1888. | NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 207 
The mob broke the hotel windows, and shouting ‘‘ Church and 
King,” sought out Dr. Priestley, who had not dined with the 
company. Not finding him, the mob rushed to the ‘‘ New 
Meeting House,” of which the Rev. Doctor was pastor, and 
destroyed it by fire. They then sought another Dissenting 
Chapel, and, having levelled it to the ground, marched over a 
mile to the residence of Dr. Priestley, which was plundered 
without mercy. His philosophical apparatus was ruthlessly de- 
stroyed and his library and manuscripts scattered to the winds. 
Dr. Priestley and his family barely escaped with their lives and 
never entered the town again. His cheerful temperament and 
philosophic habit of mind supported him wonderfully, but he 
never ceased to lament the loss of valuable manuscripts, in 
which were recorded the results of twenty years of labor and 
study. 
During three succeeding days the mob continued its work of 
destruction, almost unchecked by the municipal government. 
They directed their attacks against the property and persons of 
Dissenters, and of those holding liberal political views; the 
houses of the estimable William Hutton, bookseller, of a poor 
Presbyterian parson Mr. Hobson, and the more costly mansions 
of Mr. Humphreys and Mr. William Russel, a particular friend 
of Dr. Priestley, were pillaged and burned to the ground. The 
members of the Lunar Society, popularly known as ‘‘ Lunatics,” 
were the especial object of their hatred and zea]. Shouting: ‘* Vo 
philosophers—church and king forever!” they attacked Edg- 
baston Hall, the residence of Dr. Withering, but the timely 
arrival of the light-horse terminated their wretched work of 
plunder. Some persons, to escape their fury, wrote: ‘‘ No 
philosophers” on the fronts of their houses. Boulton and Watt. 
were not without apprehension of an attack, and placing arms in 
the hands of their workmen, addressed them on the criminality 
of the riotous proceedings, and obtained their promise to defend 
the establishment. But Soho was spared the dreaded attack, 
owing to the fact, says Watt, that most of the Dissenters lived 
in another direction. 
As a sequel, some of the ringleaders were executed, and the 
sufferers were awarded partial compensation for their pecuniary 
losses. Priestley shook the dust of Birmingham off his feet, 
fled to London, and some three years later emigrated to the 
wild regions of the Susquehanna in search of peace. 
It requires little play of the imagination to conjure up the ex- 
citing conditions of the first meeting of the Lunar Society after 
these frightful disasters. We have found no record or even 
allusion to this occasion, which called for all the philosophy the 
learned victims could muster. 
