The reference to "The—Head" arises from the fact that in the centre of the table at that ever-memorable dinner of 14th July 1791, was a painting of the King, and on both sides a marble obelisk, the one representing French liberty breaking the fetters of despotism, and the other English liberty in its present enjoyment.
Such were the feelings against Priestley by his own countrymen, and as Carlyle says in his French Revolution—"did not iron Birmingham, shouting 'Church and King'—itself knew not why—burst out into rage, drunkenness and fire, and your Priestleys and the like dining there on the Bastille day get the maddest singeing—scandalous to consider!" The French, more tolerant, naturalized Priestley and other foreign friends of humanity; and in September 1792 he was elected a member of the Assemblée Nationale by the Orne Department in Normandy. He wisely declined the honour, as the guillotine was no respecter of persons—not even "the friends of humanity."
Priestley came to London, and although elected minister of a congregation at Hackney, he felt the insecurity of his position. He was boycotted by his scientific friends, by tradespeople, and his own servants feared to live under the same roof. Finally, he emigrated to the United States of America, where he landed in 1794. He settled at Northumberland, a quiet town on the banks of the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania; and with all his
