418 PRIESTLEY. 



Lee, was declined.* A subscription among his friends 

 furnished the means of prosecuting his experimental 

 researches ; and he declined an offer to obtain for him 

 a pension from the Government. A shade is cast upon 

 this passage of his history by the circumstance of the 

 pecuniary aid which he thus received being only in a 

 small part rendered necessary for his experimental pur- 

 suits. Mr. Parker, the eminent optician, furnished him 

 for nothing all the instruments made by him, as did Mr. 

 Wedgwood all his earthenware utensils. Yet we find in 

 his correspondence a painful thankfulness expressed, in 

 any thing rather than the language of a philosopher, to 

 Mrs. Rayner and Mr. Lee, for " seasonable benefactions." 

 The "apology" which he evidently feels required for 

 this kind of dependence is not at all confined to the " ex- 

 pense of his philosophical and theological studies ;" he 

 refers also to the education of his children, and to the 

 expenses of housekeeping occasioned by his reputation. f 

 It is not invidious to observe that, be a man's celebrity 

 ever so great, he is not bound to incur any expenses in 

 keeping hospitality, if these, " exceeding twice his own 

 income" (and that, with the pension of Lord Lans- 

 downe, not an inconsiderable one), can only be met by 

 the large " benefactions" of his friends. He names 

 fifteen \vjxo gave him by subscription a yearly allow- 

 ance, all the while he chose to decline an offer made to 



* This offer, and Lord Lansdowne's frank declaration that he never 

 had any fault to find with his guest, entitles us to state that no 

 quarrel, nor anything like it, had occurred. Nevertheless Priest- 

 ley's offer to visit his Lordship when he occasionally came to London 

 was politely declined. Political reasons apparently caused this 

 refusal. 



f Memoirs, vol. i., part i., page 217. 



