BLA'CKSTONE, 'Sat WILLIAM, an English , .
lawyer of 'great celebrity, was born at London on the 10th of July 1723. He was the third son of Charles Blackstone, a silk mercer ; but, being left an orphan, the charge of his education was -gene rously undertaken by his maternal uncle, Thomas Biggs, a surgeon in London. At an early -age he was sent to 'the Charter-house school, and was some years afterwards admitted a scholar on the fotmda tion. In November 1738, lie was entered at Pem broke College, Oxford. At both these 'seminaries he distinguished himself by his proficiency in classi cal learning. His attainments do not, however, seem to have 'been circumscribed by the ordinary limits of acadernicaldiscipline : At the age of twenty, he composed, for his *own use, an elementary treatise on architecture, which was never published, but which is said to poisess great 'Merit. Having deter mined to'embrade the profession of the law, he en. tered himself of the Middle Temple ; and, in 174+, he quitted Oxford, and those classical pursuits which were' o congenial to his taste. This transition, 'to 'studies of a less pleasing nature, he very feelingly koirmi6mornted in an elegant poem, entitled, The Lawyer's Farewell to his Muse, which was after wards printed in the 4th volume of Dodsley's collet- B tion, and which is allowed to display a very early maturity of taste and judgment. He now applied himself with great assiduity to the studies of his pro fession ; dividing his residence between the Temple, and the university, a place to which he always re tained his youthful attachment. He had been elect ed a fellow of All-souls College in 1743 ; and, on the 28th of November 1746, he was called to the bar. As lie was very deficient in elocution, and pos sessed none of the popular talents of an advocate, his progress in the profession was extremely slow ; and, being without any avocations of business, the active tern of his mind displayed itself in the office Of bursar, or steward, of All-souls. In this situa tion he is said to have merited great praise for his skill and diligence in arranging the records and im proving the revenues 'of the college, and in expedi ting the necessary measures for completing the mag hificent structure of the, Codrington library. In he Was appointed, through the interest of a relation recorder of Wallingford in Berkshire ; and, in the Following year, probably with a vie* to more constant residence at Oxford, he took the degree of doctor of laws.
After Blackstone had ittended the Courts at West minster fdr a period of seven years, his prospect of Skleeeta was so extremely precarious, that he deter inisied to quit the regular practice of his profession, and retire to his fellowship. To this determination he was indebted for the future diainctions of his life.
The system of education in the English universi ties," says a very intelligent biographer, having 'been established in remote ages, and intended solely for the instruction of the Popish clergy, was with rout any public provision for teaching 'the larva and constitution of their own country; and, from that mixture of pride and intiolence, which is the charac teristic of 'ancient and 'wealthy establishment's, the defect was suffered to continue after the universities had ceased to be appropriated to ecclesiastics, and had become places of general education. This de fect Mr Blackstone now undertook to Supply by a 'course of public lectures on that 'important ; 'and the manner in which he executed the task, has and laSting distinction on the univer sity in which his lectures were delivered. It is in 'deed a singular circumstance, and may be of some use, in enabling 'Gs 'to appreciate the merit of our academical establishments, that, in the long succes sion of 'public teachers and professors, during a pe riod of several centuries, the Commentaries of Black stone, and the Hebrew Prelections of Lowth, arc 'the Only 'series of lectures in either university 'which have any prospect 'of descending to posterity, or of acquiring a permanent place in the literature of their country." Blackstone commenced his first course of lectures in Michadinas term 1753.; and they continued to be repeated, during a series df years, with great and increasing reputation. It was probably the success 'of this attempt, that suggested to Ivlr Viner the plan of endowing, by his will,'a liberal establish ment in the university of'Oxford for the study of the municipal law. In October 1758, Dr Blackstone s. was unanimously elected the first Vinerian professor; and, on the 25th of the same month, he deliveted his introductory Lactnre before the heads of the uni versity. This judicious discourse, which he soon afterwards published, is now prefixed to is Com mentaries. His employment, as a public lecturer, did not prevent him from occasionally exercising his profession as a provincial barrister. The famous Professor Millar of Glasgow sometimes followed the same practice.