206 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [MAY 7, 
A wide range of topics was admitted in the discussions at the 
informal meetings. Mrs. Schimmel Penninck, already quoted, 
gives a vivid picture of an exciting scene in her father’s house. 
It was in the summer of 1788, and Matthew Boulton presented 
to the company his son M. Robinson Boulton, who had just 
returned from a long sojourn in Paris. ‘‘I well remember,” 
writes Mrs. Schimmel Penninck, ‘‘my astonishment at his full 
dress in the highest adornment of Parisian fashion; but I 
noticed as aremarkable thing that the company (which consisted 
of some of the first men in Europe), all with one accord gathered 
around him and asked innumerable questions, the drift of which 
I did not fully understand. It was wonderful to me to see Dr. 
Priestley, Dr. Withering, Mr. Watt, Mr. Boulton himself, and 
Mr. Keir manifest the most intense interest, each according to. 
his prevailing characteristics, as they almost hung upon his 
words ; and it was impossible to mistake the indications of deep 
anxiety, hope, fear, curiosity, ardent zeal, or thoughtful gravity 
which alternately marked their countenances, as well as those of 
my own parents. My ears caught the words ‘ Marie Antoinette,’ 
‘Cardinal de Rohan,’ ‘ diamond necklace,’ ‘ famine,’ ‘discontent 
among the people,’ ‘sullen silence instead of shouts of Vive le 
Roi!’ All present seemed to give a fearful attention. Why, I 
did not then well know, and in a day or two, these things were 
almost forgotten by me, but the rest of the party heard, no. 
doubt, in the young man’s narrative, the distant though as yet 
faint rising of the storm which a year later was to burst upon 
France, and in its course to desolate Europe.” 
It is proper to note that Mary Anne Galton was but eleven 
years of age at the time which she describes from memory in 
her later years. 
In 1791 a popular outbreak occurred in Birmingham, which 
threatened the very existence of the Lunar Society. A riotous 
mob, led by designing men of the baser sort, took possession,. 
as it were, of the town, and for four days (July 14th to 17th) pil- 
laged and destroyed private property to the value of over one 
hundred thousand pounds. These July riots have often been 
described and details of the fanatical and violent proceedings 
do not belong to this place. We can but briefly say that the 
animosity was caused by political bias and religious intolerance, 
and was especially directed against Dr. Priestley and his friends 
who had openly expressed their sympathy with the French Re- 
volution, and as Dissenters were known to be opposed to the Hs- 
tablished Church. The enraged mob, at first small in number,. 
but increasing to more than a thousand, attacked first a com- 
pany of eighty gentlemen who were dining together at a public 
house to commemorate the anniversary of the French Revolution. 
