Dr.Richard Price is a lesser figure; and much of the standing he might have had has been obliterated by two unfortunate incidents.

His sinking-fund scheme was taken up by the younger Pitt, and proved, though the latter believed in it to the last, to be founded upon an arithmetical fallacy which did not sit well upon a fellow of the Royal Society.

His sermon on the French Revolution provoked the _Reflections_ of Burke; and, though much of the right was on the side of Price, it can hardly be said that he survived Burke's onslaught.

Yet he was a considerable figure in his day, and he shows, like Priestley, how deep-rooted was the English revolutionary temper.

He has not, indeed, Priestley's superb optimism; for the rigid _a priori_ morality of which he was the somewhat muddled defender was less favorable to a confidence in reason.