Cumberland in 1746. The body of Viscount Dundee, conveyed hither from the battlefield of Killiecrankie, was buried in the church of Old Blair, in which a monument was erected to his memory in 1889 by the 7th duke of Atholl. The grounds surrounding the castle are among the most beautiful in the Highlands. A golf course has been laid down south-east of the village, between the railway and the Garry, and every September a great display of Highland games is held. Ben-y-gloe (3671 ft. high), the scene of the hunt given in 1529 by the earl of Atholl in honour of James V. and the queen dowager, may be climbed by way of Fender Burn, a left-hand tributary of the Tilt. The falls of Fender, near the old bridge of Tilt, are eclipsed by the falls of Bruar, 4 m. west of Blair Atholl, formed by the Bruar, which, rising in Ben Dearg (3304 ft.), flows into the Garry after an impetuous course of 10 m.
BLAIRGOWRIE, a police burgh of Perthshire, Scotland, situated on the Ericht. Pop. (1901) 3378. It is the terminus of a branch line of the Caledonian railway from Coupar Angus, from which it is 434 m. distant, and is 16 m. N. by E. of Perth by road. The town is entirely modern, and owes its progress to the water-power supplied by the Ericht for linen and jute factories. There are also sawmills, breweries and a large factory for bee appliances. Strawberries, raspberries and other fruits are largely grown in the neighbourhood. A park was presented to the town in 1892. On the left bank of the Ericht, opposite Blairgowrie, with which it is connected by a four-arched bridge, stands the town and police burgh of Rattray (pop. 2019), where there are flax and jute mills. Donald Cargill the Covenanter, who was executed at Edinburgh, was a native of the parish. Four miles west of Blairgowrie, on the coach road to Dunkeld, lies Loch Clunie, of some interest historically. On a crannog in the lake are the ruins of a small castle which belonged to James (“the Admirable”) Crichton, and the large mound near the loch was the site of the castle in which Edward I. lodged on one of his Scottish expeditions.
BLAKE, EDWARD (1833– ), Irish-Canadian statesman, eldest son of William Hume Blake of Cashel Grove, Co. Galway, who settled in Canada in 1832, and there became a distinguished lawyer and chancellor of Ontario, was born on the 13th of October 1833 at Adelaide in Middlesex county, Ontario. Educated at Upper Canada College and the university of Toronto, Blake was called to the bar in 1856 and quickly obtained a good practice, becoming Q.C. in 1864. In 1867 he was elected member for West Durham in the Dominion parliament, and for South Bruce in the provincial legislature, in which he became leader of the Liberal opposition two years later. On the defeat of John Sandfield Macdonald’s government in 1871 Blake became prime minister of Ontario, but resigned this office the same year in consequence of the abolition of dual representation. He declined the leadership of the Liberal party in the Dominion parliament, but, having taken an active part in bringing about the overthrow of Sir John Macdonald’s ministry in 1873, joined the Liberal cabinet of Alexander Mackenzie, though without portfolio or salary. Impaired health soon compelled him to resign, and to take the voyage to Europe; on his return in 1875 he rejoined the cabinet as minister of justice, in which office it fell to him to take the chief part in framing the constitution of the supreme court of Canada. Continued ill-health compelled him in 1877 again to seek rest in Europe, having first exchanged the portfolio of justice for the less exacting office of president of the council. During his absence the Liberal government was driven from power by the elections of 1878; and Blake himself, having failed to secure re-election, was for a short time without a seat in parliament. From 1880 to 1887 he was leader of the opposition, being succeeded on his resignation of the position in the latter year by Mr (afterwards Sir) Wilfrid Laurier. In 1892 he became a member of the British House of Commons as an Irish Nationalist, being elected for South Longford. But he did not fulfil the expectations which had been formed on the strength of his colonial reputation; he took no very prominent part in debate, and gave little evidence of his undoubted oratorical gifts. In 1907 he retired from public life. In 1858 he had married Margaret, daughter of Benjamin Cronyn, first bishop of Huron.
See John Charles Dent, The Last Forty Years: Canada Since the Union of 1841 (2 vols., Toronto, 1881); J. S. Willison, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party (2 vols., London, 1904).
BLAKE, ROBERT (1599–1657), English parliamentarian and admiral, was born at Bridgwater in Somersetshire. The day of his birth is not known, but he was baptized on the 27th of September 1599. Blake was the eldest son of a well-to-do merchant, and received his early education at the grammar school of Bridgwater. In 1615 he was sent to Oxford, entering at first St Alban’s Hall, but removing afterwards to Wadham College, then recently founded. He remained at the university till 1625, but failed to obtain any college preferment. Nothing is known of his life with certainty for the next fifteen years. An anonymous Dutch writer, in the Hollandische Mercurius (1652), represents him as saying that he had lived in Schiedam “for five or six years” in his youth. He doubtless engaged in trade, and apparently with success. When, after eleven years of kingship without parliaments, a parliament was summoned to meet in April 1640, Blake was elected to represent his native borough. This parliament, named “the Short,” was dissolved in three weeks, and the career of Blake as a politician was suspended. Two years later the inevitable conflict began. Blake declared for the Parliament, and served under Sir John Horner. In 1643 he was entrusted with the command of one of the forts of Bristol. This he stoutly held during the siege of the town by Prince Rupert, and earned the approval of parliament by refusing to surrender his post till duly informed of the capitulation. In 1644 he gained high distinction by the resolute defence of Lyme in Dorsetshire. The siege was raised on the 23rd of May, and on the 8th of July Blake took Taunton by surprise, and notwithstanding its imperfect defences and inadequate supplies, held the town for the Parliament against two sieges by the Royalists until July 1645, when it was relieved by Fairfax. In 1645 he re-entered parliament as member for Taunton, when the Royalist Colonel Windham was expelled.
He adhered to the Parliamentary party after the king’s death, and within a month (February 1649) was appointed, with Colonels Dean and Popham, to the command of the fleet, under the title of General of the Sea. In April he was sent in pursuit of Prince Rupert, who with the Royalist fleet had entered the harbour of Kinsale in Ireland. There he blockaded the prince for six months; and when the latter, in want of provisions, and hopeless of relief, succeeded in making his escape with the fleet and in reaching the Tagus, Blake followed him thither, and again blockaded him for some months. The king of Portugal refusing permission for Blake to attack his enemy, the latter made reprisals by falling on the Portuguese fleet, richly laden, returning from Brazil. He captured seventeen ships and burnt three, bringing his prizes home without molestation. After revictualling his fleet, he sailed again, captured a French man-of-war, and then pursued Prince Rupert, who had been asked to go away by the Portuguese and had entered the Mediterranean. In November 1650 Blake destroyed the bulk of the Royalist squadron near Cartagena. The thanks of parliament were voted to Blake, and he received a grant of £1000. He was continued in his office of admiral and general of the sea; and in May following he took, in conjunction with Ayscue, the Scilly Islands. For this service the thanks of parliament were again awarded him, and he was soon after made a member of the council of state.
In 1652 war broke out with the Dutch, who had made great preparations for the conflict. In March the command of the fleet was given to Blake for nine months; and in the middle of May the Dutch fleet of forty-five ships, led by their great admiral Tromp, appeared in the Downs. Blake, who had only twenty ships, sailed to meet them, and the battle took place off Dover on the 19th of May. The Dutch were defeated in an engagement of four or five hours, lost two ships, and withdrew under cover of darkness. Attempts at accommodation were made by the states, but they failed. Early in July war was formally declared,
