As I have not failed to attend to the phenomena of my own mind, as
well as to those of other parts of nature, I have not been insensible
of some great defects, as well as some advantages, attending its
constitution; having from an early period been subject to a most
humbling failure of recollection, so that I have sometimes lost all
ideas of both persons and things, that I have been conversant with.
I have so completely forgotten what I have myself published, that in
reading my own writings, what I find in them often appears perfectly
new to me, and I have more than once made experiments the results of
which had been published by me.
I shall particularly mention one fact of this kind; as it alarmed
me much at the time, as a symptom of all my mental powers totally
failing me, until I was relieved by the recollection of things of a
similar nature having happened to me before. When I was composing the
_Dissertations_ which are prefixed to my _Harmony of the gospels_,
I had to ascertain something which had been the subject of much
discussion relating to the Jewish passover (I have now forgotten what
it was) and for that purpose had to consult, and compare several
writers. This I accordingly did, and digested the result in the compass
of a few paragraphs, which I wrote in short hand. But having mislaid
the paper, and my attention having been drawn off to other things, in
the space of a fortnight, I did the same thing over again; and should
never have discovered that I had done it twice, if, after the second
paper was transcribed for the press, I had not accidentally found the
former, which I viewed with a degree of terror.
Apprized of this defect, I never fail to note down as soon as possible
every thing that I wish not to forget. The same failing has led me to
devise, and have recourse to, a variety of mechanical expedients to
secure and arrange my thoughts, which have been of the greatest use to
me in the composition of large and complex works; and what has excited
the wonder of some of my readers, would only have made them smile if
they had seen me at work. But by simple and mechanical methods one man
shall do that in a month, which shall cost another, of equal ability,
whole years to execute. This methodical arrangement of a large work
is greatly facilitated by mechanical methods, and nothing contributes
more to the perspicuity of a large work, than a good arrangement of its
parts.
What I have known with respect to myself has tended much to lessen
both my admiration, and my contempt, of others. Could we have entered
into the mind of Sir Isaac Newton, and have traced all the steps
by which he produced his great works, we might see nothing very
extraordinary in the process. And great powers with respect to some
things are generally attended with great defects in others; and these
may not appear in a man’s writings. For this reason it seldom happens
but that our admiration of philosophers and writers is lessened by a
personal knowledge of them.
As great excellencies are often balanced by great, though not apparent,
defects, so great and apparent defects are often accompanied by
great, though not apparent, excellencies. Thus my defect in point of
recollection, which may be owing to a want of sufficient coherence in
the association of ideas formerly impressed, may arise from a mental
constitution more favourable to new associations; so that what I have
lost with respect to memory, may have been compensated by what is
called invention, or new and original combinations of ideas. This is
a subject that deserves attention, as well as every thing else that
relates to the affections of the mind.
Though I have often composed much in a little time, it by no means
follows that I could have done much in a given time. For whenever I
have done much business in a short time, it has always been with the
idea of having time more than sufficient to do it in; so that I have
always felt myself at ease, and I could have done nothing, as many can,
if I had been hurried.
Knowing the necessity of this state of my mind to the dispatch of
business, I have never put off any thing to the last moment; and
instead of doing that on the morrow which ought to be done to day,
I have often blamed myself for doing to day what had better have
been put off until to morrow; precipitancy being more my fault than
procrastination.
It has been a great advantage to me that I have never been under the
necessity of retiring from company in order to compose any thing. Being
fond of domestic life, I got a habit of writing on any subject by the
parlour fire, with my wife and children about me, and occasionally
talking to them, without experiencing any inconvenience from such
interruptions. Nothing but reading, or speaking without interruption,
has been any obstruction to me. For I could not help attending (as
some can) when others spoke in my hearing. These are useful habits,
which studious persons in general might acquire, if they would; and
many persons greatly distress themselves, and others, by the idea that
they can do nothing except in perfect solitude or silence.
Another great subject of my thankfulness to a good providence is my
perfect freedom from any embarrassment in my circumstances, so that,
without any anxiety on the subject, my supplies have always been
equal to my wants; and now that my expences are increased to a degree
that I had no conception of some years ago, I am a richer man than
I was, and without laying myself out for the purpose. What is more,
this indifference about an increase of fortune has been the means of
attaining it. When I began my experiments, I expended on them all the
money I could possibly raise, carried on by my ardour in philosophical
investigations, and entirely regardless of consequences, except so far
as never to contract any debt; and if this had been without success,
my imprudence would have been manifest. But having succeeded, I was in
time more than indemnified for all that I had expended.
My theological studies, especially those which made it necessary for
me to consult the Christian Fathers, &c. have also been expensive to
me. But I have found my theological friends even more liberal than my
philosophical ones, and all beyond my expectations.
In reflecting on my past life I have often thought of two sayings of
Jacob. When he had lost one of his sons, and thought of other things
that were afflictions to him, he said, “all these things are against
me,” at the same time that they were in reality making for him. So
the impediment in my speech, and the difficulties of my situation at
Needham, I now see as much cause to be thankful for, as for the most
brilliant scenes in my life.
I have also applied to myself what Jacob said on his return from Padan
Aram. “With my staff I went over this Jordan, and now I am become
two bands;” when I consider how little I carried with me to Needham
and Nantwich, how much more I had to carry to Warrington, how much
more still to Leeds, how much more than that to Calne, and then to
Birmingham.
Yet, frequently as I have changed my situation, and always for the
better, I can truly say that I never wished for any change on my own
account. I should have been contented even at Needham, if I could have
been unmolested, and had bare necessaries. This freedom from anxiety
was remarkable in my father, and therefore is in a manner hereditary
to me; but it has been much increased by reflection; having frequently
observed, especially with respect to christian ministers, how often it
has contributed to embitter their lives, without being of any use to
them. Some attention to the improvement of a man’s circumstances is,
no doubt, right, because no man can tell what occasion he may have for
money, especially if he have children, and therefore I do not recommend
my example to others. But I am thankful to that good providence which
always took more care of me than I ever took of myself.
Hitherto I have had great reason to be thankful with respect to my
children, as they have a prospect of enjoying a good share of health,
and a sufficient capacity for performing the duties of their stations.
They have also good dispositions, and as much as could be expected
at their age, a sense of religion. But as I hope they will live to
see this work, I say the less on this subject, and I hope they
will consider what I say in their favour as an incitement to exert
themselves to act a christian and useful part in life; that the care
that I and their mother have taken of their instruction may not be lost
upon them, and that they may secure a happy meeting with us in a better
world.
I esteem it a singular happiness to have lived in an age and country,
in which I have been at full liberty both to investigate, and by
preaching and writing to propagate, religious truth; that though the
freedom I have used for this purpose was for some time disadvantageous
to me, it was not long so, and that my present situation is such that
I can with the greatest openness urge whatever appears to me to be
the truth of the gospel, not only without giving the least offence,
but with the intire approbation of those with whom I am particularly
connected.
As to the dislike which I have drawn upon myself by my writings,
whether that of the Calvinistic party, in or out of the church of
England, those who rank with rational dissenters (but who have been
exceedingly offended at my carrying my inquiries farther than they
wished any person to do) or whether they be unbelievers, I am thankful
that it gives less disturbance to me than it does to themselves; and
that their dislike is much more than compensated by the cordial esteem
and approbation of my conduct by a few, whose minds are congenial to my
own, and especially that the number of such persons increases.
[_Birmingham_, 1787.
_A Continuation of the Memoirs, written at Northumberland in America
in the beginning of the year 1795._
When I wrote the preceding part of these Memoirs I was happy as must
have appeared in the course of them, in the prospect of spending the
remainder of my life at Birmingham, where I had every advantage for
pursuing my studies, both philosophical and theological; but it pleased
the sovereign disposer of all things to appoint for me other removals,
and the manner in which they were brought about were more painful to me
than the removals themselves. I am far, however, from questioning the
wisdom or the goodness of the appointments respecting myself or others.
To resume the account of my pursuits where the former part of the
Memoirs left it, I must observe that, in the prosecution of my
_experiments_, I was led to maintain the doctrine of phlogiston against
Mr. Lavoisier and other chemists in France, whose opinions were adopted
not only by almost all the philosophers of that country, but by those
in England and Scotland also. My friends, however, of the lunar society
were never satisfied with the Anti-phlogistic doctrine. My experiments
and observations on this subject were published in various papers
in the Philosophical Transactions. At Birmingham I also published a
new edition of my publications on the subject of _air_, and others
connected with it, reducing the six volumes to three, which, with his
consent, I dedicated to the prince of Wales.
In theology I continued my _defences of Unitarianism_, until it
appeared to myself and my friends that my antagonists produced nothing
to which it was of any consequence to reply. But I did not, as I had
proposed, publish any address to the bishops, or to the legislature,
on the subject. The former I wrote, but did not publish. I left it,
however, in the hands of Mr. Belsham when I came to America, that he
might dispose of it as he should think proper.
The pains that I took to ascertain the state of early opinions
concerning Jesus Christ, and the great misapprehensions I perceived
in all the ecclesiastical historians, led me to undertake a _General
History of the christian church to the fall of the Western empire_,
which accordingly I wrote in two volumes octavo, and dedicated to Mr.
Shore. This work I mean to continue.
At Birmingham I wrote the _second_ part of my _Letters to a
philosophical Unbeliever_, and dedicated the whole to Mr. Tayleur
of Shrewsbury, who had afforded me most material assistance in the
publication of many of my theological works, without which, the sale
being inconsiderable, I should not have been able to publish them at
all.
Before I left Birmingham I preached a funeral sermon for my friend Dr.
Price, and another for Mr. Robinson of Cambridge, who died with us on a
visit to preach our annual charity school sermon. I also preached the
last annual sermon to the friends of the college at Hackney. All these
three sermons were published.
About two years before I left Birmingham the question about the _test
act_ was much agitated both in and out of parliament. This, however,
was altogether without any concurrence of mine. I only delivered, and
published, a sermon on the 5th of November 1789, recommending the
most peaceable method of pursuing our object. Mr. Madan, however, the
most respectable clergyman in the town, preaching and publishing a
most inflammatory sermon on the subject, inveighing in the bitterest
manner against the Dissenters in general, and myself in particular,
I addressed a number of _familiar letters to the inhabitants of
Birmingham_ in our defence. This produced a reply from him, and other
letters from me. All mine were written in an ironical and rather a
pleasant manner, and in some of the last of them I introduced a farther
reply to Mr. Burn, another clergyman in Birmingham, who had addressed
to me _letters on the infallibility of the testimony of the Apostles
concerning the person of Christ_, after replying to his first set of
Letters, in a separate publication.
From these small pieces I was far from expecting any serious
consequences. But the Dissenters in general being very obnoxious to
the court, and it being imagined, though without any reason, that I
had been the chief promoter of the measures which gave them offence,
the clergy, not only in Birmingham, but through all England, seemed to
make it their business, by writing in the public papers, by preaching,
and other methods, to inflame the minds of the people against me.
And on occasion of the celebration of the anniversary of the French
revolution on July 14th, 1791, by several of my friends, but with which
I had little to do, a mob encouraged by some persons in power, first
burned the meeting house in which I preached, then another meeting
house in the town, and then my dwelling house, demolishing my library,
apparatus, and, as far as they could, every thing belonging to me. They
also burned, or much damaged, the houses of many Dissenters, chiefly
my friends; the particulars of which I need not recite, as they will
be found in two _Appeals_ which I published on the subject written
presently after the riots.
Being in some personal danger on this occasion, I went to London; and
so violent was the spirit of party which then prevailed, that I believe
I could hardly have been safe in any other place. There, however, I
was perfectly so, though I continued to be an object of troublesome
attention until I left the country altogether. It shewed no small
degree of courage and friendship in Mr. William Vaughan to receive me
into his house, and also in Mr. Salte, with whom I spent a month at
Tottenham. But it shewed more in Dr. Price’s congregation at Hackney,
to invite me to succeed him, which they did, though not unanimously,
some time after my arrival in London.
In this situation I found myself as happy as I had been at Birmingham,
and contrary to general expectation, I opened my lectures to young
persons with great success, being attended by many from London; and
though I lost some of the hearers, I left the congregation in a better
situation than that in which I found it.
On the whole, I spent my time even more happily at Hackney than ever
I had done before; having every advantage for my philosophical and
theological studies, in some respect superior to what I had enjoyed
at Birmingham, especially from my easy access to Mr. Lindsey, and my
frequent intercourse with Mr. Belsham, professor of divinity in the
New College, near which I lived. Never, on this side the grave, do
I expect to enjoy myself so much as I did by the fire side of Mr.
Lindsey, conversing with him and Mrs. Lindsey on theological and other
subjects, or in my frequent walks with Mr. Belsham, whose views of most
important subjects were, like Mr. Lindsey’s, the same with my own.
I found, however, my society much restricted with respect to my
philosophical acquaintance; most of the members of the Royal Society
shunning me on account of my religious or political opinions, so that I
at length withdrew myself from them, and gave my reasons for so doing
in the Preface to my _Observations and Experiments on the generation of
air from water_, which I published at Hackney. For, with the assistance
of my friends, I had in a great measure replaced my Apparatus, and had
resumed my experiments, though after the loss of near two years.
Living in the neighbourhood of the New College, I voluntarily undertook
to deliver the lectures to the pupils on the subject of _History and
General policy_, which I had composed at Warrington, and also on
_Experimental Philosophy and Chemistry_, the _Heads_ of which I drew up
for this purpose, and afterwards published. In being useful to this
Institution I found a source of considerable satisfaction to myself.
Indeed, I have always had a high degree of enjoyment in lecturing to
young persons, though more on theological subjects than on any other.
After the riots in Birmingham I wrote _an Appeal to the Public_ on
the subject, and that being replied to by the clergy of the place, I
wrote a _second part_, to which, though they had pledged themselves
to do it, they made no reply; so that, in fact the criminality of the
magistrates, and other principal High-church men at Birmingham, in
promoting the riot, remains acknowledged. Indeed, many circumstances,
which have appeared since that time, shew that the friends of the
court, if not the prime ministers themselves, were the favourers of
that riot; having, no doubt, thought to intimidate the friends of
liberty by the measure.
To my Appeal I subjoined various _Addresses_[23] that were sent to me
from several descriptions of persons in England, and abroad; and from
them I will not deny that I received much satisfaction, as it appeared
that the friends of liberty, civil and religious, were of opinion that
I was a sufferer in that cause. From France I received a considerable
number of Addresses; and when the present _National Convention_ was
called, I was invited by many of the departments to be a member of it.
But I thought myself more usefully employed at home, and that I was
but ill qualified for a business which required knowledge which none
but a native of the country could possess; and therefore declined the
honour that was proposed to me.
[23] Many of these addresses have been published already. In the
appendix to the present life (No. 7.) will be given an arranged list
of the addresses to Dr. Priestley from various bodies of men at
various times of his life; they illustrate the following positions so
honourable to his character, and so necessary to a just view of it.
1st That wherever he officiated as a dissenting minister, he never
quitted his situation but with the sincere regrets of those among whom
he had resided, and with parting testimonies of their affectionate
approbation of his conduct. 2dly. That the riots at Birmingham called
forth such abundant testimonies in favour of his moral conduct and
eminent usefulness; that the promoters of those riots whether in church
or state can have no palliation in the eye of a discerning public for
their proceedings, so far as he was the object of them. Those only use
violence in opposition to argument who have no argument to use. 3dly.
That his quitting England for America, was regarded as a national loss
to Great Britain, and the circumstances which induced it, a national
disgrace. 4thly. That his reception in this country was as honourable
as his friends had reason to expect: And his demeanour since his
residence here, has been such as to gain him encreased reputation and
respect, among those who knew nothing of him personally before his
arrival.