168 Short Account of the Life 



ill 4to in 1794. Tt is, indeed, an admirable model of sci- 

 entific history ; full without superfluity, clear, methodical, 

 candid, and unnfFected. The original experiments detailed 

 in it are hishly iiurenious, and gave a foretaste of that fer- 

 tility of contrivance and sagacity of observation by which 

 the author was afterwards so much distinguished. 



His connection with Warrington ceased in 1768, at 

 which time he accepted an invitation to officiate as pastor 

 to a large and respectable consi'regation of protestant dis- 

 senters at Leeds. The favourable reception his History of 

 Klectricitv had experienced niduced him to adopt the grand 

 design of tracing out the rise and progress of the other sci- 

 ences in a historical form, and nmch of his time at this 

 place was employed in his second work of this kind, enti- 

 tled " The History and present Slate of the Discoveries re- 

 lating to Vision, Light, and Colours;" which appeared in 

 two vols. 4to, 1772. This work, though possessed of con- 

 siderable merit, did not attain to the same popularity as the 

 History of Electricity, and proved to be the termination of 

 ]iis plan : but science \va.s no loser by this circumstance, as 

 the activity of his mind was turned from the consideration 

 of the discoveries of others to the attempt of making disco- 

 veries of his own ; and nothing could be more brilliant than 

 his success. It appears that at this period he had begurj 

 those experiments upon air which have given the greatest 

 celebrity to his name as a natural philosopher. 



In 1770 Dr. Priestley quitted Leeds 3 and having been 

 recommended by his friend Dr. Price to the late marquis 

 of Lansdown, then carl of Shelburne, he lived with his 

 lordship in the capacitv of his librarian, or rather as his li- 

 terary and plhlosophical companion. During this period 

 his family resided at Calne, in Wiltshire, adjacent to the 

 country-seat of lord Shelburne. Dr. Priestley frequently 

 accompanied his noble patron to London, and mixed at 

 his house with several of the eminent characters of the time, 

 by whom he was treated with every respect due to his cha- 

 racter and talents. He also attended his lordship on a visit 

 to Paris, where he was introduced to most of the celebrated 

 men of letters and science in that capital. 



To give a detailed account of Dr. Priestley's philosophical 

 labours would require tar more room than can be allotted 

 to such an important object in a miscellany of this kind : 

 we must therefore contjut ourselves with the following short 

 notice. In the Philosophical Transactions for 1773 he pub- 

 lished a paper containing observations on different kinds of 

 air, which obtained the honorary prize of Copley's medal. 

 3 These 



