volume of William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England appeared, in which, under the head of 'Offences against God and Religion,’ nonconformity is treated as a crime. Joseph Priestley was the first to attack this opinion; Blackstone replied in a pamphlet (2 September 1769). In the following year Furneaux published his 'Letters to Mr. Justice Blackstone,’ with a moral argument against enforcing religious truths by civil penalties. Furneaux was present on 6 February 1772 in the gallery of the House of Commons with Edward Pickard, presbyterian minister of Carter Lane, when the clerical petition for relief from subscription, known as the 'Feathers' petition,’ was under discussion. The speeches of Sir William Meredith and Sir George Savile in favour of the petition were reported by Furneaux from memory. In the course of the debate the remark was made by Lord North, who opposed the petition, that if similar relief were asked by the dissenting clergy there would be no reasonable objection to it. Acting on this hint Furneaux and Pickard called a meeting of nonconformist ministers of the three denominations, who adopted an application to Parliament (prepared by Furneaux) for relief from doctrinal subscription. A relief bill passed the Commons on 3 April 1772 without a division; on 18 May it was rejected in the Lords. In support of a second bill to the same effect Furneaux published his 'Essay on Toleration' (1773). Relief was at length granted (1779), but not, as Furneaux desired, without a test. In the new subscription, the Holy Scriptures were substituted for the Thirty-Nine Articles. Later life In 1777 he was seized with hereditary insanity, and remained under this affliction till his death on 27 November 1783. A fund was raised for his support, which became a charity supporting Unitarian institutions, Manchester New College and the Ministers' Benevolent Society. Works He published: Letters to the Honourable Mr. Justice Blackstone concerning his Exposition of the Act of Toleration, &c., 1770; the 2nd edition, 1771, has additions, and Mansfield's speech as appendix; reprinted, Philadelphia, 1773. An Essay on Toleration, &c., 1773. Other works were: a sermon on education (1755), a fast sermon (1758), funeral sermon for Henry Miles, D.D. (1763), sermon at ordination of Samuel Wilton (1766), ordination charge to George Waters and William Youat (1769), and sermon to the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge in the Highlands (1775). In 1771 Furneaux was engaged in transcribing and