tration of fome difcoveries in the foregoing effay, particularly that great and univerfal law of nature, the fupport of fo many mental powers, (v. g. that of memory under all its modifications) and which produces t equally remarkable effects in the intellectual, as that of gravitation does in the material world;-I mean the affociation of ideas: the first hint whereof did not appear till the fourth edition of his effay, and then came in as it were by the by, under fome very peculiar circumftances, and in comparatively trivial inftances; the author himself feeming not to be fufficiently aware of its extensiveness, and the many ufes to which it is applicable, and has been applied of late by feveral of our own writers. The former tract abounds with no lefs curious and entertaining than useful obfervations on the various tempers and difpofitions of youth; with proper directions for the due regulation and improvement of them, and just remarks on the too vifible defects in that point; nor fhould it be looked upon as merely fitted for the inftruction of schoolmafters or nurses, but as affording matter of reflection to men of business, fcience, and philofophy. The feveral editions of this treatise, which has been much efteemed by foreigners, with the additions made to it abroad, may be feen in Gen. Dict. Vol. VII. p. 145.

14. Thus much may ferve to point out the importance of fome of our author's more private and reclufe ftudies; but it was not in fuch only that this excellent perfon exercised his learning and abilities. The public rights of mankind, the great object of political union; the authority, extent, and bounds of civil government in confequence of fuch union; these were fubjects which engaged, as they deferved, his moft ferious attention. Nor was he more induftrious here in establishing found principles and purfuing them confiftently, than firm' and zealous in fupport of them, in the worst of times, to the injury of his fortune, and at the peril of his life, (as may be feen more fully in the life annexed); to which may be added, that fuch zeal and firmnefs must appear in him the more meritorious, if joined with that timoroufnefs and irrefolution which is there ob

ferved to have been part of his natural temper, note
p. xxix. Witness his famous Letter from a Person of
Quality, giving an account of the debates and refolu-
tions in the houfe of lords concerning a bill for efta-
blishing paffive Obedience, and enacting new Oaths to
inforce it: [V. Biogr. Brit. p. 2996. N. 1.] which let.
ter, together with fome fuppofed communications to
his patron lord Shaftesbury, raised such a storm against
him as drove him out of his own country, and long
purfued him at a distance from it. [Ib. p. 2997, &c.
from A. Wood]. This letter was at length treated in
the fame way that others of like tendency have been
fince, by men of the fame fpirit, who are ready to
bestow a like treatment on the authors themselves,
whenever they can get them into their power. Nor
will it be improper to remark how seasonable a recol-
lection of Mr. Locke's political principles is now bc-
come, when several writers have attempted, from par
ticular emergencies, to fhake thofe univerfal and inva-
riable truths whereon all juft government is ultimately
founded; when they betray fo grofs an ignorance or
contempt of them, as even to avow the directly oppo-
fite doctrines, viz. that government was inftituted for
the fake of governors, not of the governed; and con-
sequently that the interefts of the former are of fuperiour
confideration to any of the latter;-that there is an ab-
folute indefeasible right of exercising defpotifm on one
fide, and as unlimited an obligation of fubmitting to it
on the other:-doctrines that have been confuted over
and over, and exploded long ago, and which one might
well fuppofe Mr. Locke must have for ever filenced by
his incomparable treatifes upon that fubject t, which
have indeed exhausted it; and notwithstanding any ob-
jections that have yet been, or are likely to be brought
against them, may, I apprehend, be fairly juftified, and
however unfashionable they grow, continue fit to be

+ First published in 1698, the feveral additions to which (all I believe, inferted in the fubfequent editions) remain under his own hand in the library of Chrift's College, Cambridge.

inculcated; as will perhaps be fully made appear on any farther provocation.

15. Nor was the religious liberty of mankind lefs dear to our author than their civil rights, or lefs ably afferted by him. With what clearness and precision has he ftated the terms of it, and vindicated the fubject's just title to it, in his admirable letters concerning Toleration! How clofely does he purfue the adversary through all his fubterfuges, and ftrip intolerance of all her pleas!

The first lord Shaftesbury has written a most excellent treatise on the fame fubject, entitled, An Effay concerning Toleration, 1667, which, though left unfinished, well deferves to fee the light; and, as I am affured, in due time will be published at the end of his lordship's life, now preparing.

16. From one who knew fo well how to direct the refearches of the human mind, it was natural to expect that christianity and the fcriptures would not be ne glected, but rather hold the chief place in his inquiries. These were accordingly the object of his more mature meditations; which were no lefs fuccefsfully employed upon them, as may be feen in part above. His Reafonablenefs of Chriftianity, as delivered in the Scrip→ tures, is a work that will richly repay the labour of being thoroughly ftudied, together with both its Vindications, by all thofe who defire to entertain proper no tions concerning the pure, primitive plan of Christ's religion, as laid down by himself: where they will alfo meet with many juft obfervations on our Saviour's ad mirable method of conducting it. Of this book, among other commendations, Limborch fays, Plus veræ • Theologiæ ex illo quam ex operofis multorum Syfte→ ⚫matibus haufiffe me ingenue fatcor.' Lett. March 23, 1697.

In his Paraphrafe and Notes upon the epiftles of St. Paul, how fully does our author obviate the erroneous doctrines (that of abfolute reprobation in particular), which had been falfely charged upon the apoftle! And to Mr. Locke's honour it thould be remembered, that he was the first of our commentators who showed what

it was to comment upon the apoftolic writings; by taking the whole of an epiftle together, and ftriking off every fignification of every term foreign to the main scope of it; by keeping this point conftantly in view, and carefully obferving each return to it after any digreffion; by tracing out a ftrict, though fometimes lefs vifible, connexion in that very confiftent writer, St. Paul; touching the propriety and pertinence of whose writings to their several fubjects and occafions, he appears to have formed the most just conception, and thereby confeffedly led the way to fome of our best modern interpreters. Vide Pierce, pref. to Coloff. and Taylor on Rom. No. 60.

I cannot difmifs this imperfect account of Mr. Locke and his works, without giving way to a painful reflection; which the confideration of them naturally excites. When we view the variety of thofe very useful and important fubjects which have been treated in so able a manner by our author, and become sensible of the numerous national obligations due to his memory on that account, with what indignation must we behold the remains of that great and good man, lying under a mean, mouldering tomb-ftone, [which but too ftrictly verifies the prediction he had given of it, and its little tablet, as ipfa brevi peritura] in an obfcure country church-yard-by the side of a forlorn wood-while fo many fuperb monuments are daily erected to perpetuate names and characters hardly worth preferving!

Books and treatises written, or fuppofed to be written, by Mr. Locke.

Epiftola de Tolerantia.

The History of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Select books of the Old Teftament and Apocrypha, paraphrased.

Introductory Difcourfe to Churchill's Collection of Voyages.

Exceptions of Mr. Edwards to the Reasonableness of Christianity, &c. examined.

VOL. I.

b

Pieces

Pieces groundlessly afcribed, or of doubtful authority.

Occafional. Thoughts in Reference to a Virtuous and Christian Life.

Difcourfe on the Love of God.

Right Method of fearching after Truth.

Spurious ones:

Common Place-Book to the Bible.
Interlineary Verfion of Afop's Fables.

P. S. Having heard that fome of Mr. Locke's Mss. were in the poffeffion of those gentlemen to whom the library at Oates belonged, on application made to Mr. Palmer, he was fo obliging as to offer that a fearch fhould be made after them, and orders given for communicating all that could be found there; but as this notice comes unhappily too late to be made use of on the present occafion, I can only take the liberty of intimating it along with fome other fources of intelligence, which I have endeavoured to lay open, and which may probably afford matter for a fupplemental volume, as abovementioned.

THE

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