rs in order to attend the law courts. In 1746 he was
called to the bar. Though but little known or distinguished as a
pleader, he was actively employed, during his occasional residences at
the university, in taking part in the internal management of his
college. In May 1749, as a small reward for his services, and to give
him further opportunities of advancing the interests of the college,
Blackstone was appointed steward of its manors. In the same year, on the
resignation of his uncle, Seymour Richmond, he was elected recorder of
the borough of Wallingford in Berkshire. In 1750 he became doctor of
civil law. In 1753 he decided to retire from London work to his
fellowship and an academical life, still continuing the practice of his
profession as a provincial counsel.

His lectures on the laws of England appear to have been an early and
favourite idea; for in the Michaelmas term immediately after he
abandoned London, he entered on the duty of reading them at Oxford; and
we are told by the author of his _Life_, that even at their
commencement, the high expectations formed from the acknowledged
abilities of the lecturer attracted to these lectures a very crowded
class of young men of the first families, characters and hopes. Bentham,
however, declares that he was a "formal, precise and affected
lecturer--just what you would expect from the character of his
writings--cold, reserved and wary, exhibiting a frigid pride." It was
not till the year 1758 that the lectures in the form they now bear were
read in the university. Blackstone, having been unanimously elected to
the newly-founded Vinerian professorship, on the 25th of October read
his first introductory lecture, afterwards prefixed to the first volume
of his celebrated _Commentaries_. It is doubtful whether the
_Commentaries_ were originally intended for the press; but many
imperfect and incorrect copies having got into circulation, and a
pirated edition of them being either published or preparing for
publication in Ireland, the author thought proper to print a correct
edition himself, and in November 1765 published the first volume, under
the title of _Commentaries on the Laws of England_. The remaining parts
of the work were given to the world in the course of the four succeeding
years. It may be remarked that before this period the reputation which
his lectures had deservedly acquired for him had induced him to resume
practice in London; and, contrary to the general