prejudices of power, and that he
flattered the overweening conceit of the English in their own
institutions. He displays much ingenuity in giving a plausible form to
common prejudices and fallacies; but it is by no means clear that he was
not imposed upon himself. More undeniable than the political fairness of
the treatise is its merits as a work of literature. It is written in a
most graceful and attractive style, and although no opportunity of
embellishment has been lost, the language is always simple and clear.
Whether it is owing to its literary graces, or to its success in
flattering the prejudices of the public to which it was addressed, the
influence of the book in England has been extraordinary. Not lawyers
only, and lawyers perhaps even less than others, accepted it as an
authoritative revelation of the law. It performed for educated society
in England much the same service as was rendered to the people of Rome
by the publication of their previously unknown laws. It is more correct
to regard it as a handbook of the law for laymen than as a legal
treatise; and as the first and only book of the kind in England it has
been received with somewhat indiscriminating reverence. It is certain
that a vast amount of the constitutional sentiment of the country has
been inspired by its pages. To this day Blackstone's criticism of the
English constitution would probably express the most profound political
convictions of the majority of the English people. Long after it has
ceased to be of much practical value as an authority in the courts, it
remains the arbiter of all public discussions on the law or the
constitution. On such occasions the _Commentaries_ are apt to be
construed as strictly as if they were a code. It is curious to observe
how much importance is attached to the _ipsissima verba_ of a writer who
aimed more at presenting a picture intelligible to laymen than at
recording the principles of the law with technical accuracy of detail.

See also the article ENGLISH LAW.

BLACK VEIL, in the Roman Catholic Church, the symbol of the most
complete renunciation of the world and adoption of a nun's life. On the
appointed day the nun goes through all the ritual of the marriage
ceremony, after a solemn mass at which all the inmates of the convent
assist. She is dressed in bridal white with wreath and veil, and
receives a wedding-ring, as spouse of the Church. Afterwards she
presides at a wedding-breakfast, at whic