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    sive and far-sighted mind . Bat to suppose that the same intellect which sketches the outline can fill up the details , that he who understands the mutual relations of the different departments of science and art can unfold all their mysteries , betrays a miscalculation of the voluminous contents of human knowledge , and an ignorance of the varieties of intellectual power requisite to embrace

    them all . To refer to a catalogue of Dr . Priestley ' s works is like consulting a prospectus of a Cyclopaedia ; and it is impossible to remember that they are all the productions of one individual , without the impression that his mind was more adventurous than profound , more alert than gigantic , and its vision more telescopic than microscopic . How far this impression is just we may attempt to ascertain . We believe it to be the truth , but not the whole truth .

    There can be no doubt that versatility was the greatcharacteristic of Dr . Priestley ^ s genius . Singularly quick of apprehension , he made all his acquisitions with facility and rapidity ; and hence he derived a confidence in the working-power of his own mind , and a general faith in the sufficiency of the human faculties as instruments of knowledge , which led him on to achievement after achievement in the true spirit of intellectual enterprise . This

    excursiveness of mind was encouraged by his metaphysical creed ; it has been the prevailing error of the Hartleyan school , that they have made too light of the original differences of mental capability , conscious , perhaps , that their philosophy has hitherto * failed to explain them ; and the natural consequence of incredulity respecting the existence of peculiar genius ,, is to give increased reliance on the efficacy of self-discipline , to lessen the motive to a division of intellectual labour , and make the mind a servant

    of all work . We are aware , however , that no speculative tenet is enough to account for the mental peculiarities of the individual who holds it ; for the adoption of the tenet is itself a mental phenomenon , requiring to be explained , and frequently arising from that very constitution of mind which is supposed to be its effect That Dr . Priestley thought little of the exclusive fitness of peculiar

    understandings for peculiar pursuits , is to be ascribed to the absence of any exclusive tendency in himself ; that he was disposed to try every thing , arose from his having failed in nothing : the consciousness of power must precede the belief in power ; and the philosophy of the sentiment , possunt , qui posse videntur , is incomplete till the converse is added , qui possunt 3 posse videntur .

    Dr . Priestley's extraordinary versatility , then , while it was confirmed by his intellectual philosophy , is to be traced to his possession of original endowments , bearing an equal relation to many departments of knowledge . In theology , in mental and moral science , and , above all , in experimental chemistry , his rapidity and copiousness of association , his prompt perception of analo-

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    On the Life , Character , and Writings of Dr . Priestley . 85

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1833, page 85, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2608/page/13/