rses, and one of his experiments, an ode upon
the death of George II., was sent to Johnson, who called it 'a very
pretty performance for a young man.' He also had to go through the form
of disputation in the schools. Queen's College had some reputation at
this time for teaching logic.[209] Bentham was set to read Watt's
_Logic_ (1725), Sanderson's _Compendium artis Logicae_ (1615), and
Rowning's _Compendious System of Natural Philosophy_ (1735-42). Some
traces of these studies remained in his mind.

In 1763 Bentham took his B.A. degree, and returned to his home. It is
significant that when robbed of all his money at Oxford he did not
confide in his father. He was paying by a morbid reserve for the
attempts made to force him into premature activity. He accepted the
career imposed by his father's wishes, and in November 1763 began to eat
his dinners in Lincoln's Inn. He returned, however, to Oxford in
December to hear Blackstone's lectures. These lectures were then a
novelty at an English university. The Vinerian professorship had been
founded in 1758 in consequence of the success of a course voluntarily
given by Blackstone; and his lectures contained the substance of the
famous Commentaries, first published 1765-1769. They had a great effect
upon Bentham. He says that he 'immediately detected Blackstone's fallacy
respecting natural rights,' thought other doctrines illogical, and was
so much occupied by these reflections as to be unable to take notes.
Bentham's dissatisfaction with Blackstone had not yet made him an
opponent of the constituted order. He was present at some of the
proceedings against Wilkes, and was perfectly bewitched by Lord
Mansfield's '_Grim-gibber_,' that is, taken in by his pompous
verbiage.[210]

In 1765 his father married Mrs. Abbot, the mother of Charles Abbot,
afterwards Lord Colchester. Bentham's dislike of his step-mother
increased the distance between him and his father. He took his M.A.
degree in 1766 and in 1767 finally left Oxford for London to begin, as
his father fondly hoped, a flight towards the woolsack. The lad's
diffidence and extreme youth had indeed prevented him from forming the
usual connections which his father anticipated as the result of a
college life. His career as a barrister was short and grievously
disappointing to the parental hopes. His father, like the Elder Fairford
in _Redgauntlet_, had 'a cause or two at nurse' for the son. The son's
first thought was to 'put them