(1791). He is "Mr. Macfungus" in the
Anti- Jacobin's
account of the "Meeting of the Friends of Freedom." But his revolutionary sympathies rapidly cooled, and he publicly disavowed them in his
Introductory Discourse on the Study of the Law of Nature and Nations
(1799). He remained, however, throughout his life, a Whig. His lectures on "
The Law of Nature and Nations
," delivered at Lincoln's Inn, in 1799, brought him into prominence, both at the Bar and in society. In 1803 he was knighted on accepting the Recordership of Bombay. He returned to England in 1812, entered Parliament as member for Nairn, advocated some useful measures, became a Privy Councillor in 1828, and held office in the Whig Ministry of 1830 as Commissioner of the Board of Control. In politics, as well as in literature, he disappointed expectation. His principal works, besides those mentioned above, were his
Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy
(1830), and his
History of the Revolution in England in 1688