Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern . he houses ofhis grandmothers at Barking and at Brown-ing Hill, where much of his childhood was spent. His reminiscencesof these days, as related to his biographer, are full of charm. Hewas a great reader and a great student; and going to Oxford early,was only sixteen when he took his degree. It must be confessed that he did not bear away with him a highappreciation of the benefits which he owed to his alma mater.«Mendacity and insincerity — in these I found the effects, the sureand only sure effects, of an English imiversity educatio
Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern . he houses ofhis grandmothers at Barking and at Brown-ing Hill, where much of his childhood was spent. His reminiscencesof these days, as related to his biographer, are full of charm. Hewas a great reader and a great student; and going to Oxford early,was only sixteen when he took his degree. It must be confessed that he did not bear away with him a highappreciation of the benefits which he owed to his alma mater.«Mendacity and insincerity — in these I found the effects, the sureand only sure effects, of an English imiversity education. He wrotea Latin ode on the death of George II., which was much praised. Inlater years he himself said of it, It was a mediocre performance ona trumpery subject, written by a miserable child.** On taking his degree he entered at Lincolns Inn, but he nevermade a success in the practice of the law. He hated litigation, andhis mind became immediately absorbed in the study and developmentof the principles of legislation and jurisprudence, and this 1)ecame. Jeremy Bentham J-74 JEREMY BENTHAM the business of his life. He had an intense antipathy to Blackstone,under whom he had sat at Oxford; and in 1776 he published anon)-mously a severe criticism of his work, under the title ^ Fragments onGovernment, or a Commentary on the Commentaries,^ which was atfirst attributed to Lord Mansfield, Lord Camden, and others. Hisidentification as the author of the ^ Fragments * brought him intorelations with Lord Shelburne, who invited him to Bowood, where hemade a long and happy visit, of which bright and gossipy letters tellthe story. Here he worked on his *? Introduction to the Principles ofMorals and Legislation,^ in which he developed his utilitarian theory,and here he fell in love with a young lady who failed to respond tohis wishes. Writing in 1827, he says: — «I am alive, more than two months advanced in my eightieth year, morelively than when you presented me in ceremony with a flow
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