by daily prayer and meditation, at length attained to this mastery over himself.

As foon as he rofe in the morning, it was, throughout his whole life, his daily practice to retire for an hour to private prayer and meditation; this, he often told his friends, gave him fpirit and vigour in the bufinefs of the day, and this he therefore commended as the best rule of life; for nothing, he knew, could fupport the foul in all diftreffes but a confidence in the Supreme Being, nor can a fteady and rational magnanimity flow from any other fource than a consciousness of the divine favour.

He afferted on all occafions the divine authority, and facred efficacy of the holy fcriptures; and maintained that they alone taught the way of falvation, and that they only could give peace of mind. The excellency of the Chriftian religion was the frequent fubject of his converfation. A ftrict obedience to the doctrine, and a diligent imitation of the example of our Bleffed Saviour, he often declared to be the foundation of true tranquillity. He recommended to his friends. à careful obfervation of the precept of Mofes concerning the love of God and man. He worshiped Gód as he is in himself, without attempting to enquire into his nature. He defired only to think of God, what God knows of himself. There he ftopped, left, by indulging his own ideas, he fhould form a Deity from his own imagination, and fin by falling down before him. To the will of God he paid an absolute submiffion, without endeavouring to discover the reason of his determinations; and this he accounted the first and most inviolable duty of a Chriftian. When he

heard of a criminal condemned to die, he used to think, who can tell whether this man is not better than I? or, if I am better, it is not to be ascribed to myself, but to the goodness of God.

Such were the fentiments of Boerhaave, whose words we have added in the note *. So far was this man from being made impious by philofophy, or vain by knowledge, or by virtue, that he aferibed all his abilities to the bounty, and all his goodness to the grace of God. May his example extend its influence to his admirers and followers! May those who study his writings imitate his life! and those who endeavour after his knowledge afpire likewife to his piety!

He married, September 17, 1710, Mary Drolenveaux, the only daughter of a burgo-mafter of Leyden, by whom he had Joanna Maria, who furvives her father, and three other children who died in their infancy.

The works of this great writer are fo generally known, and fo highly eftéemed, that, though it may

Doctrinam facris literis Hebraicè & Græcè traditam, folam animæ falutarem & agnovit & fenfit. Omni opportunitate profitebatur difciplinam, quam Jefus Chriftus ore & vita expreffit, unicè tran quillitatem dare menti. Semperque dixit amicis, pacem animi haud reperiundam nifi in magno Mofis præcepto de fincero amore Dei & hominis bene obfervato. Neque extra facra monumenta ufpiam inveniri, quod mentem ferenet. Deum pius adoravit, qui eft. Intelligere de Deo unicè volebat id, quod Deus de fe intelligit. Eo contentus ultra nihil requifivit, ne idololatria erraret. In voluntate Dei fic requiefcebat, ut illius nullam omnino rationem indagandam putaret. Hanc unicè fupremam omnium legem effe contendebat ; deliberata conftantia perfectiffimè colendam. De aliis & feipfo fentiebat: ut quoties criminis reos ad poenas letales damnatos audiret, femper cogitaret, fæpe diceret; "Quis dixerat annon me fint "meliores Utique, fi ipfe melior, id non mihi au&tori tribuendum "effe palam aio, confiteor; fed ita largienti Deo." Orig. Edit.

not be improper to enumerate them in the order of time in which they were published, it is wholly unneceffary to give any other account of them.

He published in 1707, "Inftitutiones Medicæ," to which he added in 1708 "Aphorifmi de cognofcendis " & curandis morbis."

1710, "Index ftirpium in horto academico."

1719, "De materia medica, & remediorum for"mulis liber;" and in 1727 a fecond edition.

1720, "Alter index ftirpium," &c. adorned with plates, and containing twice the number of plants as the former.

1722," Epiftola ad cl. Ruifchium, quâ fententiam Malpighianam de glandulis defendit."

1724, "Atrocis nec prius defcripti morbi hiftoria illuftriffimi baronis Waffenariæ."

66

1725, Opera anatomica & chirurgica Andreæ "Vefalii," with the life of Vefalius.

1728, "Altera atrocis rariffimique morbi mar

"chionis de Sancto Albano hiftoria."

"Auctores de lue Aphrodifiaca, cum tractatu præfixo."

1731, "Aretaei Cappadocis nova editio."

1734, "Obfervata de argento vivo, ad reg. foc. & "acad. fcient."

Thefe are the writings of the great Boerhaave, which have made all encomiums ufelefs and vain, fince no man can attentively perufe them without admiring the abilities, and reverencing the virtue of the author *.

* Gent. Mag. 1739, p. 176.

Aa3

BLAKE.

B L

A K E.

A

Ta time when a nation is engaged in a war with

an enemy, whofe infults, ravages, and barbarities, have long called for vengeance, an account of such English commanders as have merited the acknowledgements of pofterity, by extending the power, and raising the honour of their country, feem to be no improper entertainment for our readers*. We fhall therefore attempt a fuccinct narration of the life and actions of admiral Blake, in which we have nothing farther in view than to do juftice to his bravery and conduct, without intending any parallel between his atchievements and those of our prefent admirals.

ROBERT BLAKE was born at Bridgwater, in Somerfetfhire, in August 1598, his father being a merchant of that place, who had acquired a confiderable fortune by the Spanish trade. Of his earliest years we have no account, and therefore can amufe the reader with none of those prognofticks of his future actions, fo often met with in memoirs.

In 1615 he entered into the university of Oxford, where he continued till 1623, though without being

• This Life was first printed in the Gentleman's Magazine for the year 1740.

much

much countenanced or careffed by his fuperiors, for he was more than once disappointed in his endeavours after academical preferments. It is obfervable that Mr. Wood (in his Athenæ Oxonienfes) afcribes the repulse he met with at Wadham College, where he was competitor for a fellowship, either to want of learning, or of stature. With regard to the first objection, the fame writer had before imformed us, that he was an early rifer, and ftudious, though he fometimes relieved his attention by the amusements of fowling and fishing. As it is highly probable that he did not want capacity, we may therefore conclude, upon this confeffion of his diligence, that he could not fail of being learned, at least in the degree requifite to the enjoyment of a fellowship; and may fafely afcribe his difappointment to his want of ftature, it being the custom of Sir Henry Savil, then warden of that college, to pay much regard to the outward appearance of those who folicited preferment in that fociety. So much do the greatest events owe fometimes to accident or folly!

He afterwards retired to his native place, where" he "lived," fays Clarendon, " without any appearance of "ambition to be a greater man than he was, but in

veighed with great freedom againft the licence of "the times, and power of the court."

In 1640 he was chofen burgefs for Bridgwater by the Puritan party, to whom he had recommended himfelf by his difapprobation of bishop Laud's violence and severity, and his non-compliance with thofe new ceremonies which he was then endeavouring to introduce. When the civil war broke out, Blake, in conformity with his avowed principles, declared for the parliament; and, thinking a bare declaration for right not all the duty of a good man, raised a troop of dragoons