Descrizione:
His arms when the fatal cannon shot which killed the French General decided the fate of Ireland. He had retired upon his property, when the campaign was over, being protected as he supposed by the Articles of Limerick and Galway _but these Articles required the consent of Parliament; and receiving that consent only in a mutilated form, they proved but a weak defence. His estates were forfeited, and like so many of the bravest of his countrymen, he ?ed to France, became an active officer in the Irish Brigade, rose into favour with the French Government, and won fame and rank in the wars of the Low Countries. The hope of his life had been that he might one day land again in his own country at the head of his regiment, and try conclusions once more with the ancient enemy. More than once his wish seemed likely to be gratified. In I 708 especially, when a Stuart rising was intended in Scotland, an expeditionary force from France was to have been thrown simultaneously into Galway. But the project came to nothing, and in the year following General Blake died, leaving little money behind him, but bequeathing to his son Patrick a name which he had made distinguished, and the favour of the Courts of St. Germains and of Versailles, which had appre ciated his worth and his services. |
