undertake a History of Electricity, with an account of its prefent ftate. As the fcience was of late date, and all its facts and theories lay within a moderate compafs of reading, he thought it a task not beyond his powers to effect completely what he proposed; although his plan included an extensive course of experiment of his own, to verify what had been done by others, and to clear up remaining doubts and obfcurities. It appears from his preface, that, while engaged in this defign, he had enjoyed the advantage of perfonal intercourfe with fome eminent philofophers, among whom he acknowledges as coadjutors, Drs. Watson and Franklin, and Mr. Canton. The work first appeared at Warrington, in 1767, 4to. and fo well was it received, that it underwent a fifth edition, in 4to. in 1794. It is indeed an admirable model of fcientific hiftory: full, without fuperfluity; clear, methodical, candid and unaffected. Its original experiments are highly ingenious, and gave a foretaste of that fertility of contrivance and fagacity of obfervation which afterwards so much distinguished the author. It may be proper in this place to fpeak of Dr. Priestley's general character as an experimental philofopher. No perfon in this clafs can be met with who engaged in his inquiries with a more pure and fumple love of truth, detached from all private and felfish confiderations of fame or advantage. Hence he was folicitous only that difcoveries fhould be made, regardlefs by whom they were made; and he was placed far beyond all that petry jealoufy and rivalry which has fo often led to the fuppreffion of hints from cafual obfervations, till the proprietor fhould have made the most of them for himself. On the contrary, he was impatient till all engaged in fimilar purfuits fhould be put upon the track which appeared to him most likely to lead to fuccefsful invefligation Having no favourite theories to support, he admitted indifferently facts of all apparent tendencies, and felt not the leaft hefitation in rencuncing an opinion hafly formed, for another, the refult of maturer examination. He regarded the whole field of knowledge as common ground, to be cultivated by the united labour of indi viduals for the general benefit. In thefe refpects he feems moft to have refembled the excellent Stephen Hales, whom Haller juftly entitles "vir indefeffus, ad inveniendum verum natus." His connection with the Warrington academy ceafed in 1768, when he accepted an invitation to officiate as paftor to a large and refpectable congregation of proteftant diffenters at Leeds. Confidering himself now as more ef pecially devoted to theology, he suffered that, which had always been his favourite object, to take the lead amid his intellectual purfuits, though not to the exclusion of others. From infancy his mind had been ftrongly impreffed with devotional fentiments; and although he had widely deviated from the doctrinal opinions which he had first imbibed, yet all the pious ardour and religious zeal of the fect among whom he was educated remained undiminished. He likewife retained in full force the principles of a diffenter from the Establishment, and thofe ideas of congregational discipline which had become obfolete among many of the richer and more relaxed of the feparatifts. Numerous publications relative to these points foon marked his new refidence. His "Inftitutes of Natural and Revealed Religion" gave, in a popular and concife form, his fyftem of divinity with its evidences. His "View of the Principles and Conduct of the Proteftant Diffenters" exhibited his notions of the grounds of diffent and the proper character and policy of a religious fect; and a variety of controverfial and polemic writings prefented to the world his views of the Chriftian difpenfation. As a divine, if possible, still more than as a philofopher, truth was his fole aim, which he purfued with a more exalted ardour, in proportion to the greater importance of the fubject. Naturally fanguine, and embracing the conclufions of his reafon with a plenitude of conviction that excluded every particle of doubt, he inculcated his tenets with an earneftnefs limited by nothing but a farred regard to the rights of private judgment in others as well as himfelf. The confiderations of human prudence were nothing in his eve, nor did he admit the policy of introducing novel ties of opinion by flow degrees, and endeavouring to conciliate a favourable hearing, by foftening or fupprefling what was most likely to fhock prejudiced minds. He boldly and plainly uttered what he conceived to be the truth and the whole truth, fecure, that by its own native strength, it would in fine prevail, and thinking himself little refponfible for any temporary evils that might be incurred during the interval. To adopt the beautiful and happy fimile of one of his late vindicators," he followed truth as a man, who hawks, follows his fport; at full speed, straight forwards, looking only upwards, and regardless into what difficulties the chace may him." lead As pure religion was the great end of Dr. Priestley's labours, fo perfect freedom of difcuffion was the means; and fince he was convinced that this could not be attained under the domination of powerful and jealous establishments, interested in maintaining the particular fyftem on which they were founded; he was a warm and open enemy to all unions of ecclefiaftical with political fyftems, however modified and limited. In this refpect as in various others, he differed from many of his Diffenting brethren; and, while he was engaged in controverfy with the church, he had to fuftain attacks from the oppofite quarter. But warfare of this kind he never feared or avoided it coft him little expence of time and none of fpirits it even feemed as if fuch an exercise was falutary to his mental conftitution. If Few readers of this sketch need be told that Dr. Priestley was at the head of the modern Unitarians; a fect, of which the leading tenet is the proper humanity of Chrift, and which confines every fpecies of religious worship and adoration to the One Supreme. those who have charged him with infidelity meant any thing more than an inference from his avowed opinions on this head, and imagined that he intended more than he declared, and entertained a fecret purpose of undermining the Chriftian revelation, they have been guilty of a calumny from which the leaft exertion of candour and penetration would have preferved them. They might have perceived that he was one who laid open his whole foul on every fubject in which he was engaged; and that zeal for chriftianity, as a divine difpenfation, and the most valuable of all gifts bestowed upon the human kind, was his ruling paflion. The favourable reception of the Hif tory of Electricity had induced Dr. Priestley to adopt the grand design, of purfuing the rife and progress of the other fciences, in a historical form; and much of his time at Leeds was occupied in his fecond work upon this plan, entitled "The Hiftory and Prefent State of Difcoveries relating to Vifion, Light, and Colours," which appeared in 2 vols. 4to. 1772. This is allowed to be a performance of great merit; poffefling a lucid arrangement, and that clear, perfpicuous view of his fubject which it was the author's peculiar talent to afford. It failed, however, of attaining the popularity of his Hiftory of Electricity, chiefly because it was impoffible to give adequate notions of many parts of the theory of opticks without a more acurate acquaintance with mathematics than common readers can be fuppofed to poffefs. Perhaps too, the writer himself was fcarcely competent to explain the abftrufer parts of this fcience. It proved to be the termination of his plan; but fcience was no lofer by the circumftance; for the activity of his mind was turned from the confideration of the difcoveries of others, to the attempt of making difcoveries of his own, and nothing could be more brilliant than his fuccefs. We find that at this period he had begun thofe experiments upon air, which had given the greatest celebrity to his name as a natural philosopher. In 1770, Dr. Priestley quitted Leeds for a fituation as different as could well be imagined. His philofophical writings, and the recommendation of his friend Dr. Price, had made him fo favourably known to the Earl of Shelburne (now marquis of Lanfdown) that this nobleman, one of the very few in this country, who have affumed the patronage of literature and science, made him fuch advantageous propofals for refidence with him, that regard to his family would not permit them to be rejected. It was merely in the capacity of his Lordship's librarian, or, rather, his literary and philofophical companion, in the hours that could be devoted to fuch pursuits, that Dr. Priestley became an inmate with him. The domeftic tuition of Lord Shelburne's fons was already committed to a man of merit, and they received from Dr. Priestley no other inftruction than that of fome courfes of experimental philofophy. During this period, his family refided at Calne, in Wiltshire, adjacent to Bowwood, the country-feat of lord Shelburne. Dr. Priestley frequently accompanied his noble patron to London, and mixed at his house with several of the eminent characters of the time, by whom he was treated with the refpect due to his talents and virtues. He alfo attended his Lordfhip in a vifit to Paris, where he faw many of the most celebrated men of fcience and letters in that country; and he aftonished them by his affertion of a firm belief in revealed religion, which had been presented to their minds in fuch colours, that they thought no man of fenfe could hefitate in rejecting it as an idle fable. Whilft he was enjoying the advantages of this fituation, in every affiftance from books and a noble apparatus for the purfuit of experimental inquiry, he also appeared in the height of his fame as an acute metaphyfician. In 1775, he published his "Examination of Dr. Reid on the Human Mind; Dr. Beattie on the Nature and Immutability of Truth: and Dr. Ofwald's Appeal to Common Senfe." The purpofe of this volume was to refute the new doctrine of common fofe, employed as the criterion of truth by the metaphyficians of Scot land, and to prepare the way for the reception of the Hartleian theory of the human mind, which he was then enga ged in prefenting under a more popular and intelligible form. They who conceive Dr. Priestley to have been triumphant in argument on this occafion, agree in difapproving (as he himfelf did afterwards) the contempt and farcafm with which he treated his antagonifts, which they do not think excured by the air of arrogance and felffufficiency affumed by thefe writers in their ftrictures upon other reafoners, But this was not the only inftance in which he thought it allowable to enliv en the dryness of controverfy by strokes of ridicule. He never intentionally mifrepresented either the arguments or the purposes of an opponent; but he measured the refpect with which he treated him, by that which he felt for him in his own mind. (To be continued.) Died in Boston, on Monday 13th Auguft, greatly beloved and lamented, but particularly fo by his Church and Congregation, Rev. SIMEON HOWARD, D. D. Paftor of the Society at Weft-Bofton, in the 72d year of his age, and 37th of his miniftry. Perhaps no one ever paffed through a life, fo occupied as his was, with fewer enemies, and more and fincerer friends; for he was fo amiable, diffident, and conciliating in his manners, that if he ever had cenfure, while the latter had every any, they could find nothing in him to thing to admire. Striving always for a confcience void of offence towards God and man, his whole life was an affemblage and one uniform exhibition of all the christian virtues. An ardent lover of his country, he was an early advocate for its freedom and independence; and he conftantly recommended the practice of the focial duties, as highly neceffary to its peace and glory :-And if he differed from fome in his political creed, it was in that mild and ingenious manner, that his opponents were almost induced to become his converts. In domeftic life he was the kind and cheerful husband, the tender affectionate parent, and the meek condefcending mafter. With a difpofition fo engaging, and a nynd fo modeft and unaffuming, and hrinking as it were from the public eye, it is not to be wondered at, that the honours of many diflinguifhed focieties followed him in the retirement of the clofet, for we foon faw him the Pref ident of fome, and a member of almost all thofe literary inflitutions, which are the ornament of our country. But amidst all thofe great public avecations, he did not forget the great bufinefs which he had undertaken to do. As a minifter of the gofpel, we behold him, like his divine Master, both by precept and example, adorning the doctrines he profeffed. His fermons were always upon fubjects the most interesting and important to man; and they were written in fuch a luminous and elegant style, and delivered in fo ferious and devout a manner, that it was as impoffible not to liften to the preacher, as it was not to love and venerate the man, as a close, correct, and deep thinker. In the fcience of Divinity, perhaps there were few who equalled him, certainly not many who excelled him; and although he was not naturally eloquent, he was however copious in prayer, and uncommonly pertinent when occafion require ed it. In a word, no man of taste ever heard Dr. Howard, who did not with to hear him again, and no one ever knew him, who did not wifh with him a more intimate acquaintance. "He was a preacher, fimple, grave, fincere ; The remains of Dr. Howard were entombed on Wednesday the 15th day, with every token of love and refpect for his memory. The corpfe was conveyed to the Weft-Bofton meeting houfe, which was dressed in sable habiliments, where the funeral fervices were performed. The Rev. Dr. Lathrop addreffed the throne of grace, in a very feeling and fervid manner, on the mournful occafion ;-and an affecting and very pertinent difcourfe was delivered by the Rev. Prefident Willard, from part of Rev. ii. 10.-" Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Hymns and an anthem were interfperfed in the fervices. The Committee, Members of the Church, and the Congregation, "from tifping infancy to hoary eld." preceded the corpfe to the place of interment; which was followed by the mourning relatives, a numerous body of the Clergy of all denominations of this and the neighbouring towns, the late President of the United States, the Lieutenant-Governour, Chief Justice Dana, the Profeffors and other Governours of the University, the Prefident, Officers, and Members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Humane Society, and other Institutions, and a long train of private citizens. The pall was borne by the Rev. Prefident Harvard College, Rev. Dr. Lathrop, Rev. Dr. Eckley, Rev. Dr. Elict, Rev. Mr. Porter, and Rev. Mr. Emerfon. Many of the fhops and stores were clofed in the streets through which the proceffion passed. At Concord on the 1ft Aug. Dr. TIMOTHY MINOT, in the 79th year of his age. He was the fon of the pious and amiable Mr. Minot, who, for many years in that town, was employed as an inftructer of languages, and who was defcended from the ancient and refpectable family of the fame name in the town of Dorchefter. Dr. Minot received the honours of Harvard College in the years 1747 and '50. He early devoted himself to the ftudy of medicine, was an approved practitioner, and in the treatment of rheumatic and chronical cafes, eminent. He was one of the founders of the Middlesex Medical Affociation, and an officer of it until he died. As an inhabitant of the town in which he lived, he sustained with fidelity important offices. A christian by education and profeffion, he manifested the fpirit of his religion in the intercourses of life. In the fociety of a beautiful and excellent wife, from whom he was feparated but a little while, he reared a numerous and refpectable family, to whom he has left a fair inheritance, and a good rame which is better than precious ointment. At Rowley, Mrs. APHIA GAGE, Æt. 88, relict of the late Col. Thomas Gage. Her defcendants are 2 children, 36 gr. children, 32 great-grand-children, and 1 whole 77; of which 64 are now living. of the 4th generation, making in the At Berwick, (Maine) Elder DANIEL LIBBEY, Æt. 88. His defcendants are 16 children, 113 grand-children, and 72 great-grand-children; in all 201. COMMENCEMENT. On Wednesday, Aug. 29, the annual Commencement of Harvard University at Cambridge was attended in the ufual forms. The following is the order of exercifes for candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts. 1. A falutatory Oration in Latin, by Thomas Afpinwall. II. A forenfic Difputation on this queftion" Whether physical inability, voluntarily contracted, deftroy moral obligation?" by Oliver Brown and Jaazanib Crofty. H. An English Conference on"The evils ariling to fociety from Avarice, Indolence, and Ambition," by Henry Brown, Jabez Chickering, and Timothy Davis. IV. An English Differtation on"Duelling," by Andrews Norton. V. A Hebrew Oration on-" Pride,” by Mofes Webfter. VI. An English Conference on"The influence of Painting, Mufic, and Oratory upon the Paffions," by Thomas Jeffries Eckley, Samuel Orne, and Joseph Sprague. VII. An English Poem on-“ Credulity," by William Freeman. VIII. Á Greek Dialogue on-" Spartan Manners," by Nathaniel Morton Davis, Samuel Sewall, and William Simmons. IX. An English Conference on"Water, Air, Heat, and Light." by Amos Clark, Benjamin Merrill, Charles Apthorp Morton, and Seth Newcomb. X. An English Oration on-" The mutual influence of Government and Religion," by John Stickney. XI. A forensic Disputation on this queftion-" Whether the Law of Nature be equally applicable to Individuals and Nations," by Jofeph Emerfon Smith, and Afbur Ware. XII. An English Poem on-" The influence of Poetry," by Jofeph Head. XIII. An English Colloquy on"The advantages of public over private Education," by Samuel Cary and Benjamin Ropes Nichols. XIV. English Compofitions on various fubjects, by Robert Adams, Abel Boynton, Stephen Chapin, Abraham Euflis, Benjamin Guild, and Jofeph Hovey. on XV. An English Oration "Reverence of Antiquity," by Samuel Cooper Thacher. The third and the eleventh exercises were omitted by reason of the sickness or abfence of performers. After the performances of the canOration on-" Imitation" was delivered didates for the first degree, an English by Mr. Benjamin Pierce. The following young gentlemen were then made Bachelors of Arts. Robert Adams, William Afpinwall, Thomas Afpinwall, Jonathan Baís, Abel Boynton, John Brewer, Oliver Brown, Elijah Brown, Henry Brown, Jones Buckminster, Samuel Cary, Stephen Chapin, Jabez Chickering, Amos Clark, Jaazaniah Crofby, Thomas J. H. Cufhing, Timothy Davis, Nathaniel Morton Davis, Thomas Jeffries Eckley, Abra |