph, and evinced such eminent skill and courage, that on Penn's removal to the James, he was appointed captain of that impor- tant vessel. With the one exception of the flag-ship, the fleet had not suffered materially. Only nine men were reported as slain in all the other ships. Of the Dutch, two hundred and fifty were taken prisoners, and nearly as many more were said to be killed. 1 The sudden encounter of two powerful fleets in the midst of peace, without declaration of war or other pre- vious formality to prepare men's minds for such a shock, produced an extraordinary sensation in the two coun- 1 Elegiac Enumeration, 16; Somers Tracts, vii. 20-86; Cornelius Tromp, 17, 18 ; Clarendon, v. 279 ; Granville Penn, i. 422-427. 196 ROBERT BLAKE. tries. In London, the mob rose at the cry of treachery, and would perhaps have burnt the house of the Dutch ambassadors at Chelsea, had not the government sent down a troop of horse for their protection. These am- bassadors made strenuous efforts to explain the causes of the rencounter. They declared that Tromp was not the first to begin. They accounted for his appearance in the Downs by alleging stress of weather. They said he was about to lower his flag when Blake began to fire ; they expressed deep regret at what had occurred ; and urged, with great apparent earnestness, that violent counsels should give place to renewed attempts at ne- gociation. Their Admiral also pretended that he had not violated the peace ; that from first to last he had merely stood on his defence. .He declared that had he chosen to make use of his immense superiority of force, he could have destroyed the English fleet. The peo- ple received this declaration with laughter and con- tempt. At last the ambassadors offered to disavow and disgrace their great Admiral ; but the more they pressed their point, the sterner and more exacting Parliament became. England, it replied, had suffered insult and wrong ; its duty was therefore to seek reparation for the past, security for the future. Every day war seemed nearer; every day the States-General seemed more resolved to adhere to their pacific policy. As a final effort they sent over their grand pensionary, Pauw, a man whose character and office were thought likely to give unusual weight to his overtures ; but the demands of Parliament rose at every turn, and after a fruitless attempt to negociate, this eminent ambassador gave up ROBERT BLAKE. 197 the vain effort to reconcile the two powers, and took his leave. 1 Blake continued master of the Channel. All pre- tence of reserve being thrown away in consequence of the late engagement, he exerted all his power to harass the enemy's trade, and to fit out such vessels as had fallen into his hands for immediate service against them. His cruisers brought prizes into port almost daily dur- ing the latter part of May and June. He captured ten merchant-men at one swoop. One day he received intel- ligence that a Dutch fleet of twenty-six traders, convoyed by three men-of-war, was coming up Channel : they were all captured, traders and convoy, and the latter immediately manned and fitted for service. 2 In less than a month, to the surprise and ecstacy of the Lon- doners, he had sent into the river more than forty rich prizes captured in open sea from their powerful and vigilant enemy. The Dutch merchants were compelled to abandon the Straits. Their argosies from the South of Europe and from the Eastern and Western Indies had either to run for safety into French ports and send their cargoes overland at an immense loss, or make the long and dangerous voyage round by the North. This bril- liant success inspired the Council of State with new life. Orders were given to strengthen Dover pier. Forty sail were added by a vote to the fleet. At Blake's sugges- tion six additional fire-ships were prepared. The sea- men's wages were raised ; and the Vice-admirals of all the maritime stations from Norfolk to Hampshire were 1 Thurloe, i. 207-211; Heath, 314-321 ; Cornelius Tromp, 27-59. * Council to Navy Com., June 17, Dept. Mss. 198 ROBERT BLAKE. requested to summon together all mariners between the ages of fifteen and twenty, young, ardent, docile, and engage them in the State's service. Knowing the vast resources and inflexible spirit of the people with whom they were about to enter into serious conflict, the Coun- cil of State, Blake being a member, and in all matters connected with the navy its chief authority, resolved that the entire fleet should be raised to 250 sail and 14 fire- ships ; and that the divisions should be commanded and located as follows : 30 sail were to go forthwith to the west channel, ply between Brest and Scilly, and keep the sea open towards the south; 20 sail were to go northward, disturb the Dutch fisheries and capture their Baltic traders ; 30 sail were to ride in the Straits ; and the remaining 170 sail and the fire-ships were to keep together under Blake's immediate orders to oppose and fight the enemy. These magnificent ideas were never realised in full : but at the end of one month from the fight off Dover the energetic Admiral could count with patriotic pride no less than 105 vessels, carrying 3961 guns, under his flag. He was not, however, equally strong in men. His constant cry was seamen, soldiers ! And the Commissioners of the Navy were engaged day and night in devising means to supply him with this essential element of maritime power. Two regiments of foot were taken on board bodily, and from that time marines became a necessary part of the equipment of our men-of-war. 1 Meanwhile the Dutch preparations for the campaign were made on the grandest scale. The dockyards of the 1 Granville Penn, i. 428-430; History and Life, 56. ROBERT BLAKE. 199 Texel, the Maas, and the Zuyder Zee resounded with the note of coming strife. Sixty men-of-war, larger in size and more perfect in equipment than had ever yet been seen in those northern seas, were commenced. Convoys not too far away were called back ; merchant- men of heavy tonnage were pressed into the service ; the ablest seamen found in their ports, irrespective of age or nationality, were lured into the service by offers of high wages and the hope of rich prizes ; and in a few weeks their renowned Admiral, ripe in age, honours and expe- rience, saw himself at the head of 120 sail of ships a power more than sufficient in the opinion of every pa- triotic Dutchman to sweep the English navy from the face of the earth. 1 The swift and unexpected opening of the war had placed the mercantile marine of both nations, especially in the North Sea, at the mercy of privateers and cruising squadrons. At that period but few English vessels ven- tured to the south of Europe ; the distance checked the enterprises of the timid, and the more substantial peril of Algerine pirates and Salee rovers operated to prevent the brave from seeking their fortunes in waters where the might of England was as yet little known and still less feared. In the opinion of these fierce marauders, Holland was the only great naval power of Europe. More than once she had chastised their insolence ; and, as her traders ploughed the southern waters in comparative safety, the spices of the Levant, the silks of Italy and the wines of Portugal, were chiefly brought to England in Dutch bottoms. Baltic commerce, on the contrary, was 1 Columna Rostrata, 94; Heath, 322; Granville Penn, i. 434. 200 ROBERT BLAKE. chiefly carried in our own bottoms ; and at that very moment an unusual number of vessels were in the North and Baltic Seas, Parliament, in anticipation of war, having sent out several traders to purchase hemp, tar, and other ship-stores for them in Sweden, Den- mark, and Pomerania. These stores were now become of essential importance. The dockyards were all bare ; not a frigate in the fleet was decently supplied ; and in the face of a contest which must occupy months and might extend to years, it was necessary to send a strong squadron to the north to collect these ships and convoy them safely home with their precious cargoes. There were other reasons which contributed their influence towards compelling Blake's particular attention to the squadron of the north. Ever since the atrocious action at Amboyna, which wrested the Spice Islands from our hands, the fleets of Holland had returned from either east or west by the long route of the Orkneys, so as to avoid bringing their precious freights within view of Dover Castle ; one of these rich argosies was now known to be on the home voyage, and the Council of State was anxious that it should be harassed, and if possible cut off. Again, unable or unwilling to make use of the noble fish- eries that nature has lavished on our coasts, the English of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had allowed their more enterprising neighbours to reap the harvest almost unquestioned. The fisherman's life suited the Dutchman's coarse and laborious habits. The hulks or busses engaged in this trade, averaging from three hun- dred to five hundred tons burden, were each manned by about a dozen persons ; usually the master with his wife ROBERT BLAKE. 201 and children, and about six or eight others, men and wo- men. On board these herring-boats, children were able to earn their own bread from the age of four or five. The life was rude at best the wages were always scanty. But the people had learned to live on stormy and sterile seas, to flourish on mud-banks and sandy plains. More than once our ancestors had tried to establish rival fisheries, but never with a chance of profit under such competition. With that fine old Saxon chivalry, still found in some portion of the lower classes, they refused to allow the women to divide their coarse toils or share their daily perils ; nor had they yet learned to look without a sort of horror on infant labour. Free from these scruples, the Frisian had in his lower nature a commercial advan- tage against which it was ruinous to compete. The Dutch family, huddled in a corner of the buss, found a part of its coarse food in the waters on which it exercised its craft. The English fisherman, who left his wife and children at home, had to support them out of the nett profits of his spoil. Thus the whole trade fell into the former hands ; and at the opening of the war between the two countries the boats engaged in it were counted by thou- sands. Could the Dutch make good their claim to fish among the Northern Islands ? This was an open ques- tion. They did fish in those waters. But while the fact was allowed, the right was denied ; and on taking the supreme direction of the war, Blake was anxious to give practical effect to the denials of his government. While the squadron was preparing for sea, information came to hand that the spring fleet of these herring-busses, consisting of more than six hundred sail, convoyed by ROBERT BLAKE. twelve men-of-war, was on its way home laden with fish. His first idea had been to send Sir George Ascue to the North, and stay in person to oppose Admiral Tromp ; but as that great genius of strategy lay still in the Texel, making no sign of an immediate intention to put to sea, he changed this part of his plan, and resolved to go in person to the North. Sending swift messengers to the Baltic, to desire all the merchant-vessels, private and public, ready to return home, then in and about the Sound, to rendezvous at Elsinore, and there await his arrival, he went down to Dover, installed Ascue as his lieutenant in the Channel, with orders to keep a sharp eye on Tromp's movements, and set sail in the Resolu- tion for the North, attended by a magnificent array of sixty ships. 1 On the 21st of June, Blake fired his parting salute in Dover road : so awful a burst of cannon had not been heard by the inhabitants of Kent since the days of the Armada. On the 9th of July letters reached the Council of State announcing that a gallant fleet, supposed to be General Blake's, had passed in sight of Dunbar. Two days later, despatches left Westminster in hot haste, by mounted couriers, to inform him that a sudden change had occurred in the enemy's dispositions, that as soon as he was known to have passed the Frith of Forth the Dutch Admiral had quitted his lair, that he was then riding with 102 men-of-war and ten fire-ships in the Downs, that the whole coast was alarmed for its safety, none knowing where a blow would first be struck, and that so far from Ascue being able to afford them any protection, 1 History and Life, 58 ; Heath, 322; Granville Penn, i. 431. ROBERT BLAKE. 203 he had himself been compelled to run under the guns of Dover Castle. The couriers rode day and night with urgent letters of recal ; but before these came into the Admiral's hands, one of the three great objects of his expedition had been accomplished. Meeting the great herring-fleet off Bockness, his advanced guard of twenty sail fell furiously on the men-of-war, and after a gal- lant contest, prolonged by the obstinate valour of the Dutch against superior numbers for three hours, sunk three of the twelve and took the other nine. All the herring-busses, six hundred in number, fell into his power with their freights of herrings. But as these boats belonged to poor families, whose entire capital and means of life they constituted, he took from them, on a rough computation, every tenth herring as a royalty, and then warning the men never to fish again in the creeks and islands belonging to the Commonwealth of England without first obtaining from the Council of State a formal permission, he sent them home with all their boats and the remainder of their cargo untouched. This characteristic act of clemency called down severe censures on the Admiral in certain quarters. Many condemned such generosity to an enemy as Quixotic. " If the fish," said the politicians, " were of no use to the fleet, he should have thrown them into the sea." The answer was, " That they were human food, and that thousands would suffer, none would gain, by their destruction." Even men like Ludlow blamed him for not keeping possession of the poor fellows' boats. But Blake took no trouble to justify his noble instincts against such critics. His was indeed a happy fate : 204 ROBERT BLAKE. the only fault ever advanced by friend or foe against his public life was an excess of generosity towards his vanquished enemies ! l Kent was up in arms to repel the menacing invader. Seamen living in the ports crowded on board Ascue's squadron with offers of service. The regular militia turned out. Between Deal and Sandown Castle a long double platform was erected, with cannon at intervals to sweep the shore should the Dutch attempt to land. But these warlike preparations, though they evinced the national spirit, did less to preserve the coast from out- rage than those elements which have so often proved our best allies in the hour of danger. A calm kept the enemy spell-bound in mid-channel until the country had recovered from its first alarm. When the wind returned, it blew from the land, and with such steady violence, that with all his skill Tromp was unable to get near enough for even a passing broadside. To the south of his position, Ascue rode in perfect safety with his small squadron ; and some fresh ships, preparing to join him just before the Dutchman's appearance in the Straits, were retained in the Thames by a counter order. Tromp, it is believed, had expected to intercept this reinforce- ment as it left the river, and then by a sudden onset to crush Ascue under overwhelming cannonades. Success on these two points would have left Blake with about fifty sail for he had despatched eight of his best frigates to strengthen the Downs squadron against a fleet flushed with victory and thrice his power. But 1 Elegiac Enumeration, 17 ; Balfour, iv. 257 ; Clarendon, v. 281 ; Cornelius Tromp, 61; Granville Penn, i. 434, 435. ROBERT BLAKE. 205 the weather having foiled him in these hopes, the wily Dutchman returned with the strong gale then blowing to the Texel, where a vast fleet of merchants were im- patiently waiting to set forth on their voyage under his protection. Convoying these vessels northward, he saw the Baltic traders through the Sound, the busses dis- perse to their fishing stations, and the Indiamen separate to pursue their several voyages out of all danger from English cruisers, and then went in search of Blake's squadron, confident in his immense superiority of force, and not unwilling to put the fortunes of his country to the arbitration of a regular battle. Since his recent vic- tory, Blake had suffered severely from storms, and his ships were scattered among the roadsteads of the Orkney Islands for repair ; but on hearing that his great enemy had followed him into the North, he hastily prepared for an encounter of the two navies. Towards evening, on the 5th of August, the fleets came in sight of each other between Fair Isle and Fould, almost half-way from the Orkneys to the Shetland group. Smarting under a recollection of former wrongs, both confident of success, Tromp trusting to his naval genius and superior force, Blake in the Lord of Hosts and the valour of his men, they eagerly prepared to engage. But the empire of the seas was to be then and there decided in favour of a new claimant. Whilst preparations were being made in the Resolution to attack the Dutch fleet, the sky gradually assumed a dark and threatening aspect. The wind, which had been extremely variable for some days, suddenly settled itself north-north-west. In the human excitement of the moment, these signs were not 206 ROBERT BLAKE. at first observed ; but as the gale rose, and the sky con- tinued to grow black and lurid, Blake signalled his ships to look out for the coming storm ; and leave the enemy to shift for themselves, certain that there could be no engagement that day. At length it burst: and the fiercest of mortal passions were stilled in a moment before the awful demonstrations of nature. The fitful gleams of light, now and then caught through the storm and darkness, told the commanders that another power had undertaken to disperse and separate their fleets. Many of the ships were soon unmanageable. Rudders were wrested violently off; sails were torn and twisted into knots, and the waves went through and through them every swell, throwing their white and seething foam into the very sky. The darkness, danger, and distance from aid and shelter, filled the imagination of the sailors with horror. " The fleet," says the Dutch writer of Cornelius Trornp, " being as it were buried by the sea in the most horrible abysses, rose out of them only to be tossed up to the clouds ; here the masts were beaten down into the sea, there the deck was overflowed with the prevailing waves; the tempest was so much mistress of the ships, they could be governed no longer, and on every side appeared all the dreadful forerunners of a dismal wreck." The storm raged through the long night without abatement ; and when day came down on the rolling waters, instead of the imperial fleets which rode so proudly among the rocks and islands a few hours previous, anxious in their fancied strength and majesty to put the freedom of the sea to an hour's arbitration, a remnant of scattered, helpless and damaged ships were ROBERT BLAKE. 207 all that could be seen from the Brederode between land and sky. The Dutch had suffered terribly. More than one of their frigates had been dashed on the rocks, splintered into a myriad fragments, and every soul on board sent down into the foaming surge. Tromp picked up broken relics of three of his fire-ships : their fate could not be doubted. They had all gone down. Most of his men-of-war and frigates were con- siderably damaged, and the greater part of his fleet was scattered beyond the possibility of recal. Some of the ships found refuge in the harbours of the Shetland group, others fled towards the Norwegian coast; and after spending several days in the vain attempt to col- lect the damaged elements of his power, Tromp was obliged to run into Scheveling with a remnant of only forty-two sail, to his own infinite chagrin and the ex- treme astonishment of his countrymen at the failure of an enterprise so vast and costly. Blake had been for- tunate enough to keep his fleet together under shelter of the mainland of the Shetland Islands, and although he had not escaped without serious injury to many ships, he was able to keep the sea, and hang with his whole body of sixty-two sail, fleet and prizes, on the rear of the disabled Dutch. Finding the enemy disinclined to put out again from their harbours, he ravaged and in- sulted their coasts from Wadden to Zealand, and then ran across to Yarmouth with his prizes and nine hun- dred prisoners. 1 In a few days his standard was again waving in the Downs from the masts of the Resolution. Ascue and i Heath, 322 ; Cornelius Tromp, 62, 63. ROBERT BLAKE. De Ruiter had met and drawn a battle, but the spirit of the States-General seemed to rise with their unexpected want of success, and they prepared another large and gal- lant fleet for service in the Channel under command of the renowned admiral and statesman De Witt. Tromp retired into private life. Clamorous at a reverse in one so long accustomed to victory, a Dutch mob insulted his age and misfortune ; and in a fit of disgust the veteran laid down his commission. De Ruiter, too, was anxious to retire from the responsibilities of command. He pleaded his long services, his old age, his failing health ; but his countrymen would not listen: he must lead them once more as of old to glory and victory. When the new squadron was ready for sea, De Witt joined De Ruiter, and took the supreme command. To oppose this new danger, Blake called in the force under Ascue from Plymouth; and the two fleets that of England, composed of sixty-eight ships of various gunnage that of Holland nearly but not quite equal to it in number of ships and guns were once more in the same seas, and ready to try their strength against each other. But while cruising about the Channel in search of his more immediate enemy, Blake fell in with a French fleet under the Duke of Vendome, who had just engaged with and defeated the Spanish Admiral Count d'Oignon. This fleet was intended to relieve Dunkirk, then hotly pressed by the besieging Spaniards. The piratical town was in extremity ; but the disaster of Count d'Oignon left the sea open to France, and Vendome ordered a re- lief squadron to rendezvous in Calais road, and take on board men, arms, stores and fresh provisions. As yet ROBERT BLAKE. 209 there had been no formal declaration of war between France and England. Though the privateers of Brest and Dunkirk continued the old depredations, and Eng- lish cruisers often retaliated on French vessels, such dis- orders were not considered as seriously compromising the political relations of the two governments. But as soon as Blake learned that Vendome was collecting ships and stores for Dunkirk in the port of Calais, without waiting for instructions from London, or even reporting his intentions to his colleagues of the Council of State, he stood over for that harbour, where he found seven men-of-war, a small frigate, six fire-ships and a number of transports with men and provisions on board already collected and under sail. What was to be done ? With that accession of strength Dunkirk would have been able to defy the Archduke Leopold for an indefinite period. English interests, commercial and political, required the downfall of that nest of privateers ; the Council of State were anxious to see the town change hands ; and they had already conceived a hope afterwards realised that the Spaniards might be induced on certain terms to cede their conquest. Blake knew the opinion of his country- men on this subject too well to doubt how far he could go without incurring serious personal responsibility, if, in striking a blow which would involve the government in trouble with the great Cardinal, he could achieve a sudden and complete success. He therefore rode into Calais road ; and in spite of the threats, protests and explanations of Vendome, he attacked the men-of-war, while part of his fleet chased the transports and fire- ships along the coast. As the resistance was not se- p 210 ROBERT BLAKE. rious, the whole body of the French squadron, war- ships, fire-ships and transports, admirals, officers and men, were in a few hours safely harboured under the guns of Dover Castle. Dunkirk immediately surren- dered to the Archduke Leopold: and the seizure of Vendome's squadron remained, not only as an illus- tration of the extraordinary powers exercised by Blake at sea, but a striking instance of bold conception and equally rapid and effective execution. 1 These prizes safely harboured, the cruise in search of De Witt and De Ruiter was resumed. On the 28th of September, Perm, still on board the James, came in sight of the Dutchmen off the North Foreland ; on see- ing the signal, Blake, at that moment more than a league in advance of his main body, rode up to the vanguard and gave his brief but emphatic orders " As soon as some more of our fleet comes up, bear in among them !" Blake was ever ready for action : he trusted in God and kept his powder dry. But De Witt was taken unawares ; his ships were in disorder ; a bad spirit prevailed among the men ; and De Ruiter urged him to avoid a battle. His pride rendered him deaf to this sage councillor, and he resolved to fight even at a disadvantage rather than exhibit to the world the spectacle of a Dutch admiral in retreat before the presumptuous islanders. His dis- positions were made hastily and in confusion. De Ruiter was to lead the van, he himself the main body, De Wilde the rear. Evertz was stationed with a reserve to watch the action from a short distance, and send out succours where they should be most needed. At the last mo- 1 Elegiac Enumeration, 14, 15; Columna Rostrata, 105; Heath, 325. ROBERT BLAKE. 211 ment De Witt sent an advice -boat round to each of his ships to beg the captains to do their duty in their respective posts on that great day. But this prayer was not heard. Apathy, intrigue and discontent were on every deck. The Brederode, Tromp's old flag-ship, was in the fleet, but the officers and men refused to allow the new Admiral to come on board her ; and just before the action began his standard was removed to a huge Indiaman. Resenting the disgrace of their favourite leader, several other ships either disputed the new Ad- miral's orders, or obeyed them without the zeal which is essential to victory. But unwarned by these signs of disaffection perhaps hoping that success would restore confidence and loyalty to his crews De Witt hauled his foresails to the masts and formed his fleet into line. About four o'clock in the afternoon, the English being then well up together, a single order was given out from the Resolution to hold back their fire till close in with the enemy, and the flag-ship, followed by the James, the Sovereign and the whole body of the van- guard, bore down on De Witt's line, which kept up an intermittent and harmless fire as it advanced. At this moment the Dutch tacked, and the two fleets came into almost instant collision. The crash of the first broad- sides was terrific, for the ships were so near together, that an unusual quantity of shot went home. For more than an hour the roar of artillery was incessant. After that its action was less furious ; there were occasional pauses in the storm ; and the Dutch ships clearing off to a greater distance, the sulphurous atmosphere broke in many places, and the winds drifted it away in huge 212 ROBERT BLAKE. masses. But although the Dutch fell back, they fell back fighting and with their faces to the enemy. With obstinate valour they continued the battle until night fell like a funeral pall on the scene of slaughter. The Dutch had suffered most severely in men, the English in masts and rigging. The most experienced admirals in both fleets were of opinion that De Witt could not have held out an hour longer without being entirely broken and annihilated. De Ruiter had commanded his division with consummate skill and bravery. A great part of his own crew was swept away ; his main- yard was turned over to the left side ; his main-sails, mizen-sails and rigging were all torn to shreds ; his hull was seriously shattered; and he had received no less than four shots between wind and water. De Witt had atoned in a great measure for his rashness in fighting such an enemy under the circumstances of his fleet, by his courage and conduct during the action. Neverthe- less, Holland was unmistakably worsted. Under the first shock of the onset, two of its ships went down. Two others had been boarded and taken, one of them the Rear-admiral by Captain Mildmay in the Nonsuch, together with the two captains, and all the crews on deck. Throughout the Dutch fleet, the loss of life had been great. 1 And to the infinite vexation of De Witt, about twenty of his captains, either disaffected to his person or unwilling to renew on the morrow so destruc- tive an engagement, took advantage of the dark night to quit the main body with the ships under their com- 1 Blake to Council of State, Oct. 2, 1652; Cornelius Tromp, 77, 78 ; Penn's Account (Granville Perm, i. 446-450); History and Life, 63. ROBERT BLAKE. 213 mand and make for Zealand, whither they carried the first news of the disaster. All that night Blake observed lights burning in the enemy's ships, and assuming that they would fight again at daybreak, every hand on board the English fleet was employed in repairing sails, masts and cordage in se- curing the prisoners already taken in waiting on and soothing the wounded sailors and in the sad and pious duties connected with the burial of the dead. The grey light dawned on the sleepless crews still at their neces- sary labours, and before sunrise the whole fleet was in motion bearing up towards the enemy, who at first seemed disposed to renew the bloody work of the pre- vious day ; but before the English van had got within range of cannon-shot a change of opinion took place, they hoisted full sail and stood up the Channel. De Witt had wished to fight. But Evertz and De Ruiter over- ruled his voice in the council of war, where it was re- solved that an attempt should be made to collect the shattered and scattered remnants of their fleet ; to gain one of their own ports and communicate with their mas- ters ; to repair, refit, and re-man their ships ; and then await the commands of the States-General. Blake kept as close on their rear as the disabled state of his ships would allow ; and having chased them into the Gbree, where the shallows afforded them ample protection, he was obliged to rest content with returning the insults offered to our own coasts by Admiral Tromp earlier in the summer. 1 1 Blake to Council of State, Oct. 2; Clarendon, v. 281; Cornelius Tromp, 78-81. 214> ROBERT BLAKE. Nothing could exceed the avidity with which reports of the battle of the North Foreland were read in London. It was the first great naval action which the nation had fought since the reign of Elizabeth ; and indeed there was room for a little honest exultation. The prowess of England had now been arrayed against the best seamen and most experienced admirals in the world, and the English had come oif victorious. At the very first trial of strength, they had established themselves as equal to the acknowledged masters of maritime war. Hitherto Tromp, Evertz, and De Ruiter had been regarded by Europe as peerless, if not invincible, commanders. Yet an English land-officer, with only three years' experience of the sea, had learned to contend with these renowned admirals on equal terms ; rough soldiers, drafted from the camp, had, in the same period, ceased altogether to feel awe in the presence of the veteran sailors who had swept the imperial navies of Spain from the face of the ocean. Blake was fast rising into the first name in our naval history. His southern campaign, made while his genius was still unaided by experience, had placed him in general estimation by the side of Drake and Frobisher. His drawn battle with Tromp, his victory over De Rui- ter and De Witt, raised him into the highest rank of living admirals. Parliament shared the liberal enthusiasm of the peo- ple. With a somewhat premature contempt of their powerful enemy, they had desired Blake to dismiss a part of his fleet back to the merchant service from which it had been taken ; : they allowed the fortifi- 1 Blake to Navy Com., Sept. 20, Dept. Mss. ROBERT BLAKE. 215 cations erected between Deal and Sandown to be des- troyed ; and they ordered the guns planted on the line of breastworks to be removed into the two castles. At Blake's urgent request they gave orders for thirty new frigates to be built ; but for the moment all was confidence and security as to the future. The Council of State began a diligent study of the Mare Clausum, Selden's learned book on the right of England to assert the dominion of the narrow seas and to exclude the Dutch from any participation in the advantages of the northern fisheries. They had the book translated in- to English ; and questions which had tested the learning and intellect of men like Grotius and Selden were de- bated in taverns, and practically settled in Council Cham- bers. Vendome's complaints were treated by the Council of State with haughty indifference. They already fancied their power supreme in the Channel ; but they had not yet learned to understand the magnitude of their enemy's genius and resources. 1 1 Ludlow, i. 367; Whitelock, 545; Le Clerc, i. 324 ; Granville Penn, i. 454, 455. CHAPTER VII. 1652-1653. Cromp. DE WITT'S return to Holland with the discomfited fleet was the signal for disorders in that country. His enemies of the Orange party charged him with rashness, cowardice and treason. The common sailors, turbulent and disobedient before the engagement, pushed their dislike to the verge of mutiny after their defeat. Even on the flag-ship his position was most disagreeable, if his life were not in danger. Before going on board in the Texel he had been compelled by a decent regard for naval discipline to hang two of his seamen in Amster- dam, and at the execution he had been under the still more unfortunate necessity of shooting several citizens . in order to prevent a rescue in the streets. In his day of power and of untried fortunes these acts of severity were borne in silent rage ; but when he returned from sea with broken power and faded laurels, the popular passions rose against him like the surges of their own stormy coast. In Flushing he was mobbed as soon as he landed and his proud heart was almost broken by the insult. In anger and disgust, he took to a sick chamber. De Ruiter shared in some measure the unpopularity of his chief, and he also oiFered to resign his commission. The moment of general alarm and indignation for they ROBERT BLAKE. 217 had so often triumphed over every enemy at sea, they could not yet understand that their reverses were other than the result of gross misconduct, sent the inconsider- ate people to the feet of their old commander. They now remembered, that if Tromp's success in the early part of the war had not been such as they had expected, he at least had not suffered a signal defeat; if he had lost a powerful squadron, they had the consolation to feel that nature and not man had been the cause of its sudden overthrow. When the failure of his rivals allowed them time to estimate his claims with less haste and less pas- sion, they could not but see that his reputation still towered above that of every other seaman in Holland ; while, on the other hand, personal feeling and the inci- dents of his career had fitted him in a peculiar manner for the chief command in a war against England. At ten years old, Tromp was present in his father's ship at the famous battle fought against Spain under the walls of Gibraltar in 1607. Shortly after that me- morable event, he was captured by an English cruiser after a brisk engagement in which his father lost his life. Two years and a half he was compelled to serve in the menial capacity of cabin-boy on board the captor : and thus were the seeds of hatred to England and the English sown in his proud and passionate heart. Once planted, this hatred grew with his growth and strength- ened with his strength. For a long time his life was passed on board fishing-boats and merchant-men ; but his nautical genius was irresistible, and he fought his way through legions of obstacles to high command. At thirty years old he was confessedly the ablest navigator in Hoi- 218 ROBERT BLAKE. land. More than twenty years he had now commanded his country's fleets with success against Spain, and had done more than any other individual to humble the pride and reduce the power of that extensive empire. The disastrous opening of the English war was no im- peachment of his naval genius ; and the insult offered to his former successes in stripping him of his great employments because nature had raised a destructive storm in the northern latitudes, appeared to the States- General gratuitous and unworthy as soon as they dis- covered that his future services were necessary to the Republic. The old Admiral's passion was also soothed by royal good offices. The King of Denmark, alarmed at the sudden growth of England's maritime power, made interest with the leading Dutch statesmen with a view to promote a vigorous renewal of hostilities, and at his special intercession Tromp was restored to his former offices and honours, the most eminent of his rivals in naval ability and domestic influence, De Witt, De Ruiter, Evertz and Floritz, being appointed to serve under him as his Vice and Rear-admirals. De Witt, too much mortified at his recent failure to have any wish to re-appear on the same scene in an inferior place, ex- cused himself from serving on the ground of ill-health ; De Ruiter therefore again went on board as second in command. 1 Other nations became interested in the quarrels of the two Republics. The war had barely commenced before the States-General sent ambassadors to Denmark, Poland and other powers in the north of Europe to 1 Heath, 326; Cornelius Tromp, 83; History and Life, 64. ROBERT BLAKE. 219 engage them in a common league against England. Frederick III., King of Denmark and Norway, listened to these proposals ; and though he did not as yet choose to commit himself by an open acknowledgment of his leanings, he sought by an indirect and unexplained course of action to forward the views of his powerful continental friends. Under pretence of securing them against Dutch cruisers, Frederick refused to allow the ships which Blake had ordered to rendezvous at Elsinore to pass the Sound : an idle pretence, since the English were at that time masters at sea. As the hemp, tar and other stores from the Baltic on board these ships were urgently needed in the dockyards, Parliament wrote to King Frederick desiring him as a friend and ally of the Commonwealth, to deliver up to their Admiral all the goods and ships then lying in his ports, and at their request Blake detached Captain Ball with twenty men- of-war and frigates to add force to this reasonable desire, and in the event of its receiving favourable attention to convoy the ships home in safety. After an absence of some weeks, Ball returned as he went out. Pressed to declare itself, the Court of Denmark vamped up a story about some old debts contracted by the late King of England on account of the German war, and claimed a right to detain the government vessels until these debts were liquidated. The expected supply of stores was therefore not obtained, and the Commonwealth had a new enemy to deal with in the north of Europe. 1 The term for which Blake had been commissioned to act as sole General and Admiral of the Fleet being on 1 Heath, 327, 328. ROBERT BLAKE. the point of expiration, he requested that two colleagues should be joined with him in the command as in the first years of his naval service had been the case. A rare instance of self-denial ! During his absence in the north he had seen the disadvantage of leaving the Downs to an inferior officer, however able ; and in the belief that such a division of the supreme command would be serviceable to the country he set aside every personal consideration and proposed to have two officers, enjoy- ing the full confidence of the Council of State, associated with him in the new commission. Popham being dead, the choice of admirals fell on Colonel Deane, his former colleague, and General Monk ; but both these officers were then employed in suppressing the last remnants of the war in Scotland, and they could not for some time to come take any active part in the naval war. 1 Severe weather being now set in and the Dutchmen busy in their dockyards with the preparation of another vast armament, Blake made the usual winter distribution of the fleet. Besides the twenty ships sent to Elsinore under Ball, Penn sailed with a similar squadron towards the North to convoy a fleet of colliers from Newcastle to London ; a division of twelve ships was stationed in Plymouth Sound ; fifteen of the most damaged vessels were ordered into the river for repair ; and with the remainder of his force, consisting of thirty-seven men- of-war and frigates, the fire-ships and a few hoys, Blake rode in the Channel, cruising from port to port be- tween Essex and Hampshire, and expecting no enemy to appear until the return of fine weather. In this he was 1 Skinner's Monk, 49; Heath, 331. ROBERT BLAKE. 221 mistaken. Tromp 's energy and influence had infused an extraordinary degree of activity into the marine de- partment, the harbours and dockyards of Holland. In an incredibly short time they had fitted out and manned a vast fleet ; and as soon as the English squadrons were dispersed for the winter stations, he secretly and un- expectedly drew out his ships and appeared off the Goodwin Sands with more than a hundred sail of the line, frigates and fire-ships. His plan was bold and well conceived. Throwing himself suddenly into the Downs with this overwhelming force, he intended to close up the Thames and cut off re-inforcements from Chatham or the Lea, to fall on Blake's little squadron like an avalanche, and either crush or drive it down Channel towards the Land's End, and then, with the entire coast at his mercy, to dictate peace to the Commonwealth on his own terms. At that time the thought of a winter cam- paign filled men's minds with terror ; but Tromp relied on the effect of a swift and daring blow to conclude the war in a few days. Blake was scarcely aware that the Dutch were stirring before their ships were seen from the out-look of the Triumph, to which vessel he had removed his pennon. On the 9th of December the two fleets were in presence between Dover and Calais ; and the knowledge that Tromp was on board assured the English Admiral that serious mischief was meant. A council of war was called on board the Triumph. Blake described the situation of the two countries at that moment, glanced at the superior force of the enemy, at the distance of his own squadrons, and ended by de- claring his resolution to fight, if it were necessary, but ROBERT BLAKE. on no account to fall down the Channel, leaving the coast-towns to be insulted, and perhaps destroyed by that mighty and uncrippled armament. The captains ac- cepted his decision with alacrity, and returned to their several ships to report the result of their conference. All that day the two admirals watched each other's motions, the object being to gain the weather-gage. The night proved cold and tempestuous, even for mid winter, and the ships were unable to keep well together. With the appearance of light the manoeuvres of the pre- vious day were renewed, the Triumph and the Brederode dodging each other for several hours in a slight and variable wind, their somewhat oblique course inclining slowly towards the Nase. At three in the afternoon the fleets were near to each other off that Essex head- land. Tromp's patience was worn out, and anxious to engage, he made a sudden effort to get alongside the English Admiral at an advantage; but a rapid and de- cisive movement carried the Triumph clean under his bow to the weather-gage. In passing, the two ships exchanged broadsides. Blake was closely followed in his dexterous movement by the Garland, and missing the Triumph Tromp ran against her with such violence as in an instant to break her bowspit and ship's-head with the weight of the crash. The Garland and the Brederode quickly engaged, the English ship of only forty-eight guns fighting with consummate bravery against its powerful enemy, until the Bonadventure, a trader of thirty guns, came to the rescue, and placed the Dutch Admiral him- self in peril. Tromp encouraged his men by shouts and gestures to renewed efforts; he appealed to their ROBERT BLAKE. 223 love of country, their pride of race, their affection for himself. But all his exertions would have availed but little, had not Evertz seen his exposed position, and brought his own ship to bear on the Bonadventure, thus placing the gallant little merchantman between the fire of two powerful admirals. The four ships were all grappled together ; but the English held out manfully against tremendous odds for more than an hour, when the contest was decided in favour of number of men and weight of metal. Out of two hundred men on board the Garland at the beginning of the action, the captain and sixty officers and men were killed, and a still greater number were severely wounded ; the Bonadventure had suffered to an equal extent ; and the survivors being no longer able to defend their respective decks, the Dutchmen boarded and captured both the vessels. The Triumph, the Vanguard and the Victory bore the chief brunt of the action. At one time these three vessels were engaged with twenty of the enemy ; and although they also suffered most severely in men, and were greatly damaged in their hulls, masts and rigging, they all came off safely from the desperate encounter. Night, which at that season of the year came down early, was already separating the fleets, when Blake heard for the first time of the unequal battle waged between the two Dutch Admirals and the Garland and Bonadventure; and notwithstanding the fatigue of his men, he gave orders to bear up to the Brederode, and endeavour to recover the captures. Other of the enemy's ships, how- ever, crossed his line, and a more destructive conflict than had yet taken place ensued. Blake was surrounded 224 ROBERT BLAKE. by the Dutch ships. Three several times the Triumph was boarded in gallant style ; but each time the boarders were driven back to their boats with fearful slaughter. The flag-ship was reduced to a wreck. The fore top- mast was shot away. The mainstay was gone. The sails and tackling were all in ribands. The hull was shattered and pierced with hundreds of shots. The wonder was how she could keep her head above water ; and had it not been for the Sapphire, a trader of thirty guns, and the Vanguard, which stood by him with un- wavering steadiness and devotion, the English Admiral must have fallen before such overwhelming numbers in spite of his iron will and dauntless courage. Thick fog and December darkness at length put an end to the struggle. Under cover of night Blake drew off his ships, the Triumph being the last to retire from the scene of action, towards Dover roads. Tromp could not, or would not, follow on his rear. Next day the weather was thick with fog; the enemy was not in sight. The disabled vessels were ill prepared to brave the fury of the south-west winds ; and, master of his own movements, the Admiral proposed to run into the Thames, and anchor in Lea-road to repair damages, ascertain the enemy's intentions, make some necessary alterations in the fleet, and wait the recal and concen- tration of his distant squadrons. The Dutch had not gained an easy victory. Their loss in men was extremely great. One of their vessels had been blown into the air, every man on board perishing. Tromp 's ship and De Ruiter's ship were both put out of service, anjl many others were seriously crippled. But their victory ROBERT BLAKE. 225 was unquestionable : for the moment they were once again masters of the Channel. 1 There seem to have been three principal causes of this disaster the first and last that England experienced under Blake's command any one of them sufficient to account for it: (1.) an overwhelming superiority of force on the part of Tromp ; (2.) the extreme weakness to which some of the vessels were reduced for want of men ; and (3.) cowardice or disaffection to the service, mani- fested at a critical moment of the battle by several cap- tains in his little fleet. To the first of these causes Blake himself professed to attach only a secondary importance. Had all the thirty-seven ships behaved like the Garland, Sapphire, Vanguard, Bonadventure, Victory, and Tri- umph, the result would probably have been other than it was ; and even his defeat, if the retirement of a squadron before a fleet three times its strength can be so called, was less galling to his proud nature than the idea of having officers under his command who at such a time could fail in duty to their country. In the letter which conveyed to the Council of State the first news of the reverse of fortune, he says : " I am bound to let your honours know that there was much baseness of spirit, not among the merchant-men only, but in many of the State's ships. And therefore I make it my earnest re- quest that your honours would be pleased to send down some gentlemen to take an impartial and strict exami- nation of the deportment of several commanders, that 1 Blake to Council of State, December 1, 1652 ; Granville Penn, i. 456-459 ; Cornelius Tromp, 83-86 ; Heath, 330. Q ROBERT BLAKE. you may know who are to be confided in and who are not. It will then be time to take into consideration the grounds of some other errors and defects, especially the discouragement and want of seamen. I shall be bold at present to name one not the least, which is, the great number of private men-of-war, especially out of the Thames. And I hope it will not be unseasonable for me, in behalf of myself, to desire your honours that you would think of giving me, your unworthy servant, a discharge from this employment as far too great for me, especially since your honours have added two such able gentlemen [Monk and Deane] for the undertaking of that charge ; so that I may spend the remainder of my days in private retirement, and in prayers to the Lord for blessings on you and on this nation." 1 But instead of receiving the acceptance of his offer to resign, Blake soon found that the misfortune which might have ruined another man had given him strength and influence in the country. The Council of State wrote by return of courier to express their unanimous thanks for his gallant conduct in the late action, and to assure him that all his proposals, except the one which referred to his own retirement, should be adopted. Never had he been so necessary to them as at that moment, and his hints and requests were immediately carried into effect, so far as lay with the Council. Three of their own body, Colonel Walton, Mr. Chaloner, and Colonel Morley were sent down to inquire into the alleged misconduct of certain officers, to r^t>ort on the ineffective condition of 1 Blake to Council of State, Dec. 1. ROBERT BLAKE. 227 the fleet, and, in case of need, to assist in a Council of War to be called by the Admiral after their arrival. Messengers were sent to recal the convoys to the Downs. Orders were sent to Deane and Monk to hold themselves in readiness to go on board at twenty-four hours' notice, and assume the responsibilities of their new rank. Crui- sers and other vessels lying at Harwich and elsewhere on the near coasts were instructed to repair to the general rendezvous. A resolution was carried to raise the effec- tive marine force to 30,000 men. More care was taken with the store magazines. The Navy Commissioners, long crippled by the perfidious policy of the Danish King, were empowered in this emergency to seize on hemp, tar and pitch, wherever these important articles could be found. But not a whisper was heard against the Admiral either in the Council or in the city. There was no attempt on the part of the Navy Commissioners to meddle with his schemes or to abridge his authority. The Council of State reposed an almost unbounded con- fidence in his genius and fidelity. Five days after the engagement off the Nase, they ordered " that a letter be written to General Blake, to acquaint him with what the Council hath done for the giving him an addition of strength, to let him know that (in regard the state of affairs is before. him, and he hath a perfect understand- ing of them) the Council do leave to him upon the place to do what he may for his own defence and the service of the Commonwealth." The next day they wrote again in the same spirit : " The Council suggest objections to General Blake going with his fleet into Lea road, and recommend Harwich as a better position : but still leave 228 ROBERT BLAKE. it to him to act according as his Council of War shall advise upon the place" 1 Curiously enough, the first disaster experienced by Blake at sea gave him power to effect reforms in the service and to root out abuses which had defied all his efforts in the day of his success. One great abuse was abolished that in his opinion lay at the source of the late defeat. To encourage merchants and others having vessels capable of armament to place them during the war at the disposal of Government, an Order of Coun- cil had hitherto allowed the masters of such vessels to command them after the change of service ; by which means many persons came to occupy, as a private right, important offices in the navy who had no real attach- ment to the new order of things, and there was good reason to suspect that some of the secret partisans of the Stuarts had crept into places of trust in this way for the express purpose of betraying the Commonwealth at the first favourable opportunity. These Royalists kept the exiled court well informed as to the state of the navy, and the exiles in turn communicated the latest information to the States- General. Thus the Admiral had not only to fight his great and astute adversary, but to struggle against intrigues abroad and treason at home. Before Tromp sailed from the Texel, Charles Stuart had caused a secret memoir to be drawn up by Lord Clarendon and the Marquis of Ormonde to be presented to M. Borrel, Dutch Ambassador in Paris in which he proposed to the States-General a plan for creating divi- sions in the English fleet and consequent excitement 1 Orders of Council of State, Dec. 2 to Dec. 5. ROBERT BLAKE. and weakness in the country. He declared that he was aware that many captains in the Commonwealth navy were his own friends ; and he offered to go in person on board the Dutch fleet as a private officer, seeking no command, except of such vessels as should desert to him from their enemy. De Witt, however, as a sincere Re- publican, refused to accept this doubtful aid ; but a cer- tain knowledge of the fact on which the proposal was based, that many of Blake's officers served under false colours and were ripe for an act of treason, was of vast importance to Tromp in the arrangement of his bold and masterly campaign. Certain incidents in the late battle left no moral doubt that several captains had acted with direct or indirect reference to the enemy's design ; and without being able to bring the crime of treason home to them, the Admiral took the occasion to insist on having a regulation adopted by the supreme Council, that in future all the captains and other officers should receive their appointments from the State. 1 As the inquiries of the three members, Walton, Morley and Chaloner proceeded, several officers were suspended, either for neglect of duty, lack of courage or other faults, against whom no suspicion of treachery or disaffection could arise. It was necessary to purge the fleet of its weak, as well as of its faithless, captains. No naval scrutiny was ever conducted with greater jus- tice, openness and severity. The three members re- ported to the Admiral the results of their investigation in each case, and he delivered sentence of arrest or dis- 1 Clarendon, v. 282, 283 ; Clarendon to Secretary Nicholas, January 18, 1652-3; Granville Penn, i. 427. 230 ROBERT BLAKE. missal with a stern rigour, even when the law fell in its full weight on his own household and his own family. Francis Harvey, his secretary, was cashiered. Captains Young, Taylor, Saltonstill and others were put under arrest until the pleasure of the Council of State should be known. His brother Benjamin, to whom he was strongly attached as a brother and an officer, fell under suspicion of some neglect of duty ; and however painful the exercise of power under such circumstances, he was instantly broken and sent on shore. This rigid measure of justice against his own flesh and blood silenced every complaint ; and the service gained immeasurably in spirit, discipline and confidence. 1 While these reforms, recruitments and renovations were proceeding under Blake's immediate eye, Tromp rode up and down the Channel with a broom at his mast-head, a somewhat prosaic emblem of his right to sweep the narrow seas ; and the States-General, still more elated with their victory than the Admiral himself, put out a proclamation against our manufactures sent intelligence of their great successes to foreign powers and interdicted all correspondence and communication with the British Islands, pretending, as if they were al- ready assured victors, to place them in a state of naval blockade. Ballads, by-words and scurrilous caricatures delighted the ears and eyes of the excited populace. The names of the vessels captured in the fight afforded Dutch wits a theme for abuse : they had carried off the " garland," they said, from the islanders; and there were squibs and jokes about the " bon-adventure" having 1 Orders of Council of State, January 28, 1652-3. ROBERT BLAKE. 231 realised the prophecy of its name in falling into their hands. But what concerned the Council of State much more than these usual incidents of success, was a re- port that Tromp contemplated making a descent on the Isles of Jersey and Guernsey, and a very natural fear that the trading part of the community would suffer from the cruisers of their watchful and active enemy. These alarms hastened their preparations for the second winter campaign ; and on the 8th of February Blake, still in the Triumph, sailed from Queensborough, at the head of sixty men-of-war and frigates, having Monk and Deane with twelve hundred soldiers from the camp on board. Penn was the Vice-admiral, Lawson the Rear-admiral. In the Straits the Portsmouth squadron of twenty sail came in, and with this addition to his ef- fective strength, Blake resolved to seek the Dutch fleet and give battle. Tromp had gone southward to meet a large fleet of traders, ordered by the States-General to rendezvous at the Isle of Rhe, opposite Rochelle, and convoy them home ; but intelligence had there reached him that the English were about to quit the Thames in his absence with sixty sail, and he intended to arrive at the river mouth in time to block it up, prevent their departure, and keep the Portsmouth squadron from effecting a junction with the main body. Blake had stolen a march on the Dutch Admiral, and when the latter turned Cape de la Hogue, he was surprised to find the English with a force equal to his own prepared to dispute the passage of a sea so lately swept by his potential broom. Confident, however, of victory, he ac- cepted with joy the offer of a battle which fortune had ROBERT BLAKE. enabled him to decline without disadvantage had such been his pleasure. 1 Day was just breaking on the morning of February 18, when the vanguard of the Dutch Admiral was descried from the mast-head of the Triumph. Blake dressed and went to the out-look. Nature could scarcely boast a grander spectacle than rose before him as the sun came forth, shewing that heaving wintry sea covered with ships, and lighting their sails and pennons with its pale radiance. The darkness of the weather had prevented mutual recognition until the foremost ships were within a league or so of each other. Fortunately the English Admirals were all together, the Triumph having Penn's ship, the Speaker, and Lawson's, the Fairfax, both within call; but Monk was some miles astern in the Vanguard, and the main body of the fleet lay about a league and a half apart at the moment when the Dutch- men came in sight. Tromp saw his advantage and pressed it home. With the wind in his favour he might have carried his convoy to the Scheldt in safety, and returned at his leisure to give battle ; but he chose to play a bolder game, and fancying the enemy would be found unequal with a vanguard of some twenty ships to resist the weight of his attack, he sent his fleet of traders a little to windward, out of gun range, with orders for them to wait there and witness the engagement. Per- sonal combined with public reasons to lend a thrilling interest to the coming battle. The two nations had now had time to collect their best forces. Their largest ships were in the array. The most renowned admirals 1 Heath, 332; Granville Penn, i. 474, and ii. 614. ROBERT BLAKE. 233 were on board the respective fleets : Blake, Deane, Penn and Lavvson on the one side ; Tromp, Evertz, De Rui- ter, Swers, Floritz and De Wilde, all great names in history, on the other. It was the first time Blake and Tromp had met on equal terms : even the common sea- men felt that the day was come to test their relative prowess, and they burned with zeal to begin the strug- gle. At the outset, all the advantages of position were with the. Dutch, their ships had the wind, and were close up together ; and when their extended line of fire opened on the English vanguard, it seemed almost im- possible for about twenty ships to withstand the crash of such tremendous broadsides. As usual, the Triumph was the first to engage, and the Brederode, ever in the van, advanced to meet her, reserving fire till the two vessels were within musket-shot of each other, and her charge could be delivered with the most deadly effect. With a strong breeze in his favour Tromp shot by the Triumph, pouring a fearful broadside into her as he passed; and then, suddenly tacking round, fired a second close under her sails, splintering masts and spars, tearing canvass and cordage, and strewing the decks with heaps of killed and wounded men. With this fiery salute the two Admirals parted company for the day, Penn dash- ing in with the Speaker and other vessels to cover Blake from some part of the circle of fire in which he lay exposed to destruction. The battle became general as the other divisions of the English fleet came up. On both sides the wreck was awful. In less than an hour after the first shot was launched from the guns of the Triumph, the sea was covered with spars, torn sails and 234- ROBERT BLAKE. broken planks. Almost every ship engaged in the action had already had its cables cut asunder and its masts shot away. One moment an English crew were seen boarding a Dutch man-of-war, the next moment the boarders were driven back, and their own vessel was assailed in turn. Here there was a ship wrapt in flames ; there one was going down with all her men on deck, their cries unheard or their terrors unheeded by friend or foe ; elsewhere a fearful explosion sent decks and crews whirling into the black and lurid atmosphere. It is said in contemporary accounts, that the tremendous roar of the artillery could be heard along the shores of the Channel, from Bou- logne on the one side to Portland on the other. About mid-day Monk came up with the white division, and from time to time the other ships joined in the contest, thenceforward fought on nearly equal terms. De Rui- ter kept up the credit of his old renown. Early in the battle he had singled out and engaged with the Prosper- ous, a hired merchantman of forty guns, commanded by Captain Barker ; but the fire of the English ship was maintained with such resolute steadiness that he grew impatient with the result of his distant fighting ; and or- dering a boarding-party to prepare for action, he ran his ship alongside the enemy, when his Dutchmen gallantly leaped on her deck pistol and sword in hand. The close combat lasted a few seconds only. Driving the assailants back to their ship, Barker threatened De Ruiter in his turn ; but the brave old seaman, shouting in his fierce humour to the men, "'Come, my lads, that was nothing at them again!" led them to a second and more furious assault. With their numbers reduced and ROBERT BLAKE. 235 their ship unmanageable, Barker and his officers were unable to resist this murderous onset, and they were all made prisoners. At that very instant Blake came to their assistance with several vessels. The prize was instantly recovered, and De Ruiter himself almost surrounded by the English. Vice-admiral Evertz and Captains Swers and Kriuk hastened to relieve their countryman from his dangerous position, and the battle soon raged round this new centre with extraordinary violence. Penn's ship, the Speaker, was so shattered by the guns, that she was considered no longer fit for such service ; and as soon as night put an end to the engagement of that first day, he was despatched to the Isle of Wight for the guard left at that station. Kriuk, in the Ostrich, fought like a true sailor, till his rigging and masts were shot away to the very hull, and his deck was covered with the dead bodies of his comrades. At last, he was boarded by the English ; but as the unfor- tunate vessel appeared to be sinking, and her officers and crew were nearly all killed or wounded, the boarders made a hasty plunder of her contents and left her to her fate. De Wilde offered his aid in an effort to bring her off; but a sudden calm came on, and not having a yard of sail still spread, the attempt to tow her away failed, and she was again abandoned. Next morning, Blake found her floating at her own will, the unburied corpses lying where they had fallen the previous day, and not a living soul on board ! The fearless Captain Swers afterwards the distinguished admiral of that name was taken prisoner. Seeing his comrade, Captain De Port, roughly used by two English frigates, he flew to ROBERT BLAKE. the rescue with his ship, and the four enemies were im- mediately locked together. De Port's ship was struck between wind and water and began to fill ; he himself was severely wounded by the fall of a huge splinter ; nevertheless, he continued to encourage his men by shouts, and to flourish his hanger as he lay on his back writhing in agony, until ship and crew all went down into the great deep together. Effective as the Dutch cannonade had hitherto been thought, it was no match for the destructive fire of the English frigates ; and after a desperate struggle, in which the enemies proved them- selves worthy of each other, Swers' ship also went down, himself and several of his officers and crew being taken on board the frigates and their lives preserved. Towards dusk, Blake felt himself strong enough to detach a number of his swiftest sailers with orders to gain the wind, and if possible prevent the escape of that vast fleet of rich traders; but Tromp saw the movements of this squadron, and guessing its motive fell back with a great part of his fleet, so as to cover the convoy. This retreat put an end to the first day's engagement ; for seeing their Admiral turn his face from the enemy, some of the Dutch captains hoisted sail and fled away under cover of the gathering darkness. Blake remained master of the scene of action, but his ships were too far damaged and his men too much exhausted to permit of an active night-chase in mid-winter. Heroic valour had charac- terised the officers and men on both sides. The Dutch had had eight men-of-war either taken by the enemy or destroyed. The Prosperous, the Oak, the Assistance, the Sampson, and several other English ships had been ROBERT BLAKE. boarded and captured during some period of the day, though every vessel was afterwards recovered. The Sampson was our only loss on that day. Its brave com- mander, Captain Button, and nearly all his crew being slain, Blake took out of her the remaining officers and men and allowed her to drift away. This excepted, no other ship in the English fleet had suffered so severely as the Triumph. Her able captain, Andrew Ball, fell that day covered with glory ; Sparrow, the Admiral's new se- cretary, was shot down at his side ; and nearly half of the entire crew had been swept into eternity. Blake him- self was wounded in the thigh, and the same ball which lamed him for the remainder of his life, tore away part of Deane's buff coat. The enemy's loss in men could not be ascertained ; it was known to be very great by the entire clearance of more than one vessel, and the decks and guns of the captured ships were so horribly spattered with blood and brains, as to sicken and appal the most callous of the victors. 1 As soon as night came down, Blake's first care was to relieve the agonies of the wounded by sending them on shore to the well-prepared hospitals, where persons of all ranks and opinions vied with each other in the endeavour to promote their comfort and recovery ; col- lections of money, clothes and linen being made for them throughout the West and the defects of the ser- vice made good by the spontaneous enthusiasm of the people. His own wound, though not really dangerous, 1 Blake, Deane, and Monk to Speaker of the House, Feb. 27, in Parl. Hist. xx. 116-127; Cornelius Tromp, 88-94; Clarendon, v. 285; Heath, 335 ; History and Life, 69; Hoste's Art des Annees Navales, 90. 238 ROBERT BLAKE. demanded repose and proper medical treatment ; but he would on no account listen to the friends who urged him to go on shore and seek for himself the relief which he had put in the way of his humblest comrade. The two fleets lay almost close together, with their lights streaming all night across the wintry sea as beacons for each other's guidance. Until dawn the next day, every effective hand on board the English fleet was em- ployed in restoring sails, stopping leaks, cleaning guns, and otherwise repairing the waste of war ; every thing was made ready to renew the contest on the morrow, for a dead calm had succeeded to the fresh breeze blow- ing when the battle began, and if this calm should con- tinue, it was thought impossible for the Dutch to avoid another battle. But as day broke a light wind sprang up, and Tromp, anxious now to take home his convoy in safety, disposed his fleet in the form of a crescent, the two hundred traders in his centre, and crowding every inch of sail that he could spread out stood directly up the Channel. Blake followed with his whole power ; the breeze which favoured the flight also aiding the pursuit ; yet it was twelve o'clock before the Triumph came within gunshot of the rearmost enemy, and nearly two before the main body came up with them off Dun- geness. Again compelled to fight, Tromp ordered the merchants to make sail for the nearest Dutch port, keep- ing close under the French shore between Calais and Dunkirk for protection, and then turned like a pan- ther on his pursuer. The battle was renewed on both sides with fury. De Ruiter gave fresh proofs of his courage ; but the fortune of war was still against him. ROBERT BLAKE. 239 After some hours of this second engagement his vessel became unmanageable, and would have fallen into the enemy's hands had not Tromp seen his danger and sent Captain Duin to bring him out from the fight. With great difficulty he was extricated from his position and carried away. An hour or so later Tromp also began to fall back towards Boulogne, still, however, contesting every wave, and the mingled rout and battle lasted un- til night again separated the hostile hosts. Fortunately for the English fleet, though the air was bitterly cold, the sky was unusually clear for winter, so that the enemy's lights served them as polar stars and enabled their ships to keep pretty close together and well up for the new battle of the morrow. On the second day Blake had captured or destroyed five Dutch men-of-war. The advantages gained by the recent reforms came out clearly in face of the enemy: the Admirals had not a single complaint to make as to the courage, steadiness and unity of purpose displayed by the inferior officers. In the Dutch fleet, on the con- trary, want of concert, party-bitterness and personal envy, combined to clog the genius of the great com- mander. At the close of the second day's engagement several captains of ships sent word to the Brederode that they could resist no longer, pleading want of powder as an excuse, and Tromp was compelled to send these men away from the main body in the night so as to prevent the treason and cowardice from spreading to the other ships. To conceal the true nature and cause of this de- fection, he made a pretence of giving them instructions to take up a new position to windward of the convoy, 240 ROBERT BLAKE. and make such a show of resistance as would keep the English frigates from coming too near. But this device failed of its own weakness. When daylight dawned, Blake saw at a glance that the fleet had been consider- ably reduced, and inferring that a squadron had been despatched in the night to cover the flight of the mer- chants, he sent off a division of fleet sailers, drawing little water, in pursuit of them, while he himself bore down once more with the main body on his reduced but still unconquered enemy. Tromp fought, as usual, with the most desperate courage : but he had now little hope, with his broken and divided power, of doing more than occupy Blake until his richly laden convoy could run into the nearest port. Even this was doubt- ful. After the first shock of the third day's battle, he sent Captain Van Ness to the merchants, with orders for them to crowd sail and make for Calais road, as he found himself unable to afford them more than a few hours' protection from the enemy. As the fight grew fiercer, he sent his Fiscal or Treasurer to urge them to press on faster, or the English frigates would soon be amongst them. But the wind was then blowing from the French coast, and notwithstanding his energetic at- tempts, Van Ness was unable to carry such a number of disorganised ships sufficiently near land to be out of danger. More than half the Dutch frigates and men- of-war had now been taken, sunk or scattered ; and con- sidering that it was a species of insanity in Tromp to continue the engagement until they were all destroyed, the other captains, contrary to their express orders, re- treated on the flying convoy. Confusion then reached ROBERT BLAKE. its height. Some of the English frigates came up ; and the merchants, in their alarm and disorder, ran foul of each other, knocked themselves to pieces or fell blindly into the enemy's power. Still fighting with the re- treating men-of-war, Blake arrived in the midst of this strange scene late in the afternoon, and finding several ships run against him, as if desirous of being captured, the thought occurred to him that this was a device of his wily adversary to stay the victorious pursuit, and give time to rally some part of the discomfited fleet, and he issued strict and instant commands that every war-ship still in a condition to follow and fight the enemy should press on with all its force against the main body, leaving the traders in their rear to be watched and seized by the frigates already assigned to that service, or driven into ports whence it would be easy to recover them should the Dutch fleet be swept utterly from the Channel. Darkness alone put an end to the exciting chase. Tromp ran in under the French shore, some four miles from Calais, where he anchored the remnant of his once mighty fleet now reduced to less than half the former number of masts, besides be- ing damaged in every part. Blake consulted pilots and others well acquainted with the coast, as to what Tromp could do in his new position ; and the general opinion of these men was, that the Dutch could not weather the coast of Artois, as the wind and tide then were, and would be compelled to come out again to sea in order to get home. He therefore cast his anchors and sat down to repair his damages. The night was unusually dark, with a high gale blowing, so that the enemy's R ROBERT BLAKE. lights could not be seen ; and when day again dawned the sea was clear in that direction, Tromp having slipped away and tided towards Dunkirk, whence he got off into the harbours of Zealand. By twelve o'clock in the morning, Blake was ready to give chase ; but no enemy being then visible, and feeling that it would be useless to follow the runaways into the flats and shallows of their own coast, he stood over towards England, and the gale still rising, carried his fleet and prizes into Stoake's Bay, whence he and his colleagues in command wrote to inform the House of their success. 1 Extremely false and exaggerated accounts of the great Battle of Portland were published in the two countries. Excepting the loss of their traders, the States-General tried to make the world believe that their fleet had done as much mischief as it had suffered : but when Tromp was asked to sail against the enemy unencumbered by a convoy, he frankly confessed that his best war-ships had been already lost or destroyed. In their report to Parliament, the English commanders stated that their loss was confined to the Sampson, the vessel turned adrift the first night of the engagement, and that their gain from the enemy was seventeen or eighteen men-of-war and a large fleet of merchant-ships, the precise number not being ascertainable at once, as the prizes had been carried into different ports. Sixteen sail were brought into Dover. Altogether it is probable, that more than fifty of these vessels fell into English hands. On both sides the loss of life was great. The 1 Elegiac Enumeration, J7, 18; Blake, Deane and Monk to Speaker, Feb. 27; Cornelius Tromp, 94-105; Hoste, 90. ROBERT BLAKE. 243 Dutch captains, Balk, Van Zaanen, De Port, Spanhem, Regemorter, Fokkes and Allart were all slain : Swers, Schey and Van Zeelst were taken prisoners. England had to mourn the deaths of three of her bravest captains Ball, Mildmay and Barker. Blake himself was se- verely wounded, as were also his gallant Rear-admiral, Lawson, and many other of the most distinguished per- sons on board. 1 In London the first news of this terrible battle was received with boundless enthusiasm. At last the- two nations had met on a fair field ; the genius, strength and courage of the officers and men had been fairly tried ; and the Commonwealth had gained a splendid victory. Special letters of thanks and congratulation were written to the three commanders. A day of general thanks- giving was appointed. Parliament began an immediate subscription in behalf of the wives and children of such as had fallen in the action : and a short time afterwards a public provision was made by the State itself for their support. Troops of horse escorted the prisoners from the various ports where they had been landed to London, and in every town through which these cavalcades passed on the journey the people rang the joy-bells in celebra- tion of the battle. As to Blake himself, less mindful of his own wound than he was of the hurts of his humblest companion, he remained in St. Helen's road and about the Solent for some weeks after he had received it, re- fitting his ships, taking in fresh stores, and preparing to chastise the Brest privateers, who still infested the seas and made spoil of English and other traders engaged in 1 Heath, 335, 336; Hist. Parl. xx. 120. 244 ROBERT BLAKE. the commerce with Ireland. 1 But in April he received information on which he could rely that Tromp was making great efforts to equip another fleet. "With a hundred sail he appeared before the Texel, where he found about seventy Dutch men-of-war and frigates ; his vanguard fired into them as soon as he came within gunshot, when they hastily retreated, leaving fifty of their doggers behind as prizes for the enemy. Tromp had already gone out on convoy service ; but no longer able or willing to try the Channel passage, he was obliged to go round the north of Scotland to meet the fleet of Spa- nish and Levant merchants. He contrived by consum- mate seamanship to bring his ships safe home, though the wits of London and Westminster had their laugh at the expense of that top-gallant humour which had so lately threatened to brush the English navy from the seas in which he no longer dared to shew his pennons. Leaving him for the present secure in his fortified and inaccessible ports, Blake sailed towards the North with a small squadron, while Monk and Deane returned with eighty sail into the Downs where they witnessed and ac- quiesced in Cromwell's dispersion of the Long Parlia- ment and in his assumption of supreme power. 2 The precise objects of this northern cruise have not been clearly stated. But as it had the effect of remov- ing from the Downs and from the great majority of his naval comrades a popular commander, known for his sincere attachment to the Commonwealth, at the very moment when Cromwell had resolved to venture on the 1 Blake and Penn to Navy Com., March 7-18, Dept. Mss. 1 Hist. Parl. xx. 121; Cornelius Tromp, 165. ROBERT BLAKE. 245 rash, indecent and unlawful act of dispersing by brute force the representatives of the nation, it is not difficult to surmise by whose intrigues the Council of State had been induced to urge it. His separation from the fleet his removal to a distance from the scene of action were necessary precautions ; from the other generals and admirals Cromwell had little to fear. Monk was the obsequious creature of his will. Deane was a mere soldier without opinions. Penn was never likely to be found on the weaker side. But Blake, like other sin- cere and moderate Republicans, had accepted the death of Charles as the term of monarchy in this country. A Council of State, freely elected out of the whole body of representatives, and responsible to Parliament for their public conduct, seems to have been the form of government which he desired to see prevail. Soldier as he was, he strongly repudiated the rule of the sword. Between Blake and Cromwell there were strong points of contrast as well as of resemblance. Both were sincerely religious, undauntedly brave, fertile in expedients, irre- sistible in action. Born in the same year, they began and almost closed their lives at the same time. Both were country gentlemen of moderate fortune. Both were of middle age when the revolution came. Without previous knowledge or professional training, both at- tained to the highest honours of the respective services. But there the parallel ends. Blake's patriotism was as pure as Cromwell's was selfish. Anxious only for the glory and interest of his country, the great seaman took little or no care of his personal aggrandisement. His contempt of money, his impatience with the mere vani- 246 ROBERT BLAKE. ties of power, were supreme. With his most creditable aspirations the Lord-General mingled views of personal profit ; he coveted power, place and patronage for himself wealthy and aristocratic connexions for his children-. Open to the lowest order of corrupt influences in his own person, Cromwell never scrupled to appeal to the sense of private interest in others. Blake abhorred bri- bery in all its shapes; he even carried his objection so far as to declare against the custom of giving parliamen- tary rewards for any but the most extraordinary and meritorious services. By nature Cromwell was dark and suspicious; Blake was frank and open to a fault; his heart was in his hand, and his mind ever on his lips. In military genius, in command over men, in faculty for organising crude materials into actual power they were perhaps at once equal and unequalled. In the highest moral attributes of manhood in honesty, modesty, ge- nerosity, sincerity and magnanimity, Blake was far su- perior to Cromwell ; and if he ultimately became in the world's eye the second man in England, it was chiefly, if not solely, because his nature and his principles for- bad him to contend with the weapons of his rival. On the famous 20th of April 1653, Blake was quietly cruising with twenty ships between the Friths of Forth and Moray, when the troopers marched down to West- minster and cleared the House. Vane, Sidney, Lenthall, Marten and others opposed the illegal violence of the Lord-General. He abused them in coarse and character- istic language, added insult to injury, and turned them out of doors. Next day he dissolved the Council of State. On the 25th a council of officers in London declared for ROBERT BLAKE. 247 Cromwell, and the same afternoon brought despatches from Deane and Monk, with their adhesion and that of certain captains of their fleet to the number of thirty- three. Penn and the officers with him all signed to the same effect. But neither the Admiral himself, his brother Benjamin, nor his nephew Robert, set their hands to these documents, so that the name of Blake does not occur in the papers which carried to the usurper an assurance that his violence would not be opposed by the navy. 1 That Blake was dissatisfied with a change that soon condemned Algernon Sidney to the privacy of Pens- hurst, consigned Sir Harry Vane to a prison, and drove many of the liberal and moderate men whose opinions he shared, into private life, there is no reason to doubt. To his friends and associates he made no secret of his resentment. Had he been in his place in the Council of State when Cromwell entered, there would probably have been a louder and more important protest against the act of usurpation than that made by the Lord- Presi- dent Bradshawe. But he was far away, and deeply en- grossed with the duties of the service, when the deed of violence was done in Westminster ; and before the in- telligence reached him on his distant station, the change was an historical fact, formally accepted by the army and the fleet. From that moment he gave up politics. The gentry of Somersetshire returned him as their re- presentative in the new Parliament; but he never sat again, or appeared in the House, except on the busi- ness of his department. The fears and intrigues of the 1 Perfect Diurnal, April 25, May 2; Whitelock, 529; Ludlow, ii. 455 ; Hist. Par), xx. 137; Clarendon, v. 316. ROBERT BLAKE. usurper caused him to be excluded from the new Coun- cil of State. In a Parliament without real power, even his fearless truth and uncompromising honesty could do little harm to the Lord-General's interests; while his very name on the rolls of the New Representative, lent a dignity to that assembly which Cromwell understood, and his admirers still claim as a sort of triumph for their hero. The case was different as regards the Council of State. Within that smaller and more powerful body, he might have proved a dangerous adviser and opponent so long as the great question of a settlement of the na- tion was still under discussion : it was, therefore, a ne- cessary precaution, that, for a time at least, he should be excluded. Blake's opinions were known to be unfavour- able to military rule, not only in England, but on the continent generally ; and when the Dutch heard of a sudden revolution having been accomplished by the army in London, they at once leapt to the conclusion that their most redoubtable naval enemy would no longer carry on the war with the same vigour. 1 In these hopes they were deceived. Calling his cap- tains together as soon as the messengers arrived at the fleet before Aberdeen with the news of the day, he told them, that whatever might be their private opinions, he considered it to be his duty and their duty to act in their several posts, while out at sea, with good faith, and in such a way as would best conduce to the public peace and welfare. He spoke of the irregularities which had occurred in London ; but he would not admit that in 1 Thurloe, i. 293; Carlyle's Cromwell, iii. 260; Hist. Parl. xx. 178-183. ROBERT BLAKE. 249 such a crisis, threatened as the country was on every side with foreign enemies, the fleet had any right to plunge the country into the horrors of civil war. When pressed by some of his captains to declare against the clique of army officers and their leader, he at once took up a position which he never afterwards abandoned. " No," he said, " it is not for us to mind affairs of State, but to keep foreigners from fooling us." Though he suspected Cromwell and abhorred military rule, he had manliness and patriotism enough not to deprive his country of such services as he could render, because it had allowed itself to submit in an irregular way to a power not of his choosing. And fortunately this re- solution was taken with his usual rapidity ; for Tromp, Evertz, De Ruiter, and De Witt, under the impression that the fleets of England were divided from each other and torn by discords, sailed from the Goree with 120 ships, brought together and manned in haste, for Dover road, into which they drove a few stragglers, took two or three prizes, and began to fire on the town. The fleet then in and about the narrow seas was divided into three squadrons. Deane and Monk, with the red flag, in the Resolution, had under their immediate orders 38 sail, carrying 1440 guns and 6169 men; the white divi- sion, under Penn, consisted of 33 sail, with 1189 guns and 5085 men ; Lawson commanded the blue, composed of 34 ships, having on board 1189 guns, and 5015 men; making a grand total of 105 ships, 3840 guns, and 16,269 men. The Dutch were about equal in guns and men, though they had a greater number of vessels. Blake, meanwhile, having learned by mounted couriers riding 250 ROBERT BLAKE. day and night that Tromp was in the Channel, and had already fired into Dover, spread his sails and poured impetuously down the north coast before a full breeze, burning with desire to revenge that insult and re-establish his invaded supremacy in the narrow seas. Early in the morning of June 2d, the two great fleets sighted each other about three leagues from the Gable. Lawson pressed on in advance of his comrades, and charged through the enemy between eleven and twelve o'clock in the fore- noon, separating De Ruiter's squadron from the rest and engaging it in a severe contest before the main body on either side could be brought to bear. In about an hour Tromp was at the elbow of his gallant comrade, and at three o'clock the firing was quite general. One of the first cannon-shots that swept the Resolution killed Ge- neral Deane : Monk threw his cloak over the mangled corpse of his colleague, and shouted to the men to avenge his death. Tromp had given out an extra quantity of liquor, and for some hours the Dutchmen fought with reckless and extraordinary courage ; but when darkness put an end to a long day's engagement, he found him- self not less damaged than the enemy. All that night, while the hostile fleets, at barely gunshot distance from each other, were trying in haste and disorder to repair somewhat the waste of the past few hours, Blake was riding with his division, full sail and with streaming lights, for the scene of action, unaware of the day's events, the loss of his old friend Deane, and the doubt- ful position of the great fleet. All night the officers and men, not a little dispirited at the death of one of their old generals, watched and waited anxiously for the ROBERT BLAKE. 251 signals of the Sea King. The summer morning dawned early, but no trace of his coming could be descried on the horizon. Fortunately, Tromp was unaware that Blake was expected in the course of the day, believing him to be too far north to be recalled so soon, and he spent the whole morning in a series of skilful movements intended to recover the weather-gage ; but, owing to a sudden calm which came on, he was unsuccessful in this attempt, and about noon the fleets were again within range of the great guns. The battle was renewed, as if by mutual consent, at the point where it had ceased the night before: it was maintained with energy; but neither party could claim an advantage over the other until the expected squadron hove in sight. Early in the after- noon, high above the din of battle, and breaking through it as the thunder-clap bursts through the roar of wind and rain in a southern storm, the explosions of his ter- rible artillery was heard by the anxious and excited sea- men on the Hollanders' rear and flank ; and the sound, telling the tale of carnage and destruction in every crash, roused them into new and more formidable life. The young Captain Robert Blake was the first man to engage the enemy ; he broke through the Dutch line, vomiting death from every gun, and was received with a tremen- dous cheer from the sailors of the fleet, to whom he brought ocular proofs of their great commander's arri- val on the scene. At four o'clock the battle ended and the rout began. Tromp fought with the energy of de- spair ; but nothing could stand that impetuous onset. The men of the Brederode, roused to fury by the cries and reproaches of their Admiral, boarded the Vice-ad- 252 ROBERT BLAKE. miral the James but were repulsed by Perm's crew, who entered the Brederode with them, gained possession of the quarter-deck, and would probably have captured the ship, had not Tromp, resolved not to fall alive into the enemy's hands, thrown a light into the powder-magazine, and caused an explosion which sent the upper-deck and the gallant boarders who occupied it into mid air the planks shivered into a thousand splinters the men horribly scorched and mutilated. By a miracle Tromp himself was scarcely hurt ; but a report of his death was spread about, and many of his captains, feeling that all was lost, turned and fled. De Ruiter and De Witt ex- erted themselves in vain. After his marvellous escape, Tromp quitted the disabled Brederode for a fast-sailing frigate, in which he flew through the fleet to assure them of his safety, encouraging the brave, threatening the waverers, and firing on the timid as they fled. But it was now too late : the day was irretrievably lost, and the brave old sailor at last and with great reluctance gave his sanction to the orders for retreat. As the flight became general, a fresh gale sprung up. Allowing them no pause, the English admirals pressed hotly on their rear, sunk many of their ships, captured several others, and would have destroyed the entire armament had they been favoured with two hours more daylight. But favoured by the dark night, Tromp sought shelter in the road be- fore Ostend, and the next day escaped with the remnant of his fleet into Weilingen. Blake and Monk had to report that among their captures they counted 1350 Dutch prisoners, including six captains, Verburg, Schel- linger, Laurence, Duin, Fietersz, and Westergo : eleven ROBERT BLAKE. 253 men-of-war, including a vice-admiral and two rear-ad- mirals ; two water-hoys and one fly-boat. The other ascertainable losses of the enemy included six men-of- war sunk, two blown up and one burnt. In their own fleet they counted 126 men slain and 236 wounded. Several of their ships had had their bows shot away, and the masts and rigging of many others were much shat- tered and destroyed. 1 Intelligence of this great defeat threw the United Provinces into a most dangerous ferment. The mob rose in various towns, deposed the magistrates, and ac- cused the government of incapacity and treason. The Admirals offered to resign their commissions. Tromp told the Deputies of the States that it was impossible to fight the islanders any longer, unless their fleet could be reinforced by a great number of large ships ; and De Ruiter boldly declared that he would go to sea no more with such a fleet as they then possessed. In the As- sembly of the States, De Witt spoke the truth still more clearly out : " Why," he said, " should I keep silence any longer ? I am here before my sovereigns ; T am free to speak : and I must say that the English are at pre- sent masters both of us and of the seas." This was the opinion of the well-informed in both countries. The naval power of Holland was for the time completely broken, and the final battle of the war, hazarded and lost two months later, was but an expiring effort made 1 Monk to Navy Com., June 3; Blake and Monk to Cromwell, June 4 ; Several Proceedings in State Affairs, June 2-9 ; History and Life, 72-75; Tromp to the States-General, June 13 and 14 ; Skinner, 50-51. 254t ROBERT BLAKE. with crippled means and under circumstances of the greatest discouragement. The condition of the Dutch flag-ship was but a little worse than that of their navy throughout: "The Brederode" says Tromp, in his report to the States-General, " has received several shots between wind and water ; and though we have had her caulked as well as possible, she still leaks so fast, that last night, in spite of all our pumps, the water gained on us above five feet in height : till the present time we have contrived to keep her above water ; but if after all we find our labour lost, we shall be obliged to run her ashore." Under these circumstances the States began to think of peace, and a vessel carrying a white flag was sent with an agent on board, who was instructed to go to London to prepare the way for two fresh am- bassadors fully empowered to arrange the preliminaries of a treaty. 1 Though it kept the sea, the English fleet was in scarcely better condition than the enemy. After sending the wounded men on shore at Ipswich, where hospitals had been prepared for their reception, with strict orders that every care should be taken of their wounds, and ever)' comfort afforded them during the progress of their recovery, 2 Blake pursued the flying enemy, keeping his great ships out at sea to avoid the shoals and sand- banks, but running his frigates close in land and scouring every bay and inlet. His objects were, to place the coast of Holland from the Zwin to the Texel in a state of blockade to intercept and destroy the Dutch trade 1 Cornelius Tromp, 131; Heath, 344, 345. 8 Blake to Captain Salte, June 7, 1 653, Dept Mss. ROBERT BLAKE. 255 to hinder the herring-busses and whaling-boats from going out on the usual summer voyage and to keep the fleet closed up in the Texel and prevent its junc- tion with that refitting in the Weilingen ; and having determined on his plan, he collected such of his ships as appeared to be unable to remain at sea for some weeks to come, and sent them back to England with the prizes, himself remaining with the other portion of his fleet in the Dutch waters, capturing stray ships and holding the long chain of towns and ports between Ostend and the Ems in a state of perpetual alarm and irritation. His letters written at this time from before the Texel and the Vlie shew with how wide a range of obstacles he had to contend, and add new elements to the admiration excited by his victorious career. Five days after the battle he writes to the Board of Admiralty : " GENTLEMEN, Since ours of the 6th present, we are got between the Texell and the Vlie, where we shall endeavour to hinder any men-of-war coming out from thence to make a conjunction with the Dutch fleet now at the Weilingen, as well as hinder their fishing and merchandising trade so near as we can. " The ships sent for England with the Dutch prizes, of which you had an account in our last, we do desire they may be refitted and sent unto us so soon as possibly you can, and that the Commissioners of the Navy may be sent unto, to give order for as much victuals and water to be put on board them as they can well stow, also that so many other ships with victuals and water as can be got ready in that time, may come along with them, and for those victualling and water-ships now with 256 ROBERT BLAKE. us, we shall use our best endeavours to get it out as fast as we can, and dispose of it to each ship according to their necessity so far as it will go, and then send them back for recruits, whereby the charge of hiring more ships for that service may be saved ; but as yet we have not had time. " We do desire that two or three of the best-sailing frigates may be hastened to us with powder and shot, which is our great want. " We have sent orders to all those ships and vessels in Yarmouth road to repair unto us with all expedition, and do desire that for the future no more ships-of-war or others may be sent thither, but that they repair into the Zwin, where we shall send to them and for them as the service requires. " We would gladly know certainly what quantity of victuals there lies now ready at Hull, Yarmouth, and Harwich upon any occasion. " It is supposed as soon as the enemy is in a capacity to shew his head, he will endeavour to attempt some- what upon our own coast ; but we hope you will take care that he may be prevented, and if he shall come again and shoot into Dover pier, that you will not be much startled at it, though we assure you there shall be nothing wanting in us to hinder him in that or any thing else that may disturb the peace of this Common- wealth, so far as the Lord shall enable us. " We do desire all diligence may be used to supply us with seamen, and that the first ships that come may bring as many with them as they can. We are," &C. 1 1 Blake and Monk to Navy Com., June 9, Dept. Mss. ROBERT BLAKE. Next day he wrote again, complaining that the ships were in very bad condition and much in want of powder and shot. But stipplies came in slowly. Want and sick- ness increased day by day. On the 12th he wrote again : " The llth present came many letters of yours to our hands, several of them, bearing date in May last, are du- plicates of some we formerly received, and have already answered as to the material things therein. The same day also came Colonel Goffe, Major Bourne and Captain Hatsell, and seven ships-of-war, with eleven victuallers and water-ships in their company. What their lading particularly is we cannot as yet give you an account; but so soon as it comes to our hands, we shall communi- cate it unto you, which we hope will be by the next; only this we have in general, that there are 140 barrels of powder in the Samuel merchant, and 172 in the John and Katherine (besides a quantity of shot) over and above their proportion ; also 700 soldiers, which might have been serviceable unto us had care been taken to have sent bedding and cloths along with them, according to your resolutions at Chatham in that particular, which we hoped would have been adhered to ; for want whereof they are likely to occasion much sickness amongst us, instead of answering your expectations. " As soon as we have disposed of the victuals now come to us, we shall send the ships that brought it back again with what speed we can, that they may be recruited and returned to us ; and we hope you will use all dili- gence for the hastening back the ships we sent into the river as a convoy to the Dutch prizes ; we having many ships here will be unfit for service before they get to us^ a 258 ROBERT BLAKE. let them make what haste they can. We sent the other day eleven ships and frigates to Harwich to wash and tallow, and then to complete three months victuals, as also to take in the ammunition remaining at Yarmouth for the fleet, and so to return with all speed. " For those ships and frigates of Captain Badily's squadron, which we understand are in a capacity for service, wanting some men, we desire they may be sup- plied and hastened to us, the rather because we are in- formed there are eleven or twelve great frigates newly launched at Amsterdam, Enchuysen, and thereabouts, which carry fifty guns a piece, besides the ten men-of- war which came home with the French fleet. We un- derstand some hammocks are come in a hoy to Harwich, for which we have sent, but hear not of the other neces- saries of wood and candles, so often mentioned unto you* of which the fleet wants a proportion of six weeks to even with our present victualling. The lOOOlbs. is now come in the John and Katherine, and John Poortmans intends to get it aboard to-day, which we hope will yet be serviceable ; for the Cock and Brier which you men- tion are on their way towards us ; the latter of them we conceive may be very useful in her station on the western coast, and therefore do not desire her here. We have desired Major Bourne to remain about Harwich and Yarmouth, the better to despatch to us the ships and frigates that are or shall be sent thither, and such other vessels with provisions as are necessary for the fleet; and also to maintain a constant and mutual correspon- dence between the Council of State and yourselves with us. The supply of ammunition you have made unto us, ROBERT BLAKE. 259 especially of shot, will not answer our present wants in that behalf, wherefore we desire the continuance of your care therein, that what further quantities can be suddenly provided may be sent unto us accordingly." 1 About a fortnight later he complained that his stores and provisions were all run short; the beer, he said, was sour, the bread bad, the butter rancid, the cheese rotten. The amount of sickness on board was very great ; and in spite of the enemy's present weakness, and the im- mense advantage of holding them in close blockade, he expressed a fear that, unless relieved, he would be com- pelled by want and sickness to return to England. His own health was bad, the consequence of his neglected wound, but of that he said little. The close of his letter, in which he had described one of his captures, gave ex- cellent reasons for maintaining the blockade : " It hath pleased God this last week," it ran, " to deliver several merchant-ships of the enemy into our hands, which was thus : Upon the 19th present some of our frigates, appointed to ply to and again before the Vlie, met with eleven sail, which proved to be Dutch ships, some of them come from the West Indies ; and being ships of force, they fought for some time, but at length committed themselves to sailing as their securest way ; whereby five of them escaped, but four are taken, one sunk, and another burnt. In this encounter Captain Vessey, Commander of the Martin, was slain, whom we understand hath left a poor widow with a great charge of children, whose condition we leave to your conside- ration. Upon the 22d some other of our frigates met 1 Blake and Monk to Navy Com., June 12, Dept. Mss. 260 ROBERT BLAKE. about thirty sail more to the northward of the Vlie, which being ships of no force endeavoured wholly an escape ; but yet eleven of them were taken and some of the remainder scattered, and the rest got into port ; two of these came from Swethland laden with guns, all new, whereof two are brass, and most of them carrying a bullet from 241bs. weight to twelve, as we are informed, which we hope will be as seasonable for us as for them, had they escaped ; there were no more amongst them had any guns but these two, the rest are richly laden for the most part ; they are not all come into the fleet as yet ; when they are, we shall send them in under the convoy of such ships as are least useful, also such sick and wounded men as are not fit to be kept on board ; upon whose arrival in Lea road, whither we shall order them, we do desire speedy directions may be given concerning them as may stand with the good of the service. We intend also (if the Lord will) to make a trip over with the whole fleet upon the English shore, to see them out of danger, and then to return with what speed we can, leaving in the meantime so many of the best frigates we have to lie between the Dogger Bank and the Biff, to intercept the enemy's ships of trade expected home. We earnestly desire you will hasten unto us as many clean ships as you can, apprehending more service might be done than now is, had we a considerable number of them ; also that you would send to Major Bourne that those ships now tallowing at Harwich may be expedited to us. " We still continue before this place, sometimes at an anchor, at other times under sail." 1 1 Blake and Monk to Navy Com., June 28, Dept. Mss. ROBERT BLAKE. 261 One more extract from this correspondence will complete the dreary picture of this victorious fleet, and will bring down the story of the war to the point where Blake was compelled by illness to go on shore : " Since our last, wherein we acquainted you with our resolutions to sail with the main body of the fleet for Sowle Bay, we have had blowing weather for the most part, whereby we were driven to leeward as far as Flamborough Head ; but are now, through the goodness of God, come thus far on our way, and hope to get into the place of rendezvous this night, or to-morrow morn- ing at furthest, where all diligence shall be used to ac- complish the end of our coming thither ; and therefore desire that what victualling ships and others can be sent from London within the time limited for our staying upon this coast, may be expedited to us, and we have written to Major Bourne in the like manner for such provisions as can be sent unto us from Yarmouth and Harwich. Our men fall sick very fast every day, hav- ing at present on board this ship upwards of eighty sick men, and some of them very dangerously, which we hear is generally through the whole fleet alike, propor- tionable to the number of men on board; so that we shall be constrained to send a considerable number unto Ipswich for their recovery ; where there is room enough for them and good accommodation, as we understand by a letter from Dr. Whistler lately come to our hands, to whom we have written that special care might be taken of them, and suitable provision made for them, according to their conditions ; and do desire a considerable number of seamen may be sent unto us with what expedition 262 ROBERT BLAKE. you can, or else it is apprehended we shall be very weakly manned, to do service answerable to what is ex- pected from us. "We have this morning sent away the Worcester frigate for Chatham, being very foul, and wanting a new foremast, which could not be supplied here. We should have ordered him to stay in Lea road to receive your directions, but that we apprehended much time would be lost that way, being appointed to make his repair unto the fleet with all expedition. The captain of her is a godly and valiant man, whom, with Captain Newbery, commander of the Entrance, we do especially recommend for two of the best frigates now a building, which if you shall approve of and appoint unto, we shall deliver them commissions upon notice given. We hope you do not forget to send us paper and canvass for cartridges, with a considerable quantity of old junk for wads, our neces- sity in this particular having been several times made known unto you. There are two honest captains more whom we desire to recommend unto you for removes into some of the new frigates now a building, with good strength, viz. Captain Bragg in the Marmaduke and Captain Hermon in the Welcome ; they are already in ships of good force but slow sailers, and do apprehend they would do more and better service if better pro- vided. We earnestly desire you will send down to us as much victuals as will complete us to the last of Sep- tember, if you can, or else the quantity of butter, cheese and bread that was lost in the Gottiott hoy, of which we gave you an account already, being much in want thereof. We also desire you will hasten unto us what ROBERT BLAKE. 263 clean ships and frigates you can from London, for want whereof so much service cannot be done as otherwise might be." 1 Next morning the fleet put in, and Blake was car- ried on shore more dead than alive, leaving Monk, Penn and Lawson on board to carry out and complete his plan for the fina 1 reduction of Holland. 2 One more blow, and all was over. Taking advantage of the temporary absence of the blockading fleet, the Dutch squadrons of the Texel and Weilingen put to sea and effected a junction with each other on the south coast; but their shattered power was no longer capable of bearding their powerful enemy, and when the English admirals hove in sight at the close of the month, they endeavoured by flight to avoid another battle. Penn and Lawson won their brightest laurels in this final con- flict with Tromp, Evertz and De Ruiter. The fighting began at dusk ; but night soon parted the combatants. Next day a heavy gale and thick dirty weather pre- vented a renewal of the action. On the third day the last shot was fired. The aged and able Admiral of Hol- land received a musket-ball in his heart ; and after his death the captains of his fleet fled away, the English for the first and only time in that war pursuing the fugitives without mercy, as the ruthless Monk had commanded them to give no quarter. They made no prisoners ; they killed all who fell in their way ; and after a few hours the contest became a massacre rather than a bat- tle. The States- General, now thoroughly humbled, sent 1 Blake and Monk to Navy Com., July 4, Dept. Mss. 2 Monk to Navy Com., July 5. 264 ROBERT BLAKE. ambassadors to sue for peace ; the negociations were car- ried on without further interruption ; and early in the fol- lowing spring a treaty was made in which they formally conceded to England the honours of the flag agreed to banish the royalist exiles from Holland gave the East India Company compensation for its losses settled a sum of money on the heirs of their Amboyna victims and made amends to the English traders who had suf- fered in the Baltic. In modern times there had been no maritime war to compare with this, either as to the interests concerned or the magnitude of the operations conducted. In less than two years the English Sea- General and his officers had, according to our own com- putations, captured or destroyed seventeen hundred ships; the Hollanders themselves admitted that they had lost more than eleven hundred vessels. These twenty months war with England cost the States-Gene- ral more money than they had expended during the twenty years war against Spain. 1 Honours and decorations awaited the successful ad- mirals in England. The Council of State proposed that Parliament should order two gold chains, each of 300/. value, to be made and presented to the two sur- viving generals, Blake and Monk. Two other chains, valued at 1001. each, were given to Penn and Lawson. Four chains of 4QI. each were presented to the four flag-officers. Rewards and promotions fell to the lot of many of the inferior officers. Penn was raised to the rank of Sea-General in the place of Deane. Lawson 1 Thurloe, i. 392-448; Paul Hoste, 78; Columns Rostrata, 132, 3; Sagredo Ms. in Lingard, xi. 225; Skinner, 51-53; Clarendon, v. 317-320. ROBERT BLAKE. 265 was made Vice-admiral. Captain Badily who had recently fought and lost the battle of Porto Longone, the only event of any importance which had occurred in the Mediterranean during the Dutch war was made Rear-admiral at the same time. A sum of 104<0/. was voted for medals for the inferior officers and men. Bonfires were lighted in all public places, and most con- spicuously on Tower Hill. A day of general thanks- giving, as usual with the Roundheads after a great vic- tory, was appointed. But all this time Blake lay at home in a dangerous fever, and only heard the public exultation at his marvellous successes through the oc- casional echoes which, in spite of medical precautions, came to disturb the repose of a sick room. 1 1 Elegiac Enumeration, 18 ; Hist. Parl. xx. 206; Order in Council, August 6, 1653. CHAPTER VIII. 1654. Clje jSUttiterranean. DURING the remainder of the summer months of 1653, it is at least probable that Blake lay sick at Knoll, a country-house attached to an estate which he had pur- chased about two miles from Bridgwater. Fever, of a slow but obstinate character, arising in the first instance from bis neglected wound, combined with other ail- ments, including dropsy and scurvy, then common to all men leading a seafaring life to lay him for a while completely prostrate. But a land-diet, gentle exercise and his native air gradually produced a change for the better in his condition. Knoll was at all times a fa- vourite retreat. When absent from his political and professional duties, it was his delight to run down to Bridgwater for a few days or weeks, and with his chosen books and one or two devout and abstemious friends, to indulge in all the luxuries of seclusion. He was by nature self-absorbed and taciturn. A long walk, during which he appeared to his simple neighbours to be lost in profound thought, as if working out in his own mind the details of one of his great battles, or busy with some abstruse point of Puritan theology, usually occupied his morning. If accompanied by one of his brothers or by some other intimate friend, he was still ROBERT BLAKE. 267 for the most part silent. Good-humoured always, and enjoying sarcasm when of a grave, high class, he yet never talked from the loquacious instinct, or encouraged others so to employ their time and talents in his pre- sence. Even his lively and rattling brother Humphrey, his almost constant companion when on shore, caught, from long habit, the great man's contemplative and self- communing gait and manner; and when his friends rallied him on the subject in after-years, he used to say that he had caught the trick of silence while walking by the Admiral's side in his long morning musings on Knoll hill. A plain dinner satisfied his wants. Reli- gious conversation, reading and the details of business, generally filled up the evening until supper-time ; after family prayers, always pronounced by the General him- self, and a frugal supper, he would invariably call for his cup of sack and a dry crust of bread, and while he drank two or three horns of Canary, would smile and chat in his own dry manner with his friends and domes- tics, asking minute questions about their neighbours and acquaintance ; or when scholars or clergymen shared his simple repast, affecting a droll anxiety, rich and pleasant in the conqueror of Tromp, to prove by the aptness and abundance of his quotations that, in becoming an ad- miral, he had not forfeited his claim to be considered a good classic. 1 During the whole period of this recovery he was in constant communication with his colleagues the Sea- Generals and with the Navy Commissioners. When his commission expired, it was again renewed ; and not 1 History and Life, 116. 268 ROBERT BLAKE. an order of any consequence was given in that branch of the public service on which his opinion was not first taken. His brother Humphrey was named, with John Sparrow, Richard Hill, Robert Turpin and Richard Blackwall, a Commissioner for the condemnation and sale of prizes, an extremely responsible and lucrative office. 1 In December an Act of Parliament named a new list of Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, at the head of which his name appeared. A few weeks later, though still suffering from ill-health, and lamed for life by his late wound, he returned to active service, going on board the Swiftsure at Spithead, with the new Sea-General Penn, whose plain good sense and wide range of nautical information were of great use to him in his high station. The Dutch negociation was not proceeding so rapidly as could have been wished; the ambassadors, with the proverbial slowness of their na- tion, dallying with the English claims, he determined to bring them to the point at once by an active renewal of hostilities, no truce having been entered into by the two powers. He had also some accounts to settle with the Brest privateers, that port having lately grown into another Dunkirk. 2 Spreading out his winter guard, he closed up the south entrance of the Channel, and spent most of his time in daily chase of such adventurous craft as dared to try the narrow seas in preference to the long voyage round the Orkney Islands, until the treaty with Holland was actually signed and ratified by the two governments. With this result he was ex- 1 Admiralty Mss. 70, State-Paper Office. 2 Blake and Perm's despatch, January 25, 1654-5, Dept. Mss. ROBERT BLAKE. 269 tremely well pleased. Though his highest renown had been gained in the Dutch war, that war had never met with his private approval. Holland, like England, was a Protestant State, and it galled him to think that the two guardians of free thought and reformed reli- gion should be wasting each other's power, while Popish Spain looked haughtily on. A war against that empire was his passion by day, his dream by night ; like a true Puritan, he suspected and hated the Spaniards as the real children of Anti-Christ ; and could he have chosen, he would have waged none but anti-Popish and anti-pira- tical wars. When he went on board the Swiftsure, he carried in his pocket instructions from the Council of State to lie at the entrance of Brest harbour and prevent ingress or egress, until satisfaction was obtained for the injuries done to English commerce; but on consulting pilots and captains well acquainted with the coasts of Bretagne, he found that the strong westerly winds ge- nerally blowing there would render it extremely ha- zardous for vessels to attempt to ride near the shore. He therefore stationed a part of his squadron at con- venient points, to watch and overawe the depredators, while the main body kept out at sea in search of the Hollanders. 1 The progress of the Dutch treaty put an end to the necessity for a winter campaign. The colleagues returned to London ; and Blake went down to Bridg- water in a new character, the formidable Sea-General being suddenly transformed into a commissioner for 1 Blake and Penn to Lords of Admiralty on Feb. 4, 14, 17, and 25, all in Deptford Mss. ; Elegiac Enumeration, 18, 19. 270 ROBERT BLAKE. purging the churches of England, Puritan, Independent, Presbyterian, and all other, of ignorant, scandalous and inefficient pastors. From the cockpit of a man-of-war he passed into the chapter-houses of Somersetshire, carrying that stern and resolute spirit of reform into his new sphere of action which had already made him so conspicuous at the Navy Board. For the moment, the active part of his professional career seemed about to close ; and a new world of public duties was opening before him, when government, having its own reasons, public and private, for wishing to keep him and his comrades at a distance from London, commenced the preparations for a new expedition. Cromwell kept the objects of this naval armament a profound mystery. Of course, it was soon noised abroad that the islanders were fitting out a new fleet ; but the service on which it was to be employed the commanders to whose skill and fidelity it would be entrusted could only be surmised by friend or foe. France and Spain, constrained by the late issue of events to think with less scorn of the new Commonwealth, both waited with anxiety the fall of the thunderbolt. The war which had long raged be- tween these two great European powers, exhausting both countries without producing a decided preponderance in either, rendered the friendship of England, now mis- tress at sea, of the utmost importance to both parties. That the armament then preparing was intended to take a part in the contest was assumed on all sides: but into which scale would the swords of the Sea-Generals be thrown ? Causes of dissatisfaction, both general and special, were not wanting with either country. Spain ROBERT BLAKE. 271 was the great Catholic power, and therefore the natural enemy of Puritan England. Its commercial system was prohibitive, and therefore opposed to the interests of our merchants and manufacturers. Its arrogance offended the national pride. The favour which it had shewn to Prince Rupert and the revolted fleet during the doubt- ful fortunes of the Commonwealth, was neither forgotten nor forgiven. But France, on its part, had afforded an asylum to the royal exiles, had allowed its subjects to attack the merchants of the Channel, had interdicted the importation of English silks and woollens into that country, and without an open declaration of war, both private and national cruisers of the two states had long carried letters of marque against each other, which they had executed at every opportunity. Up to the close of the Dutch war, England had favoured the cause of Spain as against France. Agents of that state had been allowed to recruit their armies in Ireland, and the suc- cours so raised had enabled them to reduce Gravelines and invest Dunkirk. At a critical moment Blake him-- self had captured the relief-guard under the Duke of Vendome, and caused the loss of this stronghold. But the urgent inquiries made by the representatives of the two crowns as to the object of the new armament were evasively answered by Cromwell, and no one could tell in what quarter the menacing storm would burst. 1 Meanwhile the work of equipment was carried on throughout the summer and autumn months. As the ships became ready for sea, and the plans of the govern- ment came to maturity, the fleet was divided into two 1 Thurloe, ii. 588, 638, 731 ; Clarendon, vi. 6 ; Scobell, ii. 335-347. 272 ROBERT BLAKE. grand divisions : the first, entrusted to Blake, consis- ted of the flag-ship St. George, carrying 60 guns and 350 men, and twenty-four other sail, carrying altoge- ther 4100 men and 874 guns ; the second, placed under Penn, consisted of the flag-ship Swiftsure, and thirty- seven other ships, besides two ketches, one hoy, and one dogger-boat, the whole carrying 4410 seamen and 1114 guns. On board the latter squadron about 3000 soldiers were also placed, with General Venables at their head. The gallant Captain Robert Blake went out with his uncle ; Benjamin Blake, restored to his former rank, com- manded the Gloucester, of 54 guns, in the Penn division. Towards the close of the year 1653 these mysterious armaments sailed from the Solent with sealed orders, the smaller squadron passing by Brest towards the south of Europe, the stronger bearing right away into the Atlan- tic, as if bound for the Isle of Barbadoes ; leaving the minds of men, not only in England but on the Continent, in a state of profound uncertainty as to their ultimate aims. At first popular opinion inclined to believe that a great blow was to be struck at France ; and this belief was fostered by the arts of the wily cardinal then ruling the destinies of that country. Every day rumours were spread of an approaching rupture between the two powers, and a body of troops was sent down to Dieppe, as if to repel an expected invasion in that quarter. Pub- lic belief was so far mystified by Cromwell and Maza- rine that it was commonly reported that Blake, with his entire division, was about to enter the service of Spain, and the price at which this powerful aid had been pur- chased was actually named. Many weeks elapsed before ROBERT BLAKE. 273 the people learned the real nature of this armed demon- stration. 1 The secret aim of the new government was to deal a great and sudden blow at the pride and power of Spain. Though the expedition had other objects, this was its paramount purpose. Envy of her colonial wealth, hatred of her religion, and impatience of her narrow views of commerce, combined with the recollection of ancient and unredressed wrongs of a more political character to give point and popularity to a war against Spain. Blake, with his flying squadron, was desired to watch the ports and rivers of that country, to intercept any ships enter- ing or leaving them, and, if possible, to cut off all commu- nication between Madrid and the West Indian Islands ; while Penn and Venables, after raising a large additional force at Barbadoes and other English settlements in those seas, were to make an attempt on Hispaniola and San Juan, or, failing these, on the mainland of South America, between Oronooco and Porto Bello. The con- ception of this double campaign was masterly; Blake holding the mother country in a state of profound iso- lation, while Penn and Venables invaded and captured her distant colonies ; and had it been executed with equal vigour and precision, it is more than probable that England would have founded an empire in South Ame- rica as well as in the North. But during the few weeks which must necessarily elapse before Blake's co-operation would be required in this service no war being as yet declared against Spain, nor any intimation afforded her that the West India squadron was directed against her 1 Heath, 366; Thurloe, iii. 103, iv. 452; Granville Penn, ii. 17, 18. T 274 ROBERT BLAKE. possessions he undertook to seek redress for certain minor and more miscellaneous wrongs. Our traders still suffered from the privateers of Brest and Toulon. The Duke of Guise threatened an invasion of Naples, which it was thought due to English interests to impede, and, if possible, prevent. Rovers from Salee, Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers, then and long afterwards the pests of Euro- pean commerce, had recently captured and sold into slavery several crews of our merchantmen. The Com- monwealth had also cause of offence against the grand Duke of Tuscany, who had formerly supported the re- volted fleet, and allowed Rupert to sell his prizes in the port of Leghorn. The Knights of Malta too, equally zealous against heretics and infidels, had piratically seized some English ships. All these wrongs, suffered during the troubles on land, he received a roving commission to inquire into, rectify and redress ; his powers being to that end as vague and extensive as the work to be done was novel and undefinable. 1 Early in December, his squadron anchored in Cadiz road. He was received, not only by the Spanish au- thorities, but by the captains and officers of all nations then at that great emporium of trade, with extraordi- nary demonstrations of respect. The English residents crowded the beach, eager to catch a glimpse of their renowned countryman. A Dutch admiral, lying there with his fleet, lowered his flag in honour of the red cross. One of our tenders, parting from the fleet, fell in with a Brest admiral, on his way with seven ships- of-war to join the Toulon fleet, fitting out to cover the 1 Burchett, 385; Thurloe, iii. 547. ROBERT BLAKE. 275 operations of the Duke of Guise and check the move- ments of the English in the waters of Italy and France ; but on learning that it belonged to the English squadron then at Cadiz, the Frenchman sent for the captain into his cabin, when he told him he was at liberty to return, invited him to drink Blake's health in a cup of Bur- gundy, and ordered a salute of five guns. The renown of his exploits had gone before him to the warlike ports and towns of Barbary ; and some Algerine cruisers, having a number of English captives on board, brought them as presents to appease his wrath. Every prince and people in the south who had insulted or outraged the Commonwealth learned to tremble at his approach. In his imagination the Grand Duke of Tuscany already heard the thunder of his cannon booming across the waters of Leghorn. The terrified Pope gave orders for a solemn procession, and the sacred Host was exposed for forty hours, to avert the threatening calamity from the dominions of the Church. 1 As peace had not yet been ratified between France and England, the Brest admiral, finding Blake's ships spread cross the entrance of the Straits, feared to attempt a passage in presence of so uncertain a friend, and fell back with his re-inforcement to Lisbon. Meanwhile news reached Cadiz that the fleet of the Duke of Guise was still at Naples; and the English immediately drew in their anchors and passed the rock of Gibraltar under full sail, making their course directly for the southern limb of Italy. When they arrived at Naples, the Duke was gone ; but whether into the Gulf of Venice, or that 1 History and Life, 80 ; Thurloe, iii. 1. 276 ROBERT BLAKE. of Genoa, they could not learn from any trustworthy source. What appeared to be the best accounts de- scribed him as having sailed for Leghorn ; and as soon as the fleet had taken in bread and water, they quitted the Bay of Naples where they had received every kind- ness from the people, and followed in pursuit of the enemy along the Papal coast, well pleased with the idea of making Anti-Christ tremble in the midst of his altars and palaces. The alarm of the Holy City was ex- treme. Many of the rich citizens fled away from Rome. Some buried their wealth in secret places others carried their effects, for greater safety, into the Um- brian Appenines. Trains of monks paraded the streets in penitential garb, and new works were hastily raised about the chapel of Loretto to preserve it from pillage. When the cause of all this ferment arrived with fourteen sail in sight of the towers of Leghorn, he sent his secretary on shore to desire instant redress from the Grand Duke for the owners of all vessels which had been seized and sold in his territories by Rupert and Maurice, fixing the money value of these various injuries at the sum of 60,000/. sterling. The Duke hesitated and pro- tested ; but on finding the Sea-General urgent and in- flexible in his demand, he offered to pay down a part of the money, and to confer with his friend and ally, the sovereign Pontiff, about the residue. Blake replied, that the Pope had nothing to do with the matter, and that he expected the Grand Duke would at once pay down the entire sum. This peremptory message brought down thirty-five thousand Spanish pistoles and twenty- five thousand Italian, together with information that some ROBERT BLAKE. 277 of Rupert's piratical seizures had been disposed of in Roman ports. This information was peculiarly accept- able ; and on its receipt Blake sent an officer to Rome with a demand for reparation. Doubts, equivocations, and even refusals followed on the part of the newly- elected Pontiff, Alexander VII. But remonstrances and supplications were of no avail ; the right was clear ; the power to enforce it was at hand ; and ultimately the Pope's fiscal was obliged to pay down to the heretics twenty thousand pistoles : probably the only money ever brought from Roman coffers to enrich the public treasury of England. 1 Ever mindful of the religious interests of his country- men, the Sea-General wrote a letter to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, urging him to permit the Protestants of England and other countries, whom pleasure or business might induce to settle in his dominions, full liberty to follow their own form of worship a privilege not then formally conceded by any Catholic power in the South, though Jews, Greeks and Armenians, were all permitted the open exercise of their religion at that very time in Florence ! No threat accompanied this request ; but the imposing power of the Puritan Commonwealth and the marvellous successes of Gustavus Adolphus in Poland, roused the fears of even the least tolerant of the Italian princes, and the Duke rather deferred than denied the request of the bold heretic, alleging as his excuse for delay, the want of precedent for such a concession in any Catholic country. Blake contented the English 1 Thurloe, iii. 1, 41, 103, iv. 464 ; Heath, 366 ; History and Life, 81, 82. 278 ROBERT BLAKE. residents in Florence and Leghorn by a promise that, on his return to England, he would urge the govern- ment to adopt measures for effecting their object. Other business now demanded his attention. French pirate cruisers, reported to be growing more and more formidable to our peaceful traders in and about the Ba- learic Islands, required a check ; he therefore sent the Langport and three other frigates to ply between Capo Palos and Majorca. Intelligence also reached him to the effect that a general rendezvous of all the Moslem fleets had been ordered by the Grand Seigneur at Tunis on an affair of great moment, probably with a view to an attack on Venice or some other Christian state. New orders likewise came to hand from London touching the Spanish Silver Fleets, then slowly wending their way from the New World towards Cadiz, which made it absolutely necessary for him to despatch his affairs in the Medi- terranean and sail with convenient haste for the western coast of Spain. 1 But sickness, foul weather and contrary winds de- tained the fleet near Leghorn. Two French vessels from the Levant, brought in as prizes, unfortunately commu- nicated the plague to their captors. Blake himself was struck down by this new and terrible disease, and for several weeks he was unable to hold a pen or even indite a letter. 2 The winter storms also put the fleet in daily peril. On the 19th of January, Blake wrote from Leg- horn to the Commissioners in London : " My last unto you was only a postscript of the 5th January sent by 1 Carlyle's Cromwell, iv. 16; Thurloe, iii. 232, iv. 92. 2 Blake Despatches, in Add. Mss. 9304-130. ROBERT BLAKE. 279 the. way of Antwerp added to a duplicate of my former of the same, heing then under sail bound for Trapani. Since which time it hath pleased God to exercise us with variety of wind and weather, and with divers mixed pro- vidences and strange dispensations never to be forgotten by us, especially in regard that He hath been pleased in them all to rouse His compassion to prevail against His threatenings, and His mercy to triumph over His judg- ment. The day we set sail we had a fair wind at N.E., with clear weather and great hopes of the continuance thereof, forasmuch as it had been a long time foul and stormy before, almost ever since we came into the road. The next day we had the wind at E. and E.S.E., some- times at S.E. and S.S.E., but not much wind. We were then engaged among many islands ; a place of no small danger, especially for a fleet. At night we, hauling up our sails and it growing calm, we drove upon a sudden so near Capua, that if it had not pleased God to spring up a fresh gale in the very nick, the ship would have been in hazard, almost inevitable, of perishing there. The Worcester and Langport were in the same danger with us, being nearer the shore than we, especially the Langport, which was in much less than the ship's length of it, being a steep and upright rocky place. The (St.) Andrew and some others were also in no small danger. But it pleased God wonderfully and in great mercy to bring us all off in safety without any loss but of an anchor and cable of the Langport. The next day, re- taining still some hope of a favourable wind and weather to carry us on our intended voyage, we kept plying and turning to windward, and so continued till yesterday 280 ROBERT BLAKE. morning, at what (which) time, there being no likeli- hood of obtaining our first intention, the wind S.S.E. blowing very hard and murky weather, we were forced to bear up for this place ; where, although not without much danger in our way, by reason of a shoal and rock lying under water upon which divers ships have been wrecked, we arrived yesterday by a most merciful and good hand of providence, leading us, as it were, by the brink of destruction into safety : for which we, in our gratitude, have great cause everlastingly to praise the Lord and His wonderful goodness, and to rejoice in these His salvations with fear and trembling. So we doubt not, when the papers shall come to your hands, your hearts will likewise be filled with the thoughts of the same and of His unspeakable love." 1 The first day of good weather the fleet left Leghorn road for Tunis, intending to pay a flying visit to Tripoli and Algiers, after arranging some open questions with the Dey, to impress those formidable corsairs with a salutary dread of English power. On the 8th of Feb- ruary they anchored in Goletta road, having on the way sent out a vessel to recal some frigates formerly left at Trapani in Sicily ; but even before his arrival on the coast of Africa, Blake had learned that no gathering of the Barbary powers was likely to take place at that time. Nevertheless, there were accounts to settle with these pirates ; for years they had been in the habit of plun- dering English vessels, and carrying English crews into the interior as slaves. Some of their depredations were quite recent ; and it was suspected that many Christian 1 Blake's Despatches, in Add. Mss. 9304-98. ROBERT BLAKE. 281 captives lived in their city in all the suffering and degra- dation of slavery. War was their charter, its spoils their source of revenue. The Dutch had tried more than once to make peace with them, but they would not hear the word : pirates by birth, education and policy, they knew no power but that of the sword, admitted no law but that of necessity. The Dey of this warlike and lawless race hearing that the strange people, whose flag had not waved in those seas within memory of the oldest Mussulman, intended to visit his port and demand repa- ration for the past, guarantees for the future, formed a temporary camp of several thousand horse and foot, light- ened his heavy ships, and drew them in shore under the guns of his great castles of Goletta and Porto Ferino, raised a new platform, strengthened by batteries along the inner line of the bay, brought out from the arsenal his largest guns, and then, with all the pride and confi- dence of a barbarian, he waited the enemy's approach. 1 Wisely considering that wherever the pirate powers appeared in unusual force it would be for the honour and interest of England to be near at hand, Blake, act- ing on the false report of an intended gathering, had made a somewhat hasty and unprepared appearance be- fore the walls of Tunis ; he had come to fight or to make a passing observation, as the case might seem to re- quire, rather than to higgle about terms and conditions, to measure words and concoct articles with the usual tediousness of diplomacy. For such slow work his fleet was in no condition. The very sea in which he rode at large was strange and hostile to him and to his country. 1 Blake's Despatches, in Add. Mss. 9304-106 ; Thurloe, iii. 232. 282 ROBERT BLAKE. England had then no Malta, Corfu and Gibraltar as the bases of naval operations in the Mediterranean ; on the contrary, Blake found that in almost every gulf and on almost every island of that sea, in Malta, Venice, Genoa, Leghorn, Algiers, Tunis and Marseilles, there existed a rival and an enemy. Hardly could he rely on the shelter of one friendly port. Most of his supplies had to be obtained from England ; and there were not more than three or four harbours, Naples, Cagliari, and Trapani, for instance, in which he could obtain a common com- modity such as bread, for either love or money. Foul weather had seriously injured his ships, and the stock of provisions already ran short; but being now within sight from the graceful minarets of the town, it was thought best before retiring, to try the effect of a summons, such as had carried consternation through the palaces of Rome and Florence. An officer was therefore sent on shore with a letter from the Admiral to the Dey, giving an account of the recent seizure, by Tunis pirates, of the Princess and some other English ships, the names and cargoes of which were duly specified, and concluding with a de- mand in the name of the Commonwealth of England for their restitution, together with the instant release of all English captives. After several questions and expla- nations had passed between the two powers, Commis- sioners were mutually named to consider these demands, and they met on board the flag-ship, the St. George. The agents of the Dey, professing the utmost readiness to make peace, would undertake to respect the flag of England in all times to come, but they steadily refused to give up the prizes which they had already acquired. ROBERT BLAKE. 283 Finding them puffed up with a vain pride in their own strength, the English commander ceased to negociate, sent some of his frigates forward to block up the entrance of the harbour, whilst he carried the St. George as close as he could under the guns of Porto Ferino, in order to obtain a good view of the coast and its means of defence. A council of officers, after a long debate, advised an at- tempt to enter the port with their whole squadron, and attack the great ships of the enemy under the very em- brasures of the castle ; but on consulting the locker, and finding there a great scarcity both of bread and liquor, only five days' drink and fourteen days' bread, Blake felt that it would not be wise to attempt so perilous a service without better provision. Under these circum- stances he left Captain Stayner, one of his most distin- guished officers, with the Plymouth and five other ships, to keep guard over the harbour, and if possible prevent the pirate fleet from escaping to sea, while he sailed with the remainder of his force to Cagliari, a friendly station on the south-eastern limb of the Island of Sar- dinia, to refit and provision. 1 At Cagliari Blake found the Langport and the other frigates which he had sent from Leghorn to the Balearic Islands, with a new French frigate in prize and 3000 dollars obtained for the wreck of another French cruiser disabled by them and run on shore at Majorca. But Cag- liari could not supply bread enough for the wants of the English squadron, and the Sea-General was obliged to send out vessels in all directions in search of this essen- 1 Blake's Despatch, in Add. Mss. 9304; Winstanley's England's Worthies, 563 ; Thurloe, iii. 232. 284 ROBERT BLAKE. tial article of diet. The Langport and the Diamond were despatched to Majorca and the Spanish coast for bread ; the Maidstone and the Hampshire went to Genoa and the ports of Northern Italy for bread ; the Hope was permanently stationed on the Sardinian coast to procure bread ; two frigates were despatched to Algiers for bread or biscuit. 1 The want of these necessaries delayed his operations some weeks ; but on the 8th of March, the St. George was once more under the guns of Porto Ferine, and an English officer at the Dey's palace try- ing to induce him to make reparation and render up the English captives without bloodshed. Vain of his strength, and confident that Blake had sailed away on the former occasion from fear of his tremendous artil- lery, the barbarian replied in insolent terms to every proposal made by this agent. He refused them the commonest civilities : even permission to take on board a little fresh water. " Tell the Dey," said Blake, curl- ing his whiskers in scorn and anger, " that God has given the benefit of water to all his creatures ; and for men to deny it to each other is equally insolent and wicked." The barbarian replied with defiance. " Here," said he to Blake's officers, " here are our Castles of Goletta and Porto Ferino : do your worst ; and do not think to brave us with the sight of your great fleet." A short consultation of the English captains took place, and the commander laid before them his plan. " We judged it necessary," he afterwards wrote to Secretary Thurloe, "for the honour of the fleet, our nation and religion, seeing they would not deal with us as friends, to make 1 Blake's Despatch, in Add. Mss. 9304. ROBERT BLAKE. 285 them feel us as enemies, and it was therefore determined in a council of war to endeavour the firing of their ships in Porto Ferine." 1 The artillerymen on shore were at their guns, the horse was drawn up and the infantry disposed along the line of the harbour to repel the anticipated attempt to land, when, to the extreme surprise of the Dey, the English fleet again drew off, and stood out to sea without firing a single gun. Gradually the white sails faded from his sight. Night came down, but no enemy appeared in the offing. Next day all was still silent : the English fleet had vanished from before their eyes like the mirage of their own deserts. A second day elapsed, a third, fourth and fifth, but nothing was seen of those haughty islanders, of whose courage they had heard so much in the ports of Italy and Spain. To the spirit of defiance succeeded a feeling of contempt. All Tunis believed they had looked their last on that famous red cross ; by degrees a false sense of security crept over the excited corsairs ; their watchfulness re- laxed, their ardour melted away ; and when Blake sud- denly returned from Trapani whither he had sailed for the very purpose of throwing the pirates off their guard he found them in a less organised and enthusiastic attitude of defence, though their means were still such as an ordinary man would have thought it madness to encounter. 2 Late in the afternoon of April 3d, 1655, the English flag was once more descried from the towers of Porto 1 Thurloe, iii. 232, 326, 390; History and Life, 83 ; Heath, 374. 2 Blake to Thurloe, April 4, 1655. 286 ROBERT BLAKE. Ferino. Soon after break of day on the following morn- ing, without firing a single gun, the whole squadron rode into the harbour before a light gale, and to the amazement of the Turkish janizaries and artillerymen on shore coolly proceeded to drop anchors within half musket-range of the great batteries. The English had prepared themselves for a terrible day. Long before it was yet light they came on deck, and at a signal from the St. George divine service was performed throughout the fleet in an extremely solemn and impressive manner. This pious act completed, orders were given to advance. Captain Cobham, in the Newcastle frigate, was the first to gain the corsair harbour ; but he was quickly fol- lowed by the Taunton, Foresight, Amity, Mermaid, and Merlin. Close in their wake came the great ships, the St. Andrew, Vice-admiral Badily, first ; the Plymouth, Captain Stayner, second ; and the St. George, third. These and other war-ships stationed themselves directly in front of the castles and as near to them as they could float. 1 The boldness of this movement awed the stout hearts of the corsairs for a few seconds, but they soon re- covered presence of mind, and here and there a ready gun sent its iron contents crashing in amongst the masts and rigging. The Dey now gave his final instruc- tions, and the first broadsides from the English ships were answered from the immense park of artillery dis- played along the shore not less than a hundred and twenty guns of large calibre vomiting out death from their brazen throats at the first discharge. In a short time the fire of Porto Ferino was made to bear on the 1 Book of the Continuation of Foreign Passages (1657), 30. ROBERT BLAKE. 287 line of great ships, these fiercely replying with their tremendous broadsides against its solid masonry ; and for two hours the air was torn and the sky obscured by the incessant volleys of flame and smoke, dense, hot and sulphurous. At the onset all the issues of the day seemed to lie with the artillery. Fortunately, the gale which in the early morning had carried the English fleet into the harbour, continued to blow during the battle, throwing volumes of impenetrable smoke in the faces of the corsairs and helping to prevent their can- noneers from taking accurate aim. On the other side, almost every shot from the ships told with effect on the castles, batteries and platform. Some of the guns were silenced and many parts of the breastwork were cleared by the cannonade ; but the conflict was still undecided when Blake made a new movement, which had been in his mind from the first, but was not deemed practicable until that moment. Drafting a certain number of picked men from each ship, he lowered the long boats and sent them, under cover of the black sky, with instructions to row alongside the great corsair vessels, and throw into them a quantity of lighted brands and torches. One of his favourite officers, John Stoaks a man who had served with distinction in the Dutch war, commanding the^Dra- gon in the battle of Portland, the Laurel in that of the Texel, and who was at this time captain of the St. George was selected for the execution of this important trust ; and he achieved his perilous task with such consummate address, that in spite of a galling fire from the musketeers on shore, he succeeded in effecting a lodgment under the ports of the huge pirates, and threw into them his 288 ROBERT BLAKE. "burning brands. The work of destruction was then swift and awful. The whole of the nine great ships-of-war, the naval strength of the Tunisians, were at once wrapt in fire. Even the assailants felt cowed at an event so sud- den and so terrible, and the battle almost ceased at the instant, as if both parties were entranced by the gorge- ous spectacle. The frantic corsairs made many efforts to stop the progress of destruction ; but wherever the fire appeared to slacken for an instant, a broadside from one of the English frigates raked its deck, stirred up the burning embers, and scattered the daring fellows who had ventured to go on board. At last the decks were abandoned by the pirates, and the red glare of the consuming squadron shot up freely and furiously against the sky, tinging with a hot and lurid light a scene which the April sun could scarcely reach through the artificial pall of battle. In four hours from the crash of the first broadside, the work was done. The pirate ships, so long the terror of peaceful traders, were burnt to their very keels. The batteries on shore were completely silenced, and most of the guns planted on the raised plat- form were either damaged or dismounted. The walls of Goletta and of Porto Ferino had been much shaken ; several breaches had been made in them ; and both strong- holds might have been carried by assault had there ex- isted any reason for their capture. But Blake's ends had been accomplished in the destruction of the fleet. His losses in this celebrated action amounted to no more than twenty-five killed and about forty wounded ; the loss of life on shore, though the men fought behind breast- works and other cover, must have been very considerable, ROBERT BLAKE. 289 though it was of course impossible for the English to obtain an exact account of the casualties. 1 After reading the pirates this tremendous lesson to which there was scarcely a parallel in history until Exmouth's splendid bombardment of Algiers in our own time, the English squadron sailed for Tripoli on the same errand ; but the Dey of that place, warned by the fate of Tunis, received them with every demonstration of honour and regard ; he acceded with apparent zeal to their demands, and entered into a treaty to respect the Commonwealth flag at all times and in all places. This summary dealing with the dependent powers of Turkey brought the governments of London and Con- stantinople into connexion and correspondence. Blake himself seems to have had some doubts whether his in- structions, vague and ample as they were, would be held to justify him in entering the ports of a power with which his country was not actually at war, and destroying its fleets and fortifications. Had not the Dey's haughty words chafed his spirit, it is not certain that he would have proceeded so far without waiting for fresh instruc- tions ; and as soon as the action at Tunis was over, he despatched a full account of the incident to Sir Thomas Bendish, Cromwell's ambassador at Constantinople, which that functionary was desired to lay before the Grand Vizier should any complaints be made on the subject. The Turks were then at war with the Venetian Re- public, and the destruction of so large a portion of their 1 Elegiac Enumeration, 20, 21; Blake to Thurloe, April 4, 1655; Heath, 374; Clarendon, vi. 11; Book of the Continuation of Foreign Passages, 31. U 290 ROBERT BLAKE. fleet by an enemy hitherto unknown in the affairs of the Mediterranean roused their anger to a high degree; but the Grand Vizier hesitated to involve himself with a new and powerful enemy by any hasty expression of his re- sentment. Tunisian agents went to Constantinople to complain of Blake to the Grand Seigneur. They at- tributed their inability to defend their fleet and castles to the want of heavier guns ; and the government im- mediately ordered six pieces of brass ordnance of the largest calibre to be despatched to Porto Ferino. Ben- dish was led to consider the Grand Vizier satisfied with Blake's explanations ; but the incident was nevertheless a sharp thorn in his master's side; and for several months the English traders at Smyrna lived in fear of retalia- tions. Fear or policy, however, prevailed in the divan, and so long as the formidable Sea-General lived, the English residents in the Levant continued to pursue their peaceful enterprises without molestation. 1 After settling his affairs at Tripoli, Blake ran into the Adriatic, where the Venetians received him with such honours as are given to royal visitors. His late actions had spoken in the most convincing language to the able and astute rulers of Venice, and they lost no time in offering friendship to the western Repub- lic. On his return towards the Straits of Gibraltar, he again called at Tunis to inquire if the Dey were prepared to treat of peace. In answer to his first sum- mons, a white flag was raised at the castle of Porto Ferino; and after some negociation of a merely technical nature, a treaty was signed and ratified in terms equally 1 History and Life, 84 ; Thurloe, iii. 390, 513. ROBERT BLAKE. honourable and advantageous to England. The humbled corsair even consented to allow an English consular agent to reside at his court! A flying visit to the island of Malta served to teach the proud and unprincipled Templars some respect for the rights and properties of heretical Englishmen. These priestly marauders be- lieved themselves a serious power in the Mediterranean ; in some degree they made a pretence of being the guar- dians and the arbiters of Catholic Europe. When the expedition under the Duke of Guise appeared before Valetta, they haughtily refused to allow it the shelter of their port. But the unceremonious manner in which the Puritan Sea-General had exacted reparation from the princes of Italy, and even laid his hands on Pope Alexander's own coffers, warned them that their cleri- cal character would afford them no protection from the strong arm of English justice, and they prudently sub- mitted to restore to their lawful owners the spoils of their warfare against the heretics. 1 There only remained Algiers. But force was no longer necessary in dealing with the great pirate cities ; the blow struck against the system at Tunis had effectu- ally cowed the corsairs from Tripoli to the shores of Fez and Morocco. When the English squadron rode into the Bay of Algiers, boldly as if on a visit of courtesy to a friendly power, and Blake sent his officer, as usual, to demand restitution of property and the liberation of Christian slaves, the Dey received the messenger with great civility, paid a handsome compliment to the English Admiral, and to shew his good will sent a present of 1 Elegiac Enumeration, 21, 22; History and Life, 84, 85. 292 ROBERT BLAKE. live cattle to the fleet an extremely seasonable and politic gift, which at once made him popular with the ill-fed seamen. With regard to the specific demands of the Admiral, he answered with great adroitness, that the ships and men captured by his people in times past, whether from the English or from other nations, had become the property of private individuals, most of whom had bought them at full price in open market ; that they had been seized during a period of recognised and inveterate war between Islam and Christendom, when no treaties existed, and when therefore none could be broken ; that he could not restore the captives without using violence towards his subjects, and creat- ing general discontent, if not rebellion, in his dominions. He urged, moreover, that, considering the general pre- valence of piracy in Europe as well as in Africa, the English required too much when they demanded the unconditional surrender of his prizes. Finally, if these objections should seem to the Admiral as clear as they did to himself, he said he would procure the libera- tion of all English captives then in his country at a moderate ransom per head, and enter for himself and his people into a solemn engagement not to molest English traders for all time to come. The humble tone of the pirate prince recommended his line of argument; a contract was therefore made for the ransom of all the captives at a fixed price, and the poor wretches were liberated and sent on board the ships of their deliverers. Before the fleet sailed from the harbour a noble and touching incident occurred, adding one more to the long list of illustrations of the English seaman's character. ROBERT BLAKE. 293 The ships were lying in-shore, not far from the mole- head, when a number of men were observed swimming towards them, pursued by several turbaned Moors in boats ; and on coming under the bows of our vessels, the fugitives cried to the sailors in Dutch to save them from their Moslem pursuers. Forgetting that only a few months before they had been at war with their country- men, regardless of every consideration beyond the hu- mane instincts of the moment, the sailors helped the poor wretches to clamber up, when they discovered that they were runaway slaves, and the men in chase of them their masters. Here, then, was a new difficulty ! The Dey claimed the fugitives in virtue of the new treaty, and ap- pealed to the accepted principle of compensation for all restored captives. But the idea of giving back Christian men, even enemies, from the freedom of an English man-of-war into the hands of pirates and infidels was not to be entertained by Puritan sailors. Some one suggested to his fellows a subscription : how much the Admiral himself paid into this fund he has carefully con- cealed, but every seaman in the fleet generously agreed to give up a dollar of his wages to buy the poor Hol- landers their freedom. A bargain was soon made, the money was paid by the fleet-treasurer, and the liberated men went home to tell their countrymen this story of the magnanimous islanders. 1 Before the end of April 1655, Blake had brought this extraordinary cruise to a triumphant issue. In six months he had established himself as a power in that great midland sea from which his countrymen had been 1 Blake Despatch, Oct. 9, 1655, Deptford Mss. ; Thurloe, iii. 527. 294 ROBERT BLAKE. politically excluded since the age of the Crusades. He had redressed with a high hand the grievances of many years, and had taught nations to which the very name of Englishman was a strange sound, to respect its honour and its rights. The pirates of Barbary had been chas- tised as they had never yet been in history. 'Phe petty princes of Italy had been made to feel the power of the northern Protestants. The Pope himself had learned to tremble on his seven hills; and the distant echoes of our guns had startled the Council-chambers of Venice and Constantinople. Blake sent home not less than sixteen ships laden with treasure, received in satisfaction of former injuries, or taken by force from hostile states. Some of the Italian princes sent embassies to London to cultivate the friendship of Cromwell. The representa- tives of the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the Doge of Venice distinguished themselves in these missions by the splendour of their appointments. The former had or- ders to solicit the honour of a present of the Protector's portrait, which was painted for his master by Cooper, and hung in the ducal palace among the choicest pro- ducts of Italian art. 1 1 History and Life, 89, 90. CHAPTER IX. 1654-1656. THE correspondence between Blake and Cromwell, so far as it related to the affairs of Spain and the course to be pursued by the southern fleet, had been carried on in cipher, and all the instructions sent from London were regarded as secret. But the time was now come to throw off the mask. During the six months occupied by the series of bold and successful exploits which had estab- lished on both shores of the Mediterranean so salutary an awe of English prowess, the object of the expe- dition under Penn and Venables remained a profound mystery. Penn himself, when he sailed from Ports- mouth, was unaware of the precise service on which his squadron was to be employed, for his orders were not to open the letter of final instructions until far enough from Europe to prevent any risk of their nature trans- piring : a very necessary precaution as the event proved, for that worldly seaman, already foreseeing the down- fall of the Commonwealth, and anxious to secure to himself the future gratitude of the royal family by un- expected and splendid services in their cause, no sooner found himself at the head of a large fleet than he put himself into communication with the exile court at Co- logne, offering to desert with his entire power from the 296 ROBERT BLAKE. Commonwealth, and sail into whatever port should -be named for that purpose. Had he known on what errand he was about to proceed when this proposal was made, he would unquestionably have told the Stuarts, who, in their turn, would have eagerly seized the opportunity of strengthening their interests at Madrid by forwarding such a piece of state intelligence ; and on the receipt of it there is no reason to suppose that Philip IV. would have refused to grant the use of one of his harbours in the Low Countries for the reception of the revolters. But having nowhere to receive so large a fleet nor any means of supporting it, except piracy, from which he was perhaps warned by the mysterious fate of his cousin Maurice, Charles for a time declined the traitorous offer, and desired the Admiral to reserve his loyalty for some happier season. The expedition therefore sailed on its unknown voyage ; and it was not until late in the spring of 1635 that news arrived in Europe from the west relating the particulars of an attack made by Penn and Venables on the great Spanish settlement of His- paniola. 1 The idea of a secret expedition to invade the peace of an island in possession of a power against which war had not been formally declared, would be to the last de- gree offensive to modern notions of public honour. But in Cromwell's time the peace of Europe was not fixed on certain bases. Commerce and colonies lay almost beyond the pale of law and treaties. No French ad- miral would have thought it right to plunder Lyme or 1 Granville Penn, ii. 14, 15; Clarendon, vi. 5, 6; Carte's Coll. ii 53. ROBERT BLAKE. 297 Sando'wn ; but not one in ten would have considered it wrong to seize the merchants of either port on the high seas. By a curious political distinction countries might be at war in one latitude, though not in all at sea when not on land. The seizure of Vendome's fleet had not led to a war between France and England. The de- struction of Rupert's squadron in the harbours of Car- thagena had not interrupted the relations, such as they were, between London and Madrid. Europe, indeed, had never known such a thing as peace on the high seas ; from the Northern jarl to the African corsair, the strong arm had ruled from the feudal times on the highway of nations. Even when England and Spain had seemed to be on the best terms with each other in Europe, envy, jealousy and distrust reigned in the New World, and the elements of discord often broke out there into open violence and bloodshed. Cromwell affected to satisfy his conscience with the pretence that war al- ready existed between the two countries in that hemi- sphere, and that an armament was needed for the pro- tection of English interests in America. 1 Real causes for a war with Spain were neither few nor remote, though it is probable that the most active were such as would exercise little influence over the minds of statesmen in the nineteenth century. The first and gravest was the religious situation. Spain was ultra- Catholic, England ultra-Protestant. The most powerful and most warlike sects which supported Cromwell sin- cerely believed that Spain was the devil's stronghold in Europe. The Reformed faith tolerated in the Holy 1 Thurloe, i. 760. 298 ROBERT BLAKE. Roman Empire, in France, still more recently in Portu- gal had never found mercy at Madrid. Racks, wheels, boiling oil, and other yet more delicate means of torture, opposed the spread of new doctrines throughout Spain and the Indies ; while frequent burnings and gibbetings were employed to keep the masses true to the creed of their fathers. The horror excited in Puritan England by the report of such atrocities was naturally heightened by the fact, that now and then a foreign resident even an Englishman fell under the frowns of the Holy Of- fice, and whatever his country or his creed, suffered, without appeal, the sort of judgment bestowed by that terrible tribunal. In fact, the Inquisition was the great obstacle to a solid and durable peace between the two powers. When the Spanish Ambassador first proposed an alliance, Cromwell made this one of his two essential con- ditions : that English merchants living in Spain should be allowed to exercise their own religion, have the use of Bibles and such other pious books as they might re- quire, and be free from the control of the Holy Office. The Ambassador refused even to transmit this demand to his master, and the attempt at negociation failed. Other causes tended to excite the war-feeling. The murder of Ascham had not been forgotten or forgiven ; nor the favours extended and the shelter afforded to Ru- pert and his revolted ships at Cadiz and Carthagena. Among political reasons, the obstinate refusal to allow foreign traders to visit any of the ports of America and the West India Islands, was the first and strongest. Li- berty of trade freedom from the Holy Office : these were the two conditions on which the Protector offered ROBERT BLAKE. 299 to treat. " What," exclaimed the Ambassador, " my master has but two eyes, and you ask him to pluck out both at once!" Not being able to make terms with the Catholic court, Cromwell resolved, as far as it lay in him, to cripple its resources, and thus force it to re- spect the commerce and religion of Englishmen. 1 Though Mazarin, acting on his famous maxim of state, seemed willing to give way on every point be- fore the energetic rulers of the new Commonwealth, the causes of quarrel with France were not yet fully re- moved. The cruisers of the two countries still carried letters of marque against each other's ships ; and daily encounters took place at sea without either accelerat- ing or retarding the long and tedious negociations of M. Bordeaux. For three years this agent had been in London asking for peace. Crafty diplomatists fancied that Cromwell employed his time in maturely weighing the relative advantages of a French or a Spanish alli- ance, and the ambassadors of the rival powers intrigued day and night to gain his adhesion. To the surprise of the old formalists, he at length took a decisive attitude against Spain, without first attempting to hurry on the settlement of his differences with France. Fearless of every consequence, while Penn and Venables went out to attack Hispaniola, Blake harassed the trade of Marseilles and kept the Toulon fleet locked up in the Mediterranean harbours. Whenever his cruisers found ships at sea sailing to or from French ports, they seized them as lawful prizes. One of his frigates took a Ham- 1 Ayseough Mss. 6125; Burton, i. clviii. et seqq.; Thurloe, i. 761; History and Life, 85, 86. 300 ROBERT BLAKE. burg vessel bound for Marseilles, which he condemned. 1 Another captured two Hamburgers and a Hollander ; but as he found by their papers that two of these were not bound for French ports, they were set free ; the other, carrying goods to Rouen, was confiscated. Such in- cidents occurred almost daily. Loud and bitter com- plaints were made by men in business at the delay of peace ; discontents spread to other classes ; and Bor- deaux was urged by his countrymen to conclude a treaty with the Commonwealth at almost any sacrifice, rather than continue a state of things so wounding to the pride and disastrous to the commerce of France. 2 Even the pride of Louis XIV. yielded to the in- terests of his country. He treated on Cromwell's own terms. The point of honour and precedence was waived ; Louis consented to banish the Stuart Princes, together with Hyde, Ormonde, and fifteen other of their adhe- rents, from the soil of France ; maritime hostilities were at once to cease between the two nations ; and the treaty was on the very eve of signature, when news arrived in London of the horrible massacre of the Vaudois by the soldiers of the Duke of Savoy, an intimate friend and ally of the King of France. No event in history had ever fired the Protestant passions of the English people like the atrocious invasion of those Piedmont valleys. Fasts, prayers, denunciations, offered themselves as vents for the national fervour ; collections of money were made for the sufferers in all the churches of London ; and some of the bolder spirits proposed to send an army to the 1 Letter of Intelligence, Cadiz, June 13, 1655, Dept. Mss. 2 Thurloe, iii. 487, 619-653. ROBERT BLAKE. 301 Savoy Alps ; a project to which the Government was not altogether averse. But for the moment Cromwell trusted to his influence over Mazarin as the best means of obtaining justice for those poor Protestant villagers. He told Bordeaux that he would not make peace with his master until he knew his sentiments on the sub- ject of the massacre and banishment of the Vaudois; and Blake received orders to uphold Protestant inte- rests in the south with all the power at his command. The presence of an English fleet in the Mediterranean gave plenary force to Cromwell's suggestions. At first the Ambassador of Louis contended that France had nothing to do with the matter, that the Duke of Savoy was an independent prince, that the Vaudois were rebels as well as heretics, and had justly incurred chas- tisement at the hands of their sovereign. Cromwell re- mained inexorable ; and Bordeaux's master was at last compelled to interfere. Under the double pressure of English and French remonstrance, the Duke of Savoy granted a full amnesty to the Vaudois, and confirmed to them their ancient right to exercise their own forms of divine worship by a new decree. 1 Cromwell's letters informed Blake that, in conse- quence of the blow about to be struck in the Western Archipelago, his presence with the fleet, if not his more active services, would be required on the Atlantic coast of Spain ; and in consequence of these orders he sailed from Algiers towards the Straits of Gibraltar. But as the two countries were still at peace, he called at Malaga for 1 Dumont, vi. part ii. 121; Thurloe, iii. 469-745. Morland, in his History of the Churches in Piedmont, gives ample details of this affair. 302 ROBERT BLAKE. fresh water, when an extremely characteristic incident occurred. A party of English sailors from his fleet, in rambling about the town, suddenly came upon a pro- cession of priests carrying a Host through the streets, and instead of falling on their knees before the sacred symbol, like the pious Spaniards, the Puritan seamen laughed at and derided those who did so, until their want of reverence provoked one of the clergy to call on the populace to avenge the insult aimed at their religion. A street fight ensued ; and with advantages of numbers and local knowledge on their side, the Malagayans beat the scoffers back to their ships, whither they carried an English version of the fray to their commander. Indig- nation and true policy concurred in inducing Blake to treat the affair gravely. In Lisbon, Venice and other Catholic ports, mob-law had been applied to the sailors of English merchant-vessels on the ground of alleged want of respect for the mummeries of foreign worship ; and considering the new relations which the two coun- tries were about to assume, he judged it due to the honour of his flag and necessary to the safety of his countrymen, to shew the Spaniards that he could and would redress such wrongs with promptitude and seve- rity. Half measures, he felt, would be useless in such a case ; so sending a trumpeter into the town, he de- manded, not retaliation on the offending mob, as was expected, but that the priest who had set them on should be given up to justice. The Spaniards were astounded. Give up a Catholic priest to the judgment of heretics ! The Governor of Malaga replied that he had no power over the offender, as in Spain the servants ROBERT BLAKE. of the Church were not responsible to the civil power. " I will not stay to inquire," said the stern Englishman, " who has the power to send the offender to me ; but if he be not on board the St. George within three hours, I will burn your city to the ground." And so he dis- missed the messenger. No excuse, no protest, was ad- mitted ; and before the three hours had expired the priest made his appearance in the fleet. Blake now called accusers and accused together ; heard the story on both sides ; and decided that the seamen had behaved with rudeness and impropriety towards the natives, and there- by provoked the attack of which they complained. He told the priest that if he had sent an account of what had occurred to him, the men should have been severely punished, as he would not suffer them to affront the religion of any people at whose ports they touched ; but he expressed his extreme displeasure at their having taken the law into their own hands, as he would have them and all the world know that an Englishman was not to be judged and punished except by Englishmen. With this warning for the future, Blake, satisfied that the man had been given up and was then completely at his mercy, treated him with civility and sent him back unharmed to his friends, who, on hearing an ac- count of the affair, were delighted and astonished at the magnanimity displayed by the terrible commander. Cromwell was mightily pleased with this little incident. He took the letters referring to it in his own hand to the Council, read them out with a smiling face, and when he had finished reading, declared that by such means 304 ROBERT BLAKE. they would make the name of Englishman as great as that of Roman was in Rome's most palmy days. 1 Early in June the fleet passed the Straits and anchored once more in the Bay of Cadiz, where they received a more than usually hospitable reception. By the treaties then existing between the two states, not more than ten English ships-of-war could claim to enter any Spanish port at one time ; yet as a mark of extraordinary con- fidence and respect, when the Governor of Cadiz sent down a present of bread, flesh and vegetables to the St. George, he desired it to be intimated to the Admiral, that although the capitulations declared that " there can- not come in hither above ten ships-of-war at once, ne- vertheless his lordship might come in with all his forces and welcome." But Blake, expecting every hour to receive intelligence from London which would compel him to exchange pacific greetings for acts of vigorous hostility, would have refused this invitation even had he not suspected that a snare might be concealed under this show of extreme courtesy. He excused himself on the plea that he had only touched at Cadiz on his way, and could stay no longer than was required to take fresh water and other necessaries on board. In the city every effort was made to learn what he intended to do next. Whether his fleet was bound for England, Lisbon or the Barbary coast, could not be ascertained even by the secret agents of the Council of State. But among the best-informed English residents in Cadiz, rumour fixed on Salee, the famous rovers of which still harassed our 1 Burnett, Own Times, i. 147, 148. ROBERT BLAKE. 305 southern trade, as the scene in which the next grand naval spectacle would be exhibited. 1 This mystery was soon cleared up. Barely had Blake shipped his cables at Cadiz harbour when news arrived from the Archipelago. Penn, it turned out, had sailed from Barbadoes to Hispaniola. There the regi- ments were landed and given up to the sole direction of Venables ; who, through cowardice, incapacity or treason for he also, though unknown to Penn, was in correspondence with the Stuarts, frittered away his most favourable opportunities, and finally led his men into a disastrous situation, from which they were only rescued by the intrepidity of Admiral Goodson and a body of seamen, sent from the fleet for that purpose. The English had retired from the island disgraced and discomfited : so far the expedition, begun with secret treason, had ended in a signal failure. But after this first overthrow, as the sealed orders required Penn to establish an interest in any part of the Spanish Indies, he sailed for Jamaica, landed his troops, put down a feeble attempt at resistance, and added that fine island to the permanent colonial empire of his country. 2 When this intelligence reached Madrid, Philip de- clared war against England seized the persons of all English residents, merchants, factors and agents con- nected with the interests of their commerce, and laid an embargo on all their merchandise and properties, amongst others on those of Nicholas Blake, the Admiral's brother. The reported failure of the attempt on His- 1 Letter of Intelligence, Cadiz, June 13, Dept. Mss. 8 Harl. Misc. vi. 373-390 ; Granville Penn, ii. 21-132. X 306 ROBERT BLAKE. paniola raised the spirits of the court to an extravagant height : the Governor of the island was made a grandee and pensioned ; even the messenger who brought the news to Spain had 1500 ducats a-year settled on him for life. Blake's rapid and effective cruise in the Me- diterranean, following in the immediate rear of the bril- liant actions of the Dutch war, had caused the maritime powers of Europe, and particularly Spain, from its own experience of the Dutch admirals, to regard with blended interest and alarm what appeared to be the invincible prowess and fortunes of the young Commonwealth. The first signal check to that ascending power was therefore hailed with a delight out of all real proportion to its importance. In the safety of Hispaniola, Philip forgot the loss of Jamaica ; in the escape of his Silver Fleets from the English squadron in the West Indies, he over- looked the more resolute and watchful enemy who lay in wait for them under the very guns of Cadiz. 1 While staying in the Channel before Cadiz, Blake had learned from his scouts that the Silver Fleet was expected from America in four or five weeks, and war being then inevitable, he stood across to Cape Santa Maria, the most southern point of land in Portugal, in- tending to make the bay or bays lying between that promontory and Cape St. Vincent the basis of his summer operations ; with his frigates and fast sailers ranging the sea in a vast circle as far as wind and weather would permit, in search of the anticipated prize. In the Spa- nish harbour ten large galleons were being prepared for sea six of them, it was reported, being intended for 1 Thurloe, iv. 19, 20, 21, 44. ROBERT BLAKE. service at Hispaniola, the others for the Mediterranean ; but Blake suspecting that they were designed as a convoy for the Silver Fleet, he endeavoured by absence from the port, by insult and by other provocations to force them to come out. But nothing would induce them to stir. Nearly a month the St. George rode before the little town of Lagos. The war-ships kept out at sea, the fri- gates menaced the coast; still the galleons did not move. At last, in the full belief that Philip would not allow his admirals to risk a battle a belief founded on infor- mation reaching London through various and indepen- dent channels Cromwell desired Blake to send home part of his fleet, so as to reduce the heavy expenses of the war ; but before these instructions could be carried into effect, news arrived at Lagos that the merchants of Seville, Cadiz, and San Lucar, seeing the government ne- glect to provide the necessary protection for their trade, had combined to equip at their private expense a squa- dron strong enough to put to sea for convoy service, and even give battle in case of need ; and under these cir- cumstances he abandoned the idea of sending back any part of his fleet, and as speedily as he was able got such of his vessels as were sea-worthy, and several that were not, together. On the 4th of July he wrote to Cromwell in reference to the state of his ships : " Seeing it hath pleased your Highness to command my longer stay in and about these parts with the rest of the ships, I shall make bold to offer one humble desire, which I conceive to be my duty for the service of the Commonwealth and the better effecting the ends proposed, that your Highness will be pleased to consider the condition of 308 ROBERT BLAKE. our fleet, especially of the great ships, which are very foul and defective, particularly the ship in which I am being very leaky and the mainmast unsound." Yet it was in vessels of this character that he had ruined Prince Rupert, cleared the Channel Islands, fought the battle of Portland, and chastised the pirates of Porto Ferine ! Early in August the Spanish squadron, consisting of 28 men- of-war, and six fire-ships, with 36 long-boats, and 6000 troops on board, sailed from Cadiz, with the apparent intention of fighting the English. 1 Towards the middle of the month the two squadrons came in sight off the coast of Portugal, Blake having been southward in search of the Spaniards ; but, after dodging each other for some days, they separated without exchanging a single shot, for reasons which are explained at length in the following letter from Blake to the Lord Protector : MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HIGHNESS, Your commands of the 30th July I received by the Assurance frigate the 13th instant, with the intelligence of a great fleet pre- pared to come out of Cadiz and their design from your secretary, which in part we have found to be true, as I shall give your Highness an account. The 6th inst. I received a letter from Captain Smith (which comes herewith), whereupon we stood away for the coast of Barbary, as far as Mamora, within three leagues; but having no news of the fleet there, we made towards the Bay of Cadiz, sending two frigates before to gain intelligence, who returned to us the 12th instant 1 Thurloe, iii. 541, 611, 620, 6d8. ROBERT BLAKE. 309 with this, that the fleet sailed from thence seven days before, and were plying off Cape St. Vincent, to which place we hastened; and the 15th, in the morning, espied them to the windward of us, we being then off the Bay of Lagos, whither we desired to go for water ; but they bearing up upon us, with intent (as we thought) to fight us, I called a council of war, which unanimously resolved to engage the first opportunity, being moved thereunto with an eager desire we had to see some end of our tedious expectation, and to prevent that accession of strength mentioned in the secretary's intelligence (whereof we likewise had notice from other hands), and also out of a despair of being able to keep the sea many days longer for want of liquor. But the Spanish fleet forthwith tacked and stood the other way, and we after them all that night. In the morning we were fair by them ; but there being little wind (not enough to work our ships) and a great sea, so that we could not make use of our lower tier, and also a thick fog, we did nothing that day; their fleet being then thirty-one in all. The next day we continued in the same resolution, and sent some frigates ahead to gain the wind, and to engage them ; but the evening approaching, and a great part of our fleet far astern, we thought it best to desist for that time. These checks of Providence did put us upon second thoughts, and a strict review of the instructions which I had re- ceived ; the which being all perused and compared to- gether at a council of war, we could not find in them any authority given unto us to attack this party, but rather the contrary; and we had reason also to conceive it was not the intention of your Highness that we should 310 ROBERT BLAKE. be the first breakers of the peace, seeing your Highness having notice of the coming forth of the Spanish fleet did not give us any new direction at all touching the same in your last order of the 30th of July. Upon these grounds we receded from our first resolution, and took into con- sideration the state of our fleet, which we found in all things to be extremely defective, but more particularly in want of liquor ; some of the ships having not beverage for above four days, and the whole not able to make above eight, and that at short allowance ; and no small part both of our beverage and water stinking. Hereupon it was debated amongst us whether we should return to the Bay of Lagos or go to Lisbon for supplies, there being no other place but those two. To go to Lagos it was not held good, both because all that country could not afford us one pipe of beverage wine, and to get water there very difficult, and upon the least wind from the south or east almost impossible, and the place a danger- ous road for such a fleet to anchor in, which we must have done for getting a quantity of water, beside many other inconveniences. It was therefore resolved that we should go to Lisbon. Nevertheless, we kept in sight two days after, and on the 22d inst. we lay a great part of the day with our sails hauled up, until they were very near us ; but perceiving they had no intention to engage us, nor any commission to that purpose, as we thought, and also understood by a small frigate of theirs of twen- ty-four guns, the captain whereof coming accidentally amongst us, I commanded aboard, who told us the same ; and withal that they knew nothing of the expected fleet at all, but only that they were bound to attend the com- ROBERT BLAKE. 311 ing of the same. Hereupon, our liquor growing less, we stood away for Lisbon, where we arrived on the 24th instant, and anchored in the road of Cascaes. . . . How these passages of Providence will be looked upon, or what construction our carriage in this business may re- ceive, I know not (although it hath been with all inte- grity of heart), but this we know, that our condition is dark and sad, and, without especial mercy, like to be very miserable : our ships extremely foul, winter draw- ing on, our victuals expiring, all stores failing, our men falling sick through the badness of drink, and eating their victuals boiled in salt water for two months' space; the coming of a supply uncertain (we received not one word from the Commissioners of the Admiralty and Navy by the last), and though it come timely, yet if beer come not with it, we shall be undone that way. We have no place or friend, our recruits here slow, and our mariners (which I most apprehend) apt to fall into discontents through their long keeping abroad. Our only comfort is that we have a God to lean upon, although we walk in darkness and see no light. I shall not trouble your Highness with any complaints of myself, of the indis- position of my body, or troubles of my mind ; my many infirmities will one day, I doubt not, sufficiently plead for me or against me, so that I may be free of so great a burden, consoling myself in the mean time in the Lord, and in the firm purpose of my heart with all faithfulness and sincerity to discharge the trust while reposed in me. .... As soon as we have got a sufficient proportion of liquor, which I hope may be in five or six days, we in- tend (God willing) to sail to the southward cape, and to 312 ROBERT BLAKE. spend some time thereabouts, so long as we can possibly lengthen out our victuals, so that we may be able to get home, in case the victualling ships do not come in time; which we shall then be forced to do, or must perish in the sea. I have no more at present to trouble your Highness with (this already being I fear too much), but shall ever remain, Your Highness's most humble And faithful servant, ROBERT BLAKE. Aboard the (St.) George, in Cascaes Koad, August 30, 1655. 1 The allusion to his own indisposition of body and trouble of mind, contained in this letter, though brief and by the way, is extremely touching. He had left a sick room to go on board. For nearly a year he had never quitted the " very foul and defective" flag-ship. Want of exercise and sweet food, beer, wine, water, bread and vegetables, had helped to develop scurvy and dropsy ; and his sufferings from these diseases were now acute and continuous. In fact, his constitution was com- pletely undermined. For three weeks after the date of the letter just quoted, he kept his station in the Spanish waters, when, finding no relief come in, and supposing that the Silver Fleet would now remain in America until spring, he reluctantly turned his bows towards the north, and brought his squadron home to repair and replenish. 2 But there was no rest for him at home. Arrived in 1 Thurloe, iii. 718, 719. 2 Blake to Capt. Duncombe, Sept. 18, 1655, Dept. Mss. ROBERT BLAKE. 313 England, he found that in the present posture of affairs his retirement from the service, even for a time, would be extremely detrimental to the country. The Council had no one to take his place. Deane, Penn, Ascue, Lawson, all the men who had served with him in the Dutch war with eminent ability and success, were now either dead or out of employment : Ascue had been pensioned and dismissed on the alleged ground of his want of success against De Ruiter, but in reality because suspected of a leaning towards the exiles ; Penn had been ostensibly broken for the failure on Hispaniola, more likely because Cromwell had heard of his treach- erous offers ; Lawson lay under a cloud, and was soon afterwards arrested as a Fifth-monarchy conspirator ; Deane was dead ; and Monk had neither the genius nor the desire for naval commands. But while the more experienced commanders were thus falling away, the duties and demands of the service were daily increasing. The nation was committed to a war with Spain. The Pope, ill at ease since the fright of the previous spring, was warmly engaged in a project for uniting all the Ca- tholic maritime powers in a league against the formid- able heretics ; and agents from Venice, Florence, Madrid and some other cities, had already met in Rome. Genoa also threatened : many merchants of that Republic being interested in the safe arrival of the Silver Fleet, they strongly urged that the Genoese armada should join with that of Spain for their protection. Holland was again wavering in her friendship, report affirming that the King of Spain had tempted them to declare war against England by the offer of Dunkirk and two other 314 ROBERT BLAKE. ports in the narrow seas. Nor was peace yet firmly established with the Barbary powers ; at the very first re- verse of fortune these corsairs would have gladly seized the moment of retaliation and revenge. What perhaps most of all annoyed Cromwell was that John King of Portugal, who had thus far found means to delay the final execution of the treaties entered into twenty months previous especially the clause which secured to English subjects in his dominions immunity from the Holy Office now manifested a disposition to with- draw from the compact altogether. 1 In face of so many perils and uncertainties, Blake's services were indispensable. At such a time, his very name was worth a squadron of ordinary ships. Not to speak of the moral strength which his presence would give to any fleet going southward, the occasional sight of his flag would be pretty certain to keep the Barbary corsairs quiet; a sudden visit, paid by him to the Tagus, might bring John of Braganza to reason ; and the dread of another call at Leghorn would probably be sufficient to frighten the Pope and the Grand Duke out of the pro- posed league of Catholic princes. However anxious for repose of mind and body, Blake could not decline the responsibilities of command without a breach of duty to his country ; and ill as he then was, he lent his days and nights to the duties of his station, visiting the dockyards and arsenals, and urging the work of repair and reple- nishment by his presence and his counsels. But though he would not refuse the last pulse of his brain to his 1 Heath, 323; Granville Penn, ii. 141 ; Thurloe, vi. 185, v. 93, 304, 338. ROBERT BLAKE. 315 beloved country, his age and bodily sufferings warned him of the fatal consequences which might result to the service should he fall a victim to any sudden sickness while in those distant seas, with no colleague on board to whom in case of need he could devolve the supreme command ; he therefore begged the Council of State to nominate another Sea-General to share his responsibili- ties and assist him with his knowledge. Whether he actually named Montagu for the office is uncertain ; but true to the plan cf their parliamentary predecessors, the Council fixed on this soldier, a young man of good family, and a confidential friend of Cromwell, as the new general. The preparations of the fleet went on rapidly. Towards the end of February, 1656, the Ge- nerals went on board the Naseby, then in the Downs with part of the fleet, and they continued in the Chan- nel, cruising between the river mouth and St. Helen's road, for the better expedition of affairs. The trouble of getting in the necessary provisions was almost incre- dible ; every naval station on the coast was short of stores; nor could they be procured in sufficient haste at any price or favour. Blake's patience was at length tired out, and he resolved to sail without them : " the expectation of the provisions and fire-ships," he writes to Cromwell on the 8th of March, " shall be no cause of stay ; but as soon as ever we can get a supply from the shore of the things that are essentially re- quisite, which we are labouring at, we shall with the help of God be gone." At St. Helen's in the Isle of Wight, he received his final instructions, and while his fleet was getting under weigh for the south, he wrote 316 ROBERT BLAKE. his last letter in England a very simple and a very touching farewell : General Blake to Secretary TJmrloe. SIR, I have received yours of the 13th instant, to- gether with the enclosed note of the galleons ; as also your intelligence touching the end of the war between the Pro- testant and Popish cantons, and the peace settled there, and likewise the probabilities of a truce for six years betwixt France and Spain ; and the being of Charles Stuart with his company in Flanders. These sudden transactions seem to have some great matters in the womb of them ; but we know that God is the supreme disposer of all the counsels, designs, and confederations in the world ; and we know He is able to order them all for the greater good of His people. And our trust is, that He will do so even for our good also, if we can be- lieve in Him. The Lord help our unbelief, and subdue our hearts to the obedience of His holy will in all things. We are now getting an anchor aboard, making ready to sail, although there be little wind, or none at all. But we shall use our utmost endeavours to get to sea, not losing any opportunity that God shall afford us ; as we have hitherto been careful, and hope that his Highness is confident we are and shall continue so, as far as God shall enable us ; which is all at present from Your very affectionate friend and servant, EGBERT BLAKE. Aboard the Naseby in St. Helen's Road, March 15, 1656 (new style). 1 1 Clarendon, vi. 1 9 ; Thurloe, iv. 545, 592, 620. ROBERT BLAKE. 317 Two days before the date of this letter he had made his will, writing the whole of it out with his own hand. The document ran : TJie last Will and Testament of me, Robert Blake, written with my own hand as follow eih. First, I bequeath my soul into the hands of my most mer- ciful Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, by Him to be presented to His heavenly Father, pure and spotless, through the wash- ing of His blood which He shed for the remission of my sins, and, after a short separation from the body, to be again united with the same by the power of His eternal Spirit, and so to be ever with the Lord : Item, unto the town of Bridgwater I give one hundred pounds to be distributed among the poor thereof, at the discretion of Humphrey Blake my brother, and of the Mayor for the time being : J Item, unto the town of Taunton I 1 On a panel in the parish church appears the following inscription : " The Hon. Robert Blake, Esq., of this town, Captain- General of the fleet of England, did by his last will and testament bequeath unto the poor of this borough the sum of one hundred pounds; fourscore pounds and upwards whereof was disposed of in purchasing certain land within this parish, then known by the name of Jacob's Land, but now, in honour of the worthy donor, called Blake's Land, consisting of a piece of land without the East Gate, and two small tenements in Eastover, the yearly rents whereof for ever to remain to the use of the said poor, to be distri- buted in food or apparel at the discretion of the trustees of the said land. He died anno Dom. 1657. " Unto the above is added another tenement in Eastover adjoining to the above mentioned, purchased by the present trustees of Mr. Richard for forty pounds, part of the money by them saved from the sale of lives in the two tenements aforesaid. Anno Dom. 1729." The property purchased with the Admiral's bequest has, by a strange 318 ROBERT BLAKE. give one hundred pounds to be distributed among the poor of both parishes at the discretion of Samuel Perry, once my lieu- tenant-colonel, and Mr. George Newton, minister of the gospel there, and of the Mayor for the time being : Item, I give unto Humphrey Blake my brother, the manor of Crandon-cum- Puriton, with all the rights thereto appertaining, to him and to his heirs for ever : Item, I give unto my brother Doctor William Blake three hundred pounds : Item, unto my brother George Blake I give three hundred pounds : Also, unto my brother Nicholas Blake I give three hundred pounds : Item, unto my brother Benjamin Blake I give my dwelling-house, situate in St. Mary's Street in Bridgwater, with the garden and appurtenances, as also my other house thereto adjoining, purchased of the Widow Coxe : likewise I give unto him all the claim I have in eleven acres of meadow and pasture (more or less) lying in the village of Ham, in the parish of Bridg- water, lately in the possession of the Widow Vincombe de- ceased : Item, unto my sister Bridget Bowdich, the wife of Henry Bowdich of Chard Stock, I give one hundred pounds ; and to her children, of the body of Henry Bowdich aforesaid, I give the sum of nine hundred pounds, to be disposed among them according to the discretion of Humphrey, William, George, Nicholas, and Benjamin Blake aforesaid, my brothers, or any three of them : Item, unto my Brother Smythes, gold- smith in Cheapside, I give the sum of one hundred pounds : perversity, been hitherto known in the town as Jacob's Land. Such is local fame ! The property has passed into private hands ; a church stands on part of the ground, a school and a number of elegant villas occupy the remainder. During a recent visit to Bridgwater, I had an opportunity of suggesting to the owner of the villas that the site should bear the illustrious name with which it is historically connected ; he made me its sponsor, and I at once christened it Blake Place. ROBERT BLAKE. 319 Item, unto my nephew, Robert Blake, son to Samuel Blake, my brother deceased, I give the gold chain bestowed on me by the late Parliament of England : also, all the claim I have in an annuity of twenty pounds, payable out of the farm of Paw- lett : Item, unto my nephew Samuel Blake, younger son to Samuel, my brother deceased, I give two hundred pounds : Item, unto Sarah Quarrel, daughter of my late niece, Sarah Quarrell, by her husband Peter Quarrell, now dwelling in Taunton, I give the sum of two hundred pounds, to be disposed of for the benefit of the said Sarah Quarrell, according to the discretion of Humphrey, Nicholas, and Benjamin Blake, my brothers aforesaid : Item, unto my cousin John Blake, son unto my brother Nicholas Blake, I give one hundred pounds : Item, unto my cousin John Avery of Pawlett, once a soldier with me in Taunton Castle, I give fifty pounds : Item, unto Thomas Blake, son of my cousin William Blake, once com- mander of the Tresto frigate deceased, now aboard of the Cen- turion frigate in the service, I give fifty pounds : Item, all my plate, linen, bedding, with all my provisions aboard the ship Naseby, I give unto my nephews Robert and Samuel Blake aforesaid, and to my nephew John Blake aforesaid, to be di- vided between them by even and equal portions : Item, unto the negro called Domingo, my servant, 1 give the sum of fifty pounds, to be disposed of by my aforesaid nephew, Captain Robert Blake, and Captain Thomas Adams, for his better edu- cation in the knowledge and fear of God : Item, unto my ser- vants, James Knowles and Nicholas Bartlett, I give to each of them ten pounds : Item, unto the Widow Owen of Bridgwater, the relict of Mr. Owen, minister, I give ten pounds : Item, unto Eleanor Potter, widow, I give ten pounds : Ah 1 the rest of my goods and chattels I do give and bequeath unto George, Nicholas, and Benjamin Blake, my brothers aforesaid, and also 320 ROBERT BLAKE. to Alexander Blake my brother, to be equally divided among them, whom I do appoint and ordain to be the executors of this my last will and testament. ROB. BLAKE. Signed and sealed aboard the Naseby, March the thirteenth, one thousand six hundred and fifty-five, in St. Helen's Road, in presence of Roger Cuttons, J. Hynde, John Bourne, Antho. Earming. Oliver, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, Ireland, and the dominions, territories thereunto belonging, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting : Know ye, that upon the twentieth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred fifty and seven, before the Judges for probate of wills and granting administrations lawfully authorised, the last will and testament of the Honour- able Robert Blake, late General of the Fleet for the Common- wealth of England at sea, deceased, was at London in common form proved, which will is to these presents annexed : And administration of all and singular the goods, chattels, and debts of the said deceased which may any manner or way con- cern him or his said will, was granted and committed to George Blake, Benjamin Blake, and Alexander Blake, three of the exe- cutors named in the said will, they first having taken their oaths well and truly to administer the same goods, chattels, and debts according to the tenour and effect of the same will ; and to make or cause to be made a true and perfect inven- tory of all and singular the goods, chattels, and debts of the said deceased, which have, shall, or may come to their hands, possession, or knowledge ; and also a true and just account in and concerning their said administration when they shall be assigned or lawfully called so to do ; which touching an inven- tory they were presently assigned to perform at or before the ROBERT BLAKE. 321 last day of December now next ensuing the date hereof. Power being nevertheless reserved to make like probate and grant like administration to Nicholas Blake, the other executor named in the will aforesaid, whenever he shall legally desire the same. Given at London, under the seal of the Court for Probate of Wills and granting Administrations, the day and year above said. R. HAN KEY. MARK COTTLE, Registers This solemn act accomplished, and the final instruc- tions received from the Council of State, orders were given to get the ships under weigh. The squadron coasted as far west as Torbay, and as the white cliffs and verdant slopes of Devonshire faded from his sight, the departing hero saw his last of England. As the Sea-Generals passed down the Portuguese coast, they sent their letters to King John and assurances of support to Mr. Meadows, English envoy at the court of Lisbon, in his demand for a complete recognition of all the clauses of the late treaty; but they never once slack- ened sail until they were again in the Bay of Cadiz, where their dispositions soon made the inhabitants aware that their daring intention was to remain the entire summer, and to hold the royal harbour in a state of perpetual blockade. By these means the Silver Fleets would be kept at sea in imminent danger, and the usual trade of the Seville and Cadiz merchants would be de- stroyed. The Spaniards did not, however, dream of fighting with the renovated fleet. Now and then a slight skirmish took place between a couple of stray ketches, shallops or long-boats ; and one morning in the 1 Office copy, in Blake Mss. Y ROBERT BLAKE. midst of a dead calm, when even the English frigates could not move a point of the compass, the royal galleon and two others rowed out and fought at a great advan- tage with some of Blake's outsiders. But the principal damage done on either side in this encounter was effected by a chance shot from one of the frigates lying close in shore, for this cannon-ball knocked down part of a church and killed two men. 1 While these affairs were going on, serious news came in hot haste from Lisbon. King John, suffering from stone, and in the hands of his priests, absolutely refused to accept the treaty ; and the majesty of England had been insulted in the person of its envoy. Don Panta- leone and his brother, the Conde de Torre, as was gene- rally given out at the time, waylaid and pistolled Mr. Meadows in the streets of the capital, probably out of revenge for the death of their brother, who had been executed in London for murder. No attempt was made to discover the assassins. The wound did not prove mor- tal; but Blake remembered the unatoned murders of Ascham and Dorislaus ; and this time he was resolved to shew the world that England would cause the law of nations to be respected towards her servants. Leaving a few frigates to keep watch over Cadiz, the whole fleet weighed for Lisbon, and in the first week of June an- chored in Cascaes road at the Tagus mouth. But fear and dismay travelled faster than the Naseby, and as soon as it was known in Lisbon that Blake's instructions were clear and ample, the people rose against the priest party and compelled the invalid King to make peace 1 Thurloe, iv. 679, 762; Heath, 381. ROBERT BLAKE. 323 with England. John sent for Mr. Meadows; and on receiving a promise that in case of compliance the Sea- Generals would not molest his ships or damage his ports, he consented to accept the treaty substantially as it then stood : that is, with one or two verbal alterations, which, in the opinion of the resident English, would not unfavourably affect their just claims, while, on the other hand, they would have the effect of soothing the King's pride. The right of our nation to have Bibles and other pious books in their houses, without being considered as thereby breaking the laws of the country, was conceded. The proposal of an appeal to the Pope in all disputes about religion, previously insisted on by the Portuguese, was abandoned. The lives and proper- ties of English settlers were placed beyond the reach of the Holy Office. The customs were reduced to twenty- three per cent. And, finally, the King consented to pay down in silver 50,000/. sterling, besides 20,000. and some other monies due to the English for demurrage and freight of ships. A careful perusal of all the cor- respondence of John and his agents with the English, would probably incline the reader to believe that the hasty admission of these various claims, after two years of intrigue and subterfuge, was intended only as a feint to gain time and induce the Generals not to enter the Tagus. But Blake knew the King of old, and he de- clared his fixed resolution to remain at Cascaes or in case of need to sail up the river to Lisbon, and there wait the fulfilment of the treaty. Flurried by a mes- sage so energetic, the court sent to Mr. Meadows to beg that he would obtain for them some sort of assurance 324 ROBERT BLAKE. from the Generals that they would not molest their trade, if they, on their part, held fast to the terms of the treaty. Whereupon Blake and Montagu wrote : "If his ma- jesty of Portugal do perform on his part, and cause the money, which is by the treaty to be forthwith paid to his Highness's use, to be put into our possession, that it may be conveyed to England, he may confidently assure himself that we shall never so far dishonour his Highness nor prostitute our own reputation, and bring a scandal on the faith and holiness of the religion we profess, as to violate any of the articles of the treaty." John had no resource but to pay the money, which was accordingly put on board and sent to England. 1 A rather ludicrous incident served to shew the effect of Blake's southern campaigns in the capital of the Ca- tholic world. Pope Alexander VII. had been active in his hostility to England. He had invited Spain, Genoa, Florence and other maritime states, to make common cause against Puritan intruders into the Mediterranean. He had been the chief abettor of the dying King of Portugal in his faithless attempt to evade treaties. He had interposed the strongest obstacles to a just settle- ment of the Protestant question of the Vaudois. His Holiness, therefore, listened with fear and trembling for the renewed echoes of that Puritan cannon which had already left so many records of its presence on the shores of Spain, Italy and Barbary. One morning in the mid- dle of June, while the red cross of the Commonwealth was still floating in the Tagus and Blake occupied in 1 Thurloe, iv. 758, v. 44, 98, 116, 123, 12.5. ROBERT BLAKE. taking on board the Portuguese dollars, it was suddenly announced in the streets of Rome that the English fleet was cannonading Civita Vecchia ! The poor Pope, sup- posing in his terror that the formidable heretics would in a few hours be thundering at the gates of the Eternal City, caused earthworks to be thrown up, and the cannon of St. Angelo to be dismounted, carried into the streets, and placed in the most commanding positions for de- fence. But as no enemy appeared in sight, scouts were sent down to Civita Vecchia, when it turned out that no damage had been done that no English vessel had been in that harbour and that the firing which had given rise to the little comedy in Rome proceeded from a couple of Dutchmen, the crews of which were wasting their powder in a fit of drink I 1 The state of affairs remained unchanged before Cadiz. Cromwell, harassed for funds, was anxious to strike some sudden and tremendous blow against the great enemy of his country ; and therefore sent out one Cap- tain Loyd, "known to us to be a person of integrity," with a set of propositions as to how and where such a blow could be best dealt ; " desiring to give no rule to you," Blake and Montagu, but " rather as queries than as resolutions:" a very remarkable instance of submission in a man of Cromwell's imperious character. The queries were : Would it not be possible to burn the galleons at their moorings in the harbour ? Could Cadiz itself be attacked with success ? Or, failing both these, might not an attempt be made to carry the town 1 Thurloe, v. 137. 326 ROBERT BLAKE. and Castle of Gibraltar ? All these were points to be maturely considered. Drake had once burnt a fleet in the Bay of Cadiz. Essex and Raleigh had once carried the city by assault. On their way from Cascaes road the Sea-Generals held many consultations, examined charts and compared opinions ; intending, if the project of burning the Spanish fleet as it lay in the Carracas ap- peared feasible, to fall suddenly and fiercely to the work of destruction the moment of their arrival. But not a single pilot could be found willing to undertake the re- sponsibility of carrying an English war-ship into that narrow and dangerous harbour. Times had changed since Drake surprised the Spaniards. The expedition under Essex had taught them their weakness and their strength. When he arrived in the Bay, Blake obtained exact information from spies, secret agents and others, as to the means of defence possessed by the city, from which it appeared, that the navigation of the channel was extremely difficult at all times, that the Spani- ards had thrown a number of heavy chains across it, that large vessels had been placed in convenient posi- tions ready to be sunk at the first signal of an attempt to enter it by force, that guns had been planted on both shores of the passage, and that the preparations for defence were altogether of the most complete and formidable character. It was therefore obvious to the council of war, that in order to destroy the fleet in Carracas it would be necessary first to subdue Cadiz. And this point was considered ; but only for a moment. That the city was strong by nature, and still stronger by art, was well known to military men ; but Cromwell's ROBERT BLAKE. 327 spies had led him to believe that it was ill-supplied with troops, and it was on this circumstance that he had indulged in his dream of an attack. On the spot the council of war obtained more exact accounts, when it appeared that in Cadiz, town and island, Porto Santa Maria and Rotto, where the Duke of Medina com- manded in person, there were about forty thousand regular troops, some regiments of which vast force en- joyed the well-won reputation of being the finest infantry in the world. Under these circumstances they voted it irrational to think of making any attempt on the main- land, unless a large body of troops could be sent from England to co-operate with the fleet, as had been the case when Essex and Raleigh forced their way into the town. An attack on Gibraltar was declared impracti- cable for similar reasons ; the Spaniards having recently strengthened the works and thrown a powerful garrison into that important stronghold. 1 On receipt of the letters in which these decisions of the war-council were reported, the Protector and his Council wrote to Blake and Montagu as follows : GENTLEMEN, "We have seen a letter written by you to the Commissioners of the Admiralty, dated 9th May, from Tangier, which arrived here yesterday morning, whereby we understand the posture of the enemy, and that for the several reasons expressed by you in that said letter, it seems to you not rational to attempt the burning of the Spanish fleet in Cadiz ; and thereupon apprehend- ing that some of your ships may be spared into the Chan- 1 Carlyle's Cromwell, iv. 64-67 ; Thurloe, v. 134. 328 ROBERT BLAKE. nel for the better securing of trade, and the blocking up of Dunkirk and Ostend, where the pirates and ships-of- war grow so numerous, that lately eighteen or nineteen of them in a body took twenty of our merchant-ships in two fleets, being under a convoy of a Dutch ship of thirty-six guns ; therefore we have resolved to call into these seas part of the fleet now with you ; and to that end we desire you, upon the receipt hereof, to give or- ders to ten ships, under a good officer, to sail with the first opportunity of wind and weather into the Downs, requiring them to give immediate notice unto us of their arrival. We leave it wholly unto you which of the ships you will send, conceiving you to be best able to judge which of them will be fittest for this service and may be best spared by you. Some thoughts we have had that the lesser sort of ships, and especially frigates, will best answer the aforesaid ends here. This we have resolved, not knowing anything of your posture or counsels more than your aforesaid letter represents. But in case you are upon any design, or if aught else hath emerged, either upon our letter and instruction sent by Captain Loyd, or from your own thoughts, with which these orders will not well consist, we leave it to you, notwith- standing what we have herein written, whether you will send these ships or not ; our intentions not being to dis- appoint any thing which may be in your eye or design to be done there by the fleet. 1 The fleet had barely taken up its former position in the Bay before it began to experience some of that 1 Thurloe, v. 101, 102. ROBERT BLAKE. 329 extreme weather to which the hopes of the Spaniards seemed now chiefly turned as a means of compelling their enemy to go home. Several captains of ships were on board the Naseby receiving their instructions to sail for England in compliance with the request of the Council, when a gust of wind suddenly rose in the east and south-east, increased into a tremendous gale, snapt the anchor-chains, tore the cordage into shreds, and scattered the fleet seven or eight ships, of which the Naseby was one, excepted far and wide from Sagres to Tangier, doing serious damage to the entire squadron. The night which followed this terrible day was dark as well as tempestuous. Here and there the lights were hung out all night long as signals of distress, and in every pause of the storm the commanders heard signal- guns booming over the sea from great distances. About one o'clock, the Naseby had a narrow escape of wreck. The Taunton, her sails torn and rudder unmanageable, came drifting before the gale right on them. Lights were hoisted and orders given for Captain Vallis, her commander, to open a new sail ; but the poor fellow seemed to have lost all power over her movements. On she came, stern foremost, against the Naseby, which vessel had hitherto kept her anchor. A few moments and a collision appeared inevitable. Blake ordered his cables to be cut as a last chance, when suddenly, as he says in his letter to Cromwell " it pleased God in very much mercy that she" the Taunton "let slip, and getting a sail open with much ado steered clear off us, else one or both of us, in all likelihood, had immediately gone to the bottom." Nearly all the vessels of his fleet 330 ROBERT BLAKE. lost their long-boats, and many of them their cables and anchors : the Resolution had one of her anchors snapt into two pieces, and the other bent almost double. But none were absolutely lost. The Kent and the Taunton were the longest absent from the general gathering; but after a few days of painful suspense, to the infinite joy of their comrades they also returned. In one of his let- ters Montagu says " the sea ran mountains high ; " and he added suggestively " Judge you what this sea is to ride in winter time !" Great damage was also done to the Spanish ships lying in harbour ; many of the merchant- men being torn from their moorings and driven out to sea. 1 Six of the English ships, including the Kent, Bristol and Mermaid, were judged to be no longer fit for so rude a service, and were sent home to England. Mean- time the Generals did their utmost to exasperate the enemy to come out and fight. But neither insult nor spoliation could sufficiently stir their blood : as the Lisbon agent expressed it in his correspondence, " the Spaniard used his buckler rather than his sword." Hear- ing that a Sicilian and a Genoese galley had taken part with the Spaniards of Malaga against the English, Blake despatched the Ruby, Nantwich, and Lyon, with the Fox fire-ship, to that port, in search of the offenders, and with orders to infest and alarm the coast on that side from Gibraltar to Valentia. Still the Cadiz gal- leons would not venture out. Blake then drew off a number of frigates and good sailers for a temporary 1 Thurloe, v. 178, 179, 195. ROBERT BLAKE. guard, and with the body of his fleet sailed for the Afri- can coast in search of water and provisions ; intending also to pay a brief visit to Salee, on the west coast of Africa, and teach the lawless rovers of that city some re- spect for European commerce and civilisation. Success attended him and his chosen officers. The expedition against Malaga was brilliantly executed. The English ships rode into the harbour at mid-day, with colours and pennons flying, and anchored between the bulwark and the pier-head in three fathoms of water. The people on shore were taken quite aback, fancying they were some ships come in to give themselves up to the King of Spain. But they were awoke from this dream by a sudden declaration that, if the Genoa galley was not given up to them at once, they would proceed to fire every ship that was within the pier. After exchanging signals, the two galleys made an attempt to quit the port, the Genoese covering the Sicilian like a shield, when the frigates poured a broadside into the insolent Ge- noese, which broke her rudder, killed forty of her crew, and carried off her oars in splinters. The Sicilian slipt away in the confusion, but the Genoese was obliged to put back into the port, where she was grappled by the fire-ship and instantly wrapt in flames. The cannon of the land-works now opened on the English, and in re- turn the ships began to bombard the town. A dozen resolute fellows leapt on shore from a long-boat, and in a few minutes they had spiked eight pieces of heavy ord- nance under the very walls of the town. The people were in great confusion ; many of the gentry fled away ; the citizens hid themselves in their wine-casks ; and it 332 ROBERT BLAKE. was thought that a force of 4000 men would have been able to capture and plunder the place, so great was the terror of the moment. 1 Blake and Montagu returned to their old station, but the Spaniards still remained in port. No Silver Fleets appeared. July and August passed away in glorious but not very profitable cruises, skirmishes and blockades. Winter was drawing near, and every ship in the service required to be careened and refitted. Victuals of every kind ran short. To obtain supplies even of bread and water, it was necessary to seek the ports of a friendly power. Blake, therefore, appointed Captain Richard Stayner, of the Speaker, to watch the bay with a squadron of seven ships, the Speaker, Bridg- water, Providence, Plymouth, and three others ; and with the remainder of his power he sailed early in September for the northern part of Portugal. The Generals, how- ever, had not come to an anchor in Aviero Bay before a fortunate accident brought a division of the long- expected Silver Fleet in sight of Stayner's squadron. Four magnificent Spanish royal galleons and two great merchantmen of Indian build, all of them laden with pre- cious cargoes of gold, silver, pearls and precious stones, hides, indigo, sugar, cochineal, varinas and tobacco, and having the Viceroy of Lima and his family, a general, an admiral, and vice-admiral, together with about two thou- sand inferior persons on board, had left the Havanna early in June bound for Cadiz, under the impression that their European fleets would be able to protect them against 1 Thurloe, v. 195, 233, 234, 285, 337. ROBERT BLAKE. 333 every enemy, and without touching land at any point, they had made the whole voyage in the short space of fifty-seven days. On their way they picked up a little French barque, laden with hides, and afterwards, among the Western Islands, a Portuguese corn-factor, both of which vessels they made prizes. Either from mistake or from malice, the Portuguese sailors, when their cap- tors inquired from them where the English fleet lay, re- plied that the Spaniards had beaten Blake a month ago, and driven him away from their coast; they consequently continued their voyage towards Europe in the utmost confidence, instead of running to the Azores for a con- voy. In passing San Lucar they noticed a long-boat in the act of crossing the bar ; but by some strange fatality they proceeded towards Cadiz without staying to inquire how an English long-boat could be entering the Gau- dal quiver if Blake's squadron had been discomfited and driven, home. Even when they observed Stayner's fri- gates, just at dusk on the 8th of September, some five or six leagues eastward towards Cadiz, they concluded that they must be Spanish guard-ships lying about the harbour, and therefore did their best to keep close to them all night, putting their own lights on for company, and occasionally firing guns to announce their fortunate arrival. At day-dawn, they discovered their serious mistake ; and, though they had a vast preponderance of force, they separated, and some of them ran ashore as the only means of saving the vast treasures with which they were freighted. A fresh gale, blowing hard from the north-east, had scattered the English squadron, and only the Speaker, the Plymouth and the Bridgwater were 334 ROBERT BLAKE. at first sufficiently near the galleons to engage with them. Stayner naturally made for the flag-ship of the Spaniard; but finding that it was one of the weakest in the fleet, and suspecting that the flag was raised on that vessel merely to deceive and draw off an enemy from the gold and silver galleons, he let her go, and she succeeded in making her escape with the Lisbon prize into Cadiz. The battle raged between the others for six hours. From the walls and towers of the city the Spaniards could see every turn of the engagement ; two of their galleons were on fire at the same moment ; two others of their ships went down to rise no more. After defending his charge with heroic valour, their Vice-admiral was overpowered, his vessel, on fire in several places, was hastily rifled by the conquerors of its gold and silver; the prisoners were removed to the Speaker, and it was then left to fill and sink. In this galleon went down the unfortu- nate Viceroy of Lima, with his wife and daughter. The Plymouth chased one of the traders to the shore, where she ran aground near Cape Degar ; but it appeared by the statement of prisoners taken that she had no silver on board. The galleon of the Rear-admiral was taken, a prize of very great value. " The ship we took," says Stayner in his letter to Blake, " is worth all the rest of the fleet." It was a royal galleon of about 500 tons bur- den with 350 men on board when she struck her colours, and contained two million pieces of eight. Two other prizes were afterwards picked up ; and of the whole eight vessels only two escaped capture or destruction. The money lost amounted to nine million pieces of eight. The loss in men on the English side was very slight; but ROBERT BLAKE. 335 several of the frigates were much damaged, especially the Speaker, which had borne the chief brunt of the battle. 1 Among the prisoners taken was the young Marquis de Badajoz, son of the Viceroy of Lima, whose melan- choly and romantic story at once became a theme for poets and tale-tellers. His father was born a few leagues from Madrid, of a noble but reduced family of the pure Hidalgo blood. In early life his royal master made him Governor of Chili, in South America ; afterwards he was translated to the Vice-royalty of Lima, which country he governed fourteen years ; but his period of office being completed, his family grown up to youth, his own labours rewarded with wealth and honours, he embarked in the vice-admiral with his lady, his four sons, and his three daughters two of them affianced brides, one to a son of the great Duke of Medina Cosli, the other to Don Juan de Joyas, Rear-admiral of the fleet, and now Stay- ner's prisoner. "When the flames began to spread in the galleon, the marchioness and one of her daughters swooning with heat and fear fell on their faces and were soon scorched to death. One of the boys also fell a victim to the fire. The marquis might have escaped unhurt, but seeing the blackened bodies of his companions where they lay, he rushed towards them, threw his arms about his wife, and died in the embrace. The young mar- quis, his brothers and sisters, were saved by the English boarders and carried to the Speaker, where they were 'treated with great civility even by the rude sailors. 1 Montagu to Thurloe, in a Select Collection of Original Letters (1755, 12mo), i. 202 ; Clarendon, vi. 19-20 v Thurloe, v. 399, 400. 336 ROBERT BLAKE. The eldest boy afterwards became quite a favourite with the two commanders : " He is a most pregnant, ingenious, and learned youth as I ever met with," said Montagu, " and his story is the saddest that ever I heard of or read of to my remembrance." The whole fortune of the family, consisting of 800,000 pieces of eight, was on board the vice-admiral ; much of it was plundered by the boarders, and the rest went down with the wreck. 1 Cromwell had already desired one of the Generals to return home for a short time, to consult with the Board of Admiralty on the state of the fleet and on the general conduct of the war ; and he had named Montagu for this purpose, as his absence would be least severely felt. Blake was desired, if the plan met with his approval, to make a selection from the squadron under his command of such good sailors as would be best likely to stand the wear of a winter campaign, and with these vessels keep guard before the harbour of Cadiz, and utterly destroy its commerce. He thereupon removed the red cross of the Commonwealth to the mast of the Swiftsure; and collecting all Stayner's prizes with the other ships in- tended for home, he took farewell of his colleague, com- mitting him to the mercies of God and the good-will of his countrymen. England soon rang with the new glo- ries of its great seamen. Poems, plaudits and rewards without end met the victorious Montagu. A knight- hood was reserved for Stayner. The bullion which he had captured was landed at Portsmouth, and some eight- 1 Elegiac Enumeration, 22, 23 ; Waller's poem, " On our late War in Spain ;" Select Coll. of Orig. Letters, i. 202. ROBERT BLAKE. 337 and-thirty wagons, attended by chosen picquets of sol- diers, carried it triumphantly through the western towns to London, where it was paraded through the City, and then immediately carried to the Tower and coined into money. 1 1 Whitelocke, 643; Clarendon, vi. 20 ; History and Life, 92-94. CHAPTER X. 1656-1657. STAYNER'S brilliant success against the first division of the Silver Fleets which had fallen in the way of an Eng- lish squadron, encouraged Blake in the idea that by re- maining out at sea all winter, he might perhaps be able to strike such a blow at the naval power of Spain, as would shake that overgrown and haughty empire to its foundations. The Mexican galleons had been disposed of by his lieutenant ; those of Peru, known to be still more richly laden with gold, silver, pearls and precious stones, were on their way to Spain. Could he only keep the mouth of the Carracas closed, so as to prevent any caraval going out to warn them of their danger, it was not unlikely that they would follow in the track of the former fleet, and fall into his hands unprepared. But this advantage was only to be gained by a winter at sea ; and in such a sea, with a fleet in the worst condition, and in his state of increasing bodily infirmity ! The best of the great ships had gone home with the Naseby, Cromwell believing from all past naval experience that it would be impossible for them to ride through the storms of December and January on that dangerous coast : what remained as the Cadiz blockading squadron were about twenty frigates, with the Swiftsure, a vessel ROBERT BLAKE. of 898 tons burden, carrying 380 men and 64< guns, as admiral. Yet the duties were numerous and of different kinds which this fleet of frigates was expected to per- form. Simply to keep the seas would have been no easy task ; but Blake was expected to hold the whole southern coast of Spain in a state of siege, to close the Straits of Gibraltar against the enemy, to intercept the Silver Fleets should they arrive, to prevent the coming in of oak, hemp, tar, and other materials for ship- building from the north of Europe, to entice out and then fight with the war-galleons known to be fitting up in Cadiz by the merchants of Seville for the defence of their property, to cut off all communication over sea between Spain and Flanders, to harass and destroy the enemy's trade, particularly that of their colonies and settlements in America, to watch and check the move- ments of the Barbary corsairs, and, finally, to protect the interests of English commerce with Portugal and the Straits of Gibraltar, then fiercely menaced by Bis- cayan and other Spanish privateers. 1 The Commonwealth expected full and daring service from its officers. But however much was hoped in Eng- land from the great Admiral's genius and good-fortune, the wonders of this winter cruise and the brilliant ac- tion with which it closed in the early spring at Santa Cruz surpassed every expectation. For the first few weeks, the Spaniards affected to laugh at a madman who could dream of riding out in that tempestuous ocean for a whole winter. Nevertheless, October and November passed away ; and though daily storms scattered the 1 Clarendon, vi. 20, 38, 39; Carlyle's Cromwell, iv. 85, 86. 340 ROBERT BLAKE. devoted squadron, carrying some of the frigates to the African ports, others into the Straits, and now and then an unfortunate vessel as far as Cape St. Vincent, the bay was never free from the enemy ; and after a day or two of decent weather, the fleet was found riding in all its strength across the entrance to Cadiz. Opinion then worked gradually round. The citizens began to fear that nature would probably not fight their battle as ef- fectually as they had hoped. If the Mexican fleet was to come in, other means of defence must be considered. Some rich merchants at last offered to fit out a powerful squadron. At their expense eight royal galleons were prepared forthwith ; guns were also put on board twelve traders of heavy burden ; and a solemn appeal was made to the chivalry of Spain to go on board the relief squadron as volunteers, and in that capacity make one grand effort to dislodge the enemy from his insulting position. Much was expected from this appeal ; several spirited gentlemen offered their services, and the agents talked in heroic measures of their intended feats : but for some reason not known to the English, the squadron did not venture outside the passage, and Blake conti- nued undisputed master at sea. About mid-winter, De Ruiter anchored off the bar of San Lucar with nine or ten Dutch men-of-war ; and the opinion current in di- plomatic circles in the south of Europe was, that he intended openly to join the Spaniards against England. European diplomacy was probably well acquainted with the secret leanings of the States-General ; but it erred in assuming that they would have the courage to declare their preference, and take upon themselves the conse- ROBERT BLAKE. 341 quences of their friendship for Spain. They rather chose to work for her in secret. Under false flags and with forged papers they from time to time carried succours to Cadiz and San Lucar ; in the name of the Genoese they built and equipped in their dockyards as many fri- gates and men-of-war as would have formed a powerful fleet ; and indeed at that very moment they had six mag- nificent ships, of from sixty to seventy guns each, on the stocks nearly finished. But De Ruiter carefully ab- stained from any offence against the red cross. He made a shew of the profoundest respect for Blake personally, and sailed away into the Mediterranean, as he pretended on a voyage against the pirates of Algiers and Tripoli. 1 The English were compelled to rule the Barbary powers with a rod of iron. A few months ago the Admiral had paid his promised visit to Salee, when he summoned the formidable rovers of that port to a con- sultation ; but as the barbarians did not for the space of two days comply with his request, he drove two of their fleetest vessels on the rocks and broke them into fragments, threatening to deal in like manner with their entire fleet if they persisted in their refusal to treat with him according to the usages of nations. The Prince of Salee had already learned by the example of Tunis that Blake never threatened in vain, and on receiving this peremptory intimation he sent an agent to the Naseby. The sudden recal of the fleet towards the Bay of Cadiz, in expectation of the Silver Fleet, had prevented the formal conclusion of a treaty; but the ' Thurloe, vi. 3, 4, 48, 49, 56. 342 ROBERT BLAKE. rovers became more guarded from that time in their interference with English merchants. Early in February a violent storm in the Bay of Cadiz drove the blockading fleet towards the Straits, and the heavy gales increasing, Blake ran into Tetuan, a Morocco port just within the Straits, for shelter ; and as some questions had arisen between him and the Dey of Algiers, ere he returned to Cadiz, he ran along the coast to that city, paid the Dey a flying visit, and arranged all his difficulties without having to fire a single shot. The affair of Porto Ferino had relieved him from the necessity of any more fighting with the pirates. In passing Tan- gier, then a settlement of the Portuguese, he found it closely invested by the Moors, and so severely dis- tressed as to be not unlikely to fall into their hands. In the high spirit of Christian chivalry he detached a part of his fleet to relieve the garrison, break the be- siegers' lines and support the interests of the new King of Portugal, Alphonso VI. , on those shores : a service which had the happy effect of saving the town and drawing still closer the bonds of friendship already es- tablished by his means between London and Lisbon. 1 Discontents arose and multiplied in Spain. The loss of one and the long delay of the other Silver Fleet ren- dered money scarce, crippling both public and private means. New taxes had to be imposed. Voluntary gifts and loans were tried, and many Hidalgo families stript themselves of part of their ancient wealth to uphold the glory of their King. The Church also contributed its 1 Thurloe, v. 285, 6 ; vi. 48. ROBERT BLAKE. 343 blessing and its money towards the support of a war against heretics. But these donations went but a short way towards meeting the enormous expenditure ; and in its hour of need government was compelled to exact a fifth part of the estates, stock and property of every merchant in the empire. Thousands were ruined by this sweeping measure. Trade almost ceased. The Spanish dollar rose in value ; debts were left unpaid ; and many of the most princely residents of Cadiz and Seville were completely broken in their fortunes. In England the splendour of victory, the humiliation of a haughty foe, and now and then the sight of wagons filled with cap- tured gold and silver, helped to sustain the popularity of the war ; but the trading interests suffered severely from the corsairs of Brest and the Bay of Biscay. The amount of money taken from the enemy was slight when compared with the losses of private persons. Few indeed gained by the war except the privateers of the two nations, and that band of lawless adventurers who plundered peaceful traders under cover of any flag which it suited them for the moment to unfurl. 1 Nothing excites more wonder and admiration than the poverty of means with which this bold watch and guard was maintained. Hardly a single ship was sea- worthy. The Fairfax, the Worcester, the Plymouth, the Newcastle, the Foresight, were all seriously damaged. Some were short of a mast, others had no powder ; all were in want of spars, canvass, hemp and stores. 2 Worst of all, sickness had carried off the ablest seamen of the 1 Thurloe, v. 89, 153. 2 Blake Despatch, Add. Mss. 9304-122. 344 ROBERT BLAKE. fleet; and more than one of the frigates had not sufficient hands for the ordinary working service, much less for war. On the llth of March, 1657, Blake writes from before Cadiz to the Admiralty : " Our fleet at present, by reason of a long con- tinuance abroad, are grown so foul, that if a fleet outward bound should design to avoid us, few of our ships would be able to follow them up. I have ac- quainted you often with my thoughts of keeping out those ships so long, whereby they are not only rendered in a great measure unserviceable, but withal exposed to desperate hazards : wherein, though the Lord hath most wonderfully and mercifully preserved us hitherto, I know no rule to tempt Him, and therefore again mind you of it, that if any such accident should for the future happen to the damage of his Highness and the nation which God forbid the blame may not be at our doors, for we account it a great mercy that the Lord hath not given them [the Spaniards] the oppor- tunity to take advantage of these our damages. Truly our fleet is generally in that condition, that it troubles me to think what the consequence may prove if such another storm, as we have had three or four lately, should overtake us before we have time and opportu- nity a little to repair. Our number of men is lessened through death and sickness, occasioned partly through the badness of victuals and the long continuance of poor men at sea. The captain of the Fairfax tells me, in particular, that they are forced to call all their com- pany on deck whenever they go to tack. Therefore (I) desire that, if you intend us to stay out this summer, or ROBERT BLAKE. 345 any considerable part thereof, that you will forthwith send us a sufficient supply of able seamen." 1 But Cromwell was too busy with his own schemes of personal aggrandisement to think of the brave men who were fighting the battles of their country on a distant station. No succours were sent out ; nothing but apo- logies and excuses. The Lords of Admiralty said they were sorry to hear of his illness ; sorry also to hear of the wretched state of his ships ; but they could not promise him any immediate aid, because the Lord Pro- tector's time was completely taken up with Parlia- mentary intrigues, the great question of Kingship being then under consideration. 2 The events of the next few days, however, put an end to the tasks which held the sick Admiral a sort of prisoner in those waters. Letters of intelligence came to hand announcing that the second Silver Fleet, consisting of six royal galleons and sixteen other great ships, was on its way towards Europe ; but that having heard of the former disaster, and learning that the enemy was still in some force before the Bay of Cadiz, it had run for safety into harbour in one of the Canary Islands. At first this news was of a doubtful nature, perhaps an invention of the Spaniards to draw him off from his post ; certainly it was too vague a report to justify a run with his whole squadron into a latitude so remote ; but several hands, unknown to each other, furnished him with the same intelligence, and his habi- tual caution at last admitted that there were grounds for trusting to the general accuracy of his information. 1 Blake Despatch, Add. Mss. 9304. 3 Ms. Orders and Instructions, May 2, 1657, Admiralty Office. 346 ROBERT BLAKE. Finding that the fleet already prepared for sea did not venture forth, he arranged his plans, called in his cruisers, and on the 13th of April set sail with his whole force, now recruited to twenty-five ships and frigates, for those islands. Don Diego Diagues, the Spanish Admiral at Santa Cruz, had news of Blake's intended movement, and he made instant preparations to give the assailants a warm reception should they venture to attack his fleet. The port of Santa Cruz was then one of the strongest naval positions in the world. The harbour, shaped like a horse-shoe, was defended at the north side of the entrance by a regular castle, mounted with the heaviest ordnance and well garrisoned ; along the inner line of the Bay seven powerful forts were disposed ; and connecting these forts with each other and with the castle was a line of earthworks, which served to cover the gunners and musketeers from the fire of an enemy. Sufficiently formidable of themselves to appal the stout- est heart, these works were now strengthened by the whole force of the Silver Fleet. The precious metals, pearls and other jewels, were carried on shore into the town ; but the usual freightage, hides, sugar, spices, co- chineal and other valuable commodities, remained on board, Don Diego having no fears for their safety. The royal galleons were then stationed on each side the nar- row entrance of the Bay ; their anchors dropped out, and their broadsides turned towards the sea. The other armed vessels were moored in a semicircle round the in- ner line, with openings between them so as to allow full play to the batteries on shore in case of necessity. Large bodies of musketeers were placed on the earthworks ROBERT BLAKE. 347 uniting the more solid fortifications ; and in this admirable arrangement of his means of resistance Diagues waited with confidence the appearance of his enemy. On the evening of Saturday, April 18th, the fore- most of the English frigates sighted what they believed to be the nearest point of land in the Canary Islands ; but the weather was so extremely thick and hazy that doubts were entertained, and it was noon on Sunday before they were certain of their exact bearings. This circumstance afforded Diego timely warning of their approach. Next morning, Monday, the red cross of the Commonwealth was descried at daybreak from the royal galleens ; the fleet appearing about three leagues distant, under crowded sail and bearing in before a stiff breeze. 1 A Dutch captain, who had seen something of the late war, happened to be lying at that moment in the Santa Cruz roadstead with his vessel ; when he saw the Sea-General's pennon floating on the wind, and the frigates in advance making direct for the harbour, he felt they were bent on mischief, and anxious to avoid any portion of the hard knocks likely to be given in the coming fray, went straight to the Spanish Admiral to ask his permission to retire. Diagues affected to smile at his fears. Why, his naval force alone was almost equal to the enemy. The royal galleons were mounted with the finest brass ordnance in the world. Their broadsides would oppose a living wall of fire against assault. With his castles, batteries and earthworks, his powerful and spirited garrison, his double line of war-ships, he con- sidered, and not unreasonably considered, that his posi- 3 Narrative of the Passages of these Times of the Commonwealth, 25. 348 ROBERT BLAKE. tion was impregnable. The Dutchman shook his head : " For all this," he said, " I am very sure that Blake will soon be in among you." " WeH," replied the haughty Spaniard, " go, if you will ; and let Blake come if he dare." The applicant returned to his vessel, hoisted sail and escaped the destruction which awaited every spar and canvass afloat within the Bay of Santa Cruz that fatal morning. As soon as day dawned on the English fleet, a frigate, which had been sent forward in the night for that pur- pose, signalled to the Swiftsure the welcome intelligence that the whole body of the Silver Fleet lay at anchor within the harbour. Thereupon Blake, roused from his sick-bed by the prospect of immediate action, called a council of war, stated the case in a few brief and preg- nant words, and ended with a proposal to ride into the port and attack the enemy in his formidable position. 1 The shape of the harbour, the situation of the great castle, and the direction of the wind then blowing steadily landwards made it useless to think of bringing off the royal galleons. It only remained therefore to destroy them where they stood, with their threatening broadsides pointing towards the English ships. Many thought this scheme would be equally impossible to carry out; but the captains who had served in the at- tack on Porto Ferino had no doubt but that the bold conception of their general might be as brilliantly exe- cuted. At least it was resolved to make the attempt. Between six and seven o'clock, a solemn prayer was offered to the Disposer of events : no oath, no irreverent 1 Ms. Orders and Instructions, May 2, 1657, Admiralty Office. ROBERT BLAKE. 349 ribaldry, was ever heard on board that fleet ; no rum or brandy was given out on the eve of battle ; but every man on those gallant ships knelt down humbly, and in that fervent spirit which was in all trials and tempta- tions the Roundheads' sustaining fire, asked the God of battles to bless His people, and put forth His right arm in support of the good cause. 1 At seven all was ready the sailors had breakfasted and prayed. A division of the best-equipped and most powerful ships was then drawn off and sent forward under the gallant Captain Stayner to attack the royal galleons and force an en- trance into the harbour ; Blake reserving to himself the task of silencing the castles and batteries on land. Stayner's old frigate, the Speaker, now bearing his pen- non as Vice-admiral, rode in the van of this attacking squadron right at the entrance, unchecked by the tre- mendous broadsides of the galleons and regardless of the terrific flanking fire from the castle and batteries. In a space of time almost incredibly short he had passed the outer defences and established himself near the royal galleons, in the centre of a huge semicircle of shot. Blake instantly followed with the remainder of his fleet, and covering Stayner's flank with his frigates, so as to leave him free to fight the great ships without interrup- tion from the batteries on shore, he commenced a furious cannonade on the whole line of defences, and especially against the castle. The Spaniards fought throughout with desperate valour, and for some hours the old peak of Teneriffe witnessed a scene which might almost be compared with one of its own stupendous outbursts. 1 Narrative of the Passages of these Times of the Commonwealth, 26. 350 ROBERT BLAKE. The Spanish musketeers kept up a most destructive fire from behind the covered way. Yet in spite of the high- est courage, unanimity and conduct on the side of the defence, the cannonade along the earthworks gradually slackened. One by one the batteries ceased to answer. Before twelve o'clock Blake was able to leave the com- pletion of this part of his task to a few well-stationed frigates, while he turned with the main body to the assistance of Stayner, engaged for four hours in an un- equal contest with galleons of greatly superior force in men and guns. Diagues made heroic efforts to recover his failing ground ; but it was now too late to turn the tide of victory. By two o'clock the battle was clearly won. Two of the Spanish ships had gone down, and every other vessel in the harbour, whether royal galleon, ship-of-war, or trader, was in flames. Miles and miles round the scene of action, the lurid and fatal lights could be seen, throbbing and burning against the dull sky. The fire had done its work swiftly and awfully. Not a sail, not a single spar was left above water. The charred keels floated hither and thither. Some of them filled and sank. Others were thrown upon the strand. Here and there the stump of a burnt mast projected from the surface; but not a single ship not a single cargo escaped destruction. All went down together in this tremendous calamity. 1 Their victory complete, the next care of the English was to get away safely from the Bay, as the great guns of the castle at its entrance, supplied with fresh gunners, 1 Bates, Elenchua Motuum nuperorum in Anglia, part ii. 227; Heath, 391; Clarendon, vi. 39, 40. ROBERT BLAKE. 351 kept up a deadly fire from all its embrasures. Blake's plan, when he rode with a strong breeze into Santa Cruz, seems to have been to fight and destroy the Spanish galleons, first silencing as many of the land-batteries as might be necessary to that end, and then to retire with his fleet from the harbour at the ebb-tide; but just as the devouring flames had got safe hold of the Spaniards' hulls, ensuring the complete destruction of their ships, the wind began to veer a little towards the south-west a change, as the pious sailors remarked, which had not been known to occur on that coast for many years and by skilful management the whole squadron came out of the Bay with one slight accident, the striking of a frigate on an unknown rock. But she was got off without seri- ous damage ; and by seven o'clock in the evening all the ships were out in the Bay beyond gun-range. 1 The loss of the Spaniards was immense. The finest part of their Silver Fleets was utterly annihilated : ships, guns, equip- ments, cargoes, all were gone. Considering the many disadvantages under which they had fought, the losses of the English were comparatively unimportant. Not a single ship was missing at the muster; but several frigates, particularly the Speaker, were rendered unfit for further service. The slain amounted to no more than 50 ; the wounded were about 150 in number. 2 Perhaps no naval action has ever been more warmly admired and more curiously criticised than this attack on Santa Cruz. <; Of all the desperate attempts," says royalist Heath, " that were ever made in the world 1 Narrative of Passages, 27. 2 ParL Hist. xxi. 144 ; Burton's Diary, ii. 142. 352 ROBERT BLAKE. against an enemy by sea, this of the noble Blake's is not inferior to any." " The whole action," writes Claren- don, " was so miraculous, that all men who knew the place concluded that no sober man, with what courage soever endued, would ever undertake it ; whilst the Spaniards comforted themselves with the belief that they were devils and not men who had destroyed them in such a manner. And it can hardly be imagined how small loss the English sustained in this unparalleled ac- tion ; no 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 the shore was incredible." On the other side, it has been alleged by Sir Philip Warwick and later writers, that when Blake rode into the bay of Santa Cruz there was no rea- sonable probability that the wind would change when the work of destruction was effected ; that had it not changed, the squadron would have been wind-bound within reach of the great artillery of the castle for an in- definite period ; that, in short, nothing less than the un- expected turn of wind could have saved the fleet which his rashness had placed in such imminent peril. 1 To these criticisms it would probably be a sufficient answer to say, that during his whole naval career the great Admiral never made a serious mistake: even his unequal and disastrous encounter with Tromp in the Downs was defensible on political grounds. The best proof, however, that he could bring his fleet out of the harbour when its work was done, is the fact that he did bring it out ; had it appeared to him desirable 1 Warwick's Memoirs, 421-2, edition of 1702. ROBERT BLAKE. 353 for the ships to remain at anchor under the castle-guns, there is no reason to believe that they would have been unable to hold their position. Masters of the harbour for twelve hours, it would have been easy to remain mas- ters for twelve days. Nor is it clear that the change of wind took place before the fleet quitted the bay as accounts written on the spot represent that change as occurring after the muster in the offing when a speedy return to Spain, not an escape from Santa Cruz, figures as the great object of providential interposition. 1 Intelligence of this great naval exploit reached Lon- don as Cromwell's second Parliament was drawing its first session to a close. The excitement was extreme. 2 Popular ballads, in which Antichrist and the Inquisition were treated with disdainful waggery, were sung at every street-corner under the fantastic and picturesque gables of old London. The Lord Protector sent his secretary down to the House with the letter of details ; and when honourable members had heard the whole story from Blake's own hand, they tendered him the thanks of the country for his eminent services, and voted five hundred pounds for the purchase of a jewel to be given him as a mark of honour and respect. The House partook of the liberal enthusiasm which filled the cities of London and Westminster. The representatives gave one hun- dred pounds to Captain Story, the messenger of such glorious news. They ordered a letter of thanks to be written to the officers of the fleet. Finally, they set apart an early day for a solemn national thanksgiving. 3 1 Narrative of Passages, 27. 3 Parl. Hist. xxi. 145. 1 Ms. Orders and Instructions, June 11, Admiralty Office. A A 354 ROBERT BLAKE. Cromwell himself wrote to the dying General a letter of thanks and congratulation : SIR, I have received yours of the [20th April], and thereby the account of the good success it hath pleased God to give you at the Canaries, in your attempt upon the King of Spain's ships in the Bay of Santa Cruz. The mercy therein to us and this Commonwealth is very sig- nal, both in the loss the enemy hath received, as also in the preservation of our ships and men, which indeed was very wonderful, and according to the wonted goodness and loving-kindness of the Lord, wherewith His people hath been followed in all these late revolutions ; and call for on our part, that we should fear before Him, and still hope in His mercy. We cannot but take notice also, how eminently it hath pleased God to make use of you in this service, assisting you with wisdom in the con- duct, and courage in the execution ; and have sent you a small jewel, as a testimony of our own and the Parlia- ment's good acceptance of your carriage in this action. We are also informed that the officers o the fleet and the seamen carried themselves with much honesty and courage, and we are considering of a way to shew our acceptance thereof. In the meantime we desire you to return our hearty thanks and acknowledgments to them. Thus beseeching the Lord to continue His presence with you, I remain your very affectionate friend. 1 One unhappy incident had occurred to dash this great public triumph with a private grief. His brother Humphrey, removed from the Board' of Prizes to the I Thuiloe, vi. 342. ROBERT BLAKE. 355 command of a frigate, saw his first real service in this most trying engagement, and in a moment of extreme agitation failed in his duty. After the muster-call in the offing, whispers began to circulate through the fleet that the General's brother had not done his part like an English captain, and certain voices accused him openly of cowardice. Humphrey seems to have been one of those jovial, plastic and good-natured men whom every one likes, and no one respects. Only a few months in the fleet, he was already a favourite with his brother of- ficers ; and when the accusation first arose against him, they tried to stifle it, and by every means in their power sought to prevent the affair from coming under the notice of a court-martial. But the great Admiral was inexorable. Humphrey was his favourite brother ; he was the next to him in age, and he had been his chief playfellow in boyhood ; when on shore he always shared with him his house, his table and his leisure: but above and before all private affection for this favourite brother rose up in his mind the stern sense of public duty. For years it had been his office to purge that navy of all ungodly, unfaithful and inefficient officers with a rigorous hand ; and how could he spare his own flesh and blood ? The captains went to him in a body, and endeavoured to shew him that Humphrey's fault was a neglect rather than a breach of duty ; and that the ends of justice would be met without the disgrace of a public sentence. They ventured to suggest that without taking formal notice of the scandal which was abroad in the fleet, he might be sent away to England until his fault was forgotten. Blake looked grave and 356 ROBERT BLAKE. angry. They nevertheless pressed their suit, believing that nature itself would prevent a failure of their appli- cation. They appealed to his private affection they glanced at the offender's want of experience at sea. But it was all to no purpose. Blake answered that his first duty was to the service. Their very reasoning proved more clearly that this was not a case which could be allowed to pass into a precedent; and, at the conclu- sion of the interview, he ordered a court-martial to be summoned. " If none of you," said he, "will accuse him, I must myself be his accuser." The officers form- ing the court could only give one sentence on the evi- dence laid before them; but they sent with it a petition, signed by the entire court, to their Admiral, praying him to remit the sentence, and allow the culprit to return to England in his own ship. This prayer was granted, as it would have been in any ordinary case ; but the Commander added to the painful document the stern words " He shall never be employed more." Yet to the brother thus sternly rebuked he left the greater part of his property. 1 The favourable wind which brought the squadron out of Santa Cruz carried it once more at a steady and rapid pace to the shores of Andalusia ; but intelli- gence of the terrible disaster at the Canaries had already reached the merchants of Cadiz, and new endeavours were made to induce the States-General of Holland to unite with Spain in a league against the proud and vic- torious islanders. Dutch statesmen, alarmed at the extraordinary growth of English influence at sea, were 1 History and Life, 104, 6; Copy of Will in Blake Mss. ROBERT BLAKE. 357 disposed to entertain the advances made to them by their ancient and mortal enemies; they expedited the preparations of their fleet, and raised it to a force of seventy sail. Cromwell's ministers could obtain no sa- tisfactory explanation of the reasons for this armament or of the service on which it was to be employed ; and as soon as the battle of Santa Cruz had disabled Spain for some time, they wrote to inform Blake of their fears and uncertainties, and to beg that he would return with convenient haste to England. 1 Warned of these in- trigues with the States-General, the English frigates kept strict watch over the motions of the Dutch squad- ron in those seas, and soon found that, while declining to commit themselves to the hazards and expenses of another naval war, the officers readily engaged them- selves to bring into Cadiz and other ports the gold and silver landed at Santa Cruz, by order of Don Diego Diagues, before the late attack. Aware of the contract, Blake declared these Dutchmen lawful prizes ; and in- structed the captains of his cruisers to chase, capture or destroy them whenever found with Spanish cargoes on board. By these prompt measures several of their ships and frigates were taken, laden in great part with gold and silver from that island. One of these Dutch vessels was reported to have a million pieces of eight on board. Another of his captures, the Flying Fame of Amster- dam, ran on shore near Suebra, in order to save the cargo ; but it was got off again at full tide by the Eng- lish frigates : it had 448 Spaniards, passengers from the Canaries, on board, besides a very valuable freight. Re- 1 Ms. Orders and Instructions, June 11, Admiralty Office. 358 ROBERT BLAKE. monstrances were of course made by the Ambassadors of Holland against this rigorous policy. But Blake had lit- tle patience with the wiles and subterfuges of diplomacy. His object in those seas was to destroy the trade, the resources, the fleets of Spain ; he considered its gold and silver, its pearls and precious stones, its spices, sugar, hides and cochineal lawful prey ; and in whatever bot- toms or under whatever flag he found these articles, he believed his right to seize them indisputable. The Dutchmen railed and spouted but they kept the peace. From Norway to Barbary the echoes of Blake's thunder had been heard. The wavering were confirmed in their friendship for the Commonwealth ; States which had so far proudly held aloof evinced the desire to cul- tivate a closer alliance ; false friends suddenly grew eager and demonstrative in their civilities. To use the emphatic words of our agent at Lisbon, the English were " every where held in terror and honour." 1 But the hero's health was now failing fast. The excitement of Santa Cruz had fearfully augmented his disorders; his attached friends could see that he was nigh to death ; and the dismissal of his brother had therefore been a most severe addition of sacrifice to his stern sense of duty. Confined to his cabin by sickness, he began to feel the whole loneliness of his position. Humphrey had been his companion from a child. No one clung to him like his brother Humphrey ; no one knew so much of his inward life ; no one was possessed so thoroughly of his thoughts and opinions on all sub- jects; no one had learned to conform to his habits so 1 Thurloe, vi. 364, 388, 399, 401, 485. ROBERT BLAKE. 359 completely as this favourite. Few commanders have ever won so entirely the love, devotion, adoration of their officers and men. It was an article of faith for the captains to believe in his genius and fortune. The common sailors would have leapt into the sea, or rushed into the cannon's mouth, to gain a word of approbation from his lips. But the brother's place by the sick bed could not be supplied by any stranger to his blood. For himself, his work was nearly done. And he was most anxious, if God were willing, to go home, and die in his native town. He had his country's express permis- sion to return should he think it useful to the service ;* but it lay on his conscience to perform one other task before he quitted for ever the seas in which he had kept this glorious watch ; and that was to pay a second visit to Salee, and compel the Moorish corsairs to restore the Christian captives to their freedom, and enter into a treaty of peace with England. This was his last, and, in the opinion of his biographer, his most illustrious action. An accident had formerly defeated his attempt to exact reparation from these formidable pirates for the injuries inflicted by them on English commerce; before he finally quitted the southern waters, he considered it a sacred duty to return to Salee and complete the nego- ciations then suddenly interrupted. Unlike the pirates of Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers, who went out to sea in the largest class of war-ships, the Moors of Salee, a town forming part of the dominions of the Emperor of Fez and Morocco, made their excursions in small but well-built and extremely fast-sailing vessels ; 1 Ms. Orders and Instructions, June 11, Admiralty Office. 360 ROBERT BLAKE. the bar of the river on which their town was built not affording, even in good weather, more than a depth of ten or twelve feet of water. After a short prevalence of south-west winds, a strong swell of sea always broke on the bar, rendering it impassable for craft of any but the smallest size ; so that in winter the pirates were usually compelled to lie still. But with the approach of spring, they would set out in their powerful little frigates, scour the European waters as far as the Bay of Biscay and the Sardinian sea, rifling unarmed traders, and even making occasional descents on the coasts of Spain and Italy in search of spoil and prisoners. On his second visit to this nest of corsairs, Blake succeeded, without firing a gun, or shedding a drop of blood, in bringing the Moor- ish Prince to reason : he had conquered the rovers of Salee at Santa Cruz ! The very day on which his frigates appeared off the bar, they accepted his proposed terms ; and in less than a week he departed for the north, having taken on board supplies of fresh water, cleared the whole body of Christian captives, and made peace with them for the future. 1 This crowning act of a virtuous and honourable life accomplished, the dying Admiral turned his thoughts anxiously towards the green hills of his native land. The letter of Cromwell, the thanks of Parliament, the jewelled ring sent to him by an admiring country, all reached him together out at sea. These tokens of grateful remembrance caused him a profound emotion. Without after-thought, without selfish impulse, he had served the Commonwealth, day and night, earnestly, 1 Harl. Misc. viii. 399, 403; Thurloe, vi. 492. ROBERT BLAKE. 361 anxiously and with rare devotion. England was grateful to her hero. With the letter of thanks from Cromwell, a new set of instructions arrived, which allowed him to return with part of his fleet, leaving a squadron of some fifteen or twenty frigates to ride before the Bay of Cadiz and intercept its traders ; with their usual deference to his judgment and experience, the Protector and Board of Admiralty left the appointment to the command en- tirely with him ; and as his gallant friend Stayner was gone to England, where he received a knighthood and other well-won honours from the Government, he raised Captain Stoaks, the hero of Porto Ferino and a com- mander of rare promise, to the responsible position of his Vice-admiral in the Spanish seas. 1 Hoisting his pennon on his old flag-ship the St. George, Blake saw for the last time the spires and cu- polas, the masts and towers, before which he had kept his long and victorious vigils. "When he put in for fresh water at Cascaes road he was very weak. " I beseech God to strengthen him," was the fervent prayer of the English Resident at Lisbon, as he departed on the home- ward voyage. While the ships rolled through the tem- pestuous waters of the Bay of Biscay, he grew every day worse and w r orse. Some gleams of the old spirit broke forth as they approached the latitude of England. He inquired often and anxiously if the white cliffs were yet in sight. He longed to behold once more the swelling downs, the free cities, the goodly churches of his native land. But he was now dying beyond all doubt. Many 1 Ms. Orders and Instructions, May 2, Admiralty Office; Thurloe, vi. 401. 362 ROBERT BLAKE. of his favourite officers silently and mournfully crowded round his bed, anxious to catch the last tones of a voice which had so often called them to glory and victory. Others stood at the poop and forecastle, eagerly examin- ing every speck and line on the horizon, in hope of be- ing first to catch the welcome glimpse of land. Though they were coming home crowned with laurels, gloom and pain were in every face. At last the Lizard was announced. Shortly afterwards the bold cliffs and bare hills of Cornwall loomed out grandly in the distance. But it was now too late for the dying hero. He had sent for the captains and other great officers of his fleet to bid them farewell ; and while they were yet in his cabin, the undulating hills of Devonshire, glowing with the tints of early autumn, came full in view. As the ships rounded Rame Head, the spires and masts of Plymouth, the wooded heights of Mount Edge- combe, the low Island of St. Nicholas, the rocky steeps at the Hoe, Mount Batten, the citadel, the many pic- turesque and familiar features of that magnificent har- bour rose one by one to sight. But the eyes which had so yearned to behold this scene once more were at that very instant closing in death. Foremost of the victorious squadron, the St. George rode with its pre- cious burden into the Sound ; and just as it came into full view of the eager thousands crowding the beach, the pier-heads, the walls of the citadel, or darting in count- less boats over the smooth waters between St. Nicholas and the docks, ready to catch the first glimpse of the hero of Santa Cruz, and salute him with a true English welcome, he, in his silent cabin, in the midst of his ROBERT BLAKE. 363 lion-hearted comrades, now sobbing like little children, yielded up his soul to God. 1 The mournful news soon spread through the fleet and in the town. The melancholy enthusiasm of the people knew no bounds, and the national love and ad- miration expressed itself in the solemn splendour of his funeral rites. The day of his death the corpse was left untouched in its cabin, as something sacred ; but next morning skilful embalmers were employed to open it; and, in presence of all the great officers of the fleet and port, the bowels were taken out and placed in an urn, to be buried in the great church in Plymouth. The body, embalmed and wrapt in lead, was then put on board again and carried round by sea to Greenwich, where it lay in state several days, on the spot since consecrated to the noblest hospital for seamen in the world. On the 4th of September a solemn procession was formed on the river. The corpse was placed on a state barge, covered with a velvet pall, adorned with pencils and escutcheons. Trumpeters in state barges, bearing his pennons as General-at-Sea, surmounted by the great ban- ner of the Commonwealth, preceded the body. Hum- phrey and all his other brothers, all the nephews and other members of his family, together with the secre- taries and servants attached to his immediate household, dressed in the deepest mourning, followed. After them came the Protector's Privy Council in their state barge, the Lords of the Admiralty and Navy, the Lord Mayor 1 Wood's Mss. E. 4, no. 8560, art. iv. 3, in Ashmol. Museum; Hist. Parl. xxi. 145 ; Thurloe, vi. 401 ; Heath, 402 ; Mercurius Politicus, 375 ; Clarendon, vi. 41. 364 ROBERT BLAKE. and Aldermen of the City of London, the Admirals, Vice-admirals and Captains of his fleet, the Field Officers of the army, and a vast procession of civil notables. 1 In this order they moved slowly up the river from Greenwich to Westminster, where they were received hy a military guard and greeted with salvoes of artillery. At the stairs, the heralds re-formed the procession, which then marched slowly through Palace-yard to the venera- ble Abbey. A new vault had been made for his remains in Henry the Seventh's chapel, and close to that of the great Tudor monarch, 2 and they were lowered into it amidst the tears and prayers of a grateful and admiring nation. Other heroes of the Commonwealth had been already buried within those regal precincts; and on every such occasion loyal tongues had not feared to accuse the new rulers with upstart and indecent pride. But no voice was raised against the interment there of the con- queror of Tromp, the hero of Tunis and Santa Cruz, the liberator of Christian slaves. In some unaccountable man- ner, this illustrious man escaped the common lot of great- ness ; perhaps no one ever played so conspicuous a part in the drama of history who was followed by less envy, hatred and other uncharitableness. Personal foes he seems not to have known ; and even the bitter enemies of his political creed spoke of what they deemed his errors more in sorrow than in anger. All parties owned, as they stood by that silent grave, that its occupant was 1 Add. Mss. 12, 514-234. 2 Elegiac Enumeration, 27 : " Amongst the kings interred, and neer to one, That Prince of peace, which joyned in Hymen's band The two divided houses of our land." ROBERT BLAKE. 365 one who had merited, by brilliant public services and the rarest disinterestedness, the highest rewards a grateful country could bestow. When the imposing ceremonial was closed, a stone slab was laid on the vault, and they left him there in the old Abbey, with no other monument than that of his imperishable renown. 1 To their eternal infamy, the Stuarts afterwards dis- turbed the hero's grave. It was a mean revenge in them to touch the bones of Cromwell ; but in his case they could urge the plea of moral and political retribution. The great usurper had been the chief cause of their father's tragic death ; he had hunted them for years from land to land ; he had shot their most faithful fol- lowers and confiscated their richest estates. But Blake had ever been for mild and moderate councils. He had opposed the late King's trial. He had disapproved the usurpation. When he found the sword prevail against law and right, he abandoned politics, like Sidney, Vane, and other of his illustrious compeers, giving up his genius to the service of his country against its foreign enemies. Surely after a life of the most eminent ser- vices, the ashes of such a man might have been allowed to rest in peace ! The House of Lords, in their ardent zeal for the restored family, gave orders that the bodies of Cromwell, Ireton and Bradshawe should be dug out of their graves and treated with gross indignity ; but even these zealots did not deem it decent to include the remains of Blake in their order. That infamy was re- served for Charles himself. In cold blood, nearly seven- 1 Wood's. Mss. iv. 3 j Heath, 402. 366 ROBERT BLAKE. teen months after his landing at Dover from the deck of the Naseby, a royal command was issued by this prince to tear open the unobtrusive vault, drag out the em- balmed body, and cast it into a pit in the Abbey yard. Good men looked aghast at such an atrocity. But what could the paramour of Lucy Walters, Barbara Palmer, Kate Peg, and Moll Davies, know of the stern virtues of the illustrious sailor ! What sympathy could a royal spendthrift have with the man who, after a life of great employments and the capture of uncounted millions, died no richer than he was born ! How could the prince who sold Dunkirk and begged a pension from Versailles feel any regard for a man who had humbled the pride of Holland, Portgual and Spain, who had laid the founda- tions of our lasting influence in the Mediterranean, and in eight years of success had made England the first maritime power in Europe ! A hole was dug for the reception of these hallowed bones near the back door of one of the prebendaries of Westminster: and the remains of Cromwell's mother, of the gentle Lady Claypole, and of sturdy John Pym, were all cast into the same pit. How lightly Englishmen should tread that ground I 1 1 Lords Journals, xi. 205; Bliss's Wood's Fasti, ii. 371; Oldmixon, i. 421; Kennett's Register, 536. THE END. PRINTED BY LETET, ROBSON, ASD PRANKLYN, Great New street, Fetter Lane. By the same Author. In foolscap 8vo, price 7s., with Portrait, AN HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY. FOUNDED ON FAMILY AND STATE PAPERS. Seronli Uftt'on. " Mr. Dixon's sketch of the Governor's life in his American dwelling is tempting and picturesque. His style Is good and easy ; and there is life in his narrative, and vigour in his descriptions." Edinburgh Review. " The volume before us demands especial notice for two reasons : it is an elaborate biography, exhibiting great research and bringing together a large amount of curious and original information; and it makes an undeniable exposure of blunders com- mitted by Mr. Macaulay, which will go far to compromise his character as a histo- rian." AthencEum. First Notice. " The work has claims of no common order. It is a longtime since a single octavo volume has been published with such a quantity of matter interesting and important in its character. Mr. Dixon compresses his materials by a species of hydraulic power. We can praise the work for its earnest spirit, its wealth of recovered materials, and the art with which the latter has been disposed." Second Notice. " Mr. Dixon has displayed great industry and great ability has judiciously selected the essential facts, skilfully arranged them, and presented them in a narra- tive of much vigour and variety. In point of freshness and interest the ' Life ofPenn' is superior to the ' Life of Howard.' " Spectator. " Excellent in manner, pithy and pungent in matter, Mr. Dixon's book acquires an additional value from the long and patient research upon which it has evidently been founded. He seems to have ransacked our own repositories of national docu- ments as well as those of the Hague and Philadelphia, besides searching out with indefatigable diligence all the private letters, records, and so forth, preserved in family archives calculated to throw light on the hitherto little understood character of the founder of Pennsylvania. Mr. Dixon has clothed him with real and tangible flesh and blood." Atlas. " An original work, which must become a standard authority and reference. Here the founder of Pennsylvania lives again, living down as we may say in the might of truth, the sneers of Burnet, the falsehoods of Echard, the bold misinterpretations of the essay-writing Mackintosh and the hasty adopter of his errors. A more trium- phant refutation of the great historian's assumptions and mistakes could not be de- sired by the most ardent lover of truth." Morning Advertiser. " Mr. Dixon has brought together a mass of facts of direct and collateral interest, which make his book substantially a new one; well grouped in its details, interesting in its matter. The style is energetic, clear, and rapid. The book is a good book, and an amusing book pleasant to read and useful to consult." Leader. " Mr. Dixon has evinced diligence and judgment in the use of his materials. He writes with elegance and vigour; and he has not only produced the best life of Penn that has yet appeared, but he has made an important accession to our biographical literature." Literary Gazette. Second Notice. By the same Author. Infcp. 8vo, price 6s. cloth, illustrated with several Wood Engravings, JOHN HOWARD: A BIOGRAPHY. fcttton. " The appearance of three editions of this work in little more than twelve months is a testimonial more emphatic and satisfactory to its merits than any recommenda- tion of ours could be. Mr. Dixon's Life of Howard is the first which follows the philanthropist in any thing like a complete and philosophic manner throughout his great and touching labour." Athenaeum. " A fresh perusal of the book in the present edition has impressed us with a full conviction that we cannot do the community a better service than by heartily recom- mending it to public notice." Gentleman's Magazine. " The adventures of Howard are recorded in a loving and energetic spirit. The reflections are just, often ingenious and eloquent, almost always striking. The book contains many satisfactory evidences of an independent and vigorous intellect." Examiner. " The work is a very valuable addition to our national biography." Church of England Quarterly Review. " The book is more interesting than any romance." Daily News. " The task has been exceedingly well performed by Mr. Hepworth Dixon. In two great points of biography he is very successful he keeps up the reader's attention and impresses the life and labours of the hero upon his mind." Spectator. I Uniform with the above, THE LONDON PRISONS: WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE MORE DISTINGUISHED PERSONS WHO HAVE BEEN CONFINED IN THEM. Co tojilcl) is aootB, a Bfscriptfon of if)t ciitef Jpromtuial Prisons. " Mr. Dixon is well qualified for his task. He has given attention to the subject of prison-discipline, and is acquainted with the prisons he describes. His views are under the control of philosophy and common sense. ' The Tower 7 is a very capital paper, running rapidly over the whole history, and bringing out its salient points with skill and relief." Spectator. " The volume before us is written with care and with no small degree of that rare kind of ability which imparts to the discussion of painful subjects an interest lively without being unduly excited. Mr. Dixon's style is spirited and precise. The historical facts and anecdotes are introduced with considerable skill." Athenaeum. " To our readers generally we earnestly commend the perusal of Mr. Dixon's volume." British Quarterly Review. " It is needless to recommend the volume ; it is full of important information, and that too of a sort possessed by very few." Eclectic Review. " It is replete with interest, and displays that ability of writing, that clearness of judgment, and that reach of knowledge, for which Mr. Dixon has already acquired a name. The narrative of John Howard's Life was among the most admirable biographies that have appeared for many years ; and the ' London Prisons' will en- hance the reputation our author established by his first book." Sharpe's Magazine. " The ' London Prisons' is an enchanting volume. It is a book no less of great principles, which all statesmen and philanthropists would do well to ponder." Evangelical Magazine. " We have seldom read a more interesting volume than this, or one which more deserves general perusal. Mr. Dixon has provided much real amusement, as well as more melancholy and even tragic interest, in the historical details and personal anecdotes which are scattered over his pages." Biblical Review. UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A 000642518 5