book that ever was written in explanation
of the science,' and many competent authorities have assured me that it
possesses the highest merits as a logical composition, although the law
of which it treats has become obsolete. The reputation acquired by this
book led to his appointment to a seat in the Common Law Commission
formed in 1828; and in the same year he became serjeant-at-law. His
brother commissioners became judges, but his only promotion was to a
commissionership of bankruptcy at Bristol in 1842.[18] In 1834 he
published a 'Summary of the Criminal Law,' which was translated into
German. His edition of Blackstone's Commentaries first appeared in 1841.
It contained from the first so much of his own work as to be almost an
independent performance. In later editions he introduced further changes
to adapt it to later legislation, and it is still a standard book.

He lived after the Bristol appointment at Cleevewood in the parish of
Mangotsfield. He retired in February 1854, and lived afterwards in
Clifton till his death on November 28, 1864. I remember him as a gentle
and courteous old man, very shy, and, in his later years, never leaving
his house, and amusing himself with speculating upon music and the
prophecies. He inherited apparently the nervous temperament of his
family with less than their usual dash of the choleric.[19] My uncle,
Sir George, declares that the serjeant was appointed to a judgeship by
Lord Lyndhurst, but immediately resigned, on the ground that he felt
that he could never bear to pass a capital sentence.[20] I record the
anecdote, not as true (I have reasons for thinking it erroneous), but as
indicating the impression made by his character.

The fourth brother, George, born about 1794, was a man of very different
type. In him appeared some of the characteristics of his irascible and
impetuous grandfather. His nature was of coarser fibre than that of his
sensitive and nervous brothers. He was educated at Magdalene College,
Cambridge; and was afterwards placed in the office of the Freshfields,
the eminent firm of solicitors. He had, I have been told, an offer of a
partnership in the firm, but preferred to set up for himself. He was
employed in the rather unsavoury duty of procuring evidence as to the
conduct of Queen Caroline upon the Continent. In 1826 he undertook an
inquiry ordered by the House of Commons in consequence of complaints as
to the existence of a slave trade in Mauritius. He be