The reputation which he had acquired by his lec tures, induced him, in the year 1759, to return to the Temple, and resume his attendance at West midster.haIl ; and he now advanced With great dity in the career of profession. Though he never attained to the very first rank in business, yet it appears from the books of- reports, that, during a considerable period, there were few cases requiring great learning and research in which he was not em ployed. In 1761, he ryas chosen member of parlia fient Hindon ; and received a patent of proce to rank as king's counsel, previously declined the office of chief justice of Ireland. On the establishinent of the queen's household, in 1763, -he was appointed solicitor-general to her majesty.
In May 1761, he married Sarah, the eldest daugh ter of James Clitherow, Esq. of Boston.house, in the county of Middlesex. Having vacated his fel lowship by marriage, he was immediately afterwards appointed principal of New-inn Hall, by the Earl of Westmoreland, at that time chancellor bf the uni versity. This office, as well as the Vinerian profes sorship, he resigned in the year 1766.
It was about this period of his life that he laid the foundation of his fame as an author. Some years be fore the appearance of his great work, he collected several smallerproductions, which had been printed in a separate form, and republished them under the general -title of Law Tracts. Oxford, 1762, 2 vols. 8vo. The first volume contains, An Essay on Colla teral Consanguinity, Considerations on 'Copyholders, and A Treatise on the Law of Descents. The se cond contains, The Great Charter and Charter of the Forest, with other Authentic Instruments : to which is prefixed an Introductory Discourse containing the History of the Charters. This historical introduc tion is of considerable length, and displays a familiar acquaintance with the study of antiquities. The ori ginal publication of his edition of the great charter implicated him in a controversy with Dr Littleton, then dean of Carlisle. In the year 1759, Black atone had published two small tracts of a local and temporary nature, which he has excluded from this collection. The one is entitled, Reflections on the Opinions of Messieurs Pratt, Moreton, and lVilbra ham, relating to Lord Lichfield's Disqualifications for the chancellorship of the university ; the other, A Caselbr the Opinion of Council, on the Power of the University to snake New Statutes.
The first volume of his Commentaries on the Laws If England, was published at Oxford, in 4to, in the year 1765 ; and the other three volumes followed noon afterwards. This work, to which he is in debted for the permanence of his reputation, com prehends the substance of his academical prelections; and is by far the most elegant and- popular book on / the municipal laws of England which has yet ap peared: Before the publication of Blackstone's Commentaries, the study was generally considered as extremely repulsive ; but he has treated it with a de gree of elegance and interest, -which may recommend it to every inquisitive reader. His arrangement, if not perfectly unexceptionable, is at least sufficiently perspicuous ; and the work is even valuable on ac count o its genuine English style.' This produc tion, of the elementary•kind, is by no means superficial : with his accuracy and judgment he has united a very industrious spirit of research. But,
with all these merits, it exhibits some radical defects-, against which it is highly expedient to caution the young and ingenious student. It is remarked, by the very judicious writer of his life in -the General Biography, " that Blackstone, in those parts of his Commentaries where he examines the reasons and principles of law, discovers no portion of the philo sophical spirit ; and that he does not rise above the ordinary level of those writers, who, in every age and country, have extolled their Own municipal in. stitutions as the wisdom of ages,' and the perfec tion of reason.' In discussing the propriety of par ticular laws, his ingenuity is always occupied by the forms of jurisprudence ; and, instead of referring to public convenience and general utility, the sole stand ard of all rational legislation, he perpetually -appeals -to those technical arguments which are dignified with •the title of legal reasons.' He is in all cases the -advocate and the apologist of existing institutions ; and it is the constant tendency of his work to justify whatever has been established by antiquity, to dis• credit the improvements of modern times, and to ex -pose to contempt, or indignation, all proposals for further change. He is one of that servile class of writers, under whesc auspices the mind of a nation makes no advances, who confirm the prejudices and ignorance of the people, while they flatter the pride and indolence of government. Id his political prin ciples, he is.the slave of power and the advocate of ,prerogative ; and his ecclesiastical opinions are strongly tinctured with the spirit of religious big°. try and intolerance. It deserves to be remarked, :that, notwithstanding this deference to authority, the Commentaries of Blackstone contain several very strong passages against standing military establish: .ments, and the policy Of keeping soldiers apart from i their fellow.citizens in barracks or fortifications ; nor has any political writer. .delineated in stronger terms the progress of the influence of the crown, or the probable effects of increase of the na tional debt. This circumstance, which appears at first so singular, must be attributed to the spirit of •the times, rather than to that of the writer. So na tural and obvious did the introduction of those to pics then appear in a work on the British constitu tion, that they could not, with propriety, be -omit ted by the most determined• supporters of preroga. tive." • Soon after the publication of this work, Black stone was involved in a controversy with Dr.Fur neaux and Dr Priestley ; who attacked the ecclesi astical parts of it with great ability, and, we may . add, with great success ; for, if their chastisement did not extort a candid acknowledgment of his er rors, it at least produced a silent retrenchment, in the subsequent editions, of the more obnoxious pas sages. His political principles were still more se verely exposed, in an acute production entitled A Frazment on Government, •written by Jeremy Ben •tham, Esq. It has been mentioned, to the honour .of Blackstone, that, notwithstanding the severity of this criticism, he, some years afterwards, loscame ae qnainted with the author, and lived wit E him on .terms of friendship and regard.