122 JOSEPH PRIESTLEY. 



reproach than that implied in being called a gloomy 

 fanatic, necessarianism, though very shocking, having a 

 note of Calvinistic orthodoxy ; but, if a man is a ma- 

 terialist ; or, if good authorities say he is and must be 

 so, in spite of his assertion to the contrary ; or, if he 

 acknowledge himself unable to see good reasons for be- 

 lieving in the natural immortality of man, respectable 

 folks look upon him as an unsafe neighbour of a cash- 

 box, as an actual or potential sensualist, the more vir- 

 tuous in outward seeming, the more certainly loaded 

 with secret "grave personal sins." 



Nevertheless, it is as certain as anything can be, that 

 Joseph Priestley was no gloomy fanatic, but as cheerful 

 and kindly a soul as ever breathed, the idol of children ; 

 a man who was hated only by those who did not know 

 him, and who charmed away the bitterest prejudices in 

 personal intercourse ; a man who never lost a friend, 

 and the best testimony to whose worth is the generous 

 and tender warmth with which his many friends vied 

 with one another in rendering him substantial help, in 

 all the crises of his career. 



The unspotted purity of Priestley's life, the strict- 

 ness of his performance of every duty, his transparent 

 sincerity, the unostentatious and deep-seated piety which 

 breathes through all his correspondence, are in them- 

 selves a sufficient refutation of the hypothesis, invented 

 by bigots to cover uncharitableness, that such opinions 

 as his must arise from moral defects. And his statue 

 will do as good service as the brazen image that was set 



