which they were founded; he was a warm and open enemy to all unions of ecclefial tical with political fyftems, however modified and limited. In this refpect, as in various others, he differed from many of his Diffenting brethren; and, while he was engaged in controverty with the Church, he had to luftain attacks from the oppofite quarter. But warfare of this kind he never feared or avoided: it coft him little expence of time and none of fpirits; it even feemed as if fuch an exercife was falutary to his mental conftitution.

Few readers of this sketch need be told that Dr. Priet.ey was at the head of the modern Unitarians; a fect, of which the leading tenet is the proper humanity of Christ, and which confines every fpecies of religious worship and adoration to the One Supreme. If tho e who have charged him with infidelity meant any hing more than an inference from his avowed opinions on this head, and imagined that he in ended more than he declared, and entertain ed a fecret purpose of undermining the Chriflian Revelation, they have been guilty ef a calumny from which the leaft exertion of candour and penetration would have preferved them. They might have perecived that he was one who laid open his whole foul on every fubject in which he was engaged; and that zeal for Chriftia. nity, as a divine difpenfation, and the moft valuable of all gifts bestowed upon the human kind, was his ruling paffion.

The favourable reception of the Hiftory of Electricity had induced Dr. Prieftley to adopt the grand design, of pursuing the rife and progrefs of the other sciences, in a hiftorical form; and much of his time at Leeds was occupied in his fecond work upon this plan, entitled "The Hiftory and Prefent State of Discoveries relating to Vision, Light, and Colours," which ap. peared in 2 vols. 4to. 1772. This is al lowed to be a performance of great merit; poff ffing a lucid arrangement, and that clear, perfpicuous view of his fubject which it was the author's peculiar talent to afford. It failed, however, of attaining the popularity of his Hiftory of Electricity, chiefly because it was impoffible to give adequate notions of many parts of the theory of optics without a more accurate acquaintance with mathematics than common readers can be fuppofed to poffefs. Perhaps too, the writer himself was fearcely competent to explain the abfrufer parts of this fcience. It proved to be the termination of his plan; but fcience was no lofer by the circumftance; for the activity of his mind was turned from the

confideration of the difcoveries of others, to the attempt of making discoveries of his own, and nothing could be more brilhant than his fuccefs. We find that at this period he had begun those experiments upon air, which have given the greatest celebrity to his name as a natural philo fopher.

In 1770, Dr. Priestley quitted Leeds for a fituation as different as could well be imagined. His philofophical writings, and the recommendation of his friend Dr. Price, had made him fo favourably known to the Earl of Shelburne (now Marquis of Lanfdown) that this nobleman, one of the very few in this country, who have affumed the patronage of literature and fcience, made him fuch advantageous propotals for refidence with him, that regard to his family would not permit them to be rejected. It was merely in the capacity of his Lordship's librarian, or, rather, his literary and philofophical companion, in the hours that could be devoted to such purfuits, that Dr. Priestley became an inmate with him. The domeftic tuition of Lord Shelburne's fons was already committed to a man of merit, and they received from Dr. Priestley no other inftruction than that of tome courks of experimental philofophy. During this period, his family refided at Calne, in Wiltshire, adjacent to Bow-wood, the countryfest of Lord Shelburne. Dr. Priestley frequently accompanied his noble Patron to London, and mixed at his house with feveral of the eminent characters of the time, by whom he was treated with the refpect due to his talents and virtues. He alfo attended his Lordfhip in a vifit to Paris, where he faw many of the most celebrated men of fcience and letters in that country; and he astonished them by his affertion of a firm belief in revealed religion, which had been prefented to their minds in fuch colours, that they thought no man of fente could hefitate in rejecting it as an idle fable.

Whilt he was enjoying the advantages of this fituation, in every affiftance from books and a noble apparatus for the purfuit of experimental enquiry, he alfo appeared in the height of his fame as an acute metaphyfician. In 1775, he publifhed his Examintion of Dr. Reid on the Human Mind; Dr. Beattie on the Nature and Immutability of Truth: and Dr. Ofwald's Appeal to Common Senfe." The purpote of this volume was to refute the new doctrine of common fenfe, employed as the criterion of truth by the metaphyficians of Scotland, and to pre

pare

pare the way for the reception of the Hartleian theory of the human mind, which he was then engaged in prefenting under a more popular and intelligible form. They who conceive Dr. Prieftley to have been triumphant in argument on this occafion, agree in difapproving (as he himfelf did afterwards) the contempt and farcafm with which he treated his antagonifts, which they do not think excufed by the air of arrogance and felf-fufficiency affumed by thefe writers in their ftrictures upon other reafoners. But this was not the only infance in which he thought it allowable to enliven the drynefs of controverfy by ftrokes of ridicule. He never intentionally mifreprefented either the arguments or the purposes of an opponent; but he measured the refpe&t with which he treated him, by that which he felt for him in his own mind.

In his publication of Hartley's Theory he had expreffed fome doubts as to the common hypothefis, that man poffeffes a foul, or immaterial fubftance, totally diftinct from his body. For this opinion he had undergone obloquy as a favourer of Atheism; but, as no perfonal imputation was of weight with him in the purfuit of what he thought to be the truth, he did not fcruple, in 1777, to publish "Difquifitions relating to Matter and Spirit," in which he gave a history of the philofophical doctrine concerning the foul, and openly fupported the material fyftem, which makes it homogeneous with the body. Perhaps, of all Dr. Priestley's deviations from received opinions, this has fubjected him to the greatest odium, and has moft ftartled the true friends of reafon and free enquiry, on account of its fuppofed confequences. The natural proofs of a future ftate appear to be fo much invalidated by the rejection of a separate principle, the feat of thought, which may efcape from the perifhing body to which it is temporarily united, that he feemed to have been employed in demolishing one of the great pillars upon which religion is founded. It is enough here to obferve, that, in Dr. Priestley's mind, the deficiency of these natural proofs only operated as an additional argument in favour of revelation; the neceffity of which, to fupport the most important point of human belief, was thereby rendered more ftikingly apparent. It may be added, that as he materialized fpirit, fo he, in fome measure, fpiritualized matter, by affigning to it penetrability and other fubtle qualities.

At this time he also appeared in great

force as the champion of the doctrine of philofophical neceffity; a doctrine not lets obnoxious to many, on account of its fuppofed effects on morality, than the former. To him, however, it was the fource (as he always affèried) of the highest fatisfaction, both religious and moral; and a number of his followers have found it, in like manner, compatible with all the beft principles of human conduct. With his intimate friend, Dr. Price, whofe opinions in both the last-mentioned points was radically different from his, a correspondence relative to them took place, which was published in a volume, and affords a most pleafing example of debate, carried on with perfect urbanity, and every token of mutual respect and affection.

Such was the wonderful compafs and verlatility of his mind, that at this very period he was carrying on that courfe of difcovery concerning aëriform bodies, which has rendered his name fo illuftrious among philofophical chemists. In the Philofophical Tranfactions for 1773, we find a paper containing "Obfervations on different Kinds of Air," by Dr. Priestley z which obtained the honorary prize of Copley's medal. Thefe were reprinted, with many important additions, in the first volume of his "Experiments and Obfervations on different Kinds of Air," 8vo. 1774. A fecond volume of this work was published in 1775, and a third in 1777. To give the lightest view of the original matter in thefe volumes, would oc cupy more time and space than this fketch permits; but it may with juftice be affirmed, that they added a greater mass of fact to the hiftory of aëriform fluids than the united labours of all others employed upon the fame fubject. Some of the moft ftriking of his difcoveries were thofe of nitrous, and dephlogisticated, or pure, air; of the restoration of vitiated air by vegetation; of the influence of light on vegetables, and of the effects of refpiration upon the blood. In these volumes he did not attempt theory or systematic arrangement, thinking that the knowledge of facts was not fufficiently advanced for that purpose; and he threw them out haftily as new matter occurred, in purfuance of his liberal principle already noticed, that fellow-labourers in matters of fcience fhould as foon as poffible be apprized of difcoveries which might put them in the track of making others.

The name of Priestley was by these publications fpread through all the enlightened countries of Europe, and honours from fcientific bodies in various

parts

parts were accumulated upon him. The votaries of phyfical fcience now, doubtlefs, flattered themselves, that the ardour of his powerful mind was durably fixed upon the advancement of natural philofophy and chemistry; but an intimation at the clofe of the aft volume, of his intention to intermit hole puriuits in order to engage in other fpeculative topics, fufficiently proved to all who knew him, that experimental enquiries could occupy only a fecondary place in his mind. Thefe other and more favourite topics, were the metaphyfical theories, which have been already mentioned, and the theological difcuffions which he refumed with frefl zeal and induftry. The continuation of his "Inftitutes of Religion;" his "Letters to a Philofophical Unbeliever;" his "Harmony of the Evangelifts;" and various tracts on moral and religious topics, marked his return to his former ftudies.

The term of his engagement with Lord Shelburne having expired, Dr. Priestley, with a penfion for life of 1 50l. per annum, was at liberty to choose a new fituation.

He gave the preference to the neigh bourhood of the populous town of Birmingham, chiefly induced by the advantages it afforded, from the nature of its manufactures, to the pursuits of chemical experiments. It was alfo the refidence of feveral men of science; among whom the names of Watt, Withering, Bolton, and Keir, are well known to the public. With thefe he was foon upon terms of friendly reciprocation of knowledge and mutual aid in research; and their Lunarian Club prefented a conftellation of talent which would not easily have been assembled even in the metropolis.

He had not long occupied his new habitation, before he was invited to undertake the office of paftor to a congregation of Diffenters in Birmingham, upon which he entered with great fatisfaction towards the clofe of 1780. He found a fociety cordially attached to his perfon and doctrines; and he merited their esteem by the moft affiduous performance of all the paftoral duties. Some of the most important of his theological works foon iffued from the Birmingham prefs. Of these were his "Letters to Bishop Newcome, on the Duration of Chrift's Miniftry;" and his "Hiftory of the Corruptions of Chrif tianity;' afterwards followed by his "Hiftory of Early Opinions." Controverfies upon theological topics multiplied around him, to all of which he paid the attention they feemed to require. The warm difputes which took place on occafion of the applications of the Dif

His

fenters for relief from the difabilities and penalties of the Corporation and Teft Acts, fupplied a new fubject of contest, into which he could not for bear to enter, both as a friend to toleration in general, and as one of the body aggrieved. hoftility to the establishment became more decided, and he appealed to the people on the points of difference, in his "Familiar Letters to the Inhabitants of Birmingham," written with much force, but with his ufual difregard of caution.

Little has hitherto been faid of the polical exertions of Dr. Priestley, which, indeed, form no confpicuous part of his literary life. He had difplayed his attachment to freedom by his "Effay on the First Principles of Government," and by an anonymous pamphlet on the state of public liberty in this country; and had fhewn a warm interest in the cause of America at the time of its unfortunate quarrel with the mother country. The French Revolution was an event which could fcarcely fail of being contemplated by him with fatisfaction. His fanguine hopes faw in it the dawn of light and liberty over Europe; and he particularly expected from it the eventual downfal of all establifhments inimical to the spread of truth. Such expectations he was at no pains to conceal; and as parties now began to take their decided stations, and to be infpired with all the ufual rancour of opponents in civil contests, he was naturally rendered a prominent mark of party hatred.

In this ftate of mutual exasperation, the celebration of the anniversary of the deftruction of the Baftille, by a public dinner, on July 14, 1791, at which Dr. Priestley was not prefent, gave the fignal of thofe favage riots, which have thrown lafting difgrace on the town of Birmingham, and in fome degree on the national character. Amid the conflagration of houfes of worfhip and private dwellings, Dr. Priestley was the great object of popular rage; his houfe, library, manufcripts, and apparatus, were made a prey to the flames; he was hunted like a proclaimed criminal, and experienced not only the furious outrages of a mob, but the most unhandfome treatment from fome who ought to have fustained the parts of gentlemen, and friends of peace and order.

It would be painful to dwell upon thefe fcenes. Suffice it to fay, that he was driven for ever from his favourite refidence; that his loffes were very inadequately compenfated; and that he paffed fome time as a wanderer, till an invita tion to fucceed Dr. Price in a congrega. tion at Hackney gave him a new fettle

ment.

ment. This was rendered more interefting to him by a connection with the new diffenting-college, eftablished at that place. His mind, by its native elafticity, recovered from the fhock of his cruel loffes, and he refumed his ufual labours.

This was, however, far from being a a feafon of tranquillity. Parties ran high, and events were daily taking place calculated to agitate the mind, and infpire varied emotions of tumultuous expectation. Dr. Priestley, however he might be regarded by the friends of Government, had no reason to entertain apprehenfions for his personal safety on the part of authority; but he was confcious that he lay under a load of public odium and fufpicion, and he was perpetually haraffed by the petty malignity of bigotry. Having fo lately been the victim of a paroxyfm of popular rage, he could not be perfectly easy in the vicinity of a vast metropolis, where any fudden impulfe given to the tumultuous mass might bring irrefiftible destruction upon the heads of thofe who fhould be pointed out as ob. jes of vengeance. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, that he looked towards an afylum in a country to which he had always fhewn a friendly attachment, and which was in poffefiion of all the bleffings of civil and religious liberty. Some family reafons alfo enforced this choice of a new fituation. He took leave of his native country in 1794, and embarked for North America. He carried with him the fincere regrets of a great number of vererating and affectionate friends and admirers; and his departure, while celebrated as a triumph by unfeeling bigots, was lamented by the moderate and impartial, as a kind of ftigma on the country which, by its ill treatment, had expelled a citizen whom it might enrol among its proudest boats.

Northumberland, a town in the inland parts of the ftate of Pennfylvania, was the place in which he fixed his refidence. It was felected on account of the purchase of landed property in its neighbourhood; otherwife, its remoteness from the fea ports, its want of many of the comforts of civilized life, and of all the helps to ftudious and fcientific purfuit, rendered it a peculiarly undefirable abode for one of Dr. Priestley's habits and employments. The lofs of his excellent wife, and of a very promifing fon, together with repeated attacks of difeafe and other calamities, feverely tried the fortitude and refignation of this Chriftian philofopher; but he had within him what rendered him fuperior to MONTHLY MAG, No. 114,

all external events, and pious ferenity was the fettled temper of his foul.

In America he was received, if not with the ardour of sympathy and admiration, yet with general refpest; nor were the angry contents of party able laftingly to deprive him of the efteem due to his character. If he had any fanguine hopes of diffufing his religious principles over the new continent; or if his friends expected that the brilliancy of his philofophical reputation fhould place him in a highly confpicuous light among a people yet in the infancy of mental culture, fuch expectations were certainly disappointed. He was, however, heard as a preacher by fome of the most diftinguished members of congrefs; and he was offered, but declined, the place of chemical profeffor at Philadelphia. It became his great object to enable himself in his retirement at Northumberland to renew that course of philofophical experiment, and efpecially that train of theological writing, which had occupied fo many of the best years of his life. By indefatigable pains he got together a valuable apparatus and well-furnifhed library, and cheerfully returned to his former employnients. By many new experiments on the conftitution of airs, he became more and more fixed in his belief of the phlogistic theory, and in his oppofition to the new French chemical fyftem, of which he lived to be the fole opponent of note. The refults of feveral of his enquiries on these topics were given, both in feparate publications, and in the American Philofophical Transactions. A number of pamphlets on different occafions of controverfy fell from his pen; and by his comparisons of the Jewish with the Maho metan and Hindoo religions, and the characters of Chrift and Socrates, he endeavoured to ftrengthen the bulwarks of revelation. The liberal contributions of his friends in England enabled him to commence the printing of two extenfive works, on which he was zealously bent, a Church History, and an Expofition of the Scriptures; and through the progrefs of his final decline he unremittingly urged their completion.

The circumstances attending the clofe of his ufeful and exemplary life are related with fuch interefting fimplicity in the following article of the Philadelphia Gazette, that every one must receive pleas fure from reading the narrative entire.

"Since his illness at Philadelphia, in the year 1801, he never regained his fort mer good ftate of health. His complaint was conftant indigeftion, and a difficulty 3 B

of

of fwallowing food of any kind. But during this period of general debility, he was bufily employed in printing his Church Hiftory, and the first volume of his Notes on the Scriptures, and in making new and original experiments. During this period, likewife, he wrote his pamphlet of Jefus and Socrates compared, and teprinted his Effay on Phlogiston.

"From about the beginning of November, 1853, to the middle of January, 1804, his complaint grew more ferious; yet, by judicious medical treatment, and ftrict attention to diet, he, after fome time, feemed, if not gaining ftrength, at least not getting worfe; and his friends fondly hoped that his health would continue to improve as the feafon advanced. He, however, confidered his life as very precarious. Even at this time, befides his mifcellaneous reading, which was at all times very extenfive, he read through all the works quoted in his "Comparison of the different Systems of Grecian Philofophers with Chriftianity" compofed that work, and transcribed the whole of it in lefs than three months; so that he has left it ready for the prefs. During this period he compofed, in one day, his Second Reply to Dr. Linn.

In the last fortnight of January, his fits of indigeftion became more alarming, his legs fwelled, and his weakness increased. Within two days of his death he became fo weak, that he could walk but a little way, and that with great difficulty. For fome time he found himself unable to speak; but, on recovering a little, he told his friends, that he had never felt more pleafantly during his whole life-time, than during the time he was unable to speak. He was fully fenfible that he had not long to live, yet talked with cheerfulness to all who called on him. In the course of the day he expreffed his thankfulnels at being permitted to die quietly in his family, without pain, and with every convenience and comfort that he could wish for. He dwelt upon the peculiarly happy fituation in which it had pleafed the Divine Being to place him in life, and the great advantage he had enjoyed in the acquaintance and friendship of fome of the belt and wifeft men of the age in which he lived, and the fatisfaction he derived from having led an useful as well as happy life. He this day gave di. rections about printing the remainder of his Notes on Scripture (a work, in the completion of which he was much interested), and looked over the first sheet of

the third volume, after it was corrected by those who were to attend to its completion, and expreffed his fatisfaction at the manner of its being executed.

"On Sunday, the 5th, he was much weaker, but fat up in an arm-chair for a few minutes. He defired that John, chap. xi. might be read to him: he stopped the reader at the 45th verfe, dwelt for fome time on the advantage he had derived from reading the Scriptures daily, and recommended this practice, faying, that it would prove a fource of the pureft pleafure. We fhall all (faid he) meet finally; we only require different degrees of difcipline fuited to our different tempers, to prepare us for final happiness. Mr. coming into his room, he faid, 'You see, Sir, I am still living. Mr. obferved,

that he would always live. Yes, I believe I ball; we shall meet again in another and a better world.' He faid this with great animation, laying hold of Mr.

-'s hard in both his own. After evening prayers, when his grand children were brought to his bed-fide, he spoke to them separately, and exhorted them to continue to love each other, &c. I am going (added he) to fleep as well as you, for death is only a good long found fleep in the grave, and we shall meet again.'

On Monday morning, the 9th of February, on being asked how he did, he answered in a faint voice, that he had no pain, but appeared fainting away gradual ly. About eight o'clock, he defired to have three pamphlets which had been looked out by his directions, the evening before. He then dictated as clearly and distinctly as he had ever done in his life, the additions and alterations which he wifhed to have made in each. M took down the fubftance of what he faid, which was read to him. He obferved, "Sir, you have put in your own language, I with it to be mine." He then repeated over again, nearly word for word, what he had before faid, and when it was tranfcribed, and read over to him, he said, "That is right, I have now done."

"About half an hour after, he defired that he might be removed to a cot. About ten minutes after he was removed to it, he died; but breathed his laft fo eafily, that thofe who were fitting close to him did not immediately perceive it. He had put his hand to his face, which prevented them from observing it"

This was indeed "the death of the righteous !" and it is prefumed, that no one poffeffed of generous and tender feelings,

how