William Hume Blake, the subject of this memoir, was the grandson and namesake of the unfortunate gentleman above referred to, and was one of the fruits of the marriage of his father, the Rev. D. E. Blake, to Miss Hume. He was born at the Rectory, at Kiltegan, County Wicklow, on the 10th of March, 1809. He was the second son of his parents, his elder brother, Dominick Edward, being named in honour of his father and paternal grandfather. The elder brother emulated his father's example, and became a clergyman of the Church of England. The younger, after receiving his education at Trinity College, Dublin, studied surgery under Surgeon-General Sir Philip Crampton. Surgery, however, was not much to his taste. The accompaniments of that profession--notably the coarse jokes and experiments which he was daily called upon to encounter in the dissecting-room--proved at last so repulsive to his nature that he abandoned surgery altogether, and entered upon a course of theological study with a view to entering the Church. His studies had not proceeded far, however, before he and his elder brother determined to emigrate to Canada. This determination was carried out in the summer of 1832. A short time before leaving his native land, the younger brother married his cousin, Miss Catharine Hume, the granddaughter--as he himself was the grandson--of the William Hume whose tragical death has already been recorded. This lady, who shared alike the struggles and triumphs of her distinguished husband till the close of his earthly career, still survives.