His income being much diminished by his separation from Lord Shelburne, and his family increasing, he found it now difficult to support himself. At this time Mrs. Rayner made him very considerable presents, particularly at one period a sum of 400_l._; and she continued her contributions to him almost annually. Dr. Fothergill had proposed a subscription, in order that he might prosecute his experiments to their utmost extent, and be enabled to live without sacrificing his time to his pupils. This he accepted. It amounted at first to 40_l._ per annum, and was afterwards much increased. Dr. Watson, Mr. Wedgewood, Mr. Galton, and four or five more, were the gentlemen who joined with Dr. Fothergill in this generous subscription. Soon after, he settled in a meeting-house in Birmingham, and continued for several years engaged in theological and chemical investigations. His apparatus, by the liberality of his friends, had become excellent, and his income was so good that he could prosecute his researches to their full extent. Here he published the three last volumes of his Experiments on Air, and various papers on the same subject in the Philosophical Transactions. Here, too, he continued his Theological Repository, and published a variety of tracts on his peculiar opinions in religion, and upon the history of the primitive church. He now unluckily engaged in controversy with the established clergy of the place; and expressed his opinions on political subjects with a degree of freedom, which, though it would have been of no consequence at any former period, was ill suited to the peculiar circumstances that were introduced into this country by the French revolution, and to the political maxims of Mr. Pitt and his administration. His answer to Mr. Burke's book on the French revolution excited the violent indignation of that extraordinary man, who inveighed against his character repeatedly, and with peculiar virulence, in the house of commons. The clergy of the church of England, too, who began about this time to be alarmed for their establishment, of which Dr. Priestley was the open enemy, were particularly active; the press teemed with their productions against him, and the minds of their hearers seem to have been artificially excited; indeed some of the anecdotes told of the conduct of the clergy of Birmingham, were highly unbecoming their character. Unfortunately, Dr. Priestley did not seem to be aware of the state of the nation, and of the plan of conduct laid down by Mr. Pitt and his political friends; and he was too fond of controversial discussions to yield tamely to the attacks of his antagonists.