PEIESTLEY. 83 



universal as to " condemn by circumscribing the in- 

 spiration of the Evangelists, and to condemn the reli- 

 gion of every Christian nation as a fable less innocent, 

 not less absurd, than Mahomet's journey to the third 

 heaven." How fortunate it was that Priestley lived in 

 an age when the use of actual fire is withheld from 

 theological disputants, as a mode of argumentation, 

 must appear from the wonder he expresses at David 

 Hume's monument having been so long suffered to 

 offend the pious eyes of the Edinburgh people an 

 expression which might seem to convey a hint that he 

 would have taken care to avoid, after he had himself 

 felt the weight of the popular hand when called in to 

 settle theological disputes. 



Having taken, as was his wont, an active but not a 

 very temperate part in the controversy to which the 

 French Revolution gave rise, and having published a 

 * Reply' to Mr. Burke's famous pamphlet, he was early 

 in 1791 made a citizen of the French Republic. An 

 ironical and somewhat bitter pamphlet against the 

 high church party still further excited the feelings of 

 the people against him ; and a dinner being given on 

 the 14th of July to celebrate the anniversary of the 

 attack upon the Bastille, the mob attacked the tavern 

 where the party were assembled. Dr. Priestley was 

 not present, but his chapel and house were immediately 

 after assailed. His library, manuscripts, and apparatus 

 were destroyed ; his person and his family escaped. 

 The compensation which he obtained, by an action 

 against the hundred, fell short, according to his own 

 account, by 2000 of his loss. As, however, an 

 ample subscription was made for him, and as his 

 brother-in-law generously gave him 10,000 with an 

 annuity of 200 for life, he could not be other than a 

 large gainer by the execrable violence of which he 

 had been the victim; and as he never allowed any of 

 his writings to remain unpublished for even the shortest 

 time after they were finished, it is not likely that any 



