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The account of this disgraceful transaction, given by Anthony Wood in his Athenæ Oxonienses, is highly characteristic of that quaint and amusingly bigoted writer. "In 1672,” he says, "Locke became secretary to Anthony Earl of Shaftesbury, lord chancellor of England, stuck close to him when he was discarded, took the degree of Bachelor of Physic in 1674, and afterwards was assisting to the said count in his designs when the popish plot broke out, and carried on the trade of faction beyond and within the seas several years after. In 1683, when the crop-eared plot broke out, he left Oxon, and conveyed away then with him several letters and writings without being searched; otherwise, had he been a favourer of the papists, he would have been ransacked to the purpose; and going beyond the seas to Holland, he became a great companion with Ford Lord Grey of Werk, Rob Ferguson, and other factious people at the Hague. He was complained of by the English resident there to Charles Earl of Middleton, secretary of state to his majesty King Charles the Second, who, giving notice of it to Dr. John Fell, dean of Christ Church, and wondering that he should be suffered to keep any place of profit there, he was thereupon deprived of his student's place in Nov. 1684."

3 Le Clerc, who wrote with this correspondence before him,

mentioned this circumstance of Mr. Locke's ex

pulsion, except M. Le Clerc. He has quoted some part of the bishop's letter which relates to Mr. Locke's character. These letters were transcribed from Mr. Locke's own copies, and sufficiently evince the arbitrary spirit which then prevailed.

Upon the infamous execution of Mr. Algernon Sydney, for an act of treason supposed to be proved by papers found in his closet, Mr. Locke

seems to have thought that the bishop (Dr. Fell was bishop of Oxford as well as dean of Christ Church) was anxious to prevent Locke's expulsion. This certainly does not appear from the documents themselves; on the contrary, he distinctly declares, that he has frequently had recourse to artifice to entrap him in his conversation. It appears that the bishop was not left alone to the performance of the honourable office of spy; he ventures to speak for "every man in the college, however familiar with Locke." Lord Grenville, in his tract called "Oxford and Locke," endeavours to throw all the odium of this transaction upon the court. It is, however, but too plain that the authorities of his college had long been practising schemes against him, and that it was only upon their failure that the arbitrary power of the crown was had recourse to. Lord Grenville's defence is, however, written in an excellent and liberal spirit: he has clearly proved that no blame is imputable to the university, as a body, from this transaction. In his attempt to exculpate the college, I cannot think him equally successful.

The original warrant for the deprivation of Locke has the sign-manual prefixed.

became alarmed; and as he knew the jealousy the court had conceived of him, and was afraid of a like prosecution, he burnt the Earl of Shaftesbury's history.

The loss of this book is much to be regretted, since his lordship had, even according to the confession of his enemies, so extensive a genius, and was so intimately acquainted with the secret springs of all transactions, that no man of his age was so qualified as himself to transmit them to posterity. Most writers of history are so far removed from the knowledge of these, that their works must necessarily be very defective: for being never admitted into the cabinet, or even near it, they know the motives of very few actions; yet, being unwilling to appear ignorant of them, they will either upon hearsay evidence (which is seldom to be credited), or from their own conjectures, assign reasons for what they relate, which may, and probably must, be remote from the truth: nay, they often give an erroneous account of the actions themselves.

Some loose papers, part of this work, are yet remaining the following passage is transcribed from them, as it shows the candour with which

he entered upon it. "Whoever considers the number and the power of those adversaries I have met with, and how studiously they have, under the authority of both church and state, dispersed the most malicious slanders of me, will think it necessary that in this I follow the French fashion, and write my own memoirs, that it may appear to the world on what ground or motives they came to be my enemies, and with what truth and justice they have prosecuted their quarrel; and if in this whole narration they find me false or partial in any particular, I give up the whole to whatever censure they will make.”

He began his history from the Reformation. He seems to have traced out the springs, and to have marked the progress, of the several differences between the crown and the people, which at last produced the civil war. From hence he observed what was defective in the constitution, for securing, in a better manner, the civil and religious rights of the people. He was particularly excellent in his characters. Some few are remaining in fragments of his papers; King Charles the Second's, the Duke of York's, the Duchess of Portsmouth's, and the Earl of Danby's are drawn with great spirit. In the

king's there are proofs of a real affection for him. He says, that if he had been so happy as to have been born a private man, he would have been much beloved; for he had parts, good-nature, and excellent breeding. But being a prince, by his pleasures, his indolence, his confidence in a minister whose abilities were not equal to the trust, and his complaisance to a brother whose person he did not love, and whose understanding and qualities he despised, he brought himself to such an unhappy state, that no one person could place dependence on him. Lord Shaftesbury certainly had a love for the king. This appears by all his speeches, even when he was most at enmity with the court, and when with great boldness he censured its proceedings. As this affection to the king was manifested during his variance with the court, and he had too much frankness to disguise his opinion, and to conceal his displeasure with the measures that had been taken, it cannot be conceived that he would feign a tenderness which he did not possess.

Mr. Locke, by way of reparation for burning the original memoir, intended afterwards to write the history of this illustrious statesman, and in his works there are some particular facts which he put

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