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MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 


No. xxx1x. | 


For DECEMBER, 1798. 

VoL. Vis 



————eeeo—eee————eeeeee————eooomvmvmq : Enel 
Ox the twelfth day of Fanuary will pofitively be publifhed, price One Shilling, theSuPPLEMENTARY 
NuMBER tothe Sixth Volume of 
interofing and valuable articles; viz.—A comprebenfive Retrofpeét 
the MonTHLY MAGAZINE, containing the following truly 
of the Progre/s of Britis# 
LITERATURE during the laff fix Months—fimilar Retrofpecis of GERMAN, FRENCH, Spa- 
Nish, and PorruGcurse LITERATURE, con/ifting 
ginal—&c. &c.; with INDEXES, Titre, &c. 


To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIRS 
HE Author of a publication, in two 
vols. entitled “ Literary Memoirs of 
living Authors ot Great Britain,” has, un- 
der the name of Dr. ParesTLey, aflign- 
ed a reafon for that gentleman s leaving 
-England, which noone elfe, Lapprehend, 
has ventured to bring forward. Speak- 
ing of the doétor’s {ettlement at Hackney, 
after the riots at Birmingham, he adds : 
<¢ his misfortunes had not cured him of 
his political phrenfy, and his conduct 
being at length marked by government, 
a polite intimation was given him to leave 
the country. Upon this he emigrated to 
America, and fettled at Northumberland 
town.” 
As even anonymous narratives, efpect- 
ally when they meet the difpofitions f the 
ignorant and prejudiced, gain credit, it 
may be worth while to call on the authors 
to eftablith the truth of them, by giving 
their names to the public, and by pro- 
ducing the evidence on which their afler- 
tions are advanced. With this view, I 
beg leave, through the channel ot your 
mifcellany, to obferve concerning the 
author of this account of the ground of 
Dr. PRIESTLEY’s emigration, that there 
lies upon Him, an obligation to do this: 
or, candidly to retract his aflertion. At 
_ prefent his account of the matter ftands 
wholly unfupported: 
and labours under 
the fufpicion of being, if not an inven- 
tion, yet a grofs milreprefentation, and 
injurious furmife, though not of the au- 
thor of the “ Memoirs,”’ yet of fome one 
to whom he has been too credulous. 
It is ixjurious to, the name of Dr. 
PrriesTLeY, for it reprefents bim as fly- 
ing, or rather as fneaking away from this 
country to avoid a profecution, it is to be 
fuppofed for edition or treason; tor which 
“it intimates government had grounds, 
-MonrTsLy Mac, No, XXXIXx. 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
of Information entirely New and Ori=- 


but, in great tendernefs to fo celebrated a 
character, would not bring forward the 
charge, 
The Author feems not to be aware 
that fuch intimations are contradicted by 
the open and frank conduct which Dr. 
PRIESTLEY obferved, inftantly on his 
coming to London, after the riots; by 
having it fignifed te the king’s minifers,. 
that he was there and ready, if they thought 
proper, to be interrogated on the fubject 
of the riots. But no notice was taken 
of the meflage. He feems not to be aware 
that his affertion is contradicted by the 
candid and ingenuous detail of his reafons 
for leaving England, which the do¢tor 
himfelf gave to the public. And, while 
he imputes.a ‘political phrenfy”’ to the 
doétor, he-feems ‘not to:be aware, that 
the views he has himfelt exhibited of the 
courfe of the doftor’s ftudies and the long 
lift of his publications, which he has 
given, virtually contradiéts the imputa- 
tion; for they fiow how little politics of 
any kind had been Dr. PritsTLEy’s ob- 
ject. [tis worthy of attention, in this 
conneétion, thatnot one publication, that 
had a poli‘ical afpect, came from his pen, 
after his fettlement at Hackney. And 
the Author of the ‘Memoirs’? may 
with propriety be called upon to alledge 
one inikance of the doctor’s. behaviour, 
which, even in his own opinion; could 
criminate him in the eye of that govern- 
ment, which he tells us **.marked his 
conduct.”” It may, indeed, be concluded 
from the whole ftrain in which the au- 
thor {peaks ot the doctor and his writ- 
ings, that he is not acquainted wth ei- 
ther :- but has formed his judgment of 
both frem common report and» vulgar 
prejudice: which, in different infances, 
I have found to be the cafe with thofe 
who have been dilpefed to inveigh moft 
violently agairi# the one or the other. 
Thefe remarks might be fufficient to 
3 F confute 
