SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF DR. PRIESTLEY. 483 



the bistoiy, to endeavor to ascertain several facts which were dis- 

 puted ; and this led me, by degrees, into a large field of original exper- 

 iments, in which I spared no expense that I could possibly furnish. 

 These ex23eriraents 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." 

 It was this work which first brought him into notice as an experi- 

 mental philosopher and procured for him the title of Doctor of Laws 

 from the University of Edinburgh, and led to his being made a mem- 

 ber of the Royal Society, from which he received its greatest honor, 

 the Copley Medal. He married, while at Warrington, in 1763, the 

 daughter of Mr. Isaac Wilkinson, an iron-master. Although not set- 

 tled as a clergyman at Warrington, he kept up the habit of preaching, 

 and was here ordained. Dr. Priestley stammered so badly that he 

 sometimes thought he must give up preaching, but he at length meas- 

 urably conquered the defect by the daily habit of slow reading in a 

 loud voice. He recognized that this defect of delivery saved him 

 from the temptation of trying to be an orator. 



In 1767, Dr. Priestley went to Leeds and took charge of a chapel, 

 and here he engaged keenly in the study of theology, and produced a 

 o-reat number of controversial works. He commenced his investigations 

 on airs, and published a history of the discoveries in relation to vision, 

 light, and colors, as the first part of a general history of experimental 

 philosophy, which was not continued, because it failed to pay expenses. 

 Here, likewise, he commenced the publication of a periodical, the Re- 

 pository^ devoted to theological subjects. Among numerous other 

 things, he wrote an "Essay on Government," an enlarged "English 

 Grammar," a "Familiar Introduction to the Study of Electricity," 

 a "Treatise on Perspective and Chart of History," and, at the re- 

 quest of Drs. Franklin and Fothergill, an " Address to Dissenters on 

 the Subject of the Difference with America." 



It was in 1769, while at Leeds, that Dr. Priestley came into conflict 

 with Blackstone, the celebrated author of the commentaries on the 

 laws of England. Having, in that work, approved the statutes of Ed- 

 ward YI. and Queen Elizabeth, denouncing the penalties of confisca- 

 tion and imprisonment against all who speak in derogation of the Book 

 of Common Prayer, and justified the continuance of these penalties, 

 Dr. Priestley replied to him, pointing out the injustice of such statutes, 

 and the illiberality of those who undertake to defend them. He also 

 convicted Dr. Blackstone of inaccuracy in the statement of historical 

 facts. To this the learned lawyer made a reply, disavowing tlie senti- 

 ment that " the spirit, the principles, and the practices of the sectaries, 

 are not calculated to make men good subjects; " and generously prom- 

 ised to cancel the offensive paragraphs in the future editions of his 

 work. Dr. Priestley addressed him a handsome letter, and the contro- 

 versy was brought to an amicable conclusion. 



