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    lectures on history and general policy . His ideas of government were founded on those principles of the fundamental rights of men which are the only basis of political freedom , and these he supported in an " Essay on Government / ' He also published an " Essay on a Course of liberal Education , " to

    which he added some remarks on a treatise on education , by Dr . Brown , of Newcastle , the sentiments of which he regarded as hostile to liberty . 13 His " Chart of Biography , " first published at Warrington , was formed upon an ingenious idea , and was well received . A visit to London having

    in-13 The last mentioned Essay first appeared in 1765 , and except the Grammar was his earliest publication . Many of the hints in that small volume were afterwards enlarged into the " Lectures on History and General Policy , " published in 1788 . Dr . JBrown is now chiefly known by his

    u Essay on the Characteristics , " his u Estimate , " of which the Muse of Cowper has preserved the remembrance , his devotion to Warburton , his disappointments , and their unhappy result in a premature death , in 1766 , in his 51 st year . ( See Biog \ Brit . ii . 653—674 ) . In 1765 , Dr . B . published a pamphlet , entitled , u Thoughts

    on Civil Liberty , Licentiousness and Faction , " at the close of which he recommended a a prescribed Code of Education . " This opinion Priestley controverts in four sections of remarks . The u Essay on Government" appeared in 1768 , and a second enlarged edition in 1772 . In this

    were included the remarks on Dr . Brown , and on Dr . Balgaiy ' s Positions on Church Authority , " with a section on " the necessity or utility of Ecclesiastical Establishments . " In the section on u Political Liberty , ' the author considers the case of

    Charles I ., whose execution , unlike the Presbyterians of a former age , he justifies , regretting " , howeveiy that the sentence could not be passed by the whole nation , or their representatives solemnly assembled for that purpose—a transaction which would have been an immortal honour to

    this country , whenever that superstitious notion of Hie sacredness of kingly power shall be abolished . " Thjese sentiments , as may be supposed , did not pass without censure , and to tire author has been attrifyuteid , unjustly , the proud day for

    England ^ used , we think , by the late Lord Keppel , to describe the thirtieth of January . The lute Duke of Richmond ( See M . Repos . Vol . ii . p . 42 . ) sanctions Priestley * s opinion , as does indeed ihe late Lord Orford in his Royal a . « d Noble Authors , Art . Falkland . * ¦ " This Chart was first dravrn out to

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    troduced him to the acquaintance of Dr . Franklin , 15 Dr . Watson , Dr . Price , and Mr . Canton , he was encouraged by them to pursue a plan he had formed of writing a " History of Electricity , " which work appeared

    in 1767 . Besides a very clear and well arranged account of the rise and progress of that branch of science , it related many new and ingeniously devised experiments of his own , which were first-fruits of that inventive and

    sagacious spirit by which he afterwards rendered himself so celebrated in the walk of natural philosophy . This publication made his name extensively known among those who might have remained strangers to it

    as connected with his other pursuits . It was several times reprinted , was translated into foreign languages , and procured for him an admission into the Royal Society . He had previously obtained the title of Doctor of JLaw «

    from the University of Edinburgh . His connexion with the academy at Warrington , which , from the advantages it gave him of cultivating a much more extensive acquaintance with books and men , may be considered as an important era in his life

    be made use of in an academical lecture upon the study of History as one of the mechanical methods of facilitating th « study of that science . Description , p . 5 . Note . The " Chart of History , " inscribed to Dr . Franklin , came out a few year * after at Leeds , and was an improvement

    on a French Chart , which had been republished in London . Priestley ' s Chart of History , with improvements and a continuation has , webelieve , very lately appeared . 15 Of this emineiij : man and highly valuable member of society Dr . Priestley regretted the infidelity , which he

    endeavoured to remove by recommending- to him th « evidences of Christianity to which he acknowledged he had not given so much attention as he ought to have done . Sec Mem . p , 90 , or M . Repos . Vol . i . p . 486 . Dr . F . satisfied himself to the last with th * expectation of a future life grounded on a pleasing but unauthorized analogy . " I

    look upon death to be as necessary to our constitutions as sleep . We shall rise refreshed in the morning-. " Thus be write * at eighty years of age to an old friend and correspondent . See a letter of his to Mr . Whatley , which first appeared , M . Repos . Vol . i . pp . 137 , 138 , and which , witk two other original letters of his , was copied from this work iuto th « U « t # dititf » of liis Works .

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    4 jMemoir of the late Rev . Joseph Priestleyf LL . D . F . R . S . & * .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1815, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1756/page/4/