heart to tell him much (somewhat I did) of my intention of selling, lest it should sound as a farther pressing upon him of whom I had received so much."

Milton terms Selden "the chief of learned men reputed in this land;" and Whitelocke states, "that his mind was as great as his learning, being very generous and hospitable." He was intimate with Ben Jonson, who addressed a poetical epistle to him, in which he styles his friend "monarch in letters." Clarendon, who could not regard Selden with any political partiality, though he had in early life been on terms of intimacy with him, describes him to have been "a person whom no character can flatter or transmit in any expressions equal to his merit or virtue. He was of so stupendous learning in all kinds and in all languages (as may appear in his excellent and transcendent writings), that a man would have thought he had been entirely conversant among books, and had never spent an hour but in reading and writing; yet his humanity, courtesy, and affability were such, that he would have been thought to have been bred in the best courts, but that his goodnature, charity, and delight in doing good, and in communicating all he knew, exceeded that breeding." den's name has been made familiar to the public by a small volume entitled Table Talk.' This valuable little collection of acute and learned remarks was first published in 1689, thirty-five years after Selden's death, in a quarto pamphlet with the title of Table Talk; being the discourses of John Selden, or his Sense of various matters of Weight and Consequence, relating especially to Religion and State.' The work was compiled by Selden's amanuensis, who states in the dedication that he had the opportunity of hearing Selden's discourses for twenty years together, and that of what is here collected "the sense and notion is wholly his and most of the words."

Sel

The motto adopted by Selden was περὶ παντὸς τὴν Xevlepiav (above all things, liberty), and it is to be found neatly written upon the first page of many of his MSS. Its spirit he extended to religious questions;

and there are many bold and vigorous passages in his writings in which the necessity of freedom of inquiry upon all subjects is strongly insisted on. Noticing upon one occasion a certain class of ancient philosophers, he remarks, "He who takes to himself their liberty of inquiry, is in the only way that, in all kinds of studies, leads and lies open even to the sanctuary of Truth; while others, that are servile to common opinion and vulgar suppositions, can rarely hope to be admitted nearer than into the base-court of her temple, which too speciously often counterfeits her innermost sanctuary.” From the nature of his studies his writings are far from being popular, and are now but little read. They obtained, however, for their author, during an age abounding with illustrious and learned men, an honourable reputatation, among the most distinguished literary men of continental Europe, as well as among those of his own country. His works were edited by Dr. Wilkins, in 3 vols. folio, in 1726, to which a Latin 'Life of the Author' is prefixed.

ROBERT BLAKE was born at the seaport town of Bridgewater, in Somersetshire, in August, 1598. His father, Humphrey Blake, was a merchant at Bridgewater, in which neighbourhood he purchased an estate, having accumulated a considerable fortune in the Spanish_trade. Humphrey Blake had several children, of whom Robert was the eldest. He was educated in the free school of Bridgewater, whence he went to Oxford, and became a member of St. Alban's Hall in 1615, whence he removed to Wadham College. In 1617 he took the degree of B. A., and in 1619 was a candidate for a fellowship in Merton College, but was unsuccessful, as he had previously been in standing for a scholarship of Christ Church. He rose early, studied hard, and though he was fond of field sports and other violent exercises, seems to have acquired a fair quantity of scholastic learning. He returned to Bridgewater when about twenty-five years old, and lived quietly on his paternal estate till

1640, with the character of a blunt, bold man, of ready humour and fearless expression of his sentiments, whichi, both in politics and religion, were adverse to the pretensions of the court. These qualities gained for him the confidence of the Presbyterian party in Bridgewater, by whom he was returned to the parliament of April, 1640. The speedy dissolution of that assembly gave him no opportunity of trying his powers as a debater; and he lost his election to the Long Parliament. But on the breaking out of the civil war, he displayed his principles by entering the parliamentary army, and was soon made a captain of dragoons.

We have little information concerning his services till 1643, when we find him intrusted with the command of a fort at Bristol, under Colonel Fiennes, when the city was besieged by the Royalists. Here his impetuous temper had nearly brought him to an untimely death; for having maintained his fort and killed some of the king's soldiers after the garrison had surrendered, Prince Rupert was with difficulty induced to spare his life, which was held to have been forfeited by this violation of the laws of war. Blake served afterwards in Somersetshire, as lieutenant-colonel, under Popham, who was governor of Lyme. He took Taunton for the Parliament, by an unexpected attack, and obtained ten pieces of cannon and a large quantity of ammunition. In 1644 he was appointed governor of Taunton, which was a place of great consequence, being the only Parliamentary fortress in that quarter. In that capacity he distinguished himself by the skill, courage and constancy with which, during two successive sieges, he maintained the town against the Royalists in 1645; an important service, for which the parliament voted 20007. to the garrison, and 5007. to the governor. In 1646 Colonel Blake reduced Doncaster Castle, which was nearly one of the last events of the Next to Cromwell, he was probably the ablest and most successful military officer in the Parliamentary army. It is recorded that he disapproved of the extremity to which matters were pushed against Charles, and that he

war.

was heard to say that he would as freely venture his life to save the king's as he had ever done it in the service of the Parliament.

In February, 1649, Colonel Blake, in conjunction with two officers of the same rank, Deane and Popham, was appointed to command the fleet. It may be taken as a proof that, notwithstanding the fame of our early navigators, the king's service at sea had never been treated with much attention; that, down to later times than those of which we now write, the chief command of a fleet seems never to have been given to a man of naval education and habits. It is probable that the sea-service then held out no inducements strong enough to tempt men of high birth to submit to its inconveniences, and that the command of a fleet was esteemed too great a post to be conferred on a man of humble origin. For this new employment Blake showed signal capacity. When the embers of the war were stirred up after the king's death, he was ordered to the Irish Seas in pursuit of Prince Rupert, whom he blockaded in the harbour of Kinsale for several months Despair of relief induced the prince at last to make a daring effort to break through the parliamentary squadron, in which he succeeded; but with the loss of three ships. Blake pursued him to the Tagus, where being denied liberty to attack his enemy by the King of Portugal, in revenge he captured and sent home a number of ships richly laden, on their way from Brazil. Towards the latter end of 1650, Prince Rupert escaped out of the Tagus, and Blake followed him up the straits, thence to Carthagena, and thence to Malaga, which was a neutral port. In January, 1651, he attacked, and, with the exception of two ships, in one of which Prince Rupert and his brother Prince Maurice escaped, destroyed the royalist fleet, in the harbour; a breach of international law, which can only be justified on the alleged ground that Rupert had destroyed British ships in the same harbour. These services were recompensed by the Parliament with the post of Warden of the Cinque Ports; and in March an act was passed constituting Blake, with his colleagues Deane and Popham, admirals and generals of