Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 32.djvu/1011

NOTES 975 A passage from the letter is quoted in the account of Blackstone's life in D. N. B. and longer quotations are printed in volume 2 of the Law Students' Magazine, 1845-46. The original has been framed and hung in Langdell Hall South. The letter follows: " To Mr. Richmond at Sparsholt near Wantage Berks. "Dear Sir, — You have been so kind as to tell me, yt a Line now & then from me wd not be unacceptable to You. 'Tis this that has drawn upon You ye present Trouble, for wch You have Nobody but Yourself to blame. " I have been in Town about ten Days, & am tolerably well settled in my new Habitation (wch is at Mr. Stokes's a Limner in Anmdel-Street) The People of ye House seem honest, civil & industrious; & my Lodgings are in themselves chearful, retired, &, as every Body tells me, extremely reasonable. Nor I do want Opportunities of Gallantry (if I have In- clination to improve them) there lodging in ye same House a young Lady of extraordinary Accomplishments & a very ample Fortune; but alas! She has, together with ye Riches, ye Complexion also of a Jew. So that She is not like to prove a very, formidable Rival to Coke upon Littleton. "Coke I have not yet ventured to attack, but have (according to Ch. J. Reeves's Plan) begun with Littleton only. Two together wd be too much for a Hercules, but I am in great Hopes of managing them one after ye other. I have stormed one Book of Littleton, & opened my Trenches before ye 2d; & I can with Pleasure say I have met with no Difficulty of Consequence; There is one thing indeed, & but one, I cd not under- stand in ye first Book, wch is a mere matter of Speculation: & is in short this. The Donees in Frank-Marriage shall do no Service (but that of Fealty) to ye Donor or his Heirs till ye 4th Degree be past. Of wch 4 Degrees ye Donee shall be said to be ye first. § 20. To prove wch last Assertion Littleton produces a Writ of Right of Ward (as you may see pag. 23. b.) Now with me ye Question is, how the Writ wch he produces proves ye Point he wd have it do, viz. that ye Donee in Frank-Marriage is ye first of ye four Degrees. You will observe that this is a Point of mere Curiosity, Frank-Marriage being now out of Use. But I don't love to march into an unknown Country, without securing every Post behind me: & it is a greater Slur upon a General to leave a slight Place un taken, than one more hard of Access. Besides, in my apprehension, (& I shd be glad to know your Opinion of ye matter) ye Learning out of use is as necessary to a Beginner as that of every Day's Practise. There seem in ye modern Law to be so many References to ye antient Tenures & Services, that a Man who wd understand ye Reasons, ye Grounds, & Original of what is Law at this Day must look back to what it was for- merly; otherwise, his Learning will be both confused & superficial. "I have sometimes thought that ye Common Law, as it stood in Littleton's Days, resembled a regular Edifice: where ye Apartments