BLACKSTONE CANAL BLACKWELL. 



555 



declaratory net of parliament in establishment of that 

 narrow doctrine. In L759, he published a new edi- 

 tion of the Great Charter and Charter of the Forest, 

 with an historical preface ; and, during the same year, 

 the reputation which he had obtained by his lectures 

 induced him to resume his attendance at Westminster 

 hall, when business and the honours of his profession 

 soon crowded in upon him. In 1761, he was elected 

 M. P. for Hindon, made king's counsel and solicitor- 

 general to the queen. About this time, he also mar- 

 ried, and, thereby losing his fellowship, was appoint- 

 ed principal of New Inn hall ; which office, with the 

 Vinerian professorship, he resigned the next year. 

 In 1765, he also published the first volume of his 

 Commentaries on the Laws of England ; a work of 

 greater merit than any which had yet appeared on 

 the subject. In this celebrated production, the 

 author does not confine himself to the humble duty 

 of an expositor, but aspires to the higher character 

 of a philosophical writer on jurisprudence ; and, hav- 

 ing been preceded by no authors in the same line, 

 his manner of accomplishing his task is entitled to 

 great praise. It must not, however, be regarded as 

 a philosophical investigation into the grounds and 

 merits of the English laws and constitution, so much 

 as an elegant exposition and defence of an existing 

 system. Whatever he found instituted, it was his 

 purpose to support and eulogise ; and consequently 

 we are rather made acquainted with the " legal rea- 

 sons " of what is established, than instructed in the 

 general principles of national legislation. This 

 mode of treating the subject may be, in some degree, 

 useful, by conveying a due notion of the grounds 

 on which government and usage have proceeded, 

 but, of course, will do little to advance the mind 

 of a nation, and often a great deal to nurture 

 prejudices and impede amelioration. Notwithstand- 

 ing some passages against standing armies, and 

 in exposition of the progress of the influence of the 

 crown, B. is uniformly the advocate of prerogative, 

 and very confined in his notions of toleration. 

 On the latter ground, he was involved, on the publi- 

 cation of his Commentaries, in a controversy with 

 Priestley ; and, some years afterwards, his political 

 principles were assailed, with much acuteness, in a 

 publication entitled a Fragment on Government, now 

 known to be the work of Mr Jeremy Bentham. In 

 the debates which took place on the Middlesex elec- 

 tion, in relation to the re-eligibility of an expelled 

 member, he was led to language in parliament, 

 against the tenor of which Mr James Grenville, with 

 great adroitness, quoted his own book, and he was 

 also warmly attacked for the same inconsistency by 

 Junius. The real merit and talents of B., backed by 

 political tendencies, which are generally favourable 

 to advancement, now made him an object of minis- 

 terial favour, and he was offered the post of solicitor- 

 general, in 1770, and, declining it, was made one of 

 the justices of common pleas, which station he held 

 until his death, in February, 1780, in his 57th year. 

 The private character of B. was exceedingly mild, 

 benevolent, and amiable ; and he was a most active 

 and intelligent man of business, in which, indeed, he 

 all his life delighted. He left in MS. two volumes 

 of reports, which have been published since his death, 

 and are deemed inadequate to his reputation. 



BLACKSTONE CANAL, in America, leads from Provi- 

 dence, in the state of Rhode Island, to Worcester, in 

 Massachusetts. It is 45 miles in length, and follows, 

 in the greatest part of its course, the valley of the 

 Blackstone or Pawtucket river, from which it is sup- 

 plied with water. The fall from the summit, at 

 Worcester, to tide-water at Providence, is 451 feet. 

 There are forty-eight locks, whicli are built of ham- 

 mered stone, laid in water lime, each eighty feet 



long and ten feet wide. The canal is thirty- four fret 

 wide at the surface of the water, eighteen feet at the 

 bottom, and four feet deep. It was built by an in- 

 corporated company, under charters from the legis- 

 latures of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, at a cost 

 of about 600,000 dollars. It was finished in the au- 

 tumn of 1828. 



BLACKWELL, Alexander and Elizabeth, husband and 

 wife, were both natives of Aberdeen. Having mar,- 

 ried clandestinely, they eloped to London, where the 

 husband's first employment was that of corrector of 

 the press to Mr Wilkins, an eminent printer. After- 

 wards, he was enabled to set up as a printer on his 

 own account, and for this purpose he occupied a largo 

 house in the Strand. But he did not long pursue this 

 business before an action was brought against him 

 for not having served a regular apprenticeship to it. 

 The unsuccessful defence of this action mined him, 

 and one of hjs creditors threw him into jail. In this 

 emergency the good genius of his wife came to his 

 relief? She happened to possess a taste for drawing 

 flowers ; and the acknowledged want of a good her- 

 bal at that time (1735), occurred to her as affording 

 the means of exerting this gift in a useful way. She 

 accordingly hired a house near the botanic garden at 

 Chelsea, where she had an opportunity of receiving 

 the necessary flowers and plants in a fresh state, as 

 she wanted them ; and not only made drawings of 

 the flowers, but also engraved them on copper, and 

 coloured the prints with her own hands. Her hus- 

 band lent all the aid in his power, by attaching the 

 Latin names of the plants, together with a short ac- 

 count of their principal characters and uses, chiefly 

 taken, by permission, from Miller's " Botanicum Of- 

 ficinale." The first volume of the work appeared in 

 1737, in large folio, containing two hundred and fifty- 

 two plates, each of which is occupied by one distinct 

 flower or plant. The second volume, completing the 

 number of plates to five hundred, appeared in 1739. 

 The drawings are in general faithful; the style of; 

 the engravings, though hard, is fully on a level with 

 the prevailing engravings of the age ; and, as a piece 

 of labour, executed, it would appear, in the space of 

 four years, by the hands of one woman, the whole 

 work is entitled alike to our wonder and admiration. 

 While Mrs Blackwell was proceeding in her task, 

 she attracted the attention of many persons of emi- 

 nent rank and character, and also a great number of 

 scientific persons, who visited her at Chelsea, and 

 afforded her many marks of kindness. On the com- 

 pletion of the first volume, she was permitted in per- 

 son to present a copy to the college of physicians, 

 who acknowledged her extraordinary merit by a 

 handsome present, as well as a testimonial, under the 

 hands of the president and censors of the institution, 

 characterising her work as " most useful," and re- 

 commending it to the public. It seems to have been 

 at this period of her labours, that, besides supporting 

 her family by her own exertions, she was enabled to 

 release her husband from confinement. 



Blackwell, after his release, lived for some time at 

 Chelsea with his wife. He was afterwards employed 

 by the duke of Chandos in superintending some 

 agricultural operations at Cannons. His work on 

 agriculture, which was published at this time, re- 

 commended him to the attention of a still higher 

 patronage the Swedish ambassador, who, having 

 transmitted a copy to his court, was directed to en- 

 gage the author, if possible, to go to Stockholm. 

 Blackwell accepted this engagement, ami sailed for 

 the Swedish capital, leaving his wife and one child in 

 England, with a promise that he would soon send for 

 them. He was received in the kindest manner at 

 the court of Stockholm, was lodged in the house ot 

 the prime minister, and was allowed a pension. The 

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