“May I beg you will do me the honour to accept a copy
of the third part of my ‘Observations on Penal
Jurisprudence,’ and to excuse the liberty I have taken in publicly
inscribing them to you; a liberty which, independently of those sentiments of
sincere and friendly attachment which I have so long entertained, I have been
induced to take, in the hope of attracting greater notice to my publication by
prefacing it with your name, and at the same time of showing that I have
understood the notice with which you honoured me in the House of Commons, in
the friendly sense in which it was intended, although I could not, without a
dereliction of what I conceived to be an indispensable duty, submit to the
opinion it pronounced. It would, however, be a proof not only of a want of
feeling, but of a presumption on my part, of which I hope I am incapable, if I
could publish this small volume, in which I have been obliged to oppose the
opinions of so many eminent persons, whom I most highly respect, without the
greatest reluctance and anxiety; but being thoroughly convinced, from the best
consideration I can give the subject, that no change for the better can take
place either in this or any other depart-
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 225 |
