of Shaftesbury; his courage, his openness, his party zeal, his eloquence, his fair-dealing with his friends, and his superiority to vulgar corruption; and that his partiality might make him, on the other hand, blind to the indifference with which he (Shaftesbury) espoused either monarchical, arbitrary, or republican principles, as best suited his ambition. The greatest blots in Shaftesbury's character are his sitting on the Trials of the Regicides, and his persecution of the Papists in the affair of the Popish Plot, merely, as it should seem, because it suited the parties with which he was engaged."

In neither of these transactions could Locke have had the least part, as he had resided for more than three years on the Continent, chiefly in France, for the benefit of his health, and remained there during the heat and fury excited by the discovery of the Popish Plot. He had left England in December, 1675, and returned not again before the 10th of May, 1679. It will be remembered, that Bedloe's Narrative, and the trials, if they can so be called, of the Catholics charged with the plot, had taken place in 1678, and were finished in the early part of the following year. There cannot, therefore, be the slightest reason to suspect that Locke could have assisted in the remotest manner to excite the blind NoPopery rage of those disgraceful times. Even had he been within the atmosphere of the raging epidemic, the love of truth, which at all times so nobly distinguished him, would have preserved him from the national contagion. Although it is impossible to give the same verdict of not guilty in favour of Shaftesbury, yet, when we consider the temper of the age, and the delusions under which men laboured, some allowance must be made for that great party-leader, who, with all his faults, undoubtedly possessed many great qualities; and before passing our final sentence upon him, one thing must never be forgotten, that to Shaftesbury we owe the Habeas Corpus Act; a political merit of such magnitude, that, like the virtue of charity, it may justly be said to cover a multitude of sins.

To return, however, to the early period of the connexion with Lord Ashley, we learn that, from Oxford, Locke accompanied him to Sunning-hill Wells, and afterwards resided for some time, towards the end of the year, at ExeterHouse, in the Strand. Lord Ashley, also, by his advice,

underwent an operation, which saved his life, the opening of an abscess on his breast.

During this residence with Lord Ashley in London, he had the opportunity of seeing many of the most distinguished characters of those times, the Duke of Buckingham, Lord Halifax, &c., who, we are told, enjoyed the style of his conversation, which was a happy union of wit and good sense. Le Clerc tells a story, that once, when three or four of these noblemen had met at Lord Ashley's, and, without much prelude, sat down to the card-table, Locke, taking out his pocket-book, and looking at the company, began to write, with the appearance of great attention. One of the party, observing him occupied in this manner, inquired what he was writing; to which Locke replied, that he was extremely desirous of profiting by their Lordships' conversation, and having waited impatiently for the opportunity of enjoying the society of some of the greatest wits of the age, he thought he could do no better than to take down verbatim what they said, and he began to read the notes that he had made. Of course, it was not necessary to proceed far; the jest produced the effect, the card-table was deserted, and the remainder of the evening was passed in a more rational and agreeable manner.

We learn from Le Clerc, that Locke was consulted by Lord Ashley in all his affairs, even in the most interesting concerns of his family. He resided partly at Exeter-House, and partly at Oxford; at which last place we know that, in 1670, his great work, the Essay on Human Understanding, was first sketched out. It arose from the meeting, as the author says, of five or six friends at his chambers, who finding difficulties in the inquiry and discussion they were engaged in, he was induced to examine what objects our understandings were, or were not, fitted to deal with. The hasty thoughts which he set down against the next meeting, gave the first entrance to that discourse which, after long intervals, and many interruptions, was at last, during a period of leisure. and retirement, brought into the order it assumed, when given to the world eighteen years afterwards.

It has been said before, that a copy of the Essay exists with the date of 1671, and it may here be added, that the names of two of the friends alluded to were Tyrrell and Thomas, a

D

part of whose correspondence, as connected with the publication of the Essay, will appear when we come to that time.

In 1672, Lord Ashley, after filling the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, was created Earl of Shaftesbury, and declared Lord Chancellor. He then appointed Locke his Secretary for the presentation of benefices, and also to some office in the Council of Trade; both of which he quitted in 1673, when Shaftesbury quarrelled with the Court, and placed himself at the head of the Country party in Parliament.

It was at the opening of the Parliament in 1673, that Shaftesbury made use of that extraordinary expression, in reference to the war with Holland, "delenda est Carthago;" not, it must be observed, in his speech as a peer, expressing his own individual opinion, but in what may be called a supplemental speech made by the Lord Chancellor (according to the practice of the time) to that delivered by the King in person, and previously determined upon by the King in Council. Shaftesbury expressed to Locke the vexation he felt at being made the organ of such sentiments; and practised as he was as a speaker and politician, and possessing as he did the greatest presence of mind on all occasions, yet on this he desired Locke to stand near him with a copy of the speech in his hand, that he might be ready to assist his memory, case he should require it, in the painful task of delivering an official speech containing opinions so contrary to his own.

in

During this administration, that unprincipled measure, the shutting of the Exchequer, had been perpetrated. Clifford is now known to have been the author and adviser, but as it has often been attributed to Shaftesbury, it is due to him to give his own refutation of that charge in a letter which he wrote to Locke.

A second letter from Shaftesbury, unconnected with the question, and of a later date, has been added as a specimen of his light and playful style of correspondence.

66 THESE FOR HIS MUCH-ESTEEMED FRIEND, JOHN LOCKE, ESQ.

"MR LOCKE,

"St Giles, Nov. 23, 1674.

"I write only to you, and not to Mr Stringer, because you write me word he is ill, for which I am exceedingly sorry,

and pray heartily for his recovery, as being very much concerned both in friendship and interest.

"As for Captain Halstead's affair, I have this day received the enclosed letter from him, which, when you have read, you will believe I have reason to desire to be freed from his clamour; therefore, pray speak with him again, and tell him that, Mr Stringer being sick, I have desired you to appear for me before the referees; and that whatever they shall award, I have given orders to pay my proportion; and that, according to his desire, I have written as effectually as I can to the other Lords, that they would do the same. Pray keep his letter, and let me have it again. I have herewith sent an answer to the Lord Craven, and the rest of the Lords' letters, which I have not sealed, that you may read it; when you have read it, you may seal it, if you please.

"Pray speak to South at the Custom-House, that he would buy me one bushel of the best sort of chestnuts; it is for planting; and send them down by the carrier.

:

"You guess very right at the design of the pamphlet you sent me; it is certainly designed to throw dirt at me, but is like the great promoters of it, foolish as well as false it labours only to asperse the original author of the Counsel, which it will have to be one person, and therefore seems to know, and never considers that it is impossible that any statesman should be so mad as to give a counsel of that consequence to a junto or number of men, or to any but the King himself; who, it is not to be imagined, will ever become a witness against any man in such a case, especially when he hath approved the Counsel so far as to continue the stop ever since by a new great seal every year. Besides, I am very well armed to clear myself, for it is not impossible for me to prove what my opinion was of it, when it was first proposed to the Counsel. And if any man consider the circumstance of time when it was done, that it was the prologue of making the Lord Clifford Lord Treasurer, he will not suspect me of the Counsel for that business, unless he thinks me at the same time out of my wits. Besides, if any of the bankers do inquire of the clerks of the Treasury, with whom they are well acquainted, they will find that Sir John Duncome and I were so little satisfied with that way of proceeding, as, from the time of the stop, we instantly quitted all paying

and borrowing of money, and the whole transaction of that part of the affair, to the Lord Clifford, by whom from that time forward it was only managed. I shall not deny but that I knew earlier of the Counsel, and foresaw what necessarily must produce it sooner than other men, having the advantage of being more versed in the King's secret affairs; but I hope it will not be expected by any that do in the least know me, that I should have discovered the King's secret, or betrayed his business, whatever my thoughts were of it. This worthy scribbler, if his law be true, or his quotation to the purpose, should have taken notice of the combination of the bankers, who take the protection of the Court, and do not take the remedy of the law against those upon whom they had assignments, by which they might have been enabled to pay their creditors; for it is not to be thought that the King will put a stop to their legal proceedings in a court of justice. Besides, if the writer had been really concerned for the bankers, he would have spoken a little freelier against the continuing of the stop in a time of peace, as well as against the first making of it in a time of war; for, as I remember, there were some reasons offered for the first that had their weight, namely, that the bankers were grown destructive to the nation, especially to the country gentlemen and farmers, and their interest: that under the pretence, and by the advantage of lending the King money upon very great use, they got all the ready money of the kingdom into their hands; so that no gentleman, farmer, or merchant, could, without great difficulty, compass money for their occasions, unless at almost double the rate the law allowed to be taken. That, as to the King's affairs, they were grown to that pass, that twelve in the hundred did not content them; but they bought up all the King's assignment at twenty or thirty per cent. profit, so that the King was at a fifth part loss in all the issue of his whole revenue. Besides, in support of the Counsel, I remember it was alleged by them that favoured it without doors-for I speak only of them that the King might, without any damage to the subject, or unreasonable oppression upon the bankers, pay them six in the hundred interest during the war, and £300,000 each year of their principal, as soon as there was peace; which, why it is not now done, the learned writer, I believe,