was the same as that applied to a rude substitute for a bridle. An example preserved at St. Mary's Church, St. Andrew's, is said to have been affixed to the heads of the early Scottish martyrs at the stake; another was found behind the panelling of the old house of the Earls of Moray, in the Canongate, Edinburgh.

Of the English "Scolds' Bridle," one of the earliest engraved examples is that given by Dr. Plot in his "History of Staffordshire," and which he says "being put upon the offender, by order of the magistrate, and fastened by a padlock behind, she is led round the town by an officer to her shame; nor is it removed till after the party shows, by all external signs imaginable, humiliation and amendment." Brand, in his "History of Newcastle-upon-Tyne," engraves another example, which Gardiner, in his "England's Greivance," 1655, declares he saw in use, and the iron tongue "forced the blood out" of the unfortunate woman's mouth who then wore it. Another is in the Town Hall at Worcester; one is in private hands at Leicester, once belonging to the Town Hall there. The curious inscribed one in the church at Walton-on-Thames has been already noticed. The Town Council of Lichfield also possesses one of these bridles; another is at Beaudesert, the seat of the Marquis of Anglesey; but by far the most curious example is preserved at Harnstall Ridware, in Staffordshire. It has apertures for the eyes and nose, giving the face a grotesque appearance, and towers above the head like the cap of a grenadier. In this way it connects itself with the Military Mask at Goodrich; as that, by its grotesque character, is connected with the German one I have exhibited this evening.

I have thus endeavoured to show that the principle, both of the invention and construction of these antique grotesque implements of punishment, has evidently emanated from the same source. As very rare examples of ancient manners, they are worthy the attention of all who study what are frequently termed the "good old times," and who may, by that study, learn to be thankful that they did not live in them.

ON SOME CORRESPONDENCE OF DR. PRIESTLEY, PRESERVED IN THE

WARRINGTON MUSEUM AND LIBRARY.

By J. F. Marsh, Esq.

(READ 19TH APRIL, 1855.)

It is no part of my object this evening to enter upon or to provoke a discussion of the merits or demerits, personal, political, or scientific, of Dr. Priestley, but I may venture to assume that his name will be generally received as so illustrious in the world of science, and so remarkable in that of politics, that a series of letters from him, extending over a period of twelve years, may command a small portion of the attention of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, though it does not happen to embrace that portion of his life during which he was connected with these counties by his residence at Nantwich, and subsequently at Warrington, as one of the tutors at its celebrated Academy. The correspondence of any man taking as active an interest as Priestley did in the stirring events of his time would be worth perusal, were it only for the sake of comparison with the ideas and temper of our own day; and that these letters partake of this description of interest may be inferred from the circumstances which led to their preservation and deposit in the Warrington Museum and Library, whence I have brought them for your inspection.

In a letter dated 4th October, 1791, he writes to his brother-in-law, Mr. Wilkinson :

"I am glad that you approve of my views with respect to France. Now I think it must be evident to every body, whether they will acknowledge it or not, that that country must rise and that this cannot well go higher. Whether any addition be made to our burdens or not they must begin to be felt heavier and heavier, and the wretched illiberal spirit of the court will make it despicable. * * * I spoke to Mr. B. Vaughan, who has placed my money in France, and he says he will write to you about yours. * * * He has already placed a considerable sum in the French funds, and many, I doubt not, will soon do the same, as was the case with the American funds, which have risen 30 per cent. since I placed what I could in them. Mr. Russell got 30 per cent. per annum by some money that he happened to have in their funds at a very critical time."

E

His correspondent expresses his entire accordance with these sentiments, and remits £5000 for investment in stock, in a country which he looks upon both as favorable for manufacture and commerce, and as a place of refuge from persecution. This sum appears to have been subsequently made over to Dr. Priestley. Within less than eighteen months he writes that he considers the money invested in the French funds as lost, and from that time till the year 1798 the correspondence narrates the efforts he was making to recover from the French government a portion, however small, of the wreck of his property. At last he writes from America on the 15th of March, 1798 ::

"At the solicitation, I suppose, of Mr. Adit, the late Ambassador from France, the Directory have made an arret in my favor. It is sufficiently complimentary, but the benefit I shall derive from it is very little, if anything at all, while I am here. They allow me in cash 1200 livres per ann., which is about £50 sterling, till the interest of my money in their funds shall amount to as much. Their funds must be very low indeed if £10,000 do not yield fifty per ann. when we were led to expect £600."

It is to the constant allusions to this subject, and the pecuniary transactions between Dr. Priestley and his brother-in-law, arising from the difficulties in which the former was involved by his misplaced confidence in the credit of the French Republic, that the preservation, as a mere matter of business, of between sixty and seventy most interesting letters is to be attributed. After lying for half a century among the papers which had come to the hands of the firm which I represent, as Mr. Wilkinson's family solicitors, I accidentally stumbled upon one which from its signature interested me as an autograph, and finding that it was not a mere nugget, but that the whole bundle was auriferous, I arranged the correspondence in order, and procured the consent of Mr. Wilkinson's family to its deposit in its present place of preservation.

Before describing the correspondence more particularly it may be convenient to sketch very slightly the history of Dr. Priestley, down to the date at which it commences. He was born of respectable parents, of Calvinistic tenets, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in the year 1733, and his education was commenced at a school at Batley, and completed by Dr. Ashworth at Daventry. In after life his religious opinions differed materially from those of the school in which he was brought up, and at

successive periods he passed through all the changes from Calvinism to Arianism, and Socinianism, but remained through the whole progress a firm believer in the Jewish and Christian revelations, according to the testimony of his biographer Dr. Aikin, who warmly defends him from the charge of having held even more extreme opinions. At the age of 22 he took charge of a congregation at Needham Market, in Suffolk, and afterwards removed to Nantwich, where he remained until, in 1761, he became tutor in the department of Polite Literature in the Warrington Academy, and shortly afterwards married a sister of the gentleman to whom the principal portion of the letters to which I have to call your attention are addressed, Mr. Wilkinson, a celebrated Ironmaster in Staffordshire and North Wales. It is not necessary that I should detain you with any notice of the various works by which Dr. Priestley now began to make himself known, in the world of Literature and Science. Suffice it to say, that at the close of his connection with the Warrington Academy in 1768, he had obtained a more than European reputation by his researches in Chemistry, Electricity and Optics. After a short residence at Leeds he accepted an engagement with the Earl of Shelburne, which, in the nominal capacity of his Lordship's librarian, or literary and philosophical companion, afforded him an opportunity of devoting himself to his favorite pursuits, and retiring from it after some years with a liberal pension, with the aid of which, and additional subscriptions from several friends of science to enable him to carry on his experiments, he determined to devote himself to philosophy; and settled at Birmingham, for the purpose of deriving the utmost advantage from the mechanical resources of the workshop of the world. It would have been fortunate for his memory if such pursuits had engrossed the whole of his attention, though it is only justice to say that the space which he occupies in the politics of the period is less attributable to the extent to which he took part in political discussions, than to the fact of his having been the principal victim of those savage riots which disgraced the town of Birmingham, when popular violence, aroused by a public dinner on the 14th July, 1791, (at which however Dr. Priestley was not present) to celebrate the destruction of the Bastile, was directed against him on account of the favorable eye with which he was supposed to regard the French Revolution: and amidst the conflagration of places of worship and private property, his house, his library, manuscripts, and

philosophical apparatus were consigned to the flames, and (to use the language of Mrs. Barbauld),

"the name

"On which delighted science loved to dwell,

"Became the bandied theme of hooting crowds."

It is shortly before this period that the correspondence commences, and the following letter dated from London the 20th August, 1791, gives an interesting picture of the state of public feeling on the subject:—

"You were so obliging as to give me an invitation to any of your houses in the present unsettled state of my affairs, and having continued here nearly as long as was convenient for me, on account of receiving and answering letters, I shall be happy with your leave to spend a month or 6 weeks at Castlehead, especially as I understand that you are there yourself. I shall never forget how agreeably I passed my time there before, and what satisfaction I had in composing several of my works in your Wren's nest. There I wish to finish an Appeal that I am writing to the public on the subject of the riots in Birmingham, which I intend to publish, not immediately, but some time hence, when it will probably have a greater effect. My son William is with me, and as unsettled as myself. He was to have been 3 years with Mr. Russell, in order to his being afterwards settled in America, but as it is now probable that I shall not return to Birmingham, it will be an uncomfortable place for him. He exposed himself much in the riots in saving what he could of our things, and was so marked by the rioters as to be in much danger. Besides the great fatigue he underwent required some recruit. He therefore came hither, and is very useful to me as an amanuensis, and in that capacity, if you please, I will bring him with me to Castlehead. * * * The Dissenters at Birmingham have been much dispirited, but they now begin to take courage in consequence of having discovered some very foul practices of their adversaries, which must expose them to infamy. The particulars Mr. Russell forbears to mention, but among other things he has in his possession a forged letter which was made use of to inflame the mob both at my house and his. The magisstrates, who deserve the severest punishment, have had the thanks of a Town's meeting, and presents voted them, and Mr. Galton informs me that they have sent an Address to the King so fulsome and abject as must disgrace them for ever, while that of the Dissenters is manly and does them credit. * * * I thank God I never enjoyed better health or spirits than I have done since this affair, nor has it lost me a moment's sleep, except in consequence of being driven about four nights running, without being able to go to bed except for a few hours.

In another letter from London, on the 8th September, on the same subject, after arranging his plans for a visit to Castlehead, he writes: