Mrs. Eddy Mentioned Them September 11, 1954 Issue

Sir William Blackstone, 1723-1780

[Mentioned in Science and Health, p. 438: Miscellaneous Writings, p. 340: Rudimental Divine Science, p. 1]

As recently as the late nineteen thirties Sir William Blackstone's "Commentaries on the Laws of England"' was listed by a club of distinguished bibliophiles among the one hundred most famous books ever published in English.

During his lifetime it went through eight editions and the ninth was ready for publication; since then there have been seventy editions in English, fifty-six in French, eleven in German, and nine in Italian. Edmund Burke, in his famous speech on "Conciliation with the Colonies," said, "I hear that they have sold nearly as many of Blackstone's Commentaries in America as in England."

Before the Commentaries were published they had been given as a series of lectures at Oxford University, Blackstone's thought being that all gentlemen should have some understanding of the country's laws. The Commentaries accomplished for the English people what the publishing of their unknown laws had done for the people of Rome.

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