blackstone was admitted to middle temple, and called to the bar there in 1746. following a slow start to his career as a barrister, blackstone became heavily involved in university administration, becoming accountant, treasurer and bursar on 28 november 1746 and senior bursar in 1750. on 3 july 1753 he formally gave up his practice as a barrister and started a series of lectures on english law, the first of their kind. the lectures on law were massively successful. they earnt him a total of £453 (£) per year, and led to the publication of "an analysis of the laws of england" in 1756. this repeatedly sold out and was used to preface his later works.