 In 1668, he was a dancing-master in Holborn, and in 1675 he moved to Leicester Fields to run a boarding school for gentlewomen.In 1680 he started a similar school at Gorge's House in Chelsea, London.Here Priest hosted operas, including John Blow's "Venus and Adonis" (1684) and Henry Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas" (1689).