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rational liberty, Dr. Priestley commanded the esteem of the liberal-minded of every persuasion. In defence of the privileges of reason, his arguments were unanswerable, insomuch that his antagonists were obliged to have recourse to the old mode of ignition-they endeavoured to destroy by fire what they could not confute by fair and manly argumentation.

Joseph Priestley was, perhaps, the best representative of the old English character, that has appeared in the present age of insincere and foppish refinement; and he may be compared with Daniel De Foe, and Andrew Marvel, who so nobly stemmed the torrent of corruption in worse times. Let those persons, then, who may yet be inclined to condemn this philosopher, first candidly peruse his works, and do not let them, as is almost always the case, disapprove of his sentiments without examination.

A few narrow-minded individuals may endeavour to decry their once persecuted countryman, but surely the majority of unbiassed Britons are too magnanimous to remember only the errors of a man like themselves. They cannot forget his eminent services. His venerable

remains, it is true, are interred in another country far distant from his native land :—

"By stranger's honour'd and by strangers mourn'd."

But "though dead, he yet speaketh," in his excellent moral and philosophical works, which remain an honourable memorial of his genius and his virtue.

"The man resolv'd and steady to his trust,
Inflexible to ill, and obstinately just,

May the rude rabble's insolence despise,

Their senseless clamours and tumultuous cries.

The tyrant's fierceness he beguiles,

And the stern brow, and the harsh voice defies,
And with superior greatness smiles!"

Not the rough whirlwind that deforms
Adria's black gulph, and vexes it with storms,
Nor the red arm of angry Jove,

That flings the thunder from the sky,

And gives it rage to roar and strength to fly,
The stubborn virtue of his soul can move!"

Should the whole frame of nature round him break, In ruin and confusion hurl'd,

He unconcern'd would hear the mighty crack,

AND STAND SECURE AMIDST A FALLINE WORLD."

THE END.

APPENDIX.

The following select passages, from the writings of Dr. Priestley, are illustrative of his character, principles, and abilities, as an author.

Extracts from "An Appeal to the Public, on the Subject of the Riots at Birmingham."

66

I Became an inhabitant of Birmingham in the year 1780, without any other view than as a proper situation for attending to my philosophical pursuits, in which, having no original fortune of my own, I was assisted by a few liberal friends of science, who were pleased to

think favourably of me in that respect. It was a plan suggested by the late Dr. Fothergill, and cheerfully adopted by Sir George Savile, Sir Stephen Theodore Janssen, Mr. Constable, of Burton Constable, and Dr. Price; all of them, it is something remarkable, of different religious persuasions, but equally lovers of experimental philosophy, and disinterested promoters of it.

*

*

"In two administrations proposals were made to assist me by a pension. But in both cases 1 declined the overture, chusing rather to be obliged to generous individuals, notwithstanding some unpleasant circumstances,occasionally attending this situation, than add to the burdens of my country.

My original and favorite profession, however, was that of a christian minister, in my opinion, the most important, useful, and honorable of all others; for which, though discontinued six years while I was tutor in the academy at Warrington, and seven years while I was with the Marquis of Lansdown, I always had the strongest predilection, and in which I never

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