Nonconformity, and the strength of principle of those who committed themselves to it. But now we enter on a new phase of the Dissenting interest, and find some, and those too of the more learned and accomplished of the Dissenting preachers, looking wistfully towards the Established Church, and presently renouncing their painful Nonconformity. It was not so much that the tide of Nonconformity which set in so strongly in 1662 had lost its vigour. But the stream had unfortunately lost much of its purity. Dissenters had forgotten their first principle, respect for private judgment, and Nonconformist churches and assemblies were for imposing upon ministers and laity rigid and unscriptural terms of communion. At the same time, the Church of England, forgetting its strictly defined terms of communion as laid down in her Articles and Creeds, was becoming lax alike in doctrine and discipline, and doctrinal speculations having little consistency with the symbols of the Church were finding favour with many of the clergy. This tendency was some years after greatly increased by the countenance given by the accomplished queen of George II. to latitudinarian and even heretical clergymen. This state of things would prove a source of embarrassment and temptation to men of scholarly habits, with a taste for the refinements of literature and society, who felt an increasing repugnance to the coarse spirit of theological dogmatism and exaction which pervaded the more orthodox Dissenters. Practically, they might think they should enjoy a greater degree of liberty within than without the pale of the Established Church; and shutting their eyes to the inconsistency of "subscribing slave" in order to gain freedom, they parted with their spiritual birthright.

The minister now to be named was Richard Biscoe. He had studied for the ministry amongst the Dissenters at the academy of Dr. Benyon, of Shrewsbury, and was ordained at Mr. Simon Browne's meeting-house in the Old Jewry, Dec. 19, 1716. The charge was delivered by Dr. Calamy. Others were ordained at the same time, amongst whom were Mr. George Smyth, of Hackney, and Mr., afterwards Dr., S. Chandler. He was, we may suppose, at the time of his ordination minister at Newington Green, and so continued until about 1726. He then conformed, and received ordination in one year as both deacon and priest. His reward was early preferment, and he obtained in 1726 the rectory of St. Martin Outwich. The rapidity of his obtaining full orders and his speedy preferment indicate the appreciation of the advantage secured to the Established Church by his conformity. He was afterwards promoted to the rectory of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, a living before and since filled by men of considerable repute. He justified by his performances the expectations of those who had aided him to preferment, and obtained a good reputation as a scriptural scholar and a preacher. Of this the proof is, that he was appointed in the years 1736, 1737

and 1738, the Boyle Lecturer. He chose for his subject, "The History of the Acts of the Holy Apostles confirmed from other Authors, and considered as full Evidence of the Truth of Christianity; with a Prefatory Discourse upon the Nature of that Evidence." This series of discourses was published by him in 1742, and immediately attracted attention and approval. Dr. Doddridge afterwards praised the book as "an elaborate and learned work," and otherwise spoke respectfully of its author. His opinion has been confirmed by theologians even to the present day, and several reprints of the work have been made, and within a few years by the University of Oxford. Whether in consequence of this performance or independently of it we know not, but Mr. Biscoe became chaplain in ordinary to George II.

When Mr. Biscoe quitted the ranks of the Dissenters, from whom, in common with those more distinguished lights of the Established Church, Butler and Secker, he had received the benefit of a learned education, he did not give to the public or to his friends (so far as our knowledge goes) any statement of his motives and grounds. Whether or not the remarks which we have made on introducing Mr. Biscoe's name will explain his conformity, our readers must judge. Mr. Biscoe died in the year 1748. We will only add the remarks of Dr. Toulmin (communicated to the Protestant Dissenters' Magazine, 1799, pp. 307, 308) suggested by Mr. Biscoe's conformity:

"A little after Mr. Biscoe conformed several other gentlemen took the same step of which number were Mr. John Horsley, Mr. John Johnson, Mr. Hay, Mr. Madox, afterwards Bishop of Worcester, Mr. Quintus Naylor, Mr. Myonet, Mr. Turnsey, &c. And others did the same at the time he did; as Mr. Seagre, Mr. Butler, who became Bishop of Durham, Mr. Thomas Secker, who afterwards rose to the see of Canterbury, Mr. Halset, Mr. Standen, of Newbury, the two Jacombs, Mr. Bellamy, and Mr. Billio, eldest son to Mr. Billio, who succeeded Dr. Bates at Hackney. The same course was likewise taken, at no great distance of time, by the younger son of Mr. Billio; Mr. Strickland Gough, whose father died a minister among the Dissenters at Bristol; Mr. Benjamin Owen, a nephew of Mr. James Owen, and Mr. Orr, who went to Ireland; Mr. Thomas Harrison, and Mr. Richards in Leicestershire; Mr. Winter and Mr. Inman.

"Dr. Calamy, from whom the preceding list is taken, speaking of these gentlemen, says, 'Those who now conformed were generally persons of sobriety and unblemished characters; and might, therefore, be received and caressed by those whom they fell in with, with the better grace. It was easy to be observed and much taken notice of, that most of them who conformed about this time complained much of a spirit of imposition that was working among the Dissenters, which discovered itself in the proceedings at Salters-hall, and upon some other occasions, after the debates among them about the Trinity grew warm: and that some who complained much and with great eagerness of this as a great hardship and discouragement, and inveighed against it with freedom, threw themselves into a church and legal establishment that was very strict for full subscription, and left no room nor scope, for those that

were intrusted with the care of the constitution, to make the least allowance for abatements, in compliance with the difficulties that might be started by such as were scrupulous and tender spirited. This was, by many, apprehended to have but an odd aspect, and not to be very consistent. And it may possibly have considerable consequences some time or other hereafter.'"*

The name of one of these conformists may be mentioned in connection with Newington, though not as a pastor. Isaac Madox, born in London, 1697, is said to have received the rudiments of his education at a charity-school. He afterwards studied at a Scottish university, and in his youth preached occasionally at Newington Green, to gratify an aunt of his who was a member of the congregation. He afterwards studied at Oxford, and having been ordained obtained preferment, and became successively Dean of Wells and Bishop of St. Asaph and Worcester. He shewed his gratitude to the Church which had so liberally fostered him, by publishing, in reply to Neal's History of the Puritans, a vindication of the government, doctrine and worship of the Church of England. He also took part in the hot controversy which arose on the nomination of the Arian Dr. Rundle, in 1734, to the see of Gloucester. Dr. Madox died in 1759.

For the list of ministers who served at Newington Green subsequently to the conformity of Mr. Biscoe, we must refer our readers to the Inquirer,† and to Lewis's History of Islington, contenting ourselves (1st) with the remark, that amongst them have been men whose names will ever be honoured by the friends of truth and freedom; and (2ndly) with offering our congratulation on the series of improvements in renovation and decoration which have been so successfully inaugurated by Dr. Cromwell, the present zealous minister of Newington-Green chapel.

HOW THE BENCH OF BISHOPS VOTED ON THE BILL OF
ATTAINDER AGAINST ATTERBURY, AND WHY.

THE Bill finally passed the Lords by eighty-three votes to forty-three. The Bishops, with a single exception, were in the majority. Their conduct drew on them a sharp taunt from Lord Bathurst, a warm friend of Atterbury and a zealous Tory. "The wild Indians," he said, "give no quarter, because they believe that they shall inherit the skill and prowess of every adversary whom they destroy. Perhaps the animosity of the Right Reverend Prelates to their brother may be explained in the same way."-Lord Macaulay.

Calamy's Life, MS. Vol. III. p. 242, &c.

† A correspondent of this journal has claimed for Newington-Green chapel the honour of having been resorted to by the great philanthropist, John Howard. We greatly doubt whether this statement can be substantiated. Howard was an Independent, and was the intimate friend of one of the ministers of the Independent chapel at Stoke Newington. He marked his interest in that place by a valuable benefaction.

ADDITIONAL MEMORIALS OF DR. PRIESTLEY.

MR. JAMES YATES has just printed, with numerous corrections and additions, the Memorials of Dr. Priestley which appeared in our last volume. As this interesting pamphlet, the fruit of very extensive inquiries, is not designed for publication, and its circulation will be limited to the subscribers to the Oxford statue and to men of science, we gladly avail ourselves of Mr. Yates's kind permission to print some of the more important additions to the original article, and also to give a silouette of Priestley at Warrington in 1762, and a wood-cut of his coat of arms.

THE CHAPEL AND HOUSE AT NANTWICH.

2. Partridge, in his Account of Nantwich, says, "The Presbyterian meeting-house at Nantwich is in Hospital Street, and is a good, decent building, to which appertains a convenient house for the minister." Historical Account of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, Shrewsbury, 1774, p. 82. The "house for the minister" remains in its original state; the inside of the meeting-house has been renewed. Christian Reformer, Jan. 1850, p. 56.*

HOUSE AT WARRINGTON.

3. Dr. Priestley's house at Warrington still remains in Academy Place. An adjoining building is supposed to have been his laboratory. The house is little, if at all, changed in appearance. A view of it is given by Dr. Kendrick, and this has been copied by Mr. Henry A. Bright, B.A., in his Historical Account of Warrington Academy, Liverpool, 1859, contained in Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, Vol. XI.

SILOUETTE.

6. During Priestley's residence at Warrington, an artist was employed in making silouettes of the principal inhabitants. Many

A letter from my old friend, Joseph Hunter, F.S.A., Nov. 21st, 1860, contains some authentic reminiscences of Priestley at this early stage in his public career. It appears, that besides the impediment in his speech, some of the old people at Sheffield thought him "too gay and airy;" and after his settlement at Nantwich, where he boarded with Mr. John Eddowes, a grocer, he sometimes shewed his agility and sprightliness by leaping over the counter.

of these have been published by Dr. Kendrick in his Profiles of Warrington Worthies. I have obtained a wood-cut from the silouette of Priestley, and placed it under the title of this tract. It shews the full-bottomed wig; the features juvenile and delicate.

CALDWALL'S ENGRAVING OF PRIESTLEY AND LAVOISIER.

The two philosophers, thus brought into the same engraving, besides their juxta-position in the history of chemistry, were joint sufferers from the enmity of the populace and of their respective governments. Priestley, having been driven from house and home as represented below, Nos. 60, 61, was on his voyage to the United States in May, 1794, at the very time when Lavoisier was guillotined at Paris after the confiscation of his property. Such was the treatment bestowed upon the best of their citizens by two nations, which consider themselves as without exception the most civilized, cultivated, and enlightened in the world. How small, then, is the value of human applause! An eminent Italian, passing one day through Rome, another reputed leader in civilization, and seeing himself hanging in effigy on one side of the street, while the people were raising a statue to him on the other, said to his companion, "Vides, mi fili, quam leve discrimen patibulum inter et statuam.”*

MR. PHIPSON'S WAX MODEL OF PRIESTLEY.

41. The late Mr. William Phipson, of Birmingham, in his youth made a model of Dr. Priestley's head in white wax upon blue glass. It belongs to his daughter, Miss Phipson, of Westbourne, near that town. It is 5 centimetres high. It differs from the last-mentioned works in having a shirt-frill, with coat and waistcoat, and a robe surrounding the lower part of the dress. In delicacy of execution it perhaps surpasses any other likeness of the philosopher. It was the original from which dies were sunk for the three medals next described.

ACADEMICAL HONOURS.

54. The Copley Medal, given to Priestley by the Royal Society in 1773, though very inferior in intrinsic value, is always regarded as the most honourable distinction bestowed by the Royal Society. Alexander von Humboldt, who received it in 1852, prized it above all the medals he possessed, and a few weeks before his death in 1859 wrote instructions for its perpetual preservation among the archives of his family.

RUINS.

The text accompanying the "Views of the Ruins of the principal Houses destroyed during the Riots at Birmingham," contains

"You see, my son, how little difference there is between a gibbet and a statue."