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 Shelburne. His lordship, however, punctually paid the annuity of £150 a year which he had promised.

After leaving Lord Shelburne in 1779, Priestley visited London, but ultimately settled in Birmingham, having been appointed Unitarian minister to the Old Meeting Chapel (no longer in existence—New Street Station is on the site of Priestley's chapel). At this time he was friendly with Watt, Wedgwood, Boulton, Darwin, the Galtons, and others. Mrs Schimmelpenninck (née Galton) described Priestley as "a man of admirable simplicity, gentleness, and kindness of heart, united with great acuteness of intellect."

He resigned his charge in 1791, when his friends raised a sum annually for him, in order that he might be able to prosecute his investigations without the necessity of teaching. During this period, although he published a vast amount of chemical work, he could not leave theology, metaphysics, and politics alone. Sympathizing with the Americans in the War of Independence, and afterwards with the French in the Revolution, and his writings and speeches against the Established Church, brought him into controversy with the clergy of Birmingham. The controversy was bitter and long. Priestley was regarded as a dangerous character, an enemy to Church and State, and even Burke (1729-97) spoke against him in the House of Commons. Such was the feeling against dissenters—"fomenters of sedition"; but that is far from being the