s in some degree relieving the stern fervour of
Puritan piety with the more easy graces of ancient scholarship.

The moral aspects of his character appear in this memoir in an
admirable light. If he did not stand so high as some others in public
notoriety, it was mainly because, to stand higher than he did, he must
plant his feet on a _bad_ eminence. His patriotism was as pure as
Cromwell's was selfish. Mr Dixon alludes to the strong points of
contrast, as well as of resemblance, between the two men. Both, he
says, were sincerely religious, undauntedly brave, fertile in
expedients, irresistible 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 attained to the highest honours of the respective services. But
there the parallel ends. Anxious only for the glory and interest of
his country, Blake took little or no care of his personal
aggrandisement. His contempt for money, his impatience with the mere
vanities of power, were supreme. Bribery he abhorred in all its
shapes. He was frank and open to a fault; his heart was ever in his
hand, and his mind ever on his lips. His honesty, modesty, generosity,
sincerity, and magnanimity, were unimpeached. Cromwell's inferior
moral qualities made him distrust the great seaman; yet now and then,
as in the case of the street tumult at Malaga, he was fain to express
his admiration of Robert Blake. The latter was wholly unversed in the
science of nepotism, and 'happy family' compacts; for although
desirous of aiding his relatives, he was jealous of the least offence
on their part, and never overlooked it. Several instances of this
disposition are on record. When his brother Samuel, in rash zeal for
the Commonwealth, ventured to exceed his duty, and was killed in a
fray which ensued, Blake was terribly shocked, but only said: 'Sam had
no business there.' Afterwards, however, he shut himself up in his
room, and bewailed his loss in the words of Scripture: 'Died Abner as
a fool dieth!' His brother Benjamin, again, to whom he was strongly
attached, falling under suspicion of neglect of duty, 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.' Y