Значение слова BLACKSTONE в Литературной энциклопедии

SIR WILLIAM (1723-1780).-Legal Writer, posthumous _s._ of a silk mercer in London, was _ed._ at Charterhouse School and Oxf., and entered the Middle Temple in 1741. His great work is his _Commentaries on the Laws of England_, in 4 vols. (1765-1769), which still remains the best general history of the subject. It had an extraordinary success, and is said to have brought the author L14,000. B. was not a man of original mind, nor was he a profound lawyer; but he wrote an excellent style, clear and dignified, which brings his great work within the category of general literature. He had also a turn for neat and polished verse, of which he gave proof in _The Lawyer's Farewell to his Muse_.