56 BIOGKAPHIES OF SCIENTIFIC MEN 



The reference to "The Head" arises from the fact 

 that in the centre of the table at that ever-memorable 

 dinner of 14th July 1791, was a painting of the King, 

 and on both sides a marble obelisk, the one representing 

 French liberty breaking the fetters of despotism, and the 

 other English liberty in its present enjoyment. 



Such were the feelings against Priestley by his own 

 countrymen, and as Carlyle says in his French Revolution 

 "did not iron Birmingham, shouting 'Church and 

 King ' itself knew not why burst out into rage, 

 drunkenness and fire, and your Priestleys and the like 

 dining there on the Bastille day get the maddest singeing 

 scandalous to consider ! " The French, more tolerant, 

 naturalized Priestley and other foreign friends of 

 humanity; and in September 1792 he was elected a 

 member of the Assemblee Nationale by the Orne Depart- 

 ment in Normandy. He wisely declined the honour, as 

 the guillotine was no respecter of persons not even " the 

 friends of humanity." 



Priestley came to London, and although elected 

 minister of a congregation at Hackney, he felt the 

 insecurity of his position. He was boycotted by his 

 scientific friends, by tradespeople, and his own servants 

 feared to live under the same roof. Finally, he emigrated 

 to the United States of America, where he landed in 1794. 

 He settled at Northumberland, a quiet town on the banks 

 of the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania ; and with all his 



