Then were his legal Writings, precious store,
Burnt, or dispersed as Sibyl’s leaves of yore.
Twelve years elapsed from that disastrous tide,
And lo! another storm from t’other side!
In vengeance on their Presbyterian foes
The loyal Mob of Birmingham arose;
And as their zeal for Church and King grew hot,
All Priestley’s books and papers went to pot.
Losses like these till then we never saw;
Priestley’s Divinity and Mansfield’s Law.