[4]It is about sixty miles from Needham to London, so that the roads must have been in a bad state to render a water passage more eligible than by land. The first turnpike in England was authorized by an act of Ch. II. 1663 but the system was not adopted with spirit until near the middle of the last century. The manufacturing inland towns of Great Britain, such as Manchester, Leeds, Halifax, &c. chiefly carried on their business through the medium of travelling pedlars, and afterwards on pack horses. The journey in this manner from Manchester to London occupied a fortnight; and it was not unusual for a trader going the first time himself on this expedition to take the prudent precaution of making his will. At present the mail stage performs the journey in about a day and a half. In the beginning of this century (as Dr. Aikin in his history of Manchester observes) it was thought a most arduous undertaking to make a public road over the hills that separate Yorkshire and Lancashire; now, they are pierced by three navigable canals. Indeed the prosperous state of British manufactures and commerce, seems to have originated and progressed with the adoption of turnpikes and canals. They facilitate not merely the carriage and interchange of heavy materials necessary to machinery, but they make personal intercourse cheap, speedy and universal; they thus furnish the means of seeing and communicating improvements, and of observing in what way one manufacture may be brought to bear upon another widely different in its kind. We are not yet sufficiently aware of their importance in America, even to the interests of agriculture.T. C.
[4]It is about sixty miles from Needham to London, so that the roads must have been in a bad state to render a water passage more eligible than by land. The first turnpike in England was authorized by an act of Ch. II. 1663 but the system was not adopted with spirit until near the middle of the last century. The manufacturing inland towns of Great Britain, such as Manchester, Leeds, Halifax, &c. chiefly carried on their business through the medium of travelling pedlars, and afterwards on pack horses. The journey in this manner from Manchester to London occupied a fortnight; and it was not unusual for a trader going the first time himself on this expedition to take the prudent precaution of making his will. At present the mail stage performs the journey in about a day and a half. In the beginning of this century (as Dr. Aikin in his history of Manchester observes) it was thought a most arduous undertaking to make a public road over the hills that separate Yorkshire and Lancashire; now, they are pierced by three navigable canals. Indeed the prosperous state of British manufactures and commerce, seems to have originated and progressed with the adoption of turnpikes and canals. They facilitate not merely the carriage and interchange of heavy materials necessary to machinery, but they make personal intercourse cheap, speedy and universal; they thus furnish the means of seeing and communicating improvements, and of observing in what way one manufacture may be brought to bear upon another widely different in its kind. We are not yet sufficiently aware of their importance in America, even to the interests of agriculture.
T. C.
At Nantwich I found a good natured friendly people, with whom I lived three years very happily; and in this situation I heard nothing of those controversies which had been the topics of almost every conversation in Suffolk; and the consequence was that I gave little attention to them myself. Indeed it was hardly in my power to do it, on account of my engagement with a school, which I was soon able to establish, and to which I gave almost all my attention; and in this employment, contrary to my expectations, I found the greatest satisfaction, notwithstanding the confinement and labour attending it.
My school generally consisted of about thirty boys, and I had a separate room for about half a dozen young ladies. Thus I was employed from seven in the morning untill four in the afternoon, without any interval except one hour for dinner, and I never gave a holiday on any consideration, the red letter days, as they are called, excepted. Immediately after this employment in my own school rooms, I went to teach in the family of Mr. Tomkinson, an eminent attorney, and a man of large fortune, whose recommendation was of the greatest service to me; and here I continued until seven in the evening. I had therefore butlittle leisure for reading or for improving myself in any way, except what necessarily arose from my employment.
Being engaged in the business of a schoolmaster, I made it my study to regulate it in the best manner, and I think I may say with truth, that in no school was more business done, or with more satisfaction, either to the master, or the scholars, than in this of mine. Many of my scholars are probably living and I am confident that they will say that this is no vain boast.
At Needham I was barely able with the greatest economy to keep out of debt (though this I always made a point of doing at all events) but at Nantwich my school soon enabled me to purchase a few books, and some philosophical instruments, as a small air pump, an electrical machine, &c. These I taught my scholars in the highest class to keep in order, and make use of, and by entertaining their parents and friends with experiments, in which the scholars were generally the operators, and sometimes the lecturers too, I considerably extended the reputation of my school; though I had no other object originally than gratifying my own taste. I had no leisure, however, to makeany original experiments until many years after this time.
As there were few children in the congregation (which did not consist of more than sixty persons, and a great proportion of them travelling scotchmen) there was no scope for exertion with respect to my duty as a minister. I therefore contented myself with giving the people what assistance I could at their own houses, where there were young persons; and I added very few sermons to these which I had composed at Needham, where I never failed to make at least one every week.
Being boarded with Mr. Eddowes, a very sociable and sensible man, and at the same time the person of the greatest property in the congregation, and who was fond of music, I was induced to learn to play a little on the English flute, as the easiest instrument; and though I was never a proficient in it, my playing contributed more or less to my amusement many years of my life. I would recommend the knowledge and practice of music to all studious persons; and it will be better for them, if, like myself, they should have no very fine ear, or exquisite taste; as by this means they will be more easilypleased, and be less apt to be offended when the performances they hear are but indifferent.
At Nantwich I had hardly any literary acquaintance besides Mr. Brereton, a clergyman in the neighbourhood, who had a taste for astronomy, philosophy, and literature in general. I often slept at his house, in a room to which he gave my name. But his conduct afterwards was unworthy of his profession.
Of dissenting ministers I saw most of Mr. Keay of Whitchurch, and Dr. Harwood, who lived and had a school at Congleton, preaching alternately at Leek and Wheelock, the latter place about ten miles from Nantwich. Being both of us schoolmasters, and having in some respect the same pursuits, we made exchanges for the sake of spending a Sunday evening together every six weeks in the summer time. He was a good classical scholar, and a very entertaining companion.
In my congregation there was (out of the house in which I was boarded) hardly more than one family in which I could spend a leisure hour with much satisfaction, and that was Mr. James Caldwall’s, a scotchman. Indeed, several of the travellingScotchmen who frequented the place, but made no long stay at any time, were men of very good sense; and what I thought extraordinary, not one of them was at all Calvinistical.
My engagements in teaching allowed me but little time for composing any thing while I was at Nantwich. There, however, I recomposed myObservations on the character and reasoning of the apostle Paul, as mentioned before. For the use of my school I then wrote anEnglish grammar[5]on a new plan, leaving out all such technical terms as were borrowed from other languages, and had no corresponding modifications in ours, as the future tense, &c. and to this I afterwards subjoinedObservations for the use of proficients in the language,[6]from the notes which I collected at Warrington; where, being tutor in the languages and Belles Letters, I gave particular attention to the English language, and intendedto have composed a large treatise on the structure and present state of it. But dropping the scheme in another situation, I lately gave such parts of my collection as I had made no use of to Mr. Herbert Croft of Oxford, on his communicating to me his design of compiling a Dictionary and Grammar of our language.
[5]Printed in 1761.
[5]Printed in 1761.
[6]Printed in 1772 at London. His lectures on the Theory of Language and Universal Grammar were printed the same year at Warrington. David Hume was made sensible of the Gallicisms and Peculiarities of his stile by reading this Grammar; He acknowledged it to Mr. Griffith the Bookseller, who mentioned it to my father.
[6]Printed in 1772 at London. His lectures on the Theory of Language and Universal Grammar were printed the same year at Warrington. David Hume was made sensible of the Gallicisms and Peculiarities of his stile by reading this Grammar; He acknowledged it to Mr. Griffith the Bookseller, who mentioned it to my father.
The academy at Warrington was instituted when I was at Needham, and Mr. Clark knowing the attention that I had given to the learned languages when I was at Daventry, had then joined with Dr. Benson and Dr. Taylor in recommending me as tutor in the languages. But Mr. (afterward Dr.) Aikin, whose qualifications were superior to mine, was justly preferred to me. However, on the death of Dr. Taylor, and the advancement of Mr. Aikin to be tutor in divinity, I was invited to succeed him. This I accepted, though my school promised to be more gainful to me. But my employment at Warrington would be more liberal, and less painful. It was also a means of extending my connections. But, as I told the persons who brought me the invitation, viz. Mr. Seddon and Mr. Holland of Bolton, I should have preferred the office of teaching the mathematics andnatural philosophy, for which I had at that time a great predilection.
My removal to Warrington was in September, 1761, after a residence of just three years at Nantwich. In this new situation I continued six years, and in the second year I married a daughter of Mr. Isaac Wilkinson, an Ironmaster near Wrexham in Wales, with whose family I had became acquainted in consequence of having the youngest son, William, at my school at Nantwich. This proved a very suitable and happy connection, my wife being a woman of an excellent understanding, much improved by reading, of great fortitude and strength of mind, and of a temper in the highest degree affectionate and generous; feeling strongly for others, and little for herself. Also, greatly excelling in every thing relating to household affairs, she entirely relieved me of all concern of that kind, which allowed me to give all my time to the prosecution of my studies, and the other duties of my station. And though, in consequence of her father becoming impoverished, and wholly dependent on his children, in the latter part of his life, I had little fortune with her, I unexpectedly found a great resource in her two brothers, who had becomewealthy, especially the elder of them. At Warrington I had a daughter, Sarah, who was afterwards married to Mr. William Finch of Heath-forge near Dudley.
Though at the time of my removal to Warrington I had no particular fondness for the studies relating to my profession then, I applied to them with great assiduity; and besides composing courses ofLectures on the theory of Language, and onOratory and Criticism, on which my predecessor had lectured, I introduced lectures onhistory and general policy, on thelaws and constitutions of England, and on thehistory of England. This I did in consequence of observing that, though most of our pupils were young men designed for situations in civil and active life, every article in the plan of their education was adapted to the learned professions.
In order to recommend such studies as I introduced, I composed anessay on a course of liberal education for civil and active life, withsyllabusesof my three new courses of lectures; and Dr. Brown having just then published a plan of education, in which he recommended it to be undertaken by the state, I added someremarks on his treatise, shewing how inimicalit was to liberty, and the natural rights of parents. This leading me to consider the subject of civil and political liberty, I published my thoughts on it, in anessay on government, which in a second edition I much enlarged, including in it what I wrote in answer to Dr. Balguy, on church authority, as well as my animadversions on Dr. Brown.
MyLectures on the theory of language and universal grammarwere printed for the use of the students, but they were not published. Those onOratory and CriticismI published when I was with Lord Shelburne, and those onHistory and general policyare now printed, and about to be published.[7]
[7]This work has been reprinted in Philadelphia with additions, particularly of a chapter on the government of the United States.
[7]This work has been reprinted in Philadelphia with additions, particularly of a chapter on the government of the United States.
Finding no public exercises at Warrington, I introduced them there, so that afterwards every Saturday the tutors, all the students, and often strangers, were assembled to hear English and Latin compositions, and sometimes to hear the delivery of speeches, and the exhibition of scenes in plays. It was my province to teach elocution, and also Logic, and Hebrew. The first of these I retained; but after ayear or two I exchanged the two last articles with Dr. Aikin for the civil law, and one year I gave a course of lectures in anatomy.
With a view to lead the students to a facility in writing English, I encouraged them to write in verse. This I did not with any design to make them poets, but to give them a greater facility in writing prose, and this method I would recommend to all tutors. I was myself far from having any pretension to the character of a poet; but in the early part of my life I was a great versifier, and this, I believe, as well as my custom of writing after preachers, mentioned before, contributed to the ease with which I always wrote prose. Mrs. Barbauld has told me that it was the perusal of some verses of mine that first induced her to write any thing in verse, so that this country is in some measure indebted to me for one of the best poets it can boast of. Several of her first poems were written when she was in my house, on occasions that occurred while she was there.
It was while I was at Warrington that I published myChart of Biography, though I had begun to construct it at Nantwich. Lord Willoughby of Parham, who lived in Lancashire, being pleased with the ideaof it, I, with his consent, inscribed it to him; but he died before the publication of it: TheChart of History, corresponding to it, I drew up some time after at Leeds.
I was in this situation when, going to London,[8]and being introduced to Dr. Price, Mr. Canton, Dr. Watson, (the Physician,) and Dr. Franklin, I was led to attend to the subject of experimental philosophy more than I had done before; and having composed all the Lectures I had occasion to deliver and finding myself at liberty for any undertaking, I mentioned to Dr. Franklin an idea that had occurred to me of writing the history of discoveries in Electricity, which had been his favourite study. This I told him might be an useful work, and that I would willingly undertake it, provided I could be furnished with the books necessary for the purpose. This he readily undertook, and my other friends assisting him in it, I set about the work, without having theleast idea of doing any thing more than writing a distinct and methodical account of all that had been done by others. Having, however, a pretty good machine, I was led, in the course of my writing the history, to endeavour to ascertain several facts which were disputed; and this led me by degrees into a large field of original experiments, in which I spared no expence that I could possibly furnish.
[8]He always spent one month in every year in London which was of great use to him. He saw and heard a great deal. He generally made additions to his library and his chemical apparatus. A new turn was frequently given to his ideas. New and useful acquaintances were formed, and old ones confirmed.
[8]He always spent one month in every year in London which was of great use to him. He saw and heard a great deal. He generally made additions to his library and his chemical apparatus. A new turn was frequently given to his ideas. New and useful acquaintances were formed, and old ones confirmed.
These experiments employed a great proportion of my leisure time; and yet before the complete expiration of the year in which I gave the plan of my work to Dr. Franklin, I sent him a copy of it in print. In the same year five hours of every day were employed in lectures, public or private, and one two months vacation I spent chiefly at Bristol, on a visit to my father-in-law.
This I do not mention as a subject of boasting. For many persons have done more in the same time; but as an answer to those who have objected to some of my later writings, as hasty performances. For none of my publications were better received than thisHistory of Electricity, which was the most hasty of them all. However, whether my publications have taken up more or less time, I am confident thatmore would not have contributed to their perfection, in any essential particular; and about anything farther I have never been very solicitous. My object was not to acquire the character of a fine writer, but of an useful one. I can also truly say that gain was never the chief object of any of my publications. Several of them were written with the prospect of certain loss.
During the course of my electrical experiments in this year I kept up a constant correspondence with Dr. Franklin, and the rest of my philosophical friends in London; and my letters circulated among them all, as also every part of my History as it was transcribed. This correspondence would have made a considerable volume, and it took up much time; but it was of great use with respect to the accuracy of my experiments, and the perfection of my work.
After the publication of my Chart of Biography, Dr. Percival of Manchester, then a student at Edinburgh, procured me the title of Doctor of laws from that university; and not long after my new experiments in electricity were the means of introducing me into the Royal Society, with the recommendation of Dr. Franklin, Dr. Watson, Mr. Canton, and Dr. Price.
In the whole time of my being at Warrington I was singularly happy in the society of my fellow tutors,[9]and of Mr. Seddon, the minister of the place. We drank tea together every Saturday, and our conversation was equally instructive and pleasing. I often thought it not a little extraordinary, that four persons, who had no previous knowledge of each other, should have been brought to unite in conducting such a scheme as this, and all be zealous necessarians, as we were. We were likewise all Arians, and the only subject of much consequence on which we differed respected the doctrine of atonement, concerning which Dr. Aikin held some obscure notions. Accordingly, this was frequently the topic of our friendly conversations. The only Socinian in the neighbourhood was Mr. Seddon of Manchester; and we all wondered at him. But then we never entered into any particular examination of the subject.
[9]At Warrington he had for colleagues and successors, Dr. John Taylor, author of the Hebrew Concordance and of several other works, on Original Sin, Atonement, &c. Dr. Aikin the Elder, Dr. Reinhold Forster the Naturalist and traveller, Dr. Enfield and Mr. Walker.
[9]At Warrington he had for colleagues and successors, Dr. John Taylor, author of the Hebrew Concordance and of several other works, on Original Sin, Atonement, &c. Dr. Aikin the Elder, Dr. Reinhold Forster the Naturalist and traveller, Dr. Enfield and Mr. Walker.
Receiving some of the pupils into my own house,I was by this means led to form some valuable friendships, but especially with Mr. Samuel Vaughan, a friendship which has continued hitherto, has in a manner connected our families, and will, I doubt not, continue through life. The two eldest of his sons were boarded with me.
The tutors having sufficient society among themselves, we had not much acquaintance out of the academy. Sometimes, however, I made an excursion to the towns in the neighbourhood. At Liverpool I was always received by Mr. Bentley, afterwards partner with Mr. Wedgwood, a man of excellent taste, improved understanding, and a good disposition, but an unbeliever in christianity, which was therefore often the subject of our conversation. He was then a widower, and we generally, and contrary to my usual custom, sat up late. At Manchester I was always the guest of Mr. Potter, whose son Thomas was boarded with me. He was one of the worthiest men that ever lived. At Chowbent I was much acquainted with Mr. Mort, a man equally distinguished by his chearfulness and liberality of sentiment.
Of the ministers in the neighbourhood, I recollectwith much satisfaction the interviews I had with Mr. Godwin of Gataker, Mr. Holland of Bolton, and Dr. Enfield of Liverpool, afterwards tutor at Warrington.
Though all the tutors in my time lived in the most perfect harmony, though we all exerted ourselves to the utmost, and there was no complaint of want of discipline, the academy did not flourish. There had been an unhappy difference between Dr. Taylor and the trustees, in consequence of which all his friends, who were numerous, were our enemies; and too many of the subscribers, being probably weary of the subscription, were willing to lay hold of any pretence for dropping it, and of justifying their conduct afterwards.
It is possible that in time we might have overcome the prejudices we laboured under, but there being no prospect of things being any better, and my wife having very bad health, on her account chiefly I wished for a removal, though nothing could be more agreeable to me at the time than the whole of my employment, and all the laborious part of it was over. The terms also on which we took boarders, viz. 15 £. per annum, and my salary being only100£. per annum with a house, it was not possible, even living with the greatest frugality, to make any provision for a family. I was there six years, most laboriously employed, for nothing more than a bare subsistence. I therefore listened to an invitation to take the charge of the congregation of Mill-hill chapel at Leeds, where I was pretty well known, and thither I removed in September 1767.
Though while I was at Warrington it was no part of my duty to preach, I had from choice continued the practice; and wishing to keep up the character of a dissenting minister, I chose to be ordained while I was there; and though I was far from having conquered my tendency to stammer, and probably never shall be able to do it effectually, I had, by taking much pains, improved my pronunciation some time before I left Nantwich; where for the two first years this impediment had increased so much, that I once informed the people, that I must give up the business of preaching, and confine myself to my school. However, by making a practice of reading very loud and very slow every day, I at length succeeded in getting in some measure the better of this defect, but I am still obliged occasionally to have recourse to the same expedient.
At Leeds I continued six years very happy with a liberal, friendly, and harmonious congregation, to whom my services (of which I was not sparing) were very acceptable. Here I had no unreasonable prejudices to contend with, so that I had full scope for every kind of exertion; and I can truly say that I always considered the office of a christian minister as the most honourable of any upon earth, and in the studies proper to it I always took the greatest pleasure.
In this situation I naturally resumed my application to speculative theology, which had occupied me at Needham, and which had been interrupted by the business of teaching at Nantwich and Warrington. By reading with care Dr.Lardner’s letter on the logos, I became what is called a Socinian soon after my settlement at Leeds; and after giving the closest attention to the subject, I have seen more and more reason to be satisfied with that opinion to this day, and likewise to be more impressed with the idea of its importance.
On reading Mr.Mann’s Dissertation on the times of the birth and death of Christ, I was convinced that he was right in his opinion of our Saviour’sministry having continued little more than one year, and on this plan I drew out aHarmony of the gospels, the outline of which I first published in the Theological Repository, and afterwards separately and at large, both in Greek and English, with Notes, and an occasional Paraphrase. In the same work I published myEssay on the doctrine of Atonement, improved from the tract published by Dr. Lardner, and also my animadversions on the reasoning of the apostle Paul.
The plan of thisRepositoryoccurred to me on seeing some notes that Mr. Turner of Wakefield had drawn up on several passages of scripture, which I was concerned to think should be lost. He very much approved of my proposal of an occasional publication, for the purpose of preserving such original observations as could otherwise probably never see the light. Of this work I published three volumes while I was at Leeds, and he never failed to give me an article for every number of which they were composed.
Giving particular attention to the duties of my office, I wrote several tracts for the use of my congregation, as twoCatechisms, anAddress to mastersof families on the subject of family prayer, adiscourse on the Lord’s Supper, and onChurch discipline, andInstitutes of Natural and Revealed religion. Here I formed three classes of Catechumens, and took great pleasure in instructing them in the principles of religion. In this respect I hope my example has been of use in other congregations.
The first of my controversial treatises was written here in reply to some angry remarks on my discourse on the Lord’s Supper by Mr. Venn, a clergyman in the neighbourhood. I also wrote remarks on Dr.Balguy’s sermon on Church authority, and on some paragraphs in JudgeBlackstone’s Commentariesrelating to the dissenters. To the two former no reply was made; but to the last the judge replied in a small pamphlet; on which I addressed a letter to him in the St. James’s Chronicle. This controversy led me to print another pamphlet, entitledThe Principles and Conduct of the Dissenters with respect to the civil and ecclesiastical constitution of this country. With the encouragement of Dr. Price and Dr. Kippis, I also wrote anAddress to Protestant Dissenters as such; but without my name. Several of these pamphlets having been animadvertedupon by an anonymous acquaintance, who thought I had laid too much stress on the principles of the Dissenters, I wrote a defence of my conduct inLetters addressed to him.
The methodists being very numerous in Leeds, and many of the lower sort of my own hearers listening to them, I wrote anAppeal to the serious professors of Christianity, anIllustration of particular texts, and republished theTrial of Elwall, all in the cheapest manner possible. Those small tracts had a great effect in establishing my hearers in liberal principles of religion, and in a short time had a far more extensive influence than I could have imagined. By this time more than thirty thousand copies of the Appeal have been dispersed.
Besides these theoretical and controversial pieces, I wrote while I was at Leeds myEssay on Governmentmentioned before, myEnglish Grammarenlarged, afamiliar introduction to the study of electricity, atreatise on perspective, and myChart of History, and also some anonymous pieces in favour of civil liberty during the persecution of Mr. Wilkes, the principal of which wasAn Address to Dissenters on the subject of the difference with America, which I wrote atthe request of Dr. Franklin, and Dr. Fothergil.
But nothing of a nature foreign to the duties of my profession engaged my attention while I was at Leeds so much as the prosecution of my experiments relating toelectricity, and especially the doctrine ofair. The last I was led into in consequence of inhabiting a house adjoining to a public brewery, where I at first amused myself with making experiments on the fixed air which I found ready made in the process of fermentation. When I removed from that house, I was under the necessity of making the fixed air for myself; and one experiment leading to another, as I have distinctly and faithfully noted in my various publications on the subject, I by degrees contrived a convenient apparatus for the purpose, but of the cheapest kind.
When I began these experiments I knew very little ofchemistry, and had in a manner no idea on the subject before I attended a course of chemical lectures delivered in the academy at Warrington by Dr. Turner[10]of Liverpool. But I have often thoughtthat upon the whole, this circumstance was no disadvantage to me; as in this situation I was led to devise an apparatus, and processes of my own, adapted to my peculiar views. Whereas, if I had been previously accustomed to the usual chemical processes, I should not have so easily thought of any other; and without new modes of operation I should hardly have discovered any thing materially new.[11]
[10]Dr. TURNER was a Physician at Liverpool: among his friends a professed Atheist. It was Dr. Turner who wrote the reply to Dr. Priestley’s letters to a philosophical unbeliever under the feigned name of Hammon. He was in his day a good practical chemist. I believe it was Dr. Turner who first invented, or at least brought to tolerable perfection, the art of copying prints upon glass, by striking off impressions with a coloured solution of silver and fixing them on the glass by baking on an iron plate in a heat sufficient to incorporate the solution with the glass. Some of them are very neatly performed, producing transparent copies in a bright yellow upon the clear glass.Dr. Turner was not merely a whig but a republican. In a friendly debating society at Liverpool about the close of the American war, he observed in reply to a speaker who had been descanting on the honour Great Britain had gained during the reign of his present Majesty, that it was true, we had lost theTerra firmaof the thirteen colonies in America, but we ought to be satisfied with having gained in return, by the generalship of Dr. Herschel, a terra incognita of much greater extentin nubibus.T. C.
[10]Dr. TURNER was a Physician at Liverpool: among his friends a professed Atheist. It was Dr. Turner who wrote the reply to Dr. Priestley’s letters to a philosophical unbeliever under the feigned name of Hammon. He was in his day a good practical chemist. I believe it was Dr. Turner who first invented, or at least brought to tolerable perfection, the art of copying prints upon glass, by striking off impressions with a coloured solution of silver and fixing them on the glass by baking on an iron plate in a heat sufficient to incorporate the solution with the glass. Some of them are very neatly performed, producing transparent copies in a bright yellow upon the clear glass.
Dr. Turner was not merely a whig but a republican. In a friendly debating society at Liverpool about the close of the American war, he observed in reply to a speaker who had been descanting on the honour Great Britain had gained during the reign of his present Majesty, that it was true, we had lost theTerra firmaof the thirteen colonies in America, but we ought to be satisfied with having gained in return, by the generalship of Dr. Herschel, a terra incognita of much greater extentin nubibus.
T. C.
[11]This necessary attention to economy also aided the simplicity of his apparatus, and was the means in some degree of improving it in this important respect. This plainness of his apparatus rendered his experiments easy to be repeated, and gave them accuracy. In this respect he was like his great Cotemporary Scheele, whose discoveries were made by means easy to be procured and at small expence. The French Chemists have adopted a practice quite the reverse.T. C.
[11]This necessary attention to economy also aided the simplicity of his apparatus, and was the means in some degree of improving it in this important respect. This plainness of his apparatus rendered his experiments easy to be repeated, and gave them accuracy. In this respect he was like his great Cotemporary Scheele, whose discoveries were made by means easy to be procured and at small expence. The French Chemists have adopted a practice quite the reverse.
T. C.
My first publication on the subject of air was in 1772. It was a small pamphlet, on the method of impregnating water with fixed air; which being immediately translated into French, excited a great degree of attention to the subject, and this was much increased by the publication of my first paper of experiments in a large article of the Philosophical Transactions the year following, for which I received the gold medal of the society. My method of impregnating water with fixed air was considered at a meeting of the College of Physicians, before whom I made the experiments, and by them it was recommended to the Lords of the Admiral (by whom they had been summoned for the purpose) as likely to be of use in the sea scurvy.
The only person in Leeds who gave much attention to my experiments was Mr. Hay, a surgeon. He was a zealous methodist, and wrote answers to someof my theological tracts; but we always conversed with the greatest freedom on philosophical subjects, without mentioning any thing relating to theology. When I left Leeds, he begged of me the earthen trough in which I had made all my experiments on air while I was there. It was such an one as is there commonly used for washing linnen.
Having succeeded so well in the History of Electricity, I was induced to undertake the history of all the brandies of experimental philosophy; and at Leeds I gave out proposals for that purpose, and published theHistory of discoveries relating to vision light and colours. This work, also, I believe I executed to general satisfaction, and being an undertaking of great expence, I was under the necessity of publishing it by subscription. The sale, however, was not such as to encourage me to proceed with a work of so much labour and expence; so that after purchasing a great number of books, to enable me to finish my undertaking, I was obliged to abandon it, and to apply wholly to original experiments.[12]
[12]Many of the subscriptions remained unpaid.
[12]Many of the subscriptions remained unpaid.
In writing the History of discoveries relating tovision, I was much assisted by Mr. Michell, the discoverer of the method of making artificial magnets. Living at Thornhill, not very far from Leeds, I frequently visited him, and was very happy in his society, as I also was in that of Mr. Smeaton, who lived still nearer to me. He made me a present of his excellent air pump, which I constantly use to this day. Having strongly recommended his construction of this instrument, it is now generally used; whereas before that hardly any had been made during the twenty years which had elapsed after the account that he had given of it in the Philosophical Transactions.
I was also instrumental in reviving the use of large electrical machines, and batteries, in electricity, the generality of electrical machines being little more than play things at the time that I began my experiments. The first very large electrical machine was made by Mr. Nairne in consequence of a request made to me by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, to get him the best machine that we could make in England. This, and another that he made for Mr. Vaughan, were constituted on a plan of my own. But afterwards Mr. Nairne made large machines on a more simple and improved construction; and in consideration ofthe service which I had rendered him, he made me a present of a pretty large machine of the same kind.
The review of my history of electricity by Mr. Bewley, who was acquainted with Mr. Michell, was the means of opening a correspondence between us, which was the source of much satisfaction to me as long as he lived. I instantly communicated to him an account of every new experiment that I made, and, in return, was favoured with his remarks upon them. All that he published of his own were articles in theAppendixesto my volumes on air, all of which are ingenious and valuable. Always publishing in this manner, he used to call himself mysatellite. There was a vein of pleasant wit and humour in all his correspondence, which added greatly to the value of it. His letters to me would have made several volumes, and mine to him still more. When he found himself dangerously ill, he made a point of paying me a visit before he died; and he made a journey from Norfolk to Birmingham, accompanied by Mrs. Bewley, for that purpose; and after spending about a week with me, he went to his friend Dr. Burney, and at his house he died.
While I was at Leeds a proposal was made to meto accompany Captain Cook in his second voyage to the south seas. As the terms were very advantageous, I consented to it, and the heads of my congregation had agreed to keep an assistant to supply my place during my absence. But Mr. Banks informed me that I was objected to by some clergymen in the board of longitude, who had the direction of this business, on account of my religious principles; and presently after I heard that Dr. Forster, a person far better qualified for the purpose, had got the appointment. As I had barely acquiesced in the proposal, this was no disappointment to me, and I was much better employed at home, even with respect to my philosophical pursuits. My knowledge of natural history was not sufficient for the undertaking; but at that time I should by application have been able to supply my deficiency, though now I am sensible I could not do it.
At Leeds I was particularly happy in my intercourse with Mr. Turner of Wakefield, and occasionally, with Mr. Cappe of York, and Mr. Graham of Halifax. And here it was that, in consequence of a visit which in company with Mr. Turner I made to the Archdeacon Blackburne at Richmond (withwhom I had kept up a correspondence from the time that his son was under my care at Warrington) I first met with Mr. Lindsey, then of Catterick, and a correspondence and intimacy commenced, which has been the source of more real satisfaction to me than any other circumstance in my whole life. He soon discovered to me that he was uneasy in his situation, and had thoughts of quitting it. At first I was not forward to encourage him in it, but rather advised him to make what alteration he thought proper in the offices of the church, and leave it to his superiors to dismiss him if they chose. But his better judgment, and greater fortitude, led him to give up all connexion with the established church of his own accord.
This took place about the time of my leaving Leeds, and it was not until long after this that I was apprized of all the difficulties he had to struggle with before he could accomplish his purpose. But the opposition made to it by his nearest friends, and those who might have been expected to approve of the step that he took, and to have endeavoured to make it easy to him, was one of the greatest. Notwithstanding this he left Catterick, where he had livedin affluence idolized by his parish, and went to London without any certain prospect; where he lived in two rooms of a ground floor, until by the assistance of his friends, he was able to pay for the use of the upper apartments, which the state of his health rendered necessary. In this humble situation have I passed some of the most pleasing hours of my life, when, in consequence of living with Lord Shelburne, I spent my winters in London.
On this occasion it was that my intimacy with Mr. Lindsey was much improved, and an entire concurrence in every thing that we thought to be for the interest of christianity gave fresh warmth to our friendship. To his society I owe much of my zeal for the doctrine of the divine unity, for which he made so great sacrifices, and in the defence of which he so much distinguished himself, so as to occasion a new æra in the history of religion in this country.
As we became more intimate, confiding in his better taste and judgment, and also in that of Mrs. Lindsey, a woman of the same spirit and views, and in all respects a help meet for him, I never chose to publish any thing of moment relating to Theology without consulting him; and hardly ever venturedto insert any thing that they disapproved, being sensible that my disposition led to precipitancy, to which their coolness was a seasonable check.
At Leeds began my intercourse with Mr. Lee of Lincoln’s Inn. He was a native of the place, and exactly one week older than myself. At that time he was particularly connected with the congregation, and before he was married spent his vacations with us. His friendship was a source of much greater satisfaction and advantage to me after I came to reside in London, and especially at the time of my leaving Lord Shelburne, when my prospects wore rather a cloudy aspect.
When I visited London, during my residence at Leeds, commenced my particular friendship for Dr. Price, to whom I had been introduced several years before by Dr. Benson; our first interview having been at Mr. Brownsword’s at Newington, where they were members of a small literary society, in which they read various compositions. At that time Dr. Benson read a paper which afterwards made a section in hisLife of Christ. For the most amiable simplicity of character, equalled only by that of Mr. Lindsey, a truly christian spirit, disinterested patriotism,and true candour, no man in my opinion ever exceeded Dr. Price. His candour will appear the more extraordinary, considering his warm attachments to the theological sentiments which he embraced in very early life. I shall ever reflect upon our friendship as a circumstance highly honourable, as it was a source of peculiar satisfaction, to me.
I had two sons born to me at Leeds, Joseph and William, and though I was very happy there, I was tempted to leave it after continuing there six years, to go into the family of the Earl of Shelburne, now the Marquis of Lansdowne; he stipulating to give me 250 £. per annum, a house to live in, and a certainty for life in case of his death, or of my separation from him; whereas at Leeds my salary was only one hundred guineas per annum, and a house, which was not quite sufficient for the subsistence of my family, without a possibility of making a provision for them after my death.
I had been recommended to Lord Shelburne by Dr. Price, as a person qualified to be a literary companion to him. In this situation, my family being at Calne in Wiltshire, near to his Lordship’s seat at Bowood, I continued seven years, spending thesummer with my family, and a great part of the winter in his Lordship’s house in London. My office was nominally that oflibrarian, but I had little employment as such, besides arranging his books, taking a catalogue of them, and of his manuscripts, which were numerous, and making an index to his collection of private papers. In fact I was with him as a friend, and the second year made with him the tour of Flanders, Holland, and Germany, as far as Strasburgh; and after spending a month at Paris, returned to England. This was in the year 1774.
This little excursion made me more sensible than I should otherwise have been of the benefit of foreign travel, even without the advantage of much conversation with foreigners. The very sight of new countries, new buildings, new customs, &c. and the very hearing of an unintelligible new language, gives new ideas, and tends to enlarge the mind. To me this little time was extremely pleasing, especially as I saw every thing to the greatest advantage, and without any anxiety or trouble, and had an opportunity of seeing and conversing with every person of eminence wherever we came; the political characters by his Lordship’s connections,and the literary ones by my own. I was soon, however, tired of Paris, and chose to spend my evenings at the hotel, in company with a few literary friends. Fortunately for me, Mr. Magellan[13]being at Paris, at the same time, spent most of the evenings with me; and as I chose to return before his Lordship, he accompanied me to London, and made the journey very pleasing to me; he being used to the country, the language, and the manners of it, which I was not. He had seen much of theworld, and his conversation during our journey was particularly interesting to me. Indeed, in London, both before and after this time, I always found him very friendly, especially in every thing that related to my philosophical pursuits.
[13]JOHN HYACINTH De MAGELLANa descendant of the famous Navigator Magellan, was a Portuguese Jesuit, but far more attached to Philosophy than Christianity. He was much employed by his rich and noble correspondents abroad to procure philosophical Instruments from the Artists of Great Britain. He was a good judge of these, and being of a mechanical turn as well as a man of Science, he improved their construction in many instances. He was member of and attendant on almost all the philosophical Clubs and Meetings in London, and was generally furnished with early intelligence of philosophical discoveries from the continent. On the 17th of September 1785 he made a donation of 200 guineas to the American Philosophical Society, the interest whereof was to be appropriated annually as a premium for the most useful discoveries or improvements in navigation or natural philosophy, but to the exclusion of mere natural history. He died a few years ago, leaving Mr. Nicholson and the late Dr. Crawford his Executors. T. C.
[13]JOHN HYACINTH De MAGELLANa descendant of the famous Navigator Magellan, was a Portuguese Jesuit, but far more attached to Philosophy than Christianity. He was much employed by his rich and noble correspondents abroad to procure philosophical Instruments from the Artists of Great Britain. He was a good judge of these, and being of a mechanical turn as well as a man of Science, he improved their construction in many instances. He was member of and attendant on almost all the philosophical Clubs and Meetings in London, and was generally furnished with early intelligence of philosophical discoveries from the continent. On the 17th of September 1785 he made a donation of 200 guineas to the American Philosophical Society, the interest whereof was to be appropriated annually as a premium for the most useful discoveries or improvements in navigation or natural philosophy, but to the exclusion of mere natural history. He died a few years ago, leaving Mr. Nicholson and the late Dr. Crawford his Executors. T. C.
As I was sufficiently apprized of the fact, I did not wonder, as I otherwise should have done, to find all the philosophical persons to whom I was introduced at Paris unbelievers in christianity, and even professed Atheists. As I chose on all occasions to appear as a christian, I was told by some of them, that I was the only person they had ever met with, of whose understanding they had any opinion, who professed to believe christianity. But on interrogating them on the subject, I soon found that they had given no proper attention to it, and did not really know what christianity was. This was also the case with a great part of the company that I saw at Lord Shelburne’s. But I hope that my always avowing myself to be a christian, and holding myself ready on all occasions to defend the genuine principles of it, was not without its use. Having conversed so much with unbelievers at home and abroad, I thought I should be able to combat their prejudices with someadvantage, and with this view I wrote, while I was with Lord Shelburne, the first part of myLetters to a philosophical unbeliever, in proof of the doctrines of a God and a providence, and to this I have added during my residence at Birmingham, a second part, in defence of the evidences of christianity. The first part being replied to by a person who called himself Mr. Hammon, I wrote a reply to his piece, which has hitherto remained unanswered. I am happy to find that this work of mine has done some good, and I hope that in due time it will do more. I can truly say that the greatest satisfaction I receive from the success of my philosophical pursuits, arises from the weight it may give to my attempts to defend christianity, and to free it from those corruptions which prevent its reception with philosophical and thinking persons, whose influence with the vulgar, and the unthinking, is very great.
With Lord Shelburne I saw a great variety of characters, but, of our neighbours in Wiltshire, the person I had the most frequent opportunity of seeing was Dr. Frampton, a clergyman, whose history may serve as a lesson to many. No man perhaps was ever better qualified to please in a convivial hour, orhad greater talents for conversation and repartee; in consequence of which, though there were several things very disgusting about him, his society was much courted, and many promises of preferment were made to him. To these, notwithstanding his knowledge of the world, and of high life, he gave too much credit; so that he spared no expence to gratify his taste and appetite, until he was universally involved in debt; and though his friends made some efforts to relieve him, he was confined a year in the county prison at a time when his bodily infirmities required the greatest indulgences; and he obtained his release but a short time before his death on condition of his living on a scanty allowance; the income of his livings (amounting to more than 400 £. per annum) being in the hands of his creditors. Such was the end of a man who kept the table in a roar.
Dr. Frampton being a high churchman, he could not at first conceal his aversion to me, and endeavoured to do me some ill offices. But being a man of letters, and despising the clergy in his neighbourhood, he became at last much attached to me; and in his distresses was satisfied, I believe, that I was one of his most sincere friends. With some great defects hehad some considerable virtues, and uncommon abilities, which appeared more particularly in extempore speaking. He always preached without notes, and when, on some occasions, he composed his sermons, he could, if he chose to do it, repeat the wholeverbatim. He frequently extemporized in verse, in a great variety of measures.
In Lord Shelburne’s family was Lady Arabella Denny, who is well known by her extensive charities. She is (for she is still living) a woman of good understanding, and great piety. She had the care of his Lordship’s two sons until they came under the care of Mr. Jervis, who was their tutor during my continuance in the family. His Lordship’s younger son, who died suddenly, had made astonishing attainments both in knowledge and piety, while very young, far beyond any thing that I had an opportunity of observing in my life.
When I went to his Lordship, I had materials for one volume ofexperiments on air, which I soon after published, and inscribed to him; and before I left him I published three volumes more, and had materials for a fourth, which I published immediately on my settling in Birmingham. He encouraged mein the prosecution of my philosophical enquiries, and allowed me 40 £. per annum for expences of that kind, and was pleased to see me make experiments to entertain his guests, and especially foreigners.
Notwithstanding the attention that I gave to philosophy in this situation, I did not discontinue my other studies, especially in theology and metaphysics. Here I wrote myMiscellaneous Observations relating to education, and published myLectures on Oratory and Criticism, which I dedicated to Lord Fitzmaurice, Lord Shelburne’s eldest son. Here also I published the third and last part of myInstitutes of Natural and Revealed religion; and having in the Preface attacked the principles of Dr. Reid, Dr. Beattie, and Dr. Oswald, with respect to their doctrine ofCommon Sense, which they made to supercede all rational inquiry into the subject of religion, I was led to consider their system in a separate work, which, though written in a manner that I do not intirely approve, has, I hope, upon the whole been of service to the cause of free inquiry and truth.[14]