188 MEMOIRS OF 



that I shall make no apology for introducmg it, 

 though it will not be necessary to give it in 

 French. " I am now, Messieurs, arrived at the 

 most painful part of my task. You have just 

 seen Priestley successfully progresshig in the 

 study of human science, to which he neverthe- 

 less consecrated but a few of his leisure mo- 

 ments. I must now present him to you in 

 another light, wrestling against the nature of 

 those things which are hidden from our reason 

 by an impenetrable veil, trying to submit the 

 world to his conjectures, consuming almost all 

 his life in these vain efforts, and at length plung- 

 ing himself into an abyss of misery. Here, like 

 himself, I have need of all your indulgence ; 

 perhaps the details into which I am about to 

 enter will, to some, appear foreign to the place 

 in which I speak, but it is here, I think, that 

 the terrible example they give ought to be heard 

 with the greatest interest. I have already told 

 you that Priestley was a minister of religion, and 

 I am forced to add, that he professed four dif- 

 ferent creeds before he could decide on teaching 

 one of them in his public capacity. Brought up 

 in all the severity of the presbyterian faith, 

 which we call Calvinistic, and in all the bitter- 



