Æt. 57.

and I doubt whether anything can lighten the force of this affliction; nor is my pain less. I loved them both. I mourn for her who is gone; I revere him who remains and I can never forget the many kindnesses I have received from them both. I have been writing to Veen this evening."1

;

1 MSS. in the Remonstrants' Library; Locke to Limborch, 7 Nov., 1690. In Amsterdam Locke had made the acquaintance of Dr. Matthew Slade, grandson of a Matthew Slade who soon after 1600 had left Oxford and become rector of the academy in that town. The younger Slade, whose mother was a Dutchwoman, visited England in the autumn of 1689, and died suddenly of apoplexy in December, at Shotover, near to Tyrrell's residence. In several of his letters to Limborch Locke referred to his intercourse with Slade, and described Tyrrell's share in burying him and his own participation in the business. I have not thought it necessary, however, to set forth these particulars, or the many other references in this correspondence to matters not having much connection with Locke's biography.

VOL. II.

14

210

DAM

CHAPTER XII.

IN RETIREMENT: WORK AS AUTHOR.

[1691-1696.]

AMARIS CUDWORTH, with whom Locke had made acquaintance about two years before he went to Holland, became the second wife of Sir Francis Masham in 1685. Her husband was a grandson of the Sir William Masham who took a conspicuous part in the rebellion against Charles the First and served as a member in Oliver Cromwell's council. Sir Francis, born in 1645, had married young, and was the father of eight sons and a daughter before his first wife died in 1681; but of these children only the daughter Esther, born in 1675, appears to have had much to do with Locke, and only the youngest son, Samuel, born in 1680, and destined to become the first Lord Masham, and husband of Abigail Hill, Queen Anne's favourite, acquired any sort of notoriety.

As Sir Francis Masham's second wife was born on the 18th of January, 1658-9, she was thirty years old when Locke returned to England. We have seen how highly Locke esteemed her seven years before. Some letters had passed between them in the interval, though none of these, unfortunately, have been preserved; nor have we any but very meagre details of their relations during

the first two years of his residence in London. But that those relations were cordial is evident.

Locke, as we know, had found by old experience that he could not pass the winter-time in London without great damage to his weak lungs. The urgency of political affairs, in the guidance of which he then hoped and sought to take a very prominent part, as well as other pressing occupations in connection with the printing of the Essay concerning Human Understanding' and his other books, had induced him to run all risks and remain in the metropolis throughout the first season of cold weather, with the exception, probably, of short visits to Lord Monmouth's house at Parson's Green and other places within an easy ride from Westminster, and he continued to regard the house in Dorset court as his home until January or February, 1690-1. "Soon after," however, said Lady Masham, "he was forced to think of a farther remove from London, and of quitting it for the entire winter at least." 1 His health was the immediate cause of this change of plan; but there can be no doubt that he was induced to give way to personal considerations by dissatisfaction at the course of politics under the direction of the Marquis of Carmarthen, and a feeling that, if he was to render any further service to the cause of religious and political liberty, as to the results of which from the Revolution he had been over sanguine, the service could be done quite as well at some distance from London, with only such occasional visits to it as were required by his easy duties as a commissioner of appeals and by other occupations. So he looked for a new home, and he found one without difficulty.

1 MSS. in the Remonstrants' Library; Lady Masham to Le Clerc, 12 Jan., 1704-5.

"He had during the years '89, '90 and '91," said Lady Masham, writing from Oates, in Essex, "by some considerably long visits with which he had obliged Sir Francis and me, made trial of the air of this place, which is something above twenty miles from London, and he thought that none would be so suitable to him. His company could not but be very desirable to us, and he had all the assurances we could give him of being always welcome here; but, to make him easy in living with us, it was necessary he should do so on his own terms, which Sir Francis at last consenting to, Mr. Locke then believed. himself at home with us, and resolved, if it pleased God, here to end his days-as he did.”1

3

Locke was very ill in September, 1690, as we hear incidentally, and though we do not meet him at Oates until the following January, he appears to have stayed there for several months after that, and during this stay to have resolved that he would pay no more visits to his host and hostess, but take up his abode with them, contributing his share towards the household expenses, and feeling that in his own apartments he could do as he liked, without any other obligation than that strongest one of all which subsists in the bond of mutual affection and esteem between friends who have tried and proved one another's worth.

"I have already told you," he wrote from Oates to Limborch in March, "that I was acquainted with the daughter of Dr. Cudworth, and have spoken to you of her wonderful qualities. She is married to a baronet who

1 MSS. in the Remonstrants' Library; Lady Masham to Le Clerc, 12 Jan., 1704-5.

2 Lord King, p. 216; Newton to Locke, 28 Sept., 1690.

3 Ibid., p. 216; Newton to Locke, 7 Feb., 1690-1.

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represents this county in the present parliament. They have received me as a guest in their house, and provided for me an asylum that is very favourable to my health. The lady herself is so well versed in theological and philosophical studies, and of such an original mind, that you will not find many men to whom she is not superior in wealth of knowledge and ability to profit by it. Her judgment is excellent, and I know few who can bring such clearness of thought to bear upon the most abstruse subjects, or such capacity for searching through and solving the difficulties of questions beyond the range, I do not say of most women, but even of most learned men. From reading, to which she once devoted herself with much assiduity, she is now to a great extent debarred by the weakness of her eyes, but this defect is abundantly supplied by the keenness of her intellect. About your name and your merits she was well informed from the correspondence you formerly had with her father; and, when she found that I had been intimately acquainted with you in Amsterdam, she made all sorts of inquiries about you and all your affairs, and derived as much pleasure from our friendship as if she knew you herself. When your

letter reached me to-day while we were at dinner, she asked so many fresh questions and was so anxious to know all I could tell her about you, that I read her as much of it as I felt myself at liberty to do. I hope you will not object to this." 1

From the spring of 1691, then, we must date the commencement of Locke's residence at Oates. He kept on his chambers in Westminster until he removed to fresh quarters in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and continued to be

1 MSS. in the Remonstrants' Library; Locke to Limborch, 13 March, 1690-1.