408 PRIESTLEY. 



Natural and Revealed Religion/ But having once 

 begun to publish in 1761, his appeals to the press were 

 incessant, and on almost every subject. A ' Theory 

 of Language,' books on ' Oratory and Criticism/ on 

 ' History and General Policy/ on the ' Constitution and 

 Laws of England,' on ' Education,' a ' Chart of Bio- 

 graphy,' a ' Chart of History ;' these and others were 

 all written while he resided at Warrington, from 1761 

 to 1769. How well he was qualified to write on 

 oratory and on English law, we may easily conjecture, 

 from the circumstance that he could never have heard 

 any speaking save in the pulpits of meeting-houses, and 

 in all probability had never seen a cause tried ; but even 

 if he had been present at debates and trials, it is difficult 

 to imagine anything more adventurous than the tutor 

 of an academy, afflicted with an incurable stutter, and 

 who devoted his time to teaching and to theology, pro- 

 mulgating rules of eloquence and of jurisprudence to 

 the senators and lawyers of his country. That we may 

 come without interruption to his really useful studies, 

 it may be well here to take notice of his other contro- 

 versial writings. In consequence of a disagreement with 

 the Warrington trustees in 1767 he removed to Leeds, 

 where he became minister of the Mill-Hill chapel, 

 and wrote many controversial books and pamphlets 

 In after times he wrote 'Letters to a Philosophical 

 Institution;' ' An Answer to Gibbon;' 'Disquisitions 

 on Matter and Spirit ;' ' Corruptions of Christianity ;' 

 ' Early Opinions on Christ ;' ' Familiar Letters to the 

 Inhabitants of Birmingham ;' ' Two Different Histo- 

 ries of the Christian Church ;' ' On Education ;' ' Com- 

 parison of Heathen and Christian Philosophy ;' ' Doc- 



