ACONTINUATIONOF THEMEMOIRSOFDr.JOSEPH PRIESTLEY.[Written by his Son Joseph Priestley.]

Thus far the narrative is from my father’s manuscript, and I regret extremely, with the reader, that it falls to my lot to give an account of the latter period of his valuable life.

I entertained hopes at one time, that he would have continued it himself; and he was frequently requested to do so, by me and many of his friends in the course of the year preceding his death. He had then nearly compleated all the literary works he had in view, he had arrived at that period of lifewhen, in imitation of his friend Mr. Lindsey, he had determined not to preach again in public, and beyond which he probably would not have ventured to publish any work without first subjecting it to the inspection of some judicious friend.

He was requested also, in imitation of Courayer, to add at the close of his Memoirs a summary of his religious opinions. This would have counteracted the suspicions entertained by some, that they had undergone a considerable change since his coming to America; and it was thought by his friends, that such a brief and simple statement of all that appeared to him essential to the christian belief, and the christian character, would attract the attention of many readers previously indisposed to religion altogether, from not understanding its real nature, and judging of it only from the corrupt, adulterated, and complicated state, in which it is professed in all countries called christian. Unbelievers in general have no conception of the perfect coincidence of christianity with rational philosophy, of the sublime views it affords of the divine benevolence, and how powerfully it acts to promote the pleasures and lessen the evils of the present life, at the same time that it holds outto us a certain prospect of a future and endless state of enjoyment. It was suggested to him also, that as his society through life had been singularly varied and extensive, and his opportunities of attaining a general knowledge of the world, and a particular knowledge of eminent political and literary characters, very great, it would contribute much to the instruction and amusement of those into whose hands his Memoirs should fall, if they were accompanied with anecdotes of the principal characters with whom he had been acquainted. For he had a fund of anecdote which he was never backward to produce for the amusement of his friends, as occasions served for introducing it. But his relations were never sarcastic or ironical, or tended to disparage the characters of the persons spoken of, unless on subjects of manifest importance to the interests of society.

He meant to have complied with the above suggestions, but being at that time very busily employed about his Comparison, and thinking his Memoirs of little value compared with the works about which he was then engaged, he put off the completion of his narrative, until his other works should be ready for thepress. Unfortunately this was too late. The work he had in hand was not compleated until the 22d January, when he was very weak and suffered greatly from his disorder, and he died on the 6th of February following:

The reader will therefore make allowance for the difference between what these Memoirs might have been, and what they now are; and particularly for the part which I venture to lay before the public as a continuation of his own account.

The reasons that induced him to quit England, and the progress of his opinions and inclinations respecting that last important æra in his life, have been but briefly stated in the preceding pages by himself. But as many may peruse these Memoirs, into whose hands his appeal to the public, occasioned by the riots at Birmingham, and his Fast sermon, in which he assigns at length his reasons for leaving his native country, are not likely to fall; I think it right to present to the readers, in his own words the history of the motives that impelled him to exchange his residence in England for one in this country.

The disgraceful riots at Birmingham were certainly the chief cause that first induced my father tothink of leaving England, though at the time of his writing the second part of the Appeal, in August 1792, he had not come to any determination on the subject. This appears from the following passage which as it shews the progress of his discontent, and likewise the true state of his political opinions, particularly in relation to the English form of government I shall quote.—

“In this almost universal prevalence of a spirit so extremely hostile to me and my friends, and which would be gratified by my destruction, it cannot be any matter of surprise, that a son of mine should wish to abandon a country in which his father has been used as I have been, especially when it is considered that this son was present at the riot in Birmingham, exerting himself all the dreadful night of the 14th of July, to save what he could of my most valuable property; that in consequence of this his life was in imminent danger, and another young man was nearly killed because he was mistaken for him. This would probably have been his fate, if a friend had not almost perforce kept him concealed some days, so that neither myself nor his mother knew what was become of him. I had not, however,the ambition to court the honour that has been shewn him by the national assembly of France, and even declined the proposal of his naturalization. At the most, I supposed it would have been done without anyeclat; and I knew nothing of its being done in so very honourable a way until I saw the account in the public newspapers. To whatever country this son of mine shall choose to attach himself, I trust that, from the good principles, and the spirit, that he has hitherto shewn, he will discharge the duties of a good citizen.”

“As to myself, I cannot be supposed to feel much attachment to a country in which I have neither found protection, nor redress. But I am too old, and my habits too fixed, to remove, as I own I should otherwise have been disposed to do, to France, or America. The little that I am capable of doing must be in England, where I shall therefore continue, as long as it shall please the supreme Disposer of all things to permit me[25].

[25]“Since this was written, I have myself, without any solicitation on my part, been made a citizen of France, and moreover elected a member of the present Conventional Assembly. These, I scruple not to avow, I consider as the greatest of honours; though, for the reasons which are now made public, I have declined accepting the latter.”

It might have been thought that, having written so much in defence of revelation, and of Christianity in general, more perhaps than all the clergy of the church of England now living; this defence of acommon causewould have been received as some atonement for my demerits in writing against civil establishments of christianity, and particular doctrines. But had I been an open enemy of all religion, the animosity against me could not have been greater than it is. Neither Mr. Hume nor Mr. Gibbon was a thousandth part so obnoxious to the clergy as I am; so little respect have my enemies for christianity itself, compared with what they have for their emoluments from it.”

“As to my supposed hostility to the principles of the civil constitution of this country, there has been no pretence whatever for charging me with any thing of the kind. Besides that the very catalogue of my publications will prove that my life has been devoted to literature, and chiefly to natural philosophy and theology, which have not left me any leisure for factious politics; in the few things that I have written of a political nature, I have been an avowed advocate for our mixed government byKing, Lords, and Commons; but because I have objected to the ecclesiastical part of it, and to particular religious tenets, I have been industriously represented as openly seditious, and endeavouring the overthrow of every thing that isfixed, the enemy of all order, and of all government.”

“Every publication which bears my name is in favour of our present form of government. But if I had not thought so highly of it, and had seen reason for preferring a more republican form, and had openly advanced that opinion; I do not know that the proposing to free discussion a system of government different from that of England, even to Englishmen, is any crime, according to the existing laws of this country. It has always been thought, at least, that our constitution authorises the free proposal, and discussion, of all theoretical principles whatever, political ones not excepted. And though I might now recommend a very different form of government to a people who had no previous prejudices or habits, the case is very different with respect to one thathas; and it is the duty of every good citizen to maintain that government of any country which the majority of its inhabitants approve,whether he himself should otherwise prefer it, or not.”

“This, however, is all that can in reason be required of any man. To demand more would be as absurd as to oblige every man, by the law of marriage, to maintain that his particular wife was absolutely the handsomest, and best tempered woman in the world; whereas it is surely sufficient if a man behave well to his wife, and discharge the duties of a good husband.”

“A very great majority of Englishmen, I am well persuaded, are friends to what are calledhigh maxims of government. They would choose to have the power of the crown rather enlarged than reduced, and would rather see all the Dissenters banished than any reformation made in the church. A dread of every thing tending torepublicanismis manifestly increased of late years, and is likely to increase still more. The very term is become one of the most opprobrious in the English language. The clergy (whose near alliance with the court, and the present royal family, after having been almost a century hostile to them, is a remarkable event in the present reign) have contributed not a little tothat leaning to arbitrary power in the crown which has lately been growing upon us. They preach up the doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance with as little disguise as their ancestors did in the reign of the Stuarts, and their adulation of the king and of the minister is abject in the extreme. Both Mr. Madan’s sermon and Mr. Burn’s reply to my Appeal discover the same spirit; and any sentiment in favour of liberty that is at all bold and manly, such as, till of late, was deemed becoming Englishmen and the disciples of Mr. Locke, is now reprobated as seditious.”

“In these circumstances, it would be nothing less than madness seriously to attempt a change in the constitution, and I hope I am not absolutely insane. I sincerely wish my countrymen, as part of the human race (though, I own, I now feel no particular attachment to them on any other ground) the undisturbed enjoyment of that form of government which they so evidently approve; and as I have no favour to ask of them, or of their governors, besides mere protection, as to a stranger, while I violate no known law, and have not this to ask for any long term, I hope it will be granted me. If not, I must,like many others, in all ages and all nations, submit to whatever the supreme Being, whose eye is upon us all, and who I believe intends, and will in his own time bring about, the good of all, shall appoint, and by their means execute.” [Appeal part II page 109. &c.]

The rising disinclination which the preceding passage shews had taken place in my father’s mind towards a longer residence in England, became confirmed by various circumstances, particularly the determination of his sons to emigrate to America. These, together with other reasons, that finally influenced his conduct on the subject of removing to this country, are stated at large as I have before observed in the preface to his Fast sermon for the year 1794 and I cannot so properly give them as in his own words.

“This discourse, and those on theEvidences of Divine Revelation, which will be published about the same time, being the last of my labours in this country, I hope my friends, and the public, will indulge me while I give the reasons of theirbeingthe last, in consequence of my having at length, aftermuch hesitation, and now with reluctance, come to a resolution to leave this kingdom.

After the riots in Birmingham, it was the expectation, and evidently the wish, of many persons, that I should immediately fly to France, or America. But I had no consciousness of guilt to induce me to fly my country[26]. On the contrary, I came directly to London, and instantly, by means of my friend Mr. Russell, signified to the king’s ministers, that Iwasthere, and ready, if they thought proper,to be interrogated on the subject of the riot. But no notice was taken of the message.

[26]If, instead of flying from lawless violence, I had been flying from public justice, I could not have been pursued with more rancour, nor could my friends have been more anxious for my safety. One man, who happened to see me on horseback on one of the nights in which I escaped from Birmingham, expressed his regret that he had not taken me, expecting probably some considerable reward, as he said, it was so easy for him to have done it. My friends earnestly advised me to disguise myself as I was going to London. But all that was done in that way was taking a place for me in the mail coach, which I entered at Worcester, in another name than my own. However, the friend who had the courage to receive me in London had thought it necessary to provide a dress that should disguise me, and also a method of making my escape, in case the house should have been attacked on my account; and for some time my friends would not suffer me to appear in the streets.

Ill treated as I thought I had been, not merely by the populace of Birmingham, for they were the mere tools of their superiors, but by the country in general, which evidently exulted in our sufferings, and afterwards by the representatives of the nation, who refused to inquire into the cause of them, I own I was not without deliberating upon the subject of emigration; and several flattering proposals were made me, especially from France, which was then at peace within itself, and with all the world; and I was at one time much inclined to go thither, on account of its nearness to England, the agreeableness of its climate, and my having many friends there.

But I likewise considered that, if I went thither I should have no employment of the kind to which I had been accustomed; and the season of active life not being, according to the course of nature, quite over, I wished to make as much use of it as I could. I therefore determined to continue in England, exposed as I was not only to unbounded obloquy and insult, but to every kind of outrage; and after my invitation to succeed myfriend Dr. Price, I had no hesitation about it. Accordingly I took up my residence where I now am, though so prevalent was the idea of my insecurity, that I was not able to take the house in my own name; and when a friend of mine took it inhis, it was with much difficulty that, after some time, the landlord was prevailed upon to transfer the lease to me. He expressed his apprehensions, not only of the house that I occupied, being demolished, but also a capital house in which he himself resides, at the distance of no less than twenty miles from London, whither he supposed the rioters would go next, merely for suffering me to live in a house ofhis.

But even this does not give such an idea of the danger that not only myself, but every person, and every thing, that had the slightest connection with me, were supposed to be in, as the following. The managers of one of the principal charities among the Dissenters applied to me to preach their annual sermon, and I had consented. But the treasurer a man of fortune, who knew nothing more of me than my name, was so much alarmed at it, that he declared he could not sleep. I therefore, to his great relief, declined preaching at all.

When it was known that I was settled where I now am, several of my friends, who lived near me, were seriously advised to remove their papers, and other most valuable effects, to some place of greater safety in London. On the 14th of July, 1792, it was taken for granted by many of the neighbours, that my house was to come down, just as at Birmingham the year before. When the Hackney association was formed, several servants in the neighbourhood actually removed their goods; and when there was some political meeting at the house of Mr. Breillat, though about two miles from my house, a woman whose daughter was servant in the house contiguous to mine, came to her mistress, to entreat that she might be out of the way; and it was not without much difficulty that she was pacified, and prevailed upon to let her continue in the house, her mistress saying that she was as safe as herself.

On several other occasions the neighbourhood has been greatly alarmed on account of my being so near them. Nor was this without apparent reason. I could name a person, and to appearance a reputable tradesman, who, in the companyof his friends, and in the hearing of one of my late congregation at Birmingham, but without knowing him to be such, declared that, in case of any disturbance, they would immediately come to Hackney, evidently, for the purpose of mischief. In this state of things, it is not to be wondered at, that of many servants who were recommended to me, and some that were actually hired, very few could, for a long time, be prevailed upon to live with me.

These facts not only shew how general was the idea of my particular insecurity in this country; but what is of much more consequence, and highly interesting to the country at large, an idea of the general disposition to rioting and violence that prevails in it, and that the Dissenters are the objects of it. Mr. Pitt very justly observed, in his speech on the subject of the riots at Birmingham, that it was “the effervescence of the public mind.” Indeed the effervescible matter has existed in this country ever since the civil wars in the time of Charles I. and it was particularly apparent in the reign of Queen Anne. But the power of government under the former princes of the House of Hanover preventedits doing any mischief. The late events shew that this power is no longer exerted as it used to be, but that, on the contrary there prevails an idea, well or ill founded, that tumultuary proceedings against Dissenters will not receive any effectual discouragement. After what has taken place with respect to Birmingham, all idea of much hazard for insulting and abusing the Dissenters is entirely vanished; whereas the disposition to injure the Catholics was effectually checked by the proceedings of the year 1780. From that timetheyhave been safe, and I rejoice in it. But from the year 1791, the Dissenters have been more exposed to insult and outrage than ever.

Having fixed myself at Clapton; unhinged as I had been, and having lost the labour of several years; yet flattering myself that I should end my days here, I took a long lease of my house, and expended a considerable sum in improving it. I also determined, with the assistance of my friends, to resume my philosophical and other pursuits; and after an interruption amounting to about two years, it was with a pleasure that I cannot describe, that I entered my new laboratory, and began the most commonpreparatory processes, with a view to some original inquiries. With what success I have laboured, the public has already in some measure seen, and may see more hereafter.

But though I did not choose (notwithstanding I found myself exposed to continual insult) to leave my native country, I found it necessary to provide for my sons elsewhere. My eldest son was settled in a business, which promised to be very advantageous, at Manchester; but his partner though a man of liberality himself, informed him, on perceiving the general prevalence of the spirit which produced the riots in Birmingham, that, owing to his relationship tome, he was under the necessity of proposing a separation, which accordingly took place.

On this he had an invitation to join another connexion, in a business in which the spirit of party could not have much affected him; but he declined it. And after he had been present at the assizes at Warwick, he conceived such an idea of this country, that I do not believe any proposal, however advantageous, would have induced him to continue in it; so much was he affected on perceiving his father treated as I had been.

Determining to go to America, where he had no prospect but that of being a farmer, he wished to spend a short time with a person who had greatly distinguished himself in that way, and one who from his own general principles, and his friendship for myself, would have given him the best advice and assistance in his power. He, however, declined it, and acknowledged some time after, that had it been known, as it must have been, to his landlord, that he had a son ofminewith him, he feared he should have been turned out of his farm.

My second son who was present both at the riot, and the assizes, felt more indignation still, and willingly listened to a proposal to settle in France; and there his reception was but too flattering. However, on the breaking out of the war with this country, all mercantile prospects being suspended, he wished to go to America. There his eldest and youngest brother have joined him, and they are now looking out for a settlement, having as yet no fixed views.

The necessity I was under of sending my sons out of this country, was my principal inducement to send the little property that I had out of it too; so that I had nothing in England besides my library,apparatus, and household goods. By this, I felt myself greatly relieved, it being of little consequence where a man already turned sixty ends his days. Whatever good or evil I have been capable of, is now chiefly done; and I trust that the same consciousness of integrity, which has supported me hitherto, will carry me through any thing that may yet be reserved for me. Seeing, however, no great prospect of doing much good, or having much enjoyment, here, I am now preparing to follow my sons; hoping to be of some use to them in their present unsettled state, and that Providence may yet, advancing in years as I am, find me some sphere of usefulness along with them.

As to the great odium that I have incurred, the charge ofsedition, or my being an enemy to the constitution or peace of my country, is a mere pretence for it; though it has been so much urged, that it is now generally believed, and all attempts to undeceive the public with respect to it avail nothing at all. The whole course of my studies, from early life, shews how littlepoliticsof any kind have been my object. Indeed to have written so much as I have intheology, and to have done so much inexperimentalphilosophy, and at the same time to have had my mind occupied, as it is supposed to have been, with factious politics, I must have had faculties more than human. Let any person only cast his eye over the long list of my publications, and he will see that they relate almost wholly to theology, philosophy, or general literature.

I did, however, when I was a younger man, and before it was in my power to give much attention to philosophical pursuits, write a small anonymous political pamphlet, on theState of Liberty in this Country, about the time of Mr. Wilkes’s election for Middlesex, which gained me the acquaintance, and I may say the friendship, of Sir George Savile, and which I had the happiness to enjoy as long as he lived.

At the request also of Dr. Franklin and Dr. Fothergill, I wrote an address to the Dissenters on the subject of the approaching rupture with America, a pamphlet which Sir George Savile, and my other friends, circulated in great numbers, and it was thought with some effect.

After this I entirely ceased to write any thing on the subject of politics, except as far as the businessof theTest Act, and ofCivil Establishments of Religion, had a connection with politics. And though, at the recommendation of Dr. Price, I was presently after this taken into the family of the Marquis of Landsdowne, and I entered into almost all his views, as thinking them just and liberal, I never wrote a single political pamphlet, or even a paragraph in a newspaper, all the time that I was with him, which was seven years.

I never preached a political sermon in my life; unless such as, I believe all Dissenters usually preach on the fifth of November, in favour ofcivil and religious liberty, may be said to be political. And on these occasions, I am confident, that I never advanced any sentiment but such as, until of late years, would have tended to recommend, rather than render me obnoxious, to those who direct the administration of this country. And the doctrines which I adopted when young, and which were even popular then (except with the clergy, who were at that time generally disaffected to the family on the throne) I cannot abandon, merely because the times are so changed, that they are now become unpopular, and the expression and communication of them hazardous.

Farther, though I by no means disapprove of societies for political information, such as are now every where discountenanced, and generally suppressed, I never was a member of any of them; nor, indeed, did I ever attend any public meeting, if I could decently avoid it, owing to habits acquired in studious and retired life.

From a mistake of my talents and disposition, I was invited by many of the departments in France, to represent them in the present National Convention, after I had been made a citizen of France, on account of my being considered as one who had been persecuted for my attachment to the cause of liberty here. But though the invitation was repeated with the most flattering importunity, I never hesitated about declining it.

I can farther say with respect to politics, concerning which I believe every Englishman has some opinion or other (and at present, owing to the peculiar nature of the present war, it is almost the only topic of general conversation) that, except in company, I hardly ever think of the subject, my reading, meditation, and writing, being almost wholly engrossed by theology, and philosophy; and of late, as for manyyears before the riots in Birmingham, I have spent a very great proportion of my time, as my friends well know, in my laboratory.

If, then, my real crime has not beensedition, ortreason, what has it been? For everyeffectmust have some adequatecause, and therefore the odium that I have incurred must have been owing to something in my declared sentiments, or conduct, that has exposed me to it. In my opinion, it cannot have been any thing but my open hostility to the doctrines of the established church, and more especially to all civil establishments of religion whatever. This has brought upon me the implacable resentment of the great body of the clergy; and they have found other methods of opposing me besidesargument, and that use of thepresswhich is equally open to us all. They have also found an able ally and champion in Mr. Burke, who (without any provocation except that of answering his book on the French Revolution) has taken several opportunities of inveighing against me, in a place where he knows I cannot reply to him, and from which he also knows that his accusation will reach every corner of the country, and consequently thousands of persons whowill never read any writings of mine[27]. They have had another, and still more effectual vehicle of their abuse in what are called thetreasury newspapers, and other popular publications.

[27]Mr. Burke having said in the House of Commons, that “I was made a citizen of France on account of my declared hostility to the constitution of this country,” I, in the public papers, denied the charge, and called upon him for the proofs of it. As he made no reply, I said, in the preface to my Fast Sermon of the last year, p. 9, that “it sufficiently appeared that he had neither ability to maintain his charge, nor virtue to retract it.” A year more of silence on his part having now elapsed, this is become more evident than before.

By these and others means, the same party spirit which was the cause of the riots in Birmingham, has been increasing ever since, especially in that neighbourhood. A remarkable instance of this may be seen in aLetteraddressed, but not sent, to me fromMr. Foley, rector of Stourbridge, who acknowledges the satisfaction that he and his brethren have received from one of the grossest and coarsest pieces of abuse of me that has yet appeared, which, as a curious specimen of the kind, I inserted in theAppendix of my Appeal, and in which I am represented as no better than Guy Fawkes, or the devil himself. This very Christian divine recommendsto the members of the established church to decline all commercial dealings with the Dissenters, as an effectual method of exterminating them. This method has been actually adopted in many parts of England. Also great numbers of the best farmers and artizans in England have been dismissed because they would not go to the established church.Defoe’s Shortest Way with the Dissenters[28]would have taught the friends of the church a more effectual method still. And yet this Mr. Foley, whom I never saw, and who could not have had any particular cause of enmity to me, had, like Mr. Madan of Birmingham, a character for liberality. What, then, have we to expect from others, when we find so much bigotry and rancour in such men as these?

Many times, by the encouragement of persons from whom better things might have been expected, I have been burned in effigy along with Mr. Paine; and numberless insulting and threatening letters have been sent to me from all parts of the kingdom.[29]It is not possible for any man to have conducted himself more peaceably than I have done all the time that I have lived at Clapton, yet it has not exempted me not only from the worst suspicions, but very gross insults. A very friendly and innocent club, which I found in the place, has been considered asJacobinchiefly on my account; and at one time there was cause of apprehension that I should have been brought into danger for lending one of Mr. Paine’s books. But with some difficulty the neighbourhood was satisfied that I was innocent.

[28]A tract written in a grave ironical stile, advising to hang them all.

[29]In one of these I was threatened with being burned alive before a slow fire.

As nothing had been paid to me on account of damages in the riot, when I published the second part of myAppealto the public on the subject, it may be proper to say, that it was paid some time in the beginning of the year 1793, with interest only from the first of January of the same year, though the injury was received in July, 1791; when equity evidently required, that it ought to have been allowed from the time of the riot, especially as, in all the cases, the allowance was far short of the loss. In my case it fell short, as I have shewn, not less than two thousand pounds. And the losses sustained by the other sufferers far exceeded mine. Public justicealso required that, if the forms of law, local enmity or any other cause, had prevented our receiving full indemnification, it should have been made up to us from the public treasury; the great end of all civil government being protection from violence, or an indemnification for it. Whatever we might in equity claim, the country owes us, and, if it be just, will some time or other pay, and with interest.

I would farther observe, that since, in a variety of cases, money is allowed where the injury is not of a pecuniary nature, merely because no other compensation can be given, the same should have been done with respect to me, on account of the destruction of my manuscripts, the interruption of my pursuits, the loss of a pleasing and advantageous situation, &c. &c. and had the injury been sustained by aclergyman, he would, I doubt not, have claimed, and been allowed, very large damages on this account. So far, however, was there from being any idea of the kind inmyfavour, that my counsel advised me to make no mention of my manuscriptLectures on the Constitution of England, a work about as large as that of Blackstone (as may be seen by the syllabus of the particular lectures, sixty-three in all, publishedin the first edition of myEssay on a Course of liberal Education for civil and active Life) because it would be taken for granted that they were of a seditious nature, and would therefore have been of disservice to me with the jury. Accordingly they were, in the account of my losses, included in the article of so muchpaper. After these losses, had I had nothing but the justice of my country to look to, I must have sunk under the burden, incapable of any farther exertions. It was the seasonable generosity of my friends that prevented this, and put it in my power, though with the unavoidable loss of near two years, to resume my former pursuits.

A farther proof of the excessive bigotry of this country is, that, though the clergy of Birmingham resenting what I advanced in the first part of myAppeal, replied to it, and pledged themselves to go through with the enquiry along with me, till the whole truth should be investigated, they have made no reply to theSecond Part of my Appeal, in which I brought specific charges against themselves, and other persons by name, proving them to have been the promoters and abettors of the riot; and yet they have as much respect shown to them as ever, and thecountry at large pays no attention to it. Had the clergy been the injured persons, and Dissenters the rioters, unable to answer the charges brought against them, so great would have been the general indignation at their conduct, that I am persuaded it would not have been possible for them to continue in the country.

I could, if I were so disposed, give my readers many more instances of the bigotry of the clergy of the church of England with respect to me, which could not fail to excite, in generous minds, equal indignation and contempt; but I forbear.[30]Had I, however, foreseen what I am now witness to, I certainly should not have made any attempt to replace my library or apparatus, and I soon repented of having done it. But this being done, I was willing to make some use of both before another interruption of my pursuits. I began to philosophize, and make experiments, rather late in life,being near forty, for want of the necessary means of doing any thing in this way; and my pursuits have been much interrupted by removals (never indeed chosen by myself, but rendered necessary by circumstances) and my time being now short, I hoped to have had no occasion for more than one, and that a final, remove. But the circumstances above mentioned have induced me, though with great and sincere regret, to undertake another, and to a greater distance than any that I have hitherto made.

[30]At a dinner of all the Prebendaries of a cathedral church, the conversation turning on the riots in Birmingham, and on a clergyman having said that if I were mounted on a pile of my publications, he would set fire to them, and burn me alive, they all declared that they would be ready to do the same.

I profess not to be unmoved by the aspect of things exhibited in this discourse. But notwithstanding this, I should willingly have awaited my fate in my native country, whatever it had been, if I had not had sons in America, and if I did not think that a field of public usefulness, which is evidently closing upon me here, might open to more advantage there.

I own also that I am not unaffected by such unexampled punishments as those of Mr. Muir and my friend Mr. Palmer, for offences, which, if, in the eye of reason, they be any at all, are slight, and very insufficiently proved; a measure so subversive of thatfreedom of speaking and acting, which has hitherto been the great pride of Britons. But the sentence of Mr. Winterbotham, for delivering from the pulpit what I am persuaded he never did deliver, and which, similar evidence might have drawn upon myself, or any other dissenting minister, who was an object of general dislike, has something in it still more alarming[31]. But I trust that conscious innocencewould support me as it does him, under whatever prejudiced and violent men mightdoto me, as well assayof me. But I see no occasion to expose myself to danger without any prospect of doing good, or to continue any longer in a country in which I am so unjustly become the object of general dislike, and not retire to another, where I have reason to think I shall be better received. And I trust that the same good Providence which has attended me hitherto, and made me happy in my present situation, and all my former ones, will attend and bless me in what may still be before me. In all events,The will of God be done.

[31]I trust that the friends of liberty, especially among the Dissenters, will not fail to do every thing in their power to make Mr. Winterbotham’s confinement, and also the sufferings of Mr. Palmer and his companions, as easy to them as possible. Having been assisted in a season of persecution myself, I should be very ill deserving of the favours I have received, if I was not particularly desirous of recommending such cases as theirs to general consideration. Here difference in religious sentiment is least of all to be attended to. On the contrary, let those who in this respect differ the most from Mr. Winterbotham, which is my own case, exert themselves the most in his favour. When men of unquestionable integrity and piety suffer in consequence of acting (as such persons always will do) from a principle ofconscience, they must command the respect even of their enemies, if they also act from principle, though they be thereby led to proceed in an opposite direction.The case of men of education and reflection (and who act from the best intentions with respect to the community) committing what onlystate policyrequires to be considered ascrimes, but which are allowed on all hands to imply no moral turpitude, so as to render them unfit for heaven and happiness hereafter, is not to be confounded with that of common felons. There was nothing in the conduct of Louis XIV. and his ministers, that appeared so shocking, so contrary to all ideas of justice, humanity and decency, and that has contributed more to render their memory execrated, than sending such men as Mr. Marolles, and other eminent Protestants, who are now revered as saints and martyrs, to the galleys, along with the vilest miscreants. Compared with this, the punishment of death would be mercy. I trust that, the Scots in general will think these measures a disgrace to their country.

The case of men of education and reflection (and who act from the best intentions with respect to the community) committing what onlystate policyrequires to be considered ascrimes, but which are allowed on all hands to imply no moral turpitude, so as to render them unfit for heaven and happiness hereafter, is not to be confounded with that of common felons. There was nothing in the conduct of Louis XIV. and his ministers, that appeared so shocking, so contrary to all ideas of justice, humanity and decency, and that has contributed more to render their memory execrated, than sending such men as Mr. Marolles, and other eminent Protestants, who are now revered as saints and martyrs, to the galleys, along with the vilest miscreants. Compared with this, the punishment of death would be mercy. I trust that, the Scots in general will think these measures a disgrace to their country.

I cannot refrain from repeating again, that Ileave my native country with real regret, never expecting to find any where else society so suited to my disposition and habits, such friends as I have here (whose attachment has been more than a balance to all the abuse I have met with from others) and especially to replace one particular Christian friend, in whose absence I shall, for some time at least, find all the world a blank. Still less can I expect to resume my favourite pursuits, with any thing like the advantages I enjoy here. In leaving this country I also abandon a source of maintenance, which I can but ill bear to lose. I can, however truly say, that I leave it without any resentment, or ill-will. On the contrary, I sincerely wish my countrymen all happiness; and when the time for reflection (which my absence may accelerate) shall come, they will, I am confident, do me more justice. They will be convinced that every suspicion they have been led to entertain to my disadvantage has been ill founded, and that I have even some claim to their gratitude and esteem. In this case, I shall look with satisfaction to the time when, if my life be prolonged, I may visit my friends in this country; and perhaps I may, notwithstandingmy removal for the present, find a grave (as I believe is naturally the wish of every man) in the land that gave me birth.”

On the 8th day of April 1794, my father set sail from London, and arrived at New-York on the 4th of June, where he staid about a fortnight. Many persons went to meet him upon his landing, and while he staid at New-York he received addresses from various Societies, and great attention from many of the most respectable persons in the place. From thence he proceeded to Philadelphia, where he received an address from the American Philosophical Society. Independent of the above marks of respect, he was chosen by an unanimous vote of the Trustees of the University of Philadelphia, professor of Chemistry. He was likewise invited to return and stay at New-York, and open an Unitarian place of worship, which was to have been provided for him, and also to give Lectures on Experimental Philosophy to one hundred subscribers at ten dollars each. These invitations indeed he did not receive until he had been settled some little time at Northumberland. These are sufficient proofs that the citizens of this country were not insensible tohis merit as a Philosopher, and that they esteemed him for the part he took in the politics of Europe. That he was not invited immediately on his arrival to preach either at New-York or Philadelphia, was not from any want of respect for his character, but because Unitarianism was in a manner unknown, and by many ignorantly supposed to have some connection with infidelity. The proper evidences of christianity, the corruptions it has suffered, the monstrous additions that have been engrafted on its primitive simplicity, and the real state of the opinions of christians in the first ages of the church, were subjects that had hardly ever been discussed in this country. The controversies that had been carried on in England had not awakened attention here, and therefore though my father was known as having suffered in consequence of his opposition to the established religion of his country, yet his particular opinions were little understood. As his religious tenets became more known, these prejudices wore away, and independent of the proposal to open a place of Unitarian worship at New-York, mentioned above, I shall have occasion to state the great reason he had to be satisfied with the testimonies ofrespect paid to him, by the most eminent persons in the country, not merely in his character as a Philosopher, but as a preacher of the Gospel.

About the middle of July 1794 my father left Philadelphia for Northumberland, a town situated at the confluence of the North-East and West branches of the Susquehanna, and about 130 miles North-West of Philadelphia. I, and some other English gentlemen, had projected a settlement of 300,000 acres of land, about fifty miles distant from Northumberland. The subscription was filled chiefly by persons in England. Northumberland being at that time the nearest town to the proposed settlement, my father wished to see the place, and ascertain what conveniencies it would afford should he incline either to fix there permanently, or only until the settlement should be sufficiently advanced for his accommodation; he was induced likewise to retreat, at least for the summer months, into the country, fearing the effects of the hot weather in such a city as Philadelphia. He had not, as has been erroneously reported, the least concern in the projected settlement. He was not consulted in the formation of the plan of it, nor had he come to any determinationto join it had it been carried into effect.

The scheme of settlement was not confined to any particular class or character of men, religious, or political. It was set on foot to be as it were a rallying point for the English, who were at that time emigrating to America in great numbers, and who it was thought, would be more happy in society of the kind they had been accustomed to, than they would be, dispersed, as they now are, through the whole of the United States. It was farther thought, that by the union of industry and capital, the wilderness would soon become cultivated and equal to any other part of the country in every thing necessary to the enjoyment of life. To promote this as much as possible, the original projectors of that scheme reserved only a few shares for themselves, for which they paid the same as those who had no trouble or expence either in forming the plan, or carrying it into execution. This they did, with a view to take away all source of jealousy, and to increase the facility of settlement, by increasing the proportion of settlers to the quantity of land to be settled. Fortunately for the original proposers, the scheme was abandoned. It might and wouldhave answered in a pecuniary point of view, as the land now sells at double and treble the price then asked for it, without the advantages which that settlement would have given rise to; but the generality of Englishmen come to this country with such erroneous ideas, and, unless previously accustomed to a life of labour, are so ill qualified to commence cultivation in a wilderness, that the projectors would most probably have been subject to still more unfounded abuse than they have been, for their well meant endeavours to promote the interests of their countrymen.

The scheme of settlement thus failing, for reasons which it is not necessary now to state, my father, struck with the beauty of the situation of Northumberland, which is universally allowed to be equal if not superior to any in the state; believing that, from the nature of its situation, it was likely to become a great thoroughfare, and having reason to consider it as healthy as it was pleasant, the intermittents to which it has latterly been subject being then unknown, determined to settle there. Before he came to this resolution however, he had the offer of the Professorship of Chemistry in the University ofPennsylvania, before mentioned, which would probably have yielded him 3000 dollars per annum, there being generally about 200 students in Medicine of whom about 150 attend the Chemical Lectures; as likewise the offer of a situation as Unitarian Preacher and Lecturer in Natural Philosophy as I have likewise mentioned before. At that time he had no inducement to settle at Northumberland contrary to his inclination, as his books and apparatus were still at Philadelphia, his sons had not fixed upon any place of settlement for themselves, and neither he, nor they, had purchased a single foot of land in the town or the neighbourhood of it.

The following reasons among others induced him to prefer a country to a city life. He thought that if he undertook the duties of a professor, he should not be so much at liberty to follow his favourite pursuits as he could wish, and that the expence of living at Philadelphia or New-York would counterbalance the advantages resulting from his salary; and indeed, at that time he had no occasion to attend to any pecuniary considerations, as he believed his income, calculating upon his property in the French funds (which however from circumstances not necessaryto be stated in this place, never produced him any thing,) to be more than equal to his wants; but what had greater weight with him than any thing else was that my mother, who had been harrassed in her mind ever since the riots at Birmingham, thought that by living in the country, at a distance from the cities, she should be more likely to obtain that quiet of which she stood so much in need.

Soon after his settlement at Northumberland, many persons, with a view that his qualifications as an instructor of youth should not be wholly lost to the country, concurred in a plan for the establishment of a college at Northumberland. To this scheme several subscribed from this motive alone. Many of the principal landholders, partly from the above and partly from motives of interest, contributed largely both in money and land, and there was a fair prospect, from the liberal principles upon which it was founded, that it would have been of very great advantage to the country. My father was requested to draw up a plan of the course of study he would recommend, as well as the rules for the internal management of the institution, and he was appointed President. He however declined receiving any emolument,and proposed giving such lectures as he was best qualified for,gratis; in the same manner as he had done at Hackney, and he meant to have given to the institution the use of his library and apparatus, until the students could have been furnished with them by means of the funds of the college. In consequence of the unexpected failure of some of the principal contributors, the scheme fell through at that time, and little more was done during my father’s life time than to raise the shell of a convenient building.

I shall in this place state, though I shall anticipate, in so doing, that in the year 1803 a vacancy occurred in the University of Pennsylvania, by the death of Dr. Euen, Principal of that institution. It was intimated to my father by many of the Trustees, that in case he would accept of the appointment, there was little doubt of his obtaining it; Mr. M’Kean, the present governor of the State of Pennsylvania, being among others particularly anxious that he should accept of it. In addition to the reasons that had induced him to decline the offer of the Professorship of Chemistry were to be added the weak state of his health, which would have made the idea of his having any serious engagement to fulfil, very irksome to him; he accordingly declined it.

He had frequent intimations of other proposals of a similar nature that would have been made to him, had it not become generally known, that he could not accede to them from their being inconsistent with the plan of life he had laid down for himself.

I have been thus particular in the account of his reasons for settling at Northumberland, and of the different inducements offered to him to fix elsewhere, to do away the erroneous reports respecting the former, and likewise to counteract the idea that has been so industriously circulated in England, that his abilities were undervalued, that the bigotry and prejudice he had to encounter in this country, were greater than were opposed to him in England; that his life was in consequence rendered uncomfortable, and that if he could, he would have been glad to have returned to his native country, but was restrained by a sense of shame. Some colour was given to these reports by many of his countrymen who, from motives best known to themselves, perhaps thinking thereby to excuse the inconsistency of their own conduct, corroborated the accounts, though many of them had never seen my father in this country, and had no authority whatever for assertions which wereentirely calumnies. Some currency was also given to the statement, by the false and injurious accounts published by the Duke de Liancourt, whose book if I may judge of it by that part which treats of Pennsylvania, and of this neighbourhood in particular, is not entitled to the least credit, being false in almost every particular. This my father himself has stated in a letter addressed to him.

The writer, understanding the language of the country but very imperfectly, must necessarily have been liable to many mistakes; nor is it to be wondered at that a man who details all the tittle tattle of every table to which he is invited, and who can basely convert the hospitable reception he meets with in a strange country, into the means of turning into ridicule those who shewed him attention and meant to serve him, should be even capable of fabricating and circulating gross and injurious falsehoods respecting individuals. I should disgrace myself, in my opinion, and still more should I disgrace the high situation which my father held in the esteem of the public, were I in this work to enter into any further consideration of his attack on my father’s character, satisfied that it is beyond the reach of his falsehoods and unprovoked malevolence.

My father would, no doubt, have been glad to have returned to England, and have enjoyed the society of his old and much valued friends; he would have rejoiced to have been nearer the centre of the Arts and Sciences; to have been joined again to his congregation and resumed his duties as a Christian Preacher; he would have been glad at the close of life, as he expresses himself, “to have found a grave in the land that gave him birth;” but this was impossible: and no person can read the preface to his Fast Sermon, quoted above, but must be convinced of it. Though he raised the credit of his native country by the brilliancy, the extent and the usefulness of his discoveries in different branches of science; though during his whole life he inculcated principles of virtue and religion, which the government pretended at least to believe were necessary to the well being of the state; though in no one single act of his life had he violated any law of his country or encouraged others to do so, what was the treatment he met with in that land of boasted civilization, and at the close of the 18th Century? It is sufficiently known, and will, as it ought to do, affect the characterof the nation at large. Therefore, though he could have forgotten and forgiven all that was past, though the above mentioned motives would have had great weight in inducing him to return, yet there was no reason to expect that he should meet hereafter with better treatment than he had already experienced; and in consequence of this fixed persuasion he never entertained the idea of returning to live in England. He frequently talked indeed of returning to visit his friends; but when peace took place and he could have gone with safety, so comfortably was he settled in this country, and such was his opinion of the state of things in England, that he abandoned even the idea of a temporary journey thither, altogether.

But supposing the above obstacles had not existed to his return to his native country, he had no reason to be, nor was he, dissatisfied with his reception here. Independent of the attentions paid to him upon his first arrival in this country, he continued to receive marks of respect from bodies of men, and from individuals of various opinions in religion and politics, to whom he had been all his life before an utter stranger. Little reason therefore have his countrymen to represent his reception in America as unequalto his merits, or to calumniate the general character of the people here. His discoveries did not add to the credit of America as they had done to that of England, yet he was not obliged to withdraw his name from its Philosophical Society, disgusted with its illiberal treatment of himself and his friends. The Americans, comparatively speaking, had little opportunity of judging of his zeal for the real interests of religion, yet he was suffered to live in peace; and this country has not been disgraced by the destruction of a library and apparatus uniformly dedicated to the promotion of Science, and the good of mankind. It will be said that there were not such interests to oppose in America as in England. It is true, and it proves that the Americans have done well not to create such interests, and that the placing all the religious sects upon the same footing with respect to the government of the country, has effectually secured the peace of the community, at the same time that it has essentially promoted the interests of truth and virtue.

Being now settled at Northumberland with his mind at peace, and at ease in his circumstances, he seriously applied himself to those studies whichhe had long been compelled to desist from, and which he had but imperfectly attended to while he resided at Hackney. It is true that he spent his time there very agreeably, in a society of highly valued friends; but he did little compared to what he effected while he was at Birmingham, or what he has done during his residence here, owing to his time being very much broken in upon at Hackney by company. To prove how much he did in this country it is only necessary to refer to the list of the publications which he presented to the world in various branches of science, in theology and general literature. Here as in England, though more at leisure than formerly, he continued to apportion his time to the various occupations in which he was engaged, and strictly adhered to a regular plan of alternate study and relaxation, from which he never materially deviated.

It was while my father was at the academy that he commenced a practice which he continued until within three or four days of his death, of keeping a diary, in which he put down the occurrences of the day; what he was employed about, where he had been, and particularly an exact account of what hehad been reading, mentioning the names of the authors, and the number of pages he read, which was generally a fixed number, previously determined upon in his own mind. He likewise noted down any hints suggested by what he read in the course of the day. It was his custom at the beginning of each year to arrange the plan of study that he meant to pursue that year, and to review the general situation of his affairs, and at the end of the year he took an account of the progress he had made, how far he had executed the plan he had laid down, and whether his situation exceeded or fell short of the expectations he had formed.

This practice was a source of great satisfaction to him through life. It was at first adopted as a mode of regulating his studies, and afterwards continued from the pleasure it gave him. The greater part of his diaries were destroyed at the riots at Birmingham, but there are still extant those for the year 1754, 1755 and several of the subsequent years.

As it will serve to shew the regularity with which he pursued his studies, and may possibly be instructive as well as amusing to the reader, I shall give a specimen of the manner in which he spent a yearwhile he was at the academy, at Daventry, and for that purpose shall select his diary for the year 1755 when he was in his 22d year. The diary contains a particular account of what he read and wrote each day, and at different periods of the year he sums up in the following manner, the progress he had made in improvement, which I give as entered at the end of the diary.

Business done in January, February and March.

Practical.

Howe’s blessedness of the righteous; Bennet’s pastoral care; Norris’s letters and some sermons.

Controversial.

Taylor on Atonement; Hampton’s Answer; Sherlock’s discourses Vol. 1; Christianity not founded in Argument; Doddridge’s Answer; Warburton’s divine legation; Benson on the first planting of Christianity; King’s Constitution of the Primitive Church.

Classics.

Josephus, Vol. 1, from page 390 to 770; Ovid’s Metamorphoses to page 139; Tacitus’s History, Life of Agricola, and Manners of the Germans.

Scriptures.

John the Evangelist, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles to the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, 1st and 2d Corinthians, in Greek; Isaiah to the 8th chapter, in Hebrew.

Mathematics.

Maclaurin’s Algebra to part 2d.

Entertaining.

Irene; Prince Arthur; Ecclesiastical characters; Dryden’s fables; Peruvian tales; Voyage round the world; Oriental tales; Massey’s travels; Life of Hai Ebn Yokdam; History of Abdallah.

Composition.

A Sermon on the Wisdom of God; An Oration on the means of Virtue; 1st Vol. of the Institutes of Natural and Revealed Religion.

Business done from April 1st to June 23d.

Practical.

Watts’s Catechism, and discourses on Catechizing; Fenelon’s spiritual works Vol. 1st and half of Vol. 2d; Saurin’s Sermons a few; Thomas a Kempis Book 1st to ch. 21; Cotton Mather’s life; Jenning’s on preaching Christianity.

Controversial.

Towgood, Gill and Breckell on Baptism; Le Clerc on Inspiration; Whiston’s Historical preface; Emlyn’s narrative and humble enquiry; Apostolical Constitutions; Newton on the prophecies; Winder’s History of knowledge; Hoadly on the Sacrament; Lowman on the Revelation; Moral Philosopher; Hume’s Political discourses; Middleton’s fathers of the four first centuries; Middleton and Waterland’s controversy. —— on the Demoniacs; Goodrich’s display of Human Nature.

Classics.

Cicero’s 1st. Phillippic.

Historical.

Universal History Vol. 15 and 16 and to page 488 of the 17th.

Composition.

Second Vol. of the Institutes of Natural and Revealed Religion; wrote an article on Edwards’s translation of the Psalms for the review.

From June 23d to September 1.

Practical Writers.

Thomas a Kempis from Ch. 21 of Book 1st; Hartley on Man vol. 2d. May’s Prayers. Holland’s Sermons.

Scriptures.

From the 1st Epistle of Timothy to the Revelations, and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, in the Greek Testament; The books of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, in the Hebrew Bible.

Classics.

Ovid from Book 9th; Demosthenes 1st Phillippic and 3 Olynthiacs; Herodotus Book 1st; Homer’s Iliad, Book 1, 2, 3; Sallust.

History.

Universal History from Vol. 17 p. 488 to the end of Vol. 18. Neal’s History of the Puritans 4 Volumes.

Philosophy.

The Anatomical Articles in the Universal Dictionary, several principal Algebraic ones, and all the letter A.

Composition.

12 Sermons.

Business done in September.

Practical.

Holland’s Sermons, Vol. 2d; Doddridge’s family Expositor Vol. 1.

Scriptures.

John the Evangelist, in Greek.

Numbers, and to the 16th Chapter in Deuteronomy in Hebrew.

Classics.

Homer’s Iliad, 12 books.

Mathematical.

Euclid, Lib. 1, 2, 3.

History.

Universal History, Vol. 19th.

Miscellaneous.

Mason’s Student; One of Shakespeare’s plays.

Composition.

4 Sermons.

Business done in October.

Practical.

Doddridge’s Expositor Vol. 2d; Common Prayer Book; Fordyce’s Sermons on public Institutions.

Scriptures.

Deuteronomy from Ch. 16 to the end; Ecclesiastes and Solomon’s Song in Hebrew and Greek.

Classics.

Homer’s Iliad, Book P to the end.

Mathematical.

Euclid, Lib, 4, 5, 6.

Historical.

Universal History, Vol. 20th.

Miscellaneous.

5 Shakespeare’s Plays.

Composition.

3 Sermons.

Business done in November.

Practical.

Abernethy’s Practical Sermons.

Scriptures.

Job, in Hebrew and the Septuagint.

Philosophy, Mathematics and Chemistry.

Euclid Lib. 11 and 12 slightly; Boerhave’s Theory of Chemistry a good part of Vol. 1st; Rowning’s Philosophy half of Vol. 1st.

Classics.

Francis’s Horace, Odes 4 books.

History.

Universal History part of Vol. 3d; Jewish Antiquities. History of the Council of Trent to page 133. Anson’s voyage by Walter.

Plays.

4 of Shakespeare’s plays.

Composition.

2 Sermons.

Business done in December.

Practical.

Abernethy’s Posthumous sermons Vol. 2d; Clarke’s sermons Vol. 1st. Patric on Ecclesiastes.

Scriptures.

Psalms, in the Hebrew and Septuagint.

Philosophy.

Rowning’s Philosophy part 2d and 3d.

Classics.

Francis’s Horace Vol. 2 and 3.

Miscellaneous and Entertaining.

Malcolm on Music, half; 4 Shakespeare’s plays.

Half of the 1st Vol. of the Rambler.

Popes Ethic Epistles, a few.

History.

Paul’s Council of Trent, to page 476; Life of the Duke of Marlborough.

Composition.

4 Sermons.

It will be seen by this extract from his diary, that his studies were very varied, which, as he was always persuaded, enabled him to do so much. This he constantly attended to through life; his chemical and philosophical pursuits serving as a kind of relaxationfrom his theological studies. His miscellaneous reading, which was at all times very extensive, comprizing even novels and plays, still served to increase the variety. For many years of his life, he never spent less than two or three hours a day in games of amusement, as cards and backgammon; but particularly chess—at which he and my mother played regularly three games after dinner, and as many after supper. As his children grew up, chess was laid aside for whist or some round game at cards, which he enjoyed as much as any of the company. It is hardly necessary to state that he never played for money, even for the most trifling sum.

To all these modes of relieving the mind, he added bodily exercise. Independent of his laboratory furnishing him with a good deal, as he never employed an operator, and never allowed any one even to light a fire, he generally lived in situations which required his walking a good deal, as at Calne, Birmingham and Hackney. Of that exercise he was very fond. He walked well, and his regular pace was four miles an hour. In situations where the necessity of walking was not imposed upon him, he worked in his garden as at Calne,when he had not occasion to go to Bowood; at Northumberland in America, he was particularly attached to this exercise.

But what principally enabled him to do so much was regularity, for it does not appear that at any period of his life he spent more than six or eight hours per day in business that required much mental exertion. I find in the same diary, which I have quoted from above, that he laid down the following daily arrangement of time for a minister’s studies: Studying the Scriptures 1 hour. Practical writers 1-2 an hour. Philosophy and History 2 hours. Classics 1-2 an hour. Composition 1 hour—in all 5 hours. He adds below “All which may be conveniently dispatched before dinner, which leaves the afternoon for visiting and company, and the evening for exceeding in any article if there be occasion. Six hours not too much, nor seven.”

It appears by his diary that he followed this plan at that period of his life. He generally walked out in the afternoon or spent it in company. At that time there was a society or club that assembled twice a week, at which the members debated questions, or took it in turn to deliver orations, or read essaysof their own composition. When not attending these meetings, he most generally appears to have spent the evening in company with some of the students in their chambers.

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