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BLACKSTONE, Sir William (1723-1780). Series of 6 autograph letters signed, addressed to the Earl of Shelburne, Oxford and London, 9 March - 2 April 1761, mainly asking Lord Shelburne's help in being elected to Parliament and being made a King's Counsel, 12 pages, 4to.
In 1758 Blackstone became the first Vinerean Professor of English Law at Oxford, when he gave the famous and important series of lectures on English law, that were later used in his Commentaries. At the same time he continued with his legal practice in London and in 1761 became principal of New Inn Hall, a chancery inn. He was then already fairly close to Shelburne, who offered him in 1761 the post of Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland, which Blackstone not wishing to move to Ireland declined (in the first two letters of the correspondence). However he agreed to take up the offer of a seat in Parliament for the pocket borough of Hindon in Wiltshire, where he was elected in March 1761. He writes to Lord Shelburne on 12 March that he hopes to arrange the property qualifications necessary for Parliament and 'that the Expense of obtaining the seat you propose, shall not be such as may injure my private fortune, which is confined within moderate bounds'. On 2 March he enquires about the progress of obtaining the 'Silk Gown', i.e. becoming a King's Counsel, 'with which your Lordship informed me the king intended to honour me', repeating his enquiry on 2 April regarding the "Affair of the Silk Gown", a matter which has now become urgent since his election, as he must know if he is to be King's Councel and whether his Majesty's Fiat has been signed, 'I hope to be at some certainty in this matter'. In the event George III granted him a patent of precedence at the bar as King's Counsel on 6 May.
APPARENTLY UNPUBLISHED. LETTERS FROM BLACKSTONE APPEAR VERY RARELY AT AUCTION. (6)
In 1758 Blackstone became the first Vinerean Professor of English Law at Oxford, when he gave the famous and important series of lectures on English law, that were later used in his Commentaries. At the same time he continued with his legal practice in London and in 1761 became principal of New Inn Hall, a chancery inn. He was then already fairly close to Shelburne, who offered him in 1761 the post of Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland, which Blackstone not wishing to move to Ireland declined (in the first two letters of the correspondence). However he agreed to take up the offer of a seat in Parliament for the pocket borough of Hindon in Wiltshire, where he was elected in March 1761. He writes to Lord Shelburne on 12 March that he hopes to arrange the property qualifications necessary for Parliament and 'that the Expense of obtaining the seat you propose, shall not be such as may injure my private fortune, which is confined within moderate bounds'. On 2 March he enquires about the progress of obtaining the 'Silk Gown', i.e. becoming a King's Counsel, 'with which your Lordship informed me the king intended to honour me', repeating his enquiry on 2 April regarding the "Affair of the Silk Gown", a matter which has now become urgent since his election, as he must know if he is to be King's Councel and whether his Majesty's Fiat has been signed, 'I hope to be at some certainty in this matter'. In the event George III granted him a patent of precedence at the bar as King's Counsel on 6 May.
APPARENTLY UNPUBLISHED. LETTERS FROM BLACKSTONE APPEAR VERY RARELY AT AUCTION. (6)