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    at the town of Northumberland in Pennsylvania , which he was first induced to visit on account of a settle * ment in that part of the state projected by his son and some other gentlemen , but which did not take

    place . It was a considerable labour in this remote situation to get about him a well-furnished library and a chemical laboratory , but this he at length effected . 27 Having declined a chemical professorship in Philadelr phia , and being engaged in no

    public duty , he was able to devote his whole time to his accustomed pursuits ; and the world was soon informed of his proceedings as an experimental philosopher , and as a writer . Theology continued to be

    the subject nearest to liis heart , and his sense of its importance increased With his years , Political animosity pursued him in some decree to the Western worId , and during the administration of Mr . Adams he was

    regarded by the American government with suspicion and dislike . That of Mr . Jefferson , however , was friendly to him , and he outlived all disquiet on this head . The death of tor received a pious and affectionate letter from W . Skirling , one of the exiles from

    Scotland , then a prisoner awaiting his deportation ^ to whom lie was a personal stranger , and who probably held a different creed , but who appeared from passages in the letter , to have attached himself to the study of prophecy , and to have been strongly attracted to some of Dr . Priestley ' s speculations on that subject . * "

    W . Skirving- was not a young man when exiled , and died soon after his arrival in New South Wales . One of his letters , interspersed with scriptural allusion , was read by the prosecutors of Mr . Hardy , and came under the observation of Lord Chief

    Justice Eyre , who exclaims , What does this mysterious man mean ? What is this tabernacle of ri ghteousness to be erected at on . ee without anarchy and confusion ?" Trial , iv . 426 . Gallio cared for none of these things .

    In M . Kcpos . ( vi . 72 , ) are two letters from Dr . Priestjev , dated June , 1794 , soon after his arrival in America . They serve to shew the difficulties and delays he encountered in resuming his experiments .

    These leters were addressed to Mr . Parker , whose father , one of the few survivors among Dr . Priestley ' s early benefactors , is mentioned by him ( Mem . p . 93 , ) as a generous contributor to his philosophical pursuits

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    his youngest son , and afterwards of his excellent wife , together with other domestic calamities , were severe trials of his fortitude ; but his temper and principles carried him through without any diminution of his habitual serenity and pious resignation . ** A severe illness which he suffered in Philadelphia laid the foundation of a

    debility of his digestive organs , which gradually brought on a state of bodily weakness whilst his mind continued in full possession of all its faculties . In January , 1804 , it becatae manifest to himself and others that he

    had not long to live , and this warning operated upon him to lose no time in finishing the literary tasks in which he was engaged , and particularly in putting into a state fit for the press a work in which he was greatly interested . He had long been preparing

    two considerable publications , which were , a Church-history , and notes on all the books of Scripture , and had learned with great satisfaction that his friends in England had raised a subscription to enable him to print them without risk . Like a man

    setting his aifairs in order previously to a journey , he continued , to the last hour of his life , with the utmost calmness and self-collection , giving directions relative to his posthumous publication , intermixed with discourses expressive of the fullest

    confidence in those cheering views of future existence that his theological system opened to him y and on Feb . 6 , 1 & 04 , in the 71 st year of his age , he expired so quietly , that they who sat beside him did not perceive the last struggle .

    Dr . Priestley was a man of perfect simplicity of character , laying open his whole mind and purpose on 28 His youngest son , Henry , died in 1795 . There is an edifying account of the father's deportment at the grave of this promising-child , by a witness of the scene

    in M . Rep . i . 396 . Mrs . Priestley survived her son not many months , leavingbehind her another son , who describes her in the continuation of his father ' s Memoirs , ]> . 193 , as " supporting him under all his

    trials and sufferings with a constancy and perseverance ' well deserving her husband ' s culogium , as expressed in his diary , that she " was of a noble and generous inind and cared much for others , and Httlc lor herself through life . *

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    10 Memoir of the late Rev . Joseph Priestley t LL . D . F . R . S . Are .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1815, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1756/page/10/