Part 8

At length, however, he intimated to Dr. Price, that he wished to give me an establishment in Ireland, where he had large property. This gave me an opportunity of acquainting him, that if he chose to dissolve the connexion, it should be on the terms expressed in the writings which we mutually signed when it was formed, in consequence of which I should be entitled to an annuity of an hundred and fifty pounds, and then I would provide for myself, and to this he readily acceded. He told Dr. Price that he wished our separation to be amicable, and I assured him that nothing should be wanting on my part to make it truly so. Accordingly, I expected that he would receive my visits when I should be occasionally in London, but he declined them.

However, when I had been some years settled at Birmingham, he sent an especial messenger, and common friend, to engage me again in his service, having, as that friend assured me, a deep sense of the loss of Lord Ashburton (Mr. Dunning) by death, and of Colonel Barre by his becoming almost blind, and his want of some able and faithful friend, such as he had experienced in me; with other expressions more flattering than those. I did not chuse, however, on any consideration, to leave the very eligible situation in which I now am, but expressed my readiness to do him any service in my power. His Lordship’s enemies have insinuated that he was not punctual in the payment of my annuity; but the contrary is true: Hitherto nothing could have been more punctual, and I have no reason to suppose that it will ever be otherwise.

At Calne I had another son born to me, whom, at Lord Shelburne’s request, I called Henry.

It was at the time of my leaving Lord Shelburne that I found the great value of Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey’s friendship, in such a manner as I certainly had no expectation of when our acquaintance commenced; especially by their introducing me to the notice of Mrs. Rayner, one of his hearers, and most zealous friends.

Notwithstanding my allowance from Lord Shelburne was larger than that which I had at Leeds, yet my family growing up, and my expences, on this and other accounts, increasing more than in proportion, I was barely able to support my removal. But my situation being intimated to Mrs. Rayner, besides smaller sums, with which she occasionally assisted me, she gave me an hundred guineas to defray the expence of my removal, and deposited with Mrs. Lindsey, which she soon after gave up to me, four hundred guineas, and to this day has never failed giving me every year marks of her friendship. Her’s is, indeed, I seriously think, one of the first christian characters that I was ever acquainted with, having a cultivated comprehensive mind, equal to any subject of theology or metaphysics, intrepid in the cause of truth, and most rationally pious.

Spending so much of my time in London was the means of increasing my intimacy with both Mr. Lindsey and Mr. Lee, our common friend; who amidst the bustle of politics, always preserved his attachment to theology, and the cause of truth. The Sunday I always spent with Mr. Lindsey, attending the service of his chapel, and sometimes officiating for him; and with him and Mrs. Lindsey I generally spent the evening of that day at Mr. Lee’s who then admitted no other company, and seldom have I enjoyed society with more relish.

My winter’s residence in London was the means of improving my acquaintance with Dr. Franklin. I was seldom many days without seeing him, and being members of the same club, we constantly returned together. The difference with America breaking out at this time, our conversation was chiefly of a political nature; and I can bear witness, that he was so far from promoting, as was generally supposed, that he took every method in his power to prevent a rupture between the two countries. He urged so much the doctrine of forbearance, that for some time he was unpopular with the Americans on that account, as too much a friend to Great Britain. His advice to them was to bear every thing for the present, as they were sure in time to out grow all their grievances; as it could not be in the power of the mother country to oppress them long.

He dreaded the war, and often said that, if the difference should come to an open rupture, it would be a war of ten years, and he should not live to see the end of it. In reality the war lasted near eight years but he did live to see the happy termination of it. That the issue would be favorable to America, he never doubted. The English, he used to say, may take all our great towns, but that will not give them possession of the country. The last day that he spent in England, having given out that he should leave London the day before, we passed together, without any other company; and much of the time was employed in reading American newspapers, especially accounts of the reception which the Boston port bill met with in America; and as he read the addresses to the inhabitants of Boston from the places in the neighbourhood, the tears trickled down his cheeks.

It is much to be lamented, that a man of Dr. Franklin’s general good character, and great influence, should have been an unbeliever in christianity, and also have done so much as he did to make others unbelievers. To me, however, he acknowledged that he had not given so much attention as he ought to have done to the evidences of christianity, and desired me to recommend to him a few treatises on the subject, such as I thought most deserving of his notice, but not of great length, promising to read them, and give me his sentiments on them. Accordingly, I recommended to him Hartley’s evidences of christianity in his Observations on Man, and what I had then written on the subject in my Institutes of natural and revealed religion. But the American war breaking out soon after, I do not believe that he ever found himself sufficiently at leisure for the discussion. I have kept up a correspondence with him occasionally ever since, and three of his letters to me were, with his consent, published in his Miscellaneous Works, in quarto. The first of them, written immediately on his landing in America, is very striking.

For two letters written by my father relating to Dr. Franklin and Mr. Burke see appendix No. 4.

About three years before the dissolution of my connection with Lord Shelburne, Dr. Fothergill, with whom I had always lived on terms of much intimacy, having observed, as he said, that many of my experiments had not been carried to their proper extent on account of the expence that would have attended them, proposed to me a subscription from himself and some of his friends, to supply me with whatever sums I should want for that purpose, and named a hundred pounds per annum. This large subscription I declined, lest the discovery of it (by the use that I should, of course, make of it) should give umbrage to Lord Shelburne, but I consented to accept of 40 £. per annum, which from that time he regularly paid me, from the contribution of himself, Sir Theodore Jansen, Mr. Constable, and Sir George Saville.

On my leaving Lord Shelburne, which was attended with the loss of one half of my income, Dr. Fothergill proposed an enlargement of my allowance for my experiments, and likewise for my maintenance, without being under the necessity of giving my time to pupils, which I must otherwise have done. And, considering the generosity with which this voluntary offer was made by persons who could well afford it, and who thought me qualified to serve the interests of science, I thought it right to accept of it; and I preferred it to any pension from the court, offers of which were more than once made by persons who thought they could have procured one for me.

As it was my wish to do what might be in my power to shew my gratitude to my friends and benefactors that suggested the idea of writing these Memoirs, I shall subjoin a list of their names. Some of the subscriptions were made with a view to defray the expence of my experiments only; but the greater part of the subscribers were persons who were equally friends to my theological studies.

The persons who made me this regular annual allowance were Dr. Watson and his son, Mr. Wedgwood, Mr. Moseley, Mr. S. Salte, Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Radcliffe, Mr. Remington, Mr. Strutt of Derby, Mr. Shore, Mr. Reynolds of Paxton, Messrs. Galton, father and son, and the Rev. Mr. Simpson.

Besides the persons whose names appear in this list, as regular subscribers, there were other persons who, without chusing to be known as such, contributed no less to my support, and some considerably more.

My chief benefactress was Mrs. Rayner, and next to her Dr. Heberden, equally distinguished for his love of religious truth, and his zeal to promote science. Such also is the character of Mr. Tayleur of Shrewsbury, who has at different times remitted me considerable sums, chiefly to defray the expences incurred by my theological inquiries and publications.

Mr. Parker of Fleet street very generously supplied me with every instrument that I wanted in glass, particularly a capital burning lens, sixteen inches in diameter. All his benefactions in this way would have amounted to a considerable sum. Mr. Wedgwood also, besides his annual benefaction, supplied me with every thing that I wanted made of pottery, such as retorts, tubes, &c. which the account of my experiments will shew to have been of great use to me.

Though his sight was not much worse than before during the last ten years of his life it had been much injured by his experiments with the burning Lens of which he made much use in summer time.

On my removal to Birmingham commenced my intimacy with Mr. William Russell, whose public spirit, and zeal in every good cause, can hardly be exceeded. My obligations to him were various and constant, so as not to be estimated by sums of money. At his proposal I doubt not, some of the heads of the congregation made me a present of two hundred pounds, to assist me in my theological publications.

Mr. Lee shewed himself particularly my friend at the time that I left Lord Shelburne, assisting me in the difficulties with which I was then pressed, and continuing to befriend me afterwards by seasonable benefactions. By him it was hinted to me during the administration of Lord Rockingham, with whom he had great influence, that I might have a pension from the government, to assist in defraying the expence of my experiments. Another hint of the same kind was given me in the beginning of Mr. Pitt’s administration by a Bishop in whose power it was to have procured it from him. But in both cases I declined the overture, wishing to preserve myself independent of every thing connected with the court, and preferring the assistance of generous and opulent individuals, lovers of science, and also lovers of liberty. Without assistance I could not have carried on my experiments at all, except on a very small scale, and under great disadvantages.

Mr. Galton, before I had any opportunity of being personally acquainted with him, had, on the death of Dr. Fothergill, taken up his subscription. His son did the same, and the friendship of the latter has added much to the happiness of my situation here. Seldom, if ever, have I known two persons of such cultivated minds, pleasing manners, and liberal dispositions, as he and Mrs. Galton. The latter had the greatest attachment imaginable to my wife.

Birmingham.

Mr. Salte was zealous in promoting the subscriptions to my experiments, and moreover proposed to take one of my sons as an apprentice without any fee. But my brother-in-law making the same offer, I gave it the preference: Mr. Wedgwood, who has distinguished himself by his application to philosophical pursuits, as well as by his great success in the improvement of his manufactory, was very zealous to serve me, and urged me to accept of a much larger allowance than I chose.

The favours that I received from my two brothers-in-law deserve my most grateful acknowledgments. They acted the part of kind and generous relations, especially at the time when I most wanted assistance. It was in consequence of Mr. John Wilkinson’s proposal, who wished to have us nearer to him, that, being undetermined where to settle, I fixed upon Birmingham, where he soon provided a house for me.

My apology for accepting of these large benefactions is, that besides the great expence of my philosophical and even my theological studies, and the education of three sons and a daughter, the reputation I had, justly or unjustly, acquired brought on me a train of expences not easy to describe, to avoid or to estimate; so that without so much as keeping a horse (which the kindness of Mr. Russel made unnecessary) the expence of housekeeping, &c. was more than double the amount of any regular income that I had.

I consider my settlement at Birmingham as the happiest event in my life, being highly favorable to every object I had in view, philosophical or theological. In the former respect I had the convenience of good workmen of every kind, and the society of persons eminent for their knowledge of chemistry, particularly Mr. Watt, Mr. Keir, and Dr. Withering. These with Mr. Boulton, and Dr. Darwin, who soon left us by removing from Litchfield to Derby, Mr. Galton, and afterwards Mr. Johnson of Kenelworth and myself dined together every month, calling ourselves the lunar society, because the time of our meeting was near the full moon.

With respect to theology, I had the society of Mr. Hawkes, Mr. Blyth, and Mr. Scholefield, and his assistant Mr. Coates, and, while he lived Mr. Palmer, before of Macclesfield. We met and drank tea together, every fortnight. At this meeting we read all the papers that were sent for the Theological Repository, which I revived some time after my coming hither, and in general our conversation was of the same cast as that with my fellow tutors at Warrington.

Within a quarter of a year of my coming to reside at Birmingham, Mr. Hawkes resigned, and I had an unanimous invitation to succeed him, as colleague with Mr. Blyth, a man of a truly christian temper. The congregation we serve is the most liberal, I believe, of any in England; and to this freedom the unwearied labours of Mr. Bourne had eminently contributed.