LOCKE. 



native country, where his intimate connection with lord 

 Shafteftury had created him feme j^pwerful and m'ahgnant 

 enemies. Their inahce purfued him to the utmod extent of 

 their means ; and the dean of Chrift-chtirch had orders from 

 the king to ejeft Mr. Locke from his iludent'c place, which 

 was accordingly done. On the acceffion of James II., 

 William Penn, the quaker, who was the friend of Locke in 

 his adveriity, ufed his intcrefl with the king to procure a 

 pardon for him ; and would have obtained it, had not Mr. 

 Locke declined the acceptance of inch an offer, declaring 

 that he had no occailon for a pardon, having never been 

 guilty cf any crime. In 1685, when the uiike of Mon- 

 mouth and his party v/ere making preparations in Holland 

 for his ra!h and unfortunate enterprize, the Engli(h envoy 

 at the Hague demanded that Mr. Locke, among others, 

 fhould be given up, on fufpicion of his being a6tively en- 

 gaged in the undertaking. This fufpii ion, though entirely 

 gronndlefs, obliged him to lie concealed nearly a year ; till 

 it was rendered perfeftly evident, even to his enemies and 

 their fpies, that he had ho concern vvhatever in the bufmefs. 

 To'.vai-ds the end of the year 1686 he appeared again in 

 public, and foon afterwards was the principal agent in 

 forming a literary fociety at Amfterdam, of which Lim- 

 borch, Le Clerc, and other learned men were members, 

 who met together weekly for converfation upon fubjefts of 

 univerfal learning. In the following year he finiftied his 

 great work, the " Effay concerning Human Underltanding," 

 which had been the principal objeCl of his attention feveral 

 years, and which proves how well he fpent the period of his 

 exile from England. That the public might be apprized 

 of the outlines of his plan, he himfelf made an abridgment 

 cf it, which his friend Le Clerc tranflated into French, and 

 inferted in one of his " Bibliotheques." This abridgment 

 %vas fo highly approved by the literati of that period, and 

 by thofe who were fincerely attached to truth and jnll prin- 

 ciples, that they took every opportunity of exprefling the 

 ftrongeft defire to fee the complete work in its original Hate. 

 During his concealment, he wrote his " Letter concerning 

 Toleration," which was iirft publifhed in the Latin lan- 

 guage at Gouda, in l68g, and entitled " Epiftola de To- 

 lerantia ad clariffimum Virum T. A. R. P. T. O. L. A. 

 «cripta a P. A. P. O. J. L. A." The former of thefe fets 

 of letters were intended to fignify Theologize apud Rcmon- 

 itrantes profefforem, Tyrannidis Oforem Limburginm Am- 

 itelodamenfem ; and the latter, Pacis Amico, Perfecutionis 

 Olore, Jijhanne Locke, Anglo. This letter he afterwards 

 tranflated into Englifli, and publifhed in London in the year 

 1690. It was fpeedily tranflated into the Dutch and French 

 languages, and has been exceedingly popular with liberal 

 people of all countries from that period to the prefent. It 

 has been frequently reprinted in forms adapted for general 

 circulation, and has been dillributed by perlons of fortune and 

 rank, among whom may be mentioned, in our own country, 

 his grace the late duks of Grafton. This epiiUc, thougb 

 fo highly approved, was fcverely attacked by a clergyman 

 of Oxford, who wrote three pamphlets agaiiift it ; two of 

 wHich Mr. Locke anfwered, defending and julHfying his 

 principles with invincible ftrength of argument r and though 

 he v.'as in a declining ftate of health, when bis antagonilt, 

 after twelve years' filence, publilhed his third pamphlet 

 againil it, yet he began a reply to him in a " Fourth Letter 

 concerning Toleration." Though this was not finifhed, yet _ 

 the fragment has been publifhed in Defmaizeaux's edition of 

 his works. 



To return, however, to the narrative of Mr. Locke's 

 life, in the order of time. The revolution of 168H opened 

 a way for his return into his own country, whither he came 



in the fame fleet whicli cenveyed the princefs of Orange ; 

 and upon the reftoration of public liberty, he did not hefita!^ 

 to alTert his own private rights, and accordingly put in his 

 ckim to the ftudenl's place in the college of Chrifl's-chnrch, 

 of which he had been unjullly deprived. For the fake of 

 peace, he was advifed to defill from his claim. As he was 

 confidered to be a iuflercr for the principles of the revolu- 

 tion, he might have obtained fome very confiderabk- poll 

 under government : but he contented himfelf with tiiat of 

 " Conrimiffioner of Appeals," worth about 200/. per annum. 

 In the year i68g, Mr. I>ocke had an offer to go abroad in 

 a public charaifer ; but he declined the honour and advan- 

 tages attached to fuch a fituation, on account of the infirm 

 flate of his health : and in tlie following year he publifhed 

 his " Effay," which has given him an imm.ortal reputation; 

 and which, at the time, though it had many enemies, was 

 flyled " one of the noblell, moll ufeful, and molt original 

 books the world ever faw." Thofe who difliked every 

 thing like innovation, oppofcd the progrcfs of our philo- 

 fcpher's princi[^es as laid down in his " Effay." It was 

 even propofed, at a meeting of the heads of the houfcs of 

 the univerlity of Oxford, to cenfure and difcourage the 

 reading of it ; and after long and warm debates amor^ 

 themfelves, it was agreed that each individual, at the head 

 of a college, fhould endeavour to prevent it from being read 

 by the If udents ; a fure method of rendering every fpirited 

 youug man anxious to perufe it, and even imbibe its prin- 

 ciples. The old and the prejudiced were afraid of the light 

 which was diffuiing itl'elf in the world, but they could not 

 reflrain its effefts : the attacks of Mr. Locke's various op. 

 ponents did but increale hib reputation, and render his prin- 

 ciples mere generally thidied and adopted. Mr. Locke's 

 next publication was his " Two Trcatifes on Government ;" 

 in wliich he vindicated the principles upon which " the Re- 

 volution" was founded, and completely demolifhed fir Robert 

 Filmer's falfe principles ; pointing out, at the fame time, 

 the true origin, extent, and end of civjl government. 

 About this period, the public coin of the kingdom was 

 known to be in a very bad and depreciated tiate, having, by 

 being clipped and fweated, lofl one-third of its weight. 

 The magnitude of this evil, and the mifchiefs which it 

 threatened, called for the attention of parliament ; and Mr. 

 Locke, with tlie view of affilling thofe who were at the 

 head of affairs to form a right underllanding of this matter, 

 and to excite them to reftify fuch abufcs, printed a tra6i, 

 entitled " Some Confiderations of the Confequences of 

 lowering the Intcrell, and railing the Value of Money." 

 He had warned the public cf their danger, and faid, " the 

 nation was in greater danger from a fccret unobferved abufe, 

 than from all thofe other evils of which perfons were gcte- 

 rally fo appreheniive ; and that if care was not taken to rec* 

 tify the coin, that irregularity alone would prove fatal to us, 

 though we ihould fucceed in every thing elfe." Mr. Locke 

 pubhihed other trafts on the fame fiibjeft, by which he 

 convinced the world that he was as able to rcafon on trade 

 and bufinefs as on the mofl abflraft quellions of fcicnce. 

 He was accordingly confultfd by the minillry relative to a 

 new coinage of filver. With the carl of Pembroke, then 

 lord keeper of the privy feal, he was accu Homed to hold 

 weekly conferences ; and he was in habits of intimacy and 

 friendihip with the earl of Peterborough, at whofe houlc, at 

 Fulham, he always met with a holpitable and kind recep- 

 tion, when the delicacy of his health obliged him to quit the 

 metropohs. He was afterwards obliged to leave London 

 entirely, and accepte.4 of the generous offer of iir Francii 

 Mafliam, at Oates in Effex, to become a rcfidcnt in his 

 huufe, where he fpent the remainder ot his lilt. Here he 

 11 h 2 was 



