B L A 



574 



B L A 



Blake. 



mined to attempt the destruction of the enemy's 

 ships, as it was impossible to bring them off. The 

 attempt was made, and attended with perfect suc- 

 cess. An attack was directed at the same time 

 against the forts and the fleet ; and the enterprise 

 was so skilfully and gallantly conducted, that, in a 

 few hours, the forts were abandoned by the Spa- 

 niards, and their fleet boarded and carried by the 

 English, who burnt every ship to ashes, except two 

 that were sunk. Had the wind which carried him 

 into the bay continued to blow much longer in the 

 same direction, Blake could scarcely have escaped ; 

 but fortunately it changed, and brought him safely 

 out, leaving the Spaniards in astonishment, that he 

 should, in such perilous circumstances, have dared to 

 attack them, and that he should have succeeded so 

 completely in accomplishing his object. Lord Cla- 

 rendon tells us, that every body who knew the 

 place, wondered that any sober man, whatever 

 might be his courage, could think of such an under- 

 taking ; that the English could hardly persuade 

 themselves to believe what they had done ; and that 

 the Spaniards took comfort, from the idea that they 

 were devils and not men who had destroyed them in 

 such a manner. At the same time, this event so 

 subdued the spirits of the Spaniards, that after- 

 wards, when opposed to the English, they had no 

 dependence either upon numbers, or valour, or for- 

 tifications. We must not omit to mention a circum- 

 stance that occurred on this occasion, which was 

 indicative of the disinterested zeal of Blake for the 

 naval service, as the enterprise out of which it 

 sprung was honourable to his ability and courage. 

 His brother, Captain Benjamin Blake, for whom he 

 entertained the warmest affection, had been guilty of 

 some misconduct in the action. This being obser- 

 ved by the admiral, he sacrificed his private feelings 

 to his sense of public duty, by removing his bro- 

 ther from the ship, and giving the command of it to 

 another officer. 



After this, Blake cruized for a short time off Ca- 

 diz ; but finding his ships getting foul, and his 

 own health gradually wearing away by a complica- 

 tion of dropsy and scurvy, he set sail for England. 

 This distemper grew upon him during his passage- 

 home, and cut him off before he reached his native 

 soil, on which he had shown a strong desire to draw 

 his last breath. He died as his ship entered Ply- 

 mouth Sound, on the 17th of August 1657, being 

 about 59 years of age. His body, after lying in 

 state for several days in Greenwich Hospital, was 

 conveyed to Westminster Abbey, and interred in a 

 vault, built on purpose, in the chapel of Henry VII. 

 The funeral was magnificent. It was attended not 

 only by his friends and relations, but by the Protec- 

 tor's privy council, the commissioners of the admi- 

 ralty and navy, the lord mayor and aldermen of Lon- 

 don, the field officers of the army, and a vast num- 

 ber more of quality and distinction. But the loss 

 was public. The country at large felt, that they had 

 been deprived of a hero and a friend ; and expressed, 

 in the language of universal regret and sorrow, the 

 high sense which they entertained of his services as 

 an admiral, of his worth as a patriot, and of his vir- 



tues as a man. Blake, in truth, was a rare charac- Blakca, 

 ter. No Englishman can read the history of his life Blanc, 

 without admiration and delight. We know of one only, ' V "' 

 in the naval records of Britain, whom we can willingly 

 place before him, we mean the late Lord Nelson ; 

 between whom and Blake, indeed, there are many 

 points of resemblance, which the reader may easily 

 trace. It may even be safely asserted, that the past 

 and present maritime superiority of this empire, took 

 its origin from the skill and bravely of Blake, who 

 shewed his country what they were capable of ac- 

 complishing at sea, and taught all Europe, and 

 more than Europe, to tremble at the British flag ; 

 and infused a spirit of greatness into the navy, which 

 it never possessed before, and which has animated 

 and upheld it ever since. See Campbell's Lives of' 

 the British Admirals. Clarendon's History of the 

 Rebellion. Whitaker's Memorials, &c. (t) 



BLAKE A, a genus of plants of the class Dode- 

 candria, and order Monogynia. See Botany, (jo) 



BLANC, Mont, a lofty mountain in France, and Situation 

 the highest of the Pennine Alps, is situated in the and name, 

 duchy of Faucigny, formerly a part of the king of 

 Sardinia's dominions, but now subject to the Empe- 

 ror of France. It receives its name from the im- 

 mense mantle of snow, with which its summit and 

 sides arc covered, and which is estimated to extend not 

 less than 12,000 perpendicular feet, without the least 

 appearance of rock to interrupt its glaring whiteness. 



When viewed from the Col de Balme and the vale General 

 of Chamouni, its summit seems to be of a roundish appear- 

 form, its surface smooth and covered with snow, its a nce. 

 whole appearance uniting beauty with grandeur, and 

 its towering head rising majestically above the sur- 

 rounding mountains ; but, when seen from the valley 

 of Aost, its sides are less completely covered with 

 snow, its aspect more rugged and dark, and the pros- 

 pect which it presents partakes more of the wild and 

 terrific. It rises imperceptibly from amidst the nu- 

 merous irregular mountains, which bound the vale of 

 Chamouni, then terminates rather abruptly in a point 

 or top called Aiguille de Goute, orDitnie dc Goute. 

 Beyond this height, with a considerable hollow be- 

 tween, it forms another mount, called by some Little 

 Mont Blanc, or more properly The Middle Dome. 

 From this station it gradually sinks again into aeon- 

 cave surface, in the midst of which is a small pyramid 

 of ice ; and then reaches its highest point ot eleva- 

 tion, which is in the shape of a compressed hemi- 

 sphere, and is called from its form La Bosse du Dro- 

 medairc. Upon a nearer inspection, the summit of 

 this gigantic mountain is found to be a very narrow 

 ridge, lying nearly in a horizontal direction, resem- 

 bling the roof of a house ; and at its west end parti- 

 cularly, scarcely sufficiently broad to admit of two 

 persons walking abreast. The snow, which covers 

 the top, is entru, ted with ice, of a firm consistence, 

 but penetrable by a staff; and beneath this icy sur- 

 face, especially on the declivities of the summit, is 

 discovered a soft dusty snow without any cohesion. 



The highest rocks of Mont Blanc are formed of Structure 

 strata of granite, running parallel to one another, 

 and nearly in a vertical direction. Those on the east 

 side are mixed with steatites ; those on the south with 



