84 PEIESTLET. 



loss of an irreparable kind was incurred by the burning 

 of his papers. He found, however, that he could no 

 longer reside with comfort in the scene of such out- 

 rageous proceedings, and among a community which 

 had so shamefully countenanced them. He removed 

 to London, and succeeded his friend, Dr. Price, as 

 Principal of the Hackney Academy, Late in the 

 month of September, 1792, he was elected by the 

 department of the Orne a member of the National 

 Convention, about to assemble after the subversion of 

 the French monarchy. This singular honour bestowed 

 on him, as well for his philosophical fame as for his 

 political services and the persecutions to which they 

 had exposed him, he respectfully declined, giving as 

 his reason that he was not familiar with the French 

 language, and had not devoted his time sufficiently 

 to legislative duties. But this moderation disarmed 

 not his enemies he was pursued by the intolerant 

 spirit of the times. He found himself shunned by his 

 former associates in science. Even the Royal Society 

 did not afford an exception to this persecuting loyalty, 

 or a shelter from its effects ; and in the spring of 1794 

 he withdrew to America. Here he again suffered 

 considerable disappointment. His religion was too 

 much for those who had ceased to care for sacred 

 things, and far too scanty for those who still were 

 Christians, while his republican opinions were exceed- 

 ingly distasteful because they were tinged with a 

 decided admiration of France. He continued, how- 

 ever, to inhabit the country, and to prosecute his 

 studies, chiefly theological. He received contribu- 

 tions regularly from his benefactors in England, 

 Mrs. Rayner and the Duke of Grafton; but these, 

 though acknowledged by him in the same unpleasant 

 style as eleemosynary ("very acceptable benevo- 

 lences"), were for the most part on a different footing 

 from the English charities ; they appear generally to 

 have been required for the propagation of their 



