22 JOSEPH PRIESTLEY i 



It is difTicult to say whether Priestley's philo- 

 sophical, i)olitical, or theological views were 

 most responsil)le for the bitter hatred which 

 was borne to him by a large body of his country- 

 men,* and which found its expression in the 

 malignant insinuations in whicli l^)urko, to his 

 everlasting shame, indulged in the House of 

 Commons. 



Without containing much that will be new to 

 the readers of Ilobbs, Spinoza, Collins, Hume, and 

 Hartley, and, indeed, while making no pretensions 

 to originality, Priestley's " Disquisitions relating 

 to Matter and Spirit," and his " Doctrine of Philo- 

 sophical Necessity Illustrated," are among the 

 most powerful, clear, and unflinching expositions 

 of materialism and necessarianism which exist in 

 the English language, and are still well worth 

 reading. 



Priestley denied the freedom of the will in the 

 sense of its sclf-dctormination; he denied tlie ex- 



* " In all the newspapors and most of the periodiVal 

 publications I was represented as an unbeliever in Revela- 

 tion, and no better than an athiest." — Antnhingrnphy, Rutt, 

 vol. i. p. 124. "On the walls of houses, ete., and especially 

 where T usually went, were to be seen, in larsre chnraoters, 

 ' Madax for ever: Damx Pritcstlev ; no Preshytertan- 

 ISM : Damn tffe Presbyterian's,' etc., etc. ; and. at one 

 time, I was followed by a numl)cr of boys, who left their 

 play, repoatincf what they had seen on the walls, and shout- 

 ing out, ' Damn Pripf^thy ; damn him, damn him, for ever, 

 for pvpr,'' etc., vfo. This was no doubt a lesson which thev 

 iiail IxMMi tauirht bytlicir parents, and what thev. 1 fear, had 

 learned from their superiors." — Appeal to the Public on the 

 Subject of the Riots at Birmingham. 



