BLAIR BLAKE. 



559 



Dr Blair's first publication was entitled, " Miscel- 

 laneous Observations in Physic, Anatomy, Surgery, 

 and Botanicks." 8vo, 1718. But the work by which 

 he rendered the greatest service to botany, originated 

 with his " Discourse on the Sexes of Plants," read 

 before the Royal Society, and afterwards greatly am- 

 plified, and published at the request of several mem- 

 bers of that body, under the title of " Botanical 

 Essays," 8vo, 1720. This is acknowledged to have 

 been the first complete work, at least in the English 

 language, on that important department of botanical 

 science, the sexes of the plants. Dr B.'s last distinct 

 publication, which lie did not live to complete, was 

 " P/iarmacobotanologia, or an Alphabetical and Clas- 

 sical Dissertation on all the British indigenous and 

 garden plants of the New Dispensatory/' 4to, 1723-28. 

 Dr B.'s fugitive writings consist of various papers in 

 the Philosophical Transactions, of which one of the 

 most remarkable is an account of the Anatomy and 

 Osteology of the Elephant, drawn up from his obser- 

 vations in dissecting the animal above alluded to at 

 Dundee. 



BLAIR, Robert, an eminent Scottish divine of the 

 seventeenth century, was born at Irvine, in 1593, and 

 received his education at the college of Glasgow. 

 After acting for some time us assistant to a teacher in 

 that city, he was appointed, in the twenty-second year 

 of his age, to be a regent or professor in the college. 

 In 1616, he was licensed as a minister of the gospel. 

 For some years he officiated to a presbyterian congre- 

 gation at Bangor in Ireland, and afterwards joined 

 in a scheme set on foot by various presbyterian cler- 

 gymen for fitting up a ship, and emigrating to New 

 England. But oeing driven back by a storm, B. re- 

 turned to Scotland, to mingle in the tumultuous 

 scenes of the covenant. He preached for some time 

 at Ayr, and was afterwards settled by the General 

 Assembly at St Andrews. In 1640, he accompanied 

 the Scottish army into England, and assisted at the 

 negotiations for the peace of Rippon. After the first 

 burst of the Irish rebellion of 1641, when the presby- 

 terians supplicated the General Assembly for a supply 

 of ministers, B. was one of those who went over. He 

 soon returned, however, to his charge at St Andrews. 

 B. continued to be a zealous and useful minister dur- 

 ing the usurpation of Cromwell, but after the restora- 

 tion, fell speedily under the censure of his metropoli- 

 tan, archbishop Sharpe. For some years, he had no 

 regular place of worship, but preached and minister- 

 ed when he met with a favourable opportunity. 

 During his later years, being prohibited from coming 

 within twenty miles of St Andrews, he lived at 

 Meikle Couston, in the parish of Aberdour, where he 

 died, August 27, 1666, in the seventy-third year of 

 his age. He was buried in the churchyard of Aber- 

 dour, where there is a small tablet to his memory. 



Blair was the author of a Commentary on the Book 

 of Proverbs, and also of some political pieces, none 

 of which have come down to modern times. His 

 abilities were singularly revived in more than one 

 branch of his numerous progeny, particularly in his 

 grandson, the author of " The Grave," and his two 

 great grandsons, Dr Hugh Blair, and the late Robert 

 Blair, president of the court of session. 



BLAIR, Robert, author of " The Grave, a poem," 

 was the eldest son of the Rev. David Blair, one of 

 the ministers of Edinburgh, and chaplain to the king, 

 who, in his turn, was son to the subject of the pre- 

 ceding article. He was born in the year 1699, and, 

 after the usual preparatory studies, was ordained, in 

 1731, minister of Athelstaneford, in East Lothian, 

 where he spent the remainder of his life. B. was at 

 once a man of learning and of elegant taste and 

 manners. He was a botanist and florist, which he 

 sli owed in the cultivation of his garden ; and was also 



conversant in optical and microscopical knowledge, 

 on which subjects he carried on a correspondence 

 with some learned men in England. He was a man 

 of sincere piety, and very assiduous in discharg 

 ing the duties of his clerical functions. He married 

 Miss Isabella Law, daughter of Mr Law of Elving- 

 ston, who had been professor of moral philosophy in 

 the university of Edinburgh ; by this lady, who sur- 

 vived him, he had five sons and one daughter. His 

 fourth son, who bore his own name, arose, through 

 various gradations of honour at the Scottish bar, to 

 be president of the court of session, and died in 1811. 



While still very young, B. wrote some verses to the 

 memory of his future father-in-law, Mr Law, who 

 was also his blood relation. His " Grave " was 

 chiefly composed in that period of his life which pre- 

 ceded his ordination as a parochial clergyman. It 

 was first printed in 1743, and is now esteemed as 

 one of the standard classics of English poetical liter- 

 ature, in which rank it will probably remain longer 

 than many works of greater contemporary, or even 

 present fame. B. died in 1746. 



BLAIHGOWBIE ; a parish and village in Perthshire. 

 The village is finely situated on the water of Ericht, 

 on the north side of Strathmore. It is a prosperous 

 place, and possesses a considerable linen manufactory, 

 with a stamp-office and post-office. The parish, 

 which is about eleven miles in length and three in 

 breadth, is divided by the Grampian hills into two 

 districts. The hills are covered with heath, and 

 there are considerable tracts of moor, moss, and na- 

 tural wood. The arable soil is partly a stiff loam, 

 and partly sandy ; fuel is scarce. The principal 

 river is the Ericht, which has some fine natural cas- 

 cades, and there are several lakes which produce 

 excellent marls. Here are two freestone quarries and 

 a chalybeate spring. Several cairns and druidical 

 circles are found here. Population in 1831, 2644. 



BLAKE, Robert, a celebrated British admiral, was 

 the eldest son of a merchant in the Spanish trade, 

 settled at Bridgewater, where B. was born, in 1599. 

 After attending the grammar-school of his native 

 place, he was sent to Wadham college, Oxford, 

 where he took the degree of B. A. in 1617. On his 

 return to Bridgewater, he lived for some time, in a 

 private manner, on the fortune left him by his father, 

 and was led by the gravity of his own disposition, and 

 by his family connexions, to embrace the principles 

 of the puritans, by whose interest he was elected 

 member for Bridgewater, in the parliament of 1640. 

 This being soon dissolved, he lost his election for the 

 next, and immediately sought to advance the cause 

 in a military capacity, in the war which then broke 

 out between the king and parliament* He soon dis- 

 tinguished himself by his activity. In 1649, in the 

 manner of those times, when military men often 

 served on shipboard, he was sent to command the 

 fleet, in conjunction with colonels Deane and Popham, 

 and thus commenced the naval career which has 

 given him so distinguished a place in British history. 

 He immediately sailed to Kinsale in quest of prince 

 Rupert, whom he attempted to block up in that port. 

 The prince, contriving to get his fleet out, escaped 

 to Lisbon, where B. followed him ; and, being re- 

 fused permission to attack him in the Tagus, by the 

 king of Portugal, he took several rich prizes from the 

 Portuguese (against whom the parliament declared 

 war), and followed Rupert to Malaga, where, without 

 asking permission of Spain, he attacked him, and 

 nearly destroyed the whole of his fleet. On his return 

 to England, he was made warden of the Cinque Ports, 

 and soon after reduced the islands of Scilly and 

 Guernsey. In 1659, on the prospect of a Dutch war, 

 he was made sole admiral, and, on the 19th of May, 

 was attacked in the Downs by van Troinp, with a 



