and Queen Caroline_, which were not published until 1848. They
give an unrivalled view of the court and of the royal household; and the
variety of the topics, combined with the excellence of description, render
them admirable as aids to understanding the history.
_Sir William Blackstone_, 1723-1780: a distinguished lawyer, he was an
unwearied student of the history of the English statute law, and was on
that account made Professor of Law in the University of Oxford. Some time
a member of Parliament, he was afterwards appointed a judge. He edited
_Magna Charta_ and _The Forest Charter_ of King John and Henry III. But
his great work, one that has made his name famous, is _The Commentaries on
the Laws of England_. Notwithstanding much envious criticism, it has
maintained its place as a standard work. It has been again and again
edited, and perhaps never better than by the Hon. George Sharswood, one of
the Judges of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
_Adam Smith_, 1723-1790: this distinguished writer on political economy,
the intelligent precursor of a system based upon the modern usage of
nations, was educated at Glasgow and Oxford, and became in turn Professor
of Logic and of Moral Philosophy in the University of Glasgow.
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