Memoirs of Dr. Joseph Priestley : $b To the year 1795, written by himself: with a continuation, to the time of his decease, by his son, Joseph Priestley: and observations on his writings, by Thomas Cooper, President Judge of the 4th. district of Pennsylvania: and the Rev. William Christie.Priestley, Joseph
Religion
Memoirs of Dr. Joseph Priestley : $b To the year 1795, written by himself: with a continuation, to the time of his decease, by his son, Joseph Priestley: and observations on his writings, by Thomas Cooper, President Judge of the 4th. district of Pennsylvania: and the Rev. William Christie.
Priestley, Joseph
Chemists -- Great Britain -- Biography; Priestley, Joseph, 1733-1804
But what principally enabled him to do so much was regularity, for it
does not appear that at any period of his life he spent more than six
or eight hours per day in business that required much mental exertion.
I find in the same diary, which I have quoted from above, that he
laid down the following daily arrangement of time for a minister’s
studies: Studying the Scriptures 1 hour. Practical writers 1-2 an hour.
Philosophy and History 2 hours. Classics 1-2 an hour. Composition 1
hour--in all 5 hours. He adds below “All which may be conveniently
dispatched before dinner, which leaves the afternoon for visiting and
company, and the evening for exceeding in any article if there be
occasion. Six hours not too much, nor seven.”
It appears by his diary that he followed this plan at that period of
his life. He generally walked out in the afternoon or spent it in
company. At that time there was a society or club that assembled twice
a week, at which the members debated questions, or took it in turn to
deliver orations, or read essays of their own composition. When not
attending these meetings, he most generally appears to have spent the
evening in company with some of the students in their chambers.
It was by the regularity and variety of his studies, more than by
intenseness of application, that he performed so much more than even
studious men generally do. At the time he was engaged about the
most important works, and when he was not busily employed in making
experiments, he always had leisure for company, of which he was fond.
He never appeared hurried or behind hand. He however never carried
his complaisance so far as to neglect the daily task he had imposed
upon himself; but as he was uniformly an early riser, and dispatched
his more serious pursuits in the morning, it rarely happened but that
he could accomplish the labours assigned for the day, without having
occasion to withdraw from visitors at home, or society abroad, or
giving reason to suppose that the company of others was a restraint
upon his pursuits.
This habit of regularity, extended itself to every thing that he read,
and every thing he did that was susceptible of it. He never read a
book without determining in his own mind when he would finish it. Had
he a work to transcribe, he would fix a time for its completion. This
habit increased upon him as he grew in years, and his diary was kept
upon the plan I have before described, till within a few days of his
death.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Memoirs of Dr. Joseph Priestley : $b To the year 1795, written by himself: with a continuation, to the time of his decease, by his son, Joseph Priestley: and observations on his writings, by Thomas Cooper, President Judge of the 4th. district of Pennsylvania: and the Rev. William Christie. — John Shaqi
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive