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trating to the roots of the defects in the jurisprudence of England ; a labyrinth , the intricacies of which none but a lawyer can penetrate ; and having descended to the bottom of this Typhonean cavern , Bentham was desirous , before proposing his reforms , of rendering himself familiar with the criminal jurisprudence of the other nations of Europe . But the greater number of those codes were accessible only in the language of the people whom they governed . What difficulties can deter a man who is actuated by
a desire to promote the public good ? Bentham successivel y acquired nearly the whole of these languages . He spoke French well . He understood the Italian , the Spanish , the German , and I myself saw him acquire the Swedish and the Russian . When he had examined all these wrecks of Gothic law , and collected his
materials , he applied himself to the construction of a systematic plan of civil and criminal law , founded entirely upon reason , and having for its object the happiness of the human race . ' * ' This account of Brissot ' s was written in the year 1793 ; and the editor of Brissot in the year 1830 adds this commentary : — * 4 i A few years ago Jeremy Bentharn was in Paris . We had then the opportunity of ascertaining that the portrait which Brissot has given , is by no means exaggerated . Never did a noble
countenance , or a more venerable head present to the age the material type of loftier virtues or a purer soul ; nor ever was so prodigious a reputation more justly merited . Bentham should not only be regarded as one of the profoundest lawyers that ever lived , but as one of those philosophers who have done most for enlightening the human race , and for the advancement of liberty in his own times . "
* You now behold before you that venerable and revered countenance . Half a century has passed away since it produced in all beholders impressions and emotions such as these which 1 have described . Years have only added to the majesty and benignity of its expression . It is now cold in deat | i . It is now no longer li ghted up by the beam of genius . The benignant smile which was wont to play upon those lips you cannot see ; but you can never forget the countenance such as it is even now . And the heart which beat in that bosom—those of us who have been his familiar friends—Oh ! never , never can we forget the kindness of its feelings—the gentlenessof manner which those benignant feelings formed ; the uninterrupted cheerfulness—the playful humour —the child-like simplicity which gave to his familiar conversation and intercourse a sweetness and a charm not to be described .
* Never was human being more considerate of the feelings of those with whom he came in contact . Never did any one study more to produce a pleasurable state of feeling in those around him . But this desire to promote the happiness of those over whom he had personally an influence , never induced him to compromise their higher interests , or the interests of others , for their
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oflhelhteJeremkjBehthant . * 457
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No . 67 . 2 L
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1832, page 457, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1816/page/25/
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