Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/11

The labour indeed of theſe reſearches, and of a regular attention to his duty, for a ſeries of ſo many years, he hath found inconſiſtent with his health, as well as his other avocations: and hath therefore deſired the univerſity’s permiſſion to retire from his office, after the concluſion of the annual courſe in which he is at preſent engaged. But the hints, which he had collected for the uſe of his pupils, having been thought by ſome of his more experienced friends not wholly unworthy of the public eye, it is therefore with the leſs reluctance that he now commits them to the preſs: though probably the little degree of reputation, which their author may have acquired by the candor of an audience (a teſt widely different from that of a deliberate peruſal) would have been better conſulted by a total ſuppreſſion of his lectures;—had that been a matter intirely within his power.

For the truth is, that the preſent publication is as much the effect of neceſſity, as it is of choice. The notes which were taken by his hearers, have by ſome of them (too partial in his favour) been thought worth reviſing and tranſcribing; and theſe tranſcripts have been frequently lent to others. Hence copies have been multiplied, in their nature imperfect, if not erroneous; ſome of which have fallen into mercenary hands, and become the object