did not adopt his dislike of the French.

When January of 1798 arrived his joy was great. A box of books had come.
Among them was a General Dictionary which he regarded as a real
treasure. Reading was now his principal occupation. He found the making
of many experiments irksome and seemed, all at once, "quite averse to
having his hands so much in water." Presumably these were innocent
excuses for his devotion to the Church History which had been brought up
to date. Furthermore he was actually contemplating transplanting himself
to France. But with it all he wrote assiduously on religious topics, and
was highly pleased with the experimental work he had sent to Dr.
Mitchill (p. 85).

He advised his friends of the "intercepted letters" which did him much
harm when they were published. They called down upon him severest
judgement and suspicion, and made him--

disliked by all the friends of the ruling power in this country.

It may be well to note that these "intercepted letters" were found on a
Danish ship, inclosed in a cover addressed to

DR. PRIESTLEY, IN AMERICA

They came from friends, English and French, living in Paris. They
abounded

with matter of the most serious reflection.... If the animosity of
these apostate Englishmen against their own country, their
conviction that no submissions will avert our danger, and their
description of the engines employed by the Directory for our
destruction, were impressed as they ought to be, upon the minds of
all our countrymen, we should certainly never again be told of the
innocent designs of these traitors, or their associates--

The preceding quotation is from a booklet containing exact copies of the
"intercepted letters."

In the first of the letters, dated Feb. 12, 1798, the correspondent of
Priestley tells that he had met a young Frenchman who had visited
Northumberland

and we all rejoiced at the aggreeable information that at the
peace you would not fail to revisit Europe; and that he hoped you
would fix yourself in this country (France). Whether you fix
yourself here or in England, (_as England will then be_) is
probably a matter of little importance ... but we all think you are
misplaced where you are, though, no doubt, in the way of
_usefulness_--

The editor of the letters annotates _usefulness_ thus:

Dr. Priestley is _in the way of usefulness_ in Ame