came, he requested to be admitted a member of a reading society belonging to the Dissenters, which had been established near forty years, and of which the Dissenting Minister was the president; his admission was followed by that of many gentlemen of the church, and the frequent meetings to transact the business of the society tended very much to rub off that stiffness which had before been observable in their conduct towards each other. Upon the resignation of the Dissenting Minister, another Dissenter was chosen president; and the same unanimity continued to prevail until the society was dissolved for the purpose of forming a different institution.

The Dissenters were thus led to suppose that the former hatred of them by the Church was done away, and they were pleasing themselves with the persuasion, until the breaking out of the Riots at Birmingham completely convinced them of their mistake. For no sooner did the news reach Stourbridge, but the most violent invectives were poured forth against the Dissenters by the same persons who had before professed so much liberality and kindness towards them. Every thing was said which could tend to stir up the minds of the people; the circulation of the hand-bill was charged upon a Dissenter, the report was propagated with great industry, and they heard from all quarters that their meeting-house, and the houses of the Dissenters, would be levelled with the ground. The public-houses were several of them filled with men who were ready to embark in the diabolical business; and, had it not been for the vigilance of an active magistrate, God only knows what would have been the consequence.

Thus disappointed, they evinced their determination to injure their Dissenting brethren, by withdrawing their custom from the shops of Dissenters, some of whom find their business much de creased. One tradesman, who had been in the habit of supplying many of the first families in the neighbourhood with goods, lost, immediately after the Riots, thirty families who had for years had ledger accounts with him, besides many other ready-money customers, and yet could never hear of the least charge which they had against him, except that of his being a Dissenter.

Some time before the Birmingham Riots, the minister of a congregation of Dissenters at Cradley, near Stourbridge, interested himself in procuring a subscription for building a meeting-house at a place called the Lye-waste, about a mile and a half from Stourbridge, a very populous neighbourhood, where the people are extremely ignorant, and where there is no place of worship of any denomination. The said minister, and the minister of the congregation at Stourbridge, had engaged to preach alternately when the place should be erected, without any salary, actuated by no other motive than the desire of doing good. Having procured a sufficient subscription for the purpose, they applied to a gentleman of Stourbridge for land to erect the building upon, who readily told them, they might have whichever part of his estate they chose; in consequence of which the land was measured out, and a price was fixed on it by an appraiser, which price was agreed to by both parties; an attorney was sent for, who received instructions in the

presence of both to prepare articles of conveyance; and bricks were drawn upon the spot for the building: yet, notwithstanding all this, he afterwards refused to let them have any part of it. After the Birmingham Riots, other gentlemen who had land at the Lyewaste were applied to, but they all refused to sell their land for such a purpose. After this, the minister of Cradley waited upon the rector of the parish, and assured him that he had no intention of disseminating any peculiar doctrines; that his only motive was, to serve the best interests of his neighbours; and that, if the people of the Establishment would subscribe towards building a church, he would abandon his design, and assist them in theirs: but this good young man has been unable to accomplish either; and the money now lies unemployed, and the poor of that district uninstructed.

Some months previous to the Birmingham Riots, the Stourbridge Dissenters had engaged a London minister to preach a charity sermon at their meeting-house, on the second Sunday in August; (which was soon after the Riots happened ;) and it is a little remarkable that the rector of the parish advertised a charity sermon to be preached by himself in his own church, on the same day, though no charity sermon had been preached in that church for some years before. As the notice was short, the sermon was advertised by hand-bills, distributed through the parish; in consequence of which the church was extremely crowded; and, though it was professedly a charity sermon, the greatest part thereof consisted of invectives against the Dissenters of Stourbridge and Cradley, and of charges against the managers of their Sundayschools, which had no foundation in fact. The Dissenters not being present, could only hear this account from those liberal churchmen who heard the sermon, and who were much disgusted with the virulence of the preacher. Some Dissenters of both congregations waited upon the rector to deny the charges, and to satisfy him of their untruth; this they were enabled to do; upon which he acknowledged that he had made them upon the testimony of a woman of dissipated character. However, he promised to contradict what he found he had asserted without good foundation, and to do it in every company where he had an opportunity; but whether he has performed his promise or not, has not yet come to the knowledge of the Dissenters. However, the Dissenters have it now in their power to bring serious charges, and to establish them as facts, against the managers of the church schools. They can prove that a minister residing in the parish threatened a poor washerwoman with the loss of her employment in his family, if she did not take her child from the Presbyterian school. And yet it is well known in the parish that the Dissenters instruct the children of their schools in no other than the common doctrines of Christianity, in which all Christians agree. These are some of the scandalous proceedings of those who call themselves the disciples of him who went about doing good.

See the conversion of this Rector, from candour and courtesy to bigotry and virulence, Vol. XV. p. 527.

The interest of several sums of money is annually distributed to the poor of the parish in bread and clothing, and lately the rector of the parish, and the minister of the chapel, have been accustomed to interrogate the paupers who apply for the said donations, respecting the church to which they belong; and those who are found to attend the Presbyterian meeting-house, lose the benefit of the said charities.*

No. XXI.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER WRITTEN TO DR. PRIESTLEY,

By a Person who was in his Library during the Demolition of the House, in Answer to one in which he had requested his Evidence concerning it.

DEAR SIR,

(See supra, p. 440.)

Birmingham, March 5, 1792.

I DEEM it right thus immediately to inform you, that I did not arrive at your house till after the destruction of the library. The road for half a mile of my approach was strewed with your books, the mob were carrying others away, and there was not above twelve octavos on the shelves when I entered the room, the floor of which was totally covered, two or three inches deep, with torn leaves, chiefly manuscript. The books that I saw collected at the top of the field behind the house with part of the furniture, were those, I presume, which were the only ones saved.

No. XXII.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE ALARM AND LOSS OF MR. CARPENTER OF WOODROW, IN A LETTER FROM HIS BROTHER.

SIR,

(See supra, p. 440.)

To W. Russell, Esq., Digbeth, Birmingham.

Woodrow, near Bromsgrove, May 9, 1792.

THE first intelligence we had of the Riots in Birmingham, was on the 15th of July, but being extremely busy in haymaking, we paid but little attention to it, thinking the civil power would soon restore every thing to peace and order again. However, on the following evening several of our neighbours who had been at Bromsgrove, came to inform us, that the Woodrow was in the list of proscribed houses, and that my eldest brother's life was threatened. This alarmed us; but my brother, not choosing to trust to these reports, went to Bromsgrove to gain more authentic information. He returned about eleven o'clock, and informed us, that the reports seemed but too true, that many of the lower class of

While this part of the Appendix is passing through the press, I learn, on the best authority, and take the liberty here to state, that the principal circumstances in this account were communicated to Dr. Priestley by Mr. Samuel Parkes, who then resided in the neighbourhood of Stourbridge, a gentleman well known to the public, by his valuable works on chemical science.

people in Bromsgrove seemed very much disposed to rioting, some of them calling after him as he rode along the street, saying, that the meeting-houses should come down the next day, and cursing the Presbyterians with the utmost bitterness.

At twelve o'clock we were surprised by a post-chaise driving to the door; it contained Mr. and Mrs. Benton, the nurse-maid, and several children: they came to beg a night's lodging, as they durst not stop any longer so near Birmingham, either in their own house or with their friends; and so precipitate was their flight, that they were obliged to bring the children out of bed with only their nightclothes on. Poor little innocents! it was a distressing sight to see them, and still more distressing not to be able to afford them a safe asylum: for, on hearing our dangerous situation, Mrs. Benton thought it most prudent to go farther on. Brother Thomas, myself, and a neighbour, then went to the top of the Lickey, from whence we could plainly see a large house in flames towards Birmingham; this proved but a poor consolation, and we returned home with heavy hearts. At six o'clock on Sunday morning we dispatched two messengers, one to Bromsgrove, the other to Birmingham. The latter returned about eleven o'clock with an account that a large party of the Rioters were gone to burn Kingswood Meeting, and from thence they would proceed to the Woodrow. My brother also returned from Bromsgrove with similar information. I immediately took our most valuable papers and writings, and buried them in a neighbour's garden. It was also thought most prudent to remove part of our furniture; but where to take them was the question, as our neighbours, though many of them were willing, durst not take them in, for fear of bringing a mob after them, and thereby endangering their property. After a short consultation, it was thought most advisable to send it to Kidderminster. We immediately packed up our plate, linen, beds, books, &c. &c., and sent off three waggon loads (including a quantity of wool) in the afternoon. At the same time my mother, sister, and youngest nephew, went to Boarcote, where they found an asylum at the house of Mr. Cox, who treated them with the utmost kindness. We sat up all night, (indeed we had never a bed left in the house, had any of us been disposed for one,) and kept a strong guard both in and around the house.

On Monday morning we had information that the Rioters were dispersed in parties around the country, committing various depredations; and that the soldiers were too few in number to leave Birmingham in pursuit of them.

Parties of people from Bromsgrove and its vicinity went to join the Rioters; and about one or two o'clock a number of people from this neighbourhood collected together upon Round Hill, half a mile from the Woodrow, in all appearance to be ready to join the Rioters when they came. In this party were several who had been heard to threaten brother John in the most violent manner. Things wearing such a serious aspect at this time, we thought proper to remove the remainder of our household effects, which we conveyed into the fields, and hid among the corn, or buried in the earth. Brother Thomas and myself also removed our wheat and

flour from the mill. A very violent shower happily dispersed the people on Round Hill, and also prevented the Birmingham Rioters from coming forwards.

About nine o'clock in the evening, a gentleman rode to the Woodrow, and said he had left a body of the Rioters on the top of the Lickey, marching towards the Woodrow, their number uncertain. Brother John then determined to defend his house, and desired his men to prepare for action; but at length, from the excessive importunity of those about him, he gave it up, and left his house for the first time, with the melancholy prospect of never seeing it again. He had not rode more than a mile before he fell in with fifteen or sixteen Rioters with blue cockades in their hats, and armed with bludgeons. On my brother's inquiring where they were going, several of them answered, To burn Mr. Carpenter's house, according to orders from Justice Carles. My brother perceiving they did not know him, said, Why, I thought Mr. Carpenter was a good sort of a man, why should you wish to burn his house? The answer was, he may be a very good sort of a man for all we know, but we have Justice Carles's orders, and down it shall come. On being asked for what reason, they said, for being at the hotel. My brother then told them they had better go to Bromsgrove, and get something to drink, and some more gentlemen coming up, and giving the same advice, they thought best to follow it.

In

The next morning, (Tuesday,) on their return from Bromsgrove, they called at the Woodrow to beg something to drink, and, while brother Thomas went to draw some beer, they attempted to go into the house, but our men prevented them. After pillaging several of the poor people's houses as they went along, they stopped at a public-house about two miles from the Woodrow. Brother John returned home about half an hour after the Rioters went away; and, as soon as he heard where they were, set off to Birmingham to procure some soldiers, and take them prisoners. the mean time, a Mr. Lane, who said he was a constable from Birmingham, (and who, as I am since informed, died through excessive fatigue in the zealous performance of his duty,) called at the Woodrow, and, on my informing him where the Rioters were, said he would go and take them if I could get some resolute people we could depend upon to go with us. I immediately rode to Bromsgrove, and called several of my friends together, whom I found willing to join us; but as no member of the Established Church would go with us, it was given up for fear of giving offence. My brother returned from Birmingham in the evening, and gave the following account of his interview with the justices. On bis introduction, he informed them that a party of the Rioters had been at his house that morning, and came, as they informed him, the preceding evening, by the order of Justice Carles, to burn his house down; and, as he knew where they were, begged the favour of half a dozen light horse to secure them: but this request not being granted, my brother offered to take them without the assistance of the military, if it met with their approbation: but their approbation was not given. Mr. Carles asked my brother if he knew ever an honest Presbyterian about the Lickey? My brother