40 off the Goodwin Sands. The result of the action was the loss of 6 English ships — 2 captured and 4 destroyed; the rest, in a shattered condition, sought safety in the Thames. There is a story, now discredited, that Tromp tied a broom to the masthead of his vessel, and sailed through the Channel, intimating that he had swept Englisli vessels clean out of it. If he did, his pride was short-lived, for by February, 1653, Bhike was at sea again with 80 ships, and falling in with Tromp with about an equal force, was at once attacked, but after a three days' running fight, the Dutchman was forced to 'seek shelter in the shallow waters of Calais, witn a loss of 11 men-of-war, and 30 of a fleet of merchantmen he had in convoy. The English lost only one ship, but Blake was severely wounded! On the 3d and 4th of June his co- adjutors, Deane and Monk, won another victory over Trojnp, and his wound alone prevented Blake from taking part in the engagement of July 31, which finally shattered the naval su- premacy of Holland. In 1C54 Blake was ap- pointed by Cromwell to command an English fleet in the Mediterranean, where he soon made the British flag respected by Dutch, Spanish, and French. The Dey of Tunis refused to pay homage to it. Blake attacked his capital, burned the Turkish fleet of nine ships which lay before it, accomplished a landing, and with a body of 1000 men annihilated an army of 3000 Turks. He next sailed to Algiers and Tripoli, landed, and set free all the English who were detained as slaves. He concluded alliances favorable to England with Venice and Tuscany. In 1057 he defeated the Spaniards at Santa Cruz. This was, perhaps, one of the most daring actions in Blake's career. With a wind blowing right into the bay — which was very strongly defended — Blake "dashed in, attacked and destroyed the Spanish galleons and shipping in the harbor, and, the wind fortunately changing, sailed out again with a loss of only one ship and 200 men. The Spanish loss in men and property was im- mense, and the terror the action inspired insured increased respect to the English flag. His health now failed ; he returned to England, and died, as his sliip entered the harbor of Plymouth, August 7, 1057. Cromwell honored his memory by a solemn funeral procession, and caused him to be interred in Westminster Abbey, whence his body, with those of other Revolutionary celeb- rities, was removed by royal command at the Restoration. Consult:" Gardiner, History of the Commomrenlth and Protectorate (Xew York, 1894-litOl), decidedly the best account of the naval war, with fulfcitatioir of the original au- thorities; Samuel Johnson, Life of lilake (Lon- don, 1792) ; and Dixon, Robert lllakc (London, 1852). The principal original materials may be found in Calendars of State Papers, Domestic (London, 1649-57); and Thurloe, State Papers (London, 1742).
BLAKE, William (1757-1827). An English
engraver and poet. He was born in London November 28, 1757. In 1789 he published Songs of Innocence, followed in 1794 by Songs of Experience, showing the two contrary states of the
human soul, with about 60 etchings, remarkable
for their peculiar and original manner. The
poems were equally singular, but many of them
exhibited true pathos. Some marginal designs for
Young's Night Thoughts, executed by Blake, were
greatly admired by Flaxman. Blake lived in the
full belief that he held converse with the spirits
of the departed great — with Moses, Homer,
Vergil, Dante, and Milton. He published numerous
etchings, chiefly of religious and cognate
subjects, among the best of which are his Inventions
to the Book of Job, and the illustrations of
Blair's Grave. He died (August 12, 1827) in
poverty and obscurity, with the conviction that
he was a martyr to poetic art. The influence of
Michelangelo is traceable in his art; but the
imagination which produced his bold and often
curious designs was peculiarly Blake's own,
while in his diction, though at times almost
irrational, he was, according to Swinburne, “the
single Englishman of supreme and simple poetic
genius of his time,” and Charles Lamb regarded
him as one of the most extraordinary persons of
the age. The facts of Blake's early life are
recorded in a book, now rare, written by Dr. Malkin,
A Father's Memoirs of his Child (1806).
Consult: Gilchrist, Life and Works of William
Blake (2d ed. London, 1880); Swinburne,
William Blake: A Critical Essay (London, 1808);
Poetical Works of William Blake, ed. W. M.
Rossetti (London, 1874); and Works, edited
with lithographs of the illustrated “Prophetic
Books,” and memoir and interpretation, Ellis
and Yeats (London, 1893).
BLAKE, William Phipps (1826—). An
American scientist. He was born in New York,
graduated at the Sheffield Scientific School in
1852, was mineralogist and geologist of the
Pacific Railroad Exploring Expedition of 1853,
and author of several of the reports. He edited
the Mining Magazine (1859-60), and was mining
engineer for the Japanese Government from 1861
to 1863, when he was appointed professor of
mineralogy in the College of California, and
geologist to the State board of agriculture. He
was commissioner for California at the Paris
Exposition of 1867; was executive commissioner
for Connecticut in the Centennial Exposition,
and was special agent to Vienna in 1873. He
also coöperated in the Paris Expositions of 1878
and 1889, and in the Chicago Exposition of 1893.
He has published Silver Ores and Silver Mines
(1860); Report on the Production of Precious
Metals (1807); and Ceramic Art and Class
(1878).
BLAKE'LOCK, Ralph Albert (1847— ). An American landscape and figure painter. He was born and educated in New York City, where he
graduated from the City College in 1869. His art is self-acquired, the result of many experiments. Although he has painted a large number
of Indian figures, it is as a painter of landscapes with evening and moonlight effects that he is chiefly known, being, perhaps, the foremost American painter of this particular genre. His principal works include "Indian Girl, Uinta Tribe," "Shooting the Arrow" (1880). "Bannock Wigwam in Peaceful Vale" (1883), "Autumn" (Mrs. Kurtz, New York), two moonlight scenes exhibited at the recent Comparative Exhibition of Native and Foreign Art in New York, and "Sunset, Nevarra Range" (W. T. Evans, New York).
BLAKELY, bhik'li, Johston (1781-1814). An American naval officer, born near Seaford, Ireland. He emigrated with his parents to the
