Star.
London, England, 1830-05-04 00:00:00

SIR W. RLACKSTONE.

Frith. Dr. LARDNER'S Cabiact Cyeluperdids, Vol. V. being Lives
uj Eminent /amp rs, by H. ROSCOE, EN.

William Blackstone, whose name has become per-
hap.: mire familiar than any other in the mouths of Eng-
lish lawye,,, was the fourth son of Mr. Charles Black-
stone, a silkman and citizen of London, by Mary, the
eldest daughter of Lovelace Bigg, Esq. of Chilton Foliot,
in the county of Wilts. He was born on the 10th of
July, 1723, after the death of his father, and ho had also
the misfortune to lose his mother before he was twelve
',ears of age. His uncle, Mr. Thomas Bigg, an eminent
surgeon in London, took charge of his education, and at
the age of seven years he vas admitted on the foundation
of the Charter House. When he attained the age of fif-
teen he had risen to the head of the school, and was at
that early period of life admitted a Commoner of Pem-
broke College, Oxford. His progress both at the Charter
House and at Oxford was distinguished, and he was
elected to an exhibition both at the school and at the
college. Having selected the law as his profession, he
became a member of the Middle Temple on the 20th of
November, 1741. Hitherto he had applied himself ex-
clusively to literary and scientific pursuits : but in enter-
ing upon the severer studies of his profession, be con-
ceived it necessary to abandon the more pleasing avoca-
tions to which he had devoted himself. The feelings
which this change induced he has expressed in some,
lines, remarkable for the elegance both of the style and
of the sentiment :

THE LAWYER'S FAREWELL TO HIS MUSE.
" As, by some tyrant's stern command.
A wretch forsakes his native land,
In foreign climes condemn'd to roam,
An mites. exile from his home;
Pensive he treads the destined way,
And dreads to go, nor dares to stay ;
Till on some neighbouring mountain's brow
He stops, and turns his eye below ;
There, melting at the well-known view,
Drops a last tear, and bids adieu :
So I, thus doom'd from thee to part,
Gay queen of fancy and of art,
Reluctant move with doubtful mind,
Oft stop, and often look behind !

" Companion of my tender age,
Serenely gay, and sweetly sage,
How blithsome were we wont to rove
By verdant bill, or shady grove
Where fervent bees with humming voice
Around the honey'd oak rejoice,
And aged elms, with awful bend,
In long cathedral walks extend:!
Lull'd by the lapse of gliding floods,
Chcer'd by the warbling of the woods,
How West my days, my thoughts how free,
In sweet society with thee !
Then all was joyous, all was young,
And years unheeded roll'd along :
But now the pleasing dream is o'er,—
These scenes must charm me now no more :
Lost to the field, and torn from you,
Farewell !-4 long, a last adieu!
" The wrangling courts, and stubborn law,
To smoke, and crowds, and cities draw ;
Their selfish Faction rules the day,
And Pride and Avarice throng the way ;
Diseases taint the murky air,
And midnight conflagrations glare;
Loose Revelry and Riot bold,
In frighted streets their orgies hold ;
Or when in silence all is drown'd,
Fell Murder walks her lonely round;
No room for peace, no room for you—
Adieu, celestial Nymph, adieu!

Shakspeare no more, thy sylvan son,
Nor all the art of Addison,
Pope's heaven-strung lyre, nor Wallet $ ease.
Nor Milton's mighty self must please :
Instead of these a funnel band
In furs and coifs around me stand,
With sounds uncouth, and accents dry
That grate the soul of harmony.
Each pedant sage unlocks his store
Of mystic, dark, discordant lore ;
And points with tottering hand the way
That lead me to the thorny maze !
" There, in a winding, close retreat,
Is Justice domed to fix her seat ;
There, fenced by bulwarks of the law,
She keeps the wondering world in awe ;
And there, from vulgar sight retied,
Like eastern queens, is much admired!
" Oh ! let me pierce the secret shade,
Where dwells the venerable maid !
There humbly mark, with reverent awe.
The guardian of Britannia's law;
Unfold with joy her sacred page
(The united boast of many an age,
Where mix'd though uniform appears
The wisdom of a thousand years),
In that pure spring the bottom view,
Vicar, deep, and regularly true,
And other doctrines thence imbibe, ,
Then lurk within the sordid scribe ;
' Observe how parts with parts unite
In one harmonious rule of right ; . '
See countless wheels distinctly tend,
By various laws, to one great end ;
While mighty Alfred's piercing sod
Pervades and regulates the whole !
" Then welcome business, welcome strife,
Welcome the cares, the thorns of life,
The visage wan, the pere.blind sight,
The toil by day, the lamp by night,
The tedious forms, the solemn prate,
The pert dispute, the dull debate, •
The drowsy bench, the babbling bans
For thee, fair Justico, welcome all !
" Thus, though my noon of life be past,
Yet let my setting sun at last
Find out the still, the rural cell
Where sage Retirement loves to dwell!
There let me taste the home felt bliss
Of innocence and inward peace;
Untainted by the guilty bride,
Uncurled amid the harpy tribe ;
No orphan's cry to wound my ear,
My honour and my conscience clear ;
Thus may I calmly meet my end,
Thus to the grave in peace descend !"

INSANITY.—It appears from an official report relative
to the inmates of Charenton, near Paris, that the months
during which there is the greatest number of patients in
that establishment art June, July, and August, and the
least January, May, and November. The age at which
this malady most frequently manifests itself is from thirty
to thirty-five. More than half of the inmates are unmar-
ried, and the majority are females. There are usually
few married men or widowers.
AGRICOLTURE.—The Paris Central Society of Agri-
culture, at its last sitting, awarded the following prizes :
2,000 francs to Messrs. Flackat and Mulot for their
process of boring for Artesian wells. Another, for the
same object, to Messrs. Fraisse and Poitevin, and ago a
gold medal to M. Favel ; 1,000 francs to M. Paten for
s memoir on the use which may be made of the carcasses
of domestic animals when dead ; and other prizes of small
amounts, on different subjects, making altogether 7,000
francs. Several gold and silver medals were also pre-
sented. The prizes next year are to be, first, 1,500
. francs for the best treatise on the use which may be made
of the dead bodies of domestic animals ; 1,500 francs for
the best treatise on the blindness of horses ; 3,500 francs
for the best model of a threshing and winnowing ma-
chine ; 3,000 for tthe best treatise on the mode of boring
i for water • 1,000 Tram foi:lb.e. best treatise on the cul-
ture .of 'thee pink poppy. Three prises are also announced
for 1834. Literary Gazette.