to him, saying that if I had a proper assurance of the promise above mentioned, I should go, but whether my letter will reach him is very uncertain, and, at the most, I shall not be able to go till the next year. Mr. Russell, who has much property in France, is disposed to go too, and we shall (I think) go together, but not before a peace is made, and that most desirable event we hope cannot now be very distant. The affairs of England seem to be drawing to a crisis, and I cannot help being concerned for the event. I wish all my friends had such a quiet asylum as we have here. This country however is not without its difficulties. We are almost in a state of war with France, and what will be done is yet uncertain. I believe they will arm their ships for defence, and this I fear will lead to an open rupture. Either this measure or an embargo must be adopted, and the merchants seem to prefer the former. The hatred to France has risen to an astonishing pitch since I have been here, and as a supposed Friend of France, I am exposed to as much abuse as I was in England, though I have nothing to do with their politics."

On the 14th June, 1800, he writes :—

"The expence of printing a work, calculated I hope to promote the cause of rational Christianity, which I have most at heart, has been considerable, and the bookseller who had promised to take it upon himself, has declined it. A copy of this work will be sent to you, as also of a Philosophical Tract, by which you will see that I am not idle; and while I am successful in my pursuits, (and I was never more so than I have been of late) I am persuaded that the liberal friends of science would not wish me to desist, though the expence attending them is necessarily considerable; but thinking that I have now no occasion for any assistance, those who contributed to the expense of my laboratory in England have withdrawn their subscriptions. I hope, therefore, you will consider what you do for me as given to promote useful science and useful knowledge in general, to which, without any view to emolument, I have always devoted my time, and I wish to do so as long as I shall be capable of doing anything, which cannot now be long and this I doubt not will be as powerful a motive with you as any relationship whatever. My gratitude will appear in the only manner in which I shall be capable of shewing it."

On the 17th July, 1800:

My expenses have never been personal, but chiefly in the promotion of science and truth in general, to which I have devoted my time and whatever powers God has given me, and, therefore, I hope that the friends of science and of truth will afford me the assistance they have hitherto done. I am now as busy, and I hope as successful, as ever. My situation is in many respects favourable, especially with respect to leisure and quiet. As to the abuse to which I am exposed here, as formerly in Eugland, I rather rejoice in it than am concerned

at it. It is what every man who does any good in the world must expect, and is much more than balanced by the approbation of persons of similar sentiments and views; and of such cordial friends I have never been destitute. We shall rejoice together in a world in which the wicked will cease from troubling. To that state I now look forward more than to anything here, as I cannot be very distant from it, though, I thank God, my health is very good, and I may yet do something more before I leave this scene.'

His growing unpopularity in America, of which indications appear in several of the preceding letters, at length assumed a form which compelled him to defend himself; and on the 1st December, 1800, he writes:

Having been strangely calumniated in this country, and represented as a factious and dangerous person, become desperate by poverty, in consequence of speculating in lands, and being moreover told in confidence that Mr. Pickering, then Secretary of State, watched and threatened me, I thought it best to give a full account of all that I had done, and even thought, with respect to the administration. This I did in a series of Letters to the inhabitants of Northumberland and its neighbourhood, and the publication, though censured by many, has had a good effect. * * * It was with much reluctance that I wrote them, and I hope I shall have no further occasion to do anything in the same way. My theological and philosophical studies find me sufficient employment, and of a more useful and pleasing kind."

He does not appear to have overrated the success of his appeal, for on the 30th April, 1801, he writes:

"That you may form some idea of the state of politics in this country, and see how favourable a turn things have taken with respect to myself, I send you a copy of a letter I have lately received from Mr Jefferson, and my Letter to the inhabitants of Northumberland will shew you what my situation was in the administration of Mr. Adams, or rather of those who for some time governed him.” The President's letter is too long for quotation; a single paragraph may suffice :

"It is with heartfelt satisfaction that in the first moments of my public action I can hail you with welcome to our land, tender to you the homage of its respect and esteem, cover you under the protection of those laws which were made for the wise and good like you, and disclaim the legitimacy of that libel on legislation which under the form of a law was for some time placed among them. As the storm is now subsiding and the horizon becoming serene, it is pleasant to consider the phenomenon with attention. We can no longer say there is nothing new under the sun,' for this whole chapter in the history of man is new-the great extent of our republic is new-its

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sparse habitation is new-the mighty wave of public opinion which has rolled over it is new-but the most pleasing novelty is its so quickly subsiding over such an extent of surface to its true level again.

There is another interesting letter from Jefferson, in answer to the offer of a dedication, which he accepts with the modest observation that the handing to the world the testimony of his desire to do what was right, under the authority of the name of Priestley, was securing his credit with posterity. The following extract from the letter will be of more general interest. He says:

"One passage in the paper you enclosed me must be corrected. It is the following:- And all say that it was yourself more than any other individual that planned and established it' i.e. the constitution. I was in Europe when the constitution was planned and established. On receiving it I wrote strongly to Mr. Madison, urging the want of provision for the freedom of religion, freedom of the press, trial by jury, habeas corpus, the substitution of militia for a standing army, and an express reservation to the States of all rights not specifically granted to the Union. He accordingly moved in the first session of congress for these amendments, which were agreed to and ratified by the States as they now stand. This is all the hand I had in what related to the constitution. Our predecessors made it doubtful how far even these were of any value, for the very law which endangered your personal safety, as well as that which restrained the freedom of the press, were gross violations of them. However, it is still certain that the written constitutions may be violated in moments of passion or delusion, yet they furnish a text to which those who are watchful may again rally and recall the people. They fix too for the people principles for their political creed."

The letter to which a copy of the above was annexed, dated the 31st July, 1802, is the last in the correspondence, though the death of Dr. Priestley did not take place until February, 1804.

In selecting my extracts I have had regard almost exclusively to the passages bearing upon his personal history, in which respect I cannot help thinking that these letters may furnish useful materials to some future biographer of Priestley. If I had been guided by other motives, I could perhaps have selected passages of more general interest, in which he discusses public events and the political and social condition of the people among whom he was residing. I have with more reluctance omitted passages indicative of the character of the writer, and especially several which exhibit a peculiar independence in the