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Though king-bred rage with lawless Tumult rude

Have driv'n our Priestley o'er the ocean swell;
Though Superstition and her wolfish brood
Bay his mild radiance, impotent and fell;
Calm in his halls of brightness he shall dwell!
For lo! Religion at his strong behest
Disdainful rouses from the Papal spell,
And flings to Earth her tinsel-glittering vest,
Her mitred state and cumbrous pomp unholy;
And Justice wakes to bid th' oppression wail,
That ground th' ensnared soul of patient
Folly;

And from her dark retreat by Wisdom won,
Meek Nature slowly lifts her matron veil
To smile with fondness on her gazing son!
-COLERIDGE, SAMUEL TAYLOR,
Sonnet to Priestley, Dec. 11.

1794,

I am at present re-re-reading Priestley's Examination of the Scotch Doctors: how the rogue strings 'em up! three together! You have no doubt read that clear, strong, humorous, most entertaining piece of reasoning. If not, procure it, and be exquisitely amused. I wish I could get more of Priestley's works.-LAMB, CHARLES, 1797, To Coleridge, Jan. 2; Letters, ed. Ainger, vol. 1, p. 57.

If I may write, let Proteus Priestley tell,
He writes on all things, but on nothing well;
Who, as the dæmon of the day decrees,
Air, books, or water makes with equal ease.
May not I strive amid this motley throng,
All pale and pensive as I muse along?
-MATHIAS, THOMAS JAMES, 1797, The
Pursuits of Literature, Eighth ed., p. 50.

The attack of Dr. Priestley, however, gave him [Beattie] no concern. He appears, indeed, by his correspondence with his friends to have formed, at first, the resolution of replying to it; and he speaks as if he had already prepared his materials, and of being altogether in such a state of forwardness, and to be fully ready for the task. On farther consideration, however, he abandoned the idea, and he no doubt judged wisely. For, while Dr. Priestley's "Examination" is now never heard of, the "Essay on Truth" remains a classical work, of the highest reputation and authority. FORBES, SIR WILLIAM, 1806, An Account of the Life and Writings of James Beattie, vol. II, p. 96.

Dr. Priestley has written more, we believe, and on a greater variety of subjects, than any other English author; and probably believed, as his friend Mr. Cooper appears to do at this moment, that his several publications were destined to make

an æra in the respective branches of speculation to which they bore reference. We are not exactly of that opinion: But we think Dr. Priestley a person of no common magnitude in the history of English literature.-JEFFREY, FRANCIS LORD, 1806-44, Priestley, Contributions to the Edinburgh Review, vol. iii, p. 338.

No man living had a more affectionate respect for him. In religion, in politics, in physics, no man has rendered more service.-JEFFERSON, THOMAS, 1807, To Thomas Cooper, July 9; Writings, ed. Ford, vol. IX, p. 102.

His work ["Notes on all the Books of Scripture"] contains many invaluable notes and observations, particularly on the philosophy, natural history, geography, and chronology of the Scriptures; and to these subjects few men in Europe were better qualified to do justice.-CLARKE, ADAM,

1810-26, Comment on the Bible.

As to his theological creed, it could not justify the usage he received; for though he led the way to an open determined avowal of socinianism, no patron of liberty of conscience will impute this to him as a civil crime; nor should the friends of the orthodox creed condemn him for the frankness which rendered him the real, though unintentional friend of the truth, which has triumphed ever since Priestley tore the mask of concealment from error, and bade it be honest. The reflections which he poured upon evangelical sentiments, were often bitter enough, indeed; but the same may be said of the charges brought against him and his creed; and it was Horsley rather than Priestley, who enlisted the depraved passions of men, and the cruel prejudices of party politics, to contend in the arena, which should have been occupied solely by the authority of revelation, and the evidence of unimpassioned argument.- BOGUE, DAVID, AND BENNETT, JAMES, 1812, History of Dissenters from the Revolution in 1688 to the year 1808, vol. IV, p. 433.

The celebrated natural philosopher, Joseph Priestley, criticised at the same time both Hume and his antagonists. He may be said to have been more successful with the latter, whose instinctive principles he justly styled qualitates occulta. In opposition to Hume he alleged a proof of the existence of the Divinity, which was untenable. He was a rank Determinist; and,

consistently with his percipies, controverted, as Hartley had done, the doctrine of free agency, and endeavoured to establish a system of materiality of the soul. TENNEMAN, WILLIAM GOTTLIEB, 1812-52, A Manual of the History of Philosophy, tr. Johnson, ed. Morell.

Neglecting accordingly, all the presumptions for a future state, afforded by a comparison of the course of human affairs with the moral judgments and moral feelings of the human heart; and overlooking, with the same disdain, the presumptions arising from the narrow sphere of human knowledge, when compared with the indefinite improvement of which our intellectual powers seem to be susceptible, this acute but superficial writer attached himself exclusively to the old and hackneyed pneumatological argument; tacitly assuming as a principle, that the future prospects of man depend entirely on the determination of a physical problem, analogous to that which was then dividing chemists about the existence or non-existence of phlogiston. In the actual state of science, these speculations might well have been spared. STEWART, DUGALD, 1815-21, First Preliminary Dissertation, Encyclopædia Britannica.

Charmed with the discoveries of science, and eager, by prompt and unreserved communication, to diffuse as far as possible, their beneficial influence, he was yet supremely attracted to the discoveries of revelation. Hence his unvarying purpose, "by labour and patience, through evil report, and through good report," and even when flesh and heart were failing, to promote, in the most enlarged sense of the expression, "the greatest good of the greatest number;" a sentiment with which he had the honour, by one of his earliest publications, to inspire that philosopher and philanthropist, who has lately left the world, after devoting himself in death, as in life, to its service; but whose memory will remain, unless, again, in the dispensations of an inscrutable Providence, "darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people."-RUTT, JOHN TOWIL, 1832, Life and Correspondence of Joseph Priestley, vol. I, pt. ii, p. 533.

There can be no doubt that versatility was the great characteristic 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.-MARTINEAU, JAMES, 1833-90, Dr. Priestley, Essays, Reviews and Addresses, vol. I, p. 17.

He is one of the most voluminous writers of any age or country, and probably he is. of all voluminous writers the one who has the fewest readers.- BROUGHAM, HENRY LORD, 1845-55, Lives of Philosophers of the Times of George III, p. 74.

Priestley's mind was objective to an extreme; he could fix his faith upon nothing, which had not the evidence of sense in some way or other impressed upon it. Science, morals, politics, philosophy, religion, all came to him under the type of the sensational. The most spiritual ideas were obliged to be cast into a material mould before they could commend themselves to his judgment or conscience. His intellect was rapid to extraordinary degree; he saw the bearings of a question according to his own principles at a glance, and embodied his thoughts in volumes whilst many other men would hardly have sketched out their plan. All this, though admirable in the man of action, was not the temperament to form the solid metaphysician, nay, it was precisely opposed to that deep reflective habit, that sinking into one's own inmost consciousness, from which alone speculative philosophy can obtain light and advancement.-MORELL, J. D., 1846-7, An Historical and Critical View of the Speculative Philosophy of Europe in the Nineteenth Century, p. 101.

Dr. Priestley's metaphysical creed embraces four leading doctrines: he adopted the theory of vibrations, the association of ideas, the scheme of philosophical necessity, and the soul's materiality. On all these topics he has furnished us with extended dissertations; and, whatever opinions may be ascertained of any or all of them, there are few persons but will readily admit the Doctor has displayed both great zeal and great ability in defence of them.-BLAKEY, ROBERT, 1848, History of the Philosophy of Mind, vol. III.

His style is idiomatic, compact, incisive, and vigorous. He is eminently easy to

follow; he usually describes the progress of his thoughts, explains by what circumstances he was led to take such and such a view, and thus introduces us from the known to the unknown by an easy gradation. -MINTO, WILLIAM, 1872-80, Manual of English Prose Literature, p. 474.

With

Priestley possessed one of those restless intellects which are incapable of confining themselves to any single task, and, unfortunately, incapable in consequence of sounding the depths of any philosophical system. Urged partly by his natural bent, and partly, it may be, constrained by the pressure of poverty, he gave to the world. a numerous series of dissertations which, with the exception of his scientific writings, bear the marks of hasty and superficial thought. As a man of science he has left his mark upon the intellectual history of the century; but, besides being a man of science, he aimed at being a metaphysician, a theologian, a politician, a classical scholar, and a historian. an amazing intrepidity he plunged into tasks the effective performance of which would have demanded the labours of a lifetime. With the charge of thirty youths on his hands he proposes to write an ecclesiastical history, and soon afterwards observes that a fresh translation of the Old Testament would "not be a very formidable task." He carried on all manner of controversies, upon their own ground, with Horsley and Bradcock, with his friend Price, with Beattie and the Scotch philosophers, with Gibbon and the sceptics, and yet often laboured for six hours a day at his chemical experiments. So discursive a thinker could hardly do much thorough work, nor really work out or co-ordinate his own opinions. Pushing rationalism to conclusions which shocked the orthodox, he yet retained the most puerile superstitions. He disbelieved in the inspiration of the Apostles, and found fault with St. Paul's reasoning, but had full faith in the phophecies, and at a late period of his life expected the coming of Christ within twenty years. Nelson's victories were to fufill the predictions contained in the 19th chapter of Isaiah, and he suspected that Napoleon was the deliverer promised to Egypt. In his youth he had become convinced, as he tells us, of the falsity of the doctrines of the Atonement and the inspiration of the Bible, and

"of all idea of supernatural interference except" (a singular exception!) "for the purpose of miracles." Near half a century's familiarity with theological speculation failed to emancipate his mind from the bondage of half-truths. It would be in vain, therefore, to anticipate any great force or originality in Priestley's speculaof the current opinions of his time and tions. At best, he was a quick reflector class, and able to run up hasty theories of sufficient apparent stability to afford a temporary refuge amidst the storm of conflicting elements.-STEPHEN, LESLIE, 1876, History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, vol. I, p. 430.

If we choose one man as a type of the intellectual energy of the century, we could hardly find a better than Joseph Priestley, though his was not the greatest mind of the century. His versatility, eagerness, activity, and humanity; the immense range of his curiosity, in all things physical, moral, or social; his place in science, in theology, in philosophy, and in politics; his peculiar relation to the Revolution, and the pathetic story of his unmerited sufferings, may make him the hero of the eighteenth century.-HARRISON, FREDERIC, 1883, The Choice of Books and Other Literary Pieces, p. 369.

The style of this author is adequate to his thought. There is little flexibility or vivacity; the diction is heavy, and occasionally the preacher bestows on us the tediousness and prolixity too frequently associated with sermons. He has usually something to prove, and, if he does not prove it, the fault is not in the manner but in the matter of statement.-BONAR, JAMES, 1895, English Prose, ed. Craik, vol. IV, p. 438.

His labours culminated in the "History of Early Opinions concerning Jesus Christ" (1786). Writing as a sectary, he damaged at the outset his claim to scrutinise in the scientific spirit the course of thought in Christian antiquity; but he was one of the first to open the way to the study of doctrinal development, and while proclaiming his own bias with rare frankness, he submitted his historical judgments to the arbitrament of further research. His account of the origin of Arianism, as a novel system, has stood the test. What was special in his method was the endeavour, discarding the speculations of the

fathers, to penetrate to the mind of the common Christian people. He broke entirely with the old application of the principle of private judgment, maintaining that a purely modern interpretation of Scripture is, ipso facto, discredited, and the meaning attached to it by the earliest age,

if ascertainable, must be decisive. A good summary of his position is in his "Letters" (1787) to Alexander Geddes the Roman catholic scholar, who had addressed him as his "fellow-disciple in Jesus."GORDON, ALEXANDER, 1896, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. XLVI, p. 362.

Alexander Hamilton

1757-1804

Alexander Hamilton was born in the Island of Nevis, in the West Indies, January 11, 1757. His father was a merchant from Scotland; his mother was the daughter of a French Huguenot; and the sons appear to have inherited, in equal measure, the vigour and endurance of the one race and the address and vivacity of the other. His education was not at all systematic, but his active mind instinctively found its proper stimulants, and he began to show his great natural powers at an early age. While attending to his studies at Columbia College, in New York city, the war broke out, and he entered the patriot army as a captain of artillery. In 1777 he was made aide-de-camp to General Washington, and distinguished himself by his ability in correspondence as well as by active personal service in the field. At the close of the war he commenced the practice of law in New York. His chief work, as an author, was a series of papers entitled "The Federalist," of which he wrote the greater number-an elaborate exposition of the Constitution of the United States. These papers, though necessarily abstruse in character, are perspicuous in style and powerful in reasoning. He was the first secretary of the treasury, and in that position he displayed unrivalled skill.. After six years' service Hamilton retired from office, and resumed the practice of his profession. As he had opposed Aaron Burr, first in his endeavours to become president, and afterwards in his canvass for the office of governor of New York, that unscrupulous demagogue, maddened by defeat, challenged him to fight a duel. Hamilton fell at the first fire, and died the next day, July 12, 1804.-UNDERWOOD, FRANCIS H., 1872, A Hand-Book of English Literature, American Authors, p. 29.

PERSONAL

Hamilton has a very boyish, giddy manner.-MACLAY, WILLIAM, 1790, Sketches of Debate in the First Senate of the United States, p. 238.

In every relation which you have borne to me I have found that my confidence in your talents, exertions, and integrity has been well placed. I the more freely tender this testimony of my approbation because I speak from opportunities of information which cannot deceive me and which furnish

satisfactory proof of your title to public regard.-WASHINGTON, GEORGE, 1795, Letter to Hamilton on his Resignation.

The son of the camp-girl.-CALLENDER, J. T., 1800, The Prospect Before the United

States.

On my expected interview with Colonel Burr, I think proper to make some remarks explanatory of my conduct, motives, and views. I was certainly desirous of avoiding this interview for the most cogent of reasons. First-My religious and moral

principles are strongly opposed to the practice of duelling; and it would ever give me pain to shed the blood of a fellow creature in a private combat forbidden by the laws. Secondly-My wife and children are extremely dear to me, and my life is of the utmost importance to them in various views. Thirdly-I feel a sense of obligation toward my creditors, who, in case of accident to me, by the forced sale of my property, may be in some degree sufferers. I did not think myself at liberty, as a man of probity, lightly to expose them to hazard. Fourthly-I am conscious of no ill-will to Colonel Burr distinct from political opposition, which, as I trust, has proceeded from pure and upright motives. Lastly-I shall hazard much, and can possibly gain nothing, by the issue of the interview.

I

have resolved, if our interview is conducted in the usual manner, and it pleases God to give me the opportunity, to reserve and throw away my first fire, and I have thoughts even of reserving my second fire,

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