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."1 Perhaps it is not easy for any statesman to be altogether an honest man. At any rate Shaftesbury was right in saying that no one could expect perfect honesty from a statesman of the reign of Charles the Second. Locke had not long returned from his short holiday in France when Shaftesbury was made lord chancellor; and in November, 1672, as soon as the new functionary could organise his establishment, Locke was appointed by him secretary of presentations, that is, director of all church matters coming under the chancellor's control, with a salary of 300l. a year.2 In a list of "my lord chancellor's family," dated Christmas, 1672, we find him described as the holder of that office, Thomas Stringer, Shaftesbury's old private secretary, being now steward of the house, and Bennet, apparently the same person who had introduced Locke to Shaftesbury in 1666, being secretary for defendants. The whole "family," including a page or "boy" assigned to Locke, numbered thirty-seven persons, and Locke was named as one of the nine principal officers who dined at the steward's, that is, at Stringer's table, and who were "to have wine." From this curious document we also learn that he, with the other officers, was expected, in term time, to attend prayers at seven and at eleven every morning and at six every afternoon, "and on every Sunday in the morning a sermon, and on Easter Sunday 1 Christie, vol. ii., p. 62; Shaftesbury to Locke, 23 Nov., 1674. 1672-3. Æt. 40 THE LORD CHANCELLOR'S SECRETARY. 279 and Whit Sunday and Christmas Day a communion." When the chancellor drove out in state, Locke, with the other secretaries, walked by the side of the coach, except at certain times, when they "rid on horseback;" but "when my lord went to take coach or came out of his coach," they "went before him bareheaded." 1 Locke's new occupations appear to have given him plenty of work. "Dr. Sydenham and I mention you sometimes," he wrote to Mapletoft, "for we do not now meet often, my business now allowing me but little leisure for visits;" and in the same letter he spoke of "the confusion and disorder of new affairs to a man not versed in the world." But his official duties were not of a sort to require much notice here. They were connected only with technical details, of no interest at the present day, respecting clerical appointments and promotions, adjustment of parochial affairs, and so forth.3 2 Some of the outside duties that fell to him, not exactly as secretary of presentations, but as one of the chancellor's right-hand men, are of more permanent interest. With one business of special importance he had a great deal to do. The prorogation of parliament from the 22nd of April, 1671, had been protracted for state reasons. till the 4th of February, 1672-3, and, in anticipation of its reassembling, Shaftesbury, as lord chancellor, had issued writs for the election of thirty-six persons to fill vacancies in the house of commons which had occurred in the interval. During the debate on the choice of a 1 Shaftesbury Papers, series ii., no. 236. 2 European Magazine, vol. xiv. (1788), p. 402; Locke to Mapletoft, 14 Feb., 1672-3. 3 Numerous records of his work in these ways are among the Shaftesbury Papers. speaker, a question arose as to the legality of the proceeding, and the king referred to it in an extempore addition to his opening speech, which perhaps was made in order to blind the house as to his arbitrary conduct in other ways by an affectation of extreme desire to act constitutionally in this respect. "One thing," he said, "I forgot to mention to you, which happened during this prorogation. I did give orders that some writs might issue out for the election of members instead of those that are dead, to the end the house might be full at their meeting, and I am mistaken if this be not done according to former precedents. But I desire that you fall not to any other business till you have examined that particular, and I doubt not but precedents will justify what is done. I am as careful of all your privileges as of my own prerogative." Next day the commons resolved that the writs were void; and accordingly new writs were issued. The debate and decision on this question settled an important point in parliamentary routine, and no discredit attached to Lord Shaftesbury in the matter. That he had endeavoured to act rightly appears from the fact that before issuing his writs the precedents for such action were carefully hunted up. This duty, somewhat an onerous one, appears to have been assigned to Locke, as many of the documents thus prepared were written out, and all now extant were endorsed, by him.2 Another very singular duty devolved upon Locke in connection with the opening of this session of parliament. It was customary in those days for the king's speech to be supplemented by a speech from the lord chancellor, 1 Commons' Journals, 5 Feb., 1672-3. 2 Shaftesbury Papers, series viii., no. 8. 1672-3.1 Et. 40. THE LORD CHANCELLOR'S SECRETARY. 281 supplying, paragraph for sentence, whatever expansion, explanation, or justification seemed to be called for by the king's own words. On this occasion Charles the Second referred briefly to the iniquitous attack on Holland as "a most important, necessary, and expensive war," into which he had been forced, not so much by "the indignities to his own person," as by regard for "the interest as well as the honour of the whole kingdom." Shaftesbury, when it was his turn to speak, enlarged on the necessity of the Dutch being attacked by the English; they being, as he said, "the common enemies to all monarchies, and especially to ours, their only competitor for trade and power at sea, and who only stand in their way to an universal empire as great as Rome," and threw on parliament the responsibility of the war. "You judged aright," he said, "that at any rate delenda est Carthago.' That government was to be brought down; and therefore the king may well say to you, "Tis your war.' He took his measures from you, and they were just and right ones." Those words, especially the quotation "Delenda est Carthago," gave offence to many, and were afterwards often quoted as a reproach to Shaftesbury. It appears, however, from the account of Shaftesbury's grandson, that he had prepared a very much more temperate speech, which, on being submitted to the king and the other members of the cabal, was judged by them so weak and inadequate in its allusion to the war that they supplied him with another version, especially insisting on the adoption of Cato's words; that this new version caused him such "great concern and trouble," that he complained about it at the time to Locke and to a relative of Locke's who was also 1 Christie, vol. ii., appendix, p. lxiv. a member of the family; and that at last, when he was compelled to utter the speech in its altered form, "he who of all men was esteemed the most ready in speaking was forced to desire Mr. Locke to stand at his elbow with the written copy to prompt him in case of failure in his repetition."" Which picture is more incongruous-Locke walking by the side of Lord Shaftesbury's coach and then attending him bareheaded into the house of lords-or Locke standing at Lord Shaftesbury's elbow in the house of lords, with the written speech in his hand, ready to prompt him if he forgot the exact words he was ordered to deliver by the king and the Duke of Buckingham? 2 The great debates of this session, in both houses of parliament, were on the declaration of indulgence and the test bill. The king was forced to cancel the declaration of indulgence, and the test bill was passed. This latter measure, to the surprise alike of the dissenters and of the court, Shaftesbury supported, and with 1 Notes and Queries, vol. iii. (1857), p. 99; Third Lord Shaftesbury to Le Clerc, 8 Feb., 1704-5. 2 Just before performing the latter service Locke must, if the story be true, have seen a characteristic specimen of the courtly manners of the time, and of Shaftesbury's audacious humour. To deliver his speech Shaftesbury had, according to precedent, to occupy the seat at the right hand of the throne, which was traditionally assigned, on ordinary occasions, to the Prince of Wales, but which, there being no Prince of Wales, was now appropriated by the Duke of York; and this seat had, before Shaftesbury's arrival, been taken by the duke. "The duke being unwilling to quit his seat," it is added, "Lord Shaftesbury told him he could not proceed upon business till the house was in form. At length the duke was obliged to submit, but said in a passion, My lord, you are a rascal and a villain!' He, with great composure, immediately replied, I am much obliged to your royal highness for not calling me likewise a coward and a papist.'". 'Life of the First Earl of Shaftesbury' (1836), vol. ii., p. 30. Martyn, |