Biographical Account of [Fbb, 



any other man. By all accounts, his powers of conversation 

 were very great, and his manners in every respect extremely 

 agreeable. That this must have been the case is obvious, from 

 the great number of his friends^ and the zeal and ardour with 

 which they continued to serve him, notv/ithstanding the obloquy 

 under which he lay, and even the danger that might be incurred 

 by appearing to befriend him. As to his moral character, even 

 his worst enemies have been obliged to allow that it was unex- 

 ceptionable. Many of my readers will, perhaps, smile, when I 

 say that he was not only a sincere but a zealous christian, and 

 would willingly have died a martyr to the cause : yet I think the 

 fact is undoubted ; and his conduct through life, and especially 

 at his death, affords irrefragable proofs of it. His tenets, 

 indeed, did not coincide with those of his country : but though 

 he rejected many of the doctrines, he admitted the whole of its 

 sublime morality, and its divine origin; which, in my opinion at 

 least, is sufficient to constitute a true christian. His manners 

 were perfectly simple and unaffected : and he continued all his 

 life as ignorant of the world as a child. Of vanity he seems to 

 liave possessed more than a usual share ; but, perhaps, he was 

 rather deficient in pride. 



Let us now take a view of the writings and opinions of Dr. 

 Priestley, arranging our observations under the four grand heads 

 of Philosophy, Theology, Metaphysics, and Politics. 



His philosophical writings claim the first rank, because to 

 them he was indebted for his reputation, and because upon them, 

 1 am persuaded, his reputation will ultimately rest. His philoso- 

 phical writings are the following, 1. His History of Electricity. 



2. The History of the Discoveries relative to Light and Colours. 



3. An Introduction to Electricity. 4. An Introduction to Na- 

 tural Philosophy. 5. A Treatise on Perspective. 6. His Ex- 

 periments on Air : published successively in six volumes octavo; 

 and afterwards new modelled and compressed by him into three 

 volumes. Besides these a considerable number of papers on 

 electricity and chemistry were published separately, either in the 

 form of pamphlets, or in the Philosophical Transactions, or 

 other periodical works. All his chemical labours finished after 

 liis arrival in America were published in this way. 



His Flistory of Electricity was the work which first gave him 

 celebrity, and introduced him to the numerous philosophers who 

 at that time were devoted to electrical pursuits. It was written in 

 less than a year, and published in 1767- It went pretty rapidly 

 through three editions. The books requisite were supplied by Dr. 

 Franklin, who was at the pains to read and correct every part of 

 the manuscript as it was transcribed. I cannot say that this work 

 appears to me deserving of the great reputation which it acquired 

 for its author. It is very nearly in the form of annals ; the 



