90 PRIESTLEY. 



placed among those of its most eminent masters, is un- 

 questionable. That he was a perfectly conscientious 

 man in all the opinions which he embraced, and sincere 

 in all he published respecting other subjects, appears 

 equally beyond dispute. He was, also, upright and 

 honourable in all his dealings, and justly beloved by 

 his family and friends as a man spotless in all the 

 relations of life. That he was governed in his public 

 conduct by a temper too hot and irritable to be con- 

 sistent either with his own dignity, or with an amiable 

 deportment, may be freely admitted ; and his want of 

 self-command, and want of judgment in the practical 

 affairs of life, was manifest above all in his controversial 

 history ; for he can be charged with no want of pru- 

 dence in the management of his private concerns. His 

 violence and irritability, too, seems equally to have 

 been confined to his public life, for in private all have 

 allowed him the praise of a mild and attractive de- 

 meanour j and we have just seen its great power in 

 disarming the prejudices of his adversaries. 



