ABSTRACT
Solid and coherent as the political and social fabric of England was, it was too narrow to contain the national life. The great mass of the nation received hardly a ray of light or warmth from this society of gentlemen, from this aristocratic Church, from this State religion embodied in paragraphs, from this exclusive political system. The founding of the American Republic and the French Revolution converted the idea into a reality. The Declaration of the Rights of Man proclaimed it to the world. The good tidings were received with enthusiasm in more than one quarter in England. Combining a rare power of analysis with consummate skill in classification and a passion for detail, Bentham subjected several departments of English legislation to a minute examination. He took each institution to pieces as a clockmaker does the works of a clock.
