paffion, or withstand temptation, by his own natural power; he attributed every good thought, and every laudable action, to the Father of goodness. Being once asked by a friend, who had often admired his patience under great provocations, whether he knew what it was to be angry, and by what means he had fo entirely fuppreffed that impetuous and ungovernable paffion? he anfwered, with the utmost frankness and fincerity, that he was naturally quick of refentment, but that he had, 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 business 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 a Supreme Being, nor can a steady 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 Christian 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 a careful obfervation of the precept of Mofes concerning the love of God and man. He worshipped

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worshipped God as he is in himself, without attempt ing 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 abfolute fubmiffion, without endeavouring to discover the reafon 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, whofe 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 afcribed all his

*"Doctrinam facris literis Hebraicè & Græcè traditam, folam animæ falutarem & agnovit & fenfit. Omni opportunitate profitebatur difciplinam, quam Jefus Chriftus ore & vita expreffit, unice tranquillitatem 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 iuveniri, quod mentem ferenet. Deum pius adoravit, qui eft. Intelligere de Deo, unicè volebat. id, quod Deus de fe intelligit. Eo contentus ultra nihil requifi, vit, 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 me"liores? Utique, fi ipfe melior, id non mihi auctori tribuendum effe palam aio, confiteor; fed ita largienti Deo." Orig. Edit.

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abilities to the bounty, and all his goodnefs 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 efteemed, that, though it may not be improper to enumerate them in the order of time in which they were publifhed, 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 cogno"fcendis & curandis morbis."

1710, "Index ftirpium in horto academico." 1719, "De materia médica, & remediorum for"mulis liber ;" and in 1727 a second 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."

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

1728, "Altera atrocis rariffimique morbi marchi"onis de Sancto Albano hiftoria."

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

acad. fcient."

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

*Gent. Mag. 1739. p. 176.

BLAK E.

A

Ta time when a nation is engaged in a war with

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

ROBERT BLAKE was born at Bridgewater, in Somersetshire, in Auguft 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 amuse the reader with none of those prognosticks of his future actions, so 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 firft printed in the Gentleman's Magazine for the year 1740.

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