1677.

ZEt. 44.

THE OBJECTS AND METHODS OF STUDY.

363

certainly are good preparatories; yet, if there be not something else done, perhaps we shall not make all the profit we might. It is a duty we owe to God, as the fountain and author of all truth, who is truth itself-and it is a duty also we owe to our own selves, if we will deal candidly and sincerely with our own souls-to have our minds constantly disposed to entertain and receive truth. wheresoever we meet with it, and under whatsoever appearance of plain or ordinary, strange, new or perhaps displeasing, it may come in our way. Truth is the proper object, the proper riches and furniture of the mind, and according as his stock of this is, so is the difference and value of one man above another. He that fills his head with vain notions and false opinions may have his mind perhaps puffed up and seemingly much enlarged; but in truth it is narrow and empty; for all that it comprehends, all that it contains, amounts to nothing, or less than nothing; for falsehood is below ignorance, and a lie worse than nothing. Our first and great duty then is to bring to our studies and to our inquiries after knowledge a mind covetous of truth, that seeks after nothing else, and after that impartially, and embraces it, how poor, how contemptible, how unfashionable soever it may seem."1

To set forth what seemed to him the best ways of performing that duty was the chief object of Locke's discourse. But of his views thereon we shall meet with fuller expression hereafter. From this somewhat rambling but excellent essay, or fragmentary sketch of an essay, only one other passage need be quoted. "It is of great use in the pursuit of knowledge," Locke said, "not to be too confident nor too distrustful of our own judgment, not to believe we can comprehend all

1 Lord King, pp. 99, 100.

things nor nothing. He that distrusts his own judgment in everything, and thinks his understanding not to be relied on in the search of truth, cuts off his own legs that he may be carried up and down by others, and makes himself a ridiculous dependant upon the knowledge of others, which can possibly be of no use to him; for I can no more know anything by another man's understanding than I can see by another man's eyes. So much I know, so much truth I have got, so far I am in the right, as I do really know myself. Whatever other men have, it is in their possession, it belongs not to me, nor can be communicated to me but by making me alike knowing; it is a treasure that cannot be lent or made over. On the other side, he that thinks his understanding capable of all things, mounts upon wings of his own fancy, though indeed nature never meant him any, and so, venturing upon the vast expanse of incomprehensible verities, only makes good the fable of Icarus and loses himself in the abyss. We are here in the state of mediocrity; finite creatures, furnished with powers and faculties very well fitted to some purposes, but very disproportionate to the vast and unlimited extent of things."

1

While residing at Montpellier, if not also on the road thither, Locke had the company of a new friend who must not be lost sight of the "Mr. Herbert " who has been mentioned in our narrative. Thomas Herbert, brother and now heir of the seventh Earl of Pembroke, was born in or near the year 1656. In 1672 he joined Christ Church, Oxford, with the privileges of a nobleman's son, and, not waiting for a degree, he left it in 1674 or 1675. Locke probably knew something of him at the university, and it is pretty certain that he also

1 Lord King, pp. 104, 105.

1677.

Et. 44.

A NEW FRIEND AND A NEW PUPIL.

365

knew something of him or his kinsfolk while residing with Lord Shaftesbury. It is possible that Herbert may have travelled with Locke through France to Montpellier; but all we know is that they were much together at Montpellier in 1676, and that between the man of fortyfour and the youth of twenty there grew up a hearty and life-long friendship. The inordinate compliments that Locke, following the fashion of his time, paid to Herbert, then Earl of Pembroke, in dedicating to him in 1690 the 'Essay concerning Human Understanding,' must not prejudice us against one whose private worth and intellectual strength seem to have been quite on a par with the statesmanly capacities that he afterwards exhibited.

For disputing the legal existence of Parliament after it had been prorogued during fifteen months, Lord Shaftesbury was committed to the Tower of London, in the middle of February, 1676-7, and he was a prisoner for more than a year. He had been there only a few days when he wrote the only letter addressed by him to Locke, while the latter was in France, which has been preserved. "Sir John Banks, my intimate good friend," he said, "is sending his son into France to travel about that country for four or five months. He hath already learnt the French tongue, but is very willing to let him see the manners of those people. Sir John intends to send him over to Paris about a fortnight hence, in the custody of Sir Richard Dutton, who is going thither, and there is very desirous, if you will undertake that charge,

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

to have him recommended to your care. In order thereunto he begs the kindness of you to come and meet him. at Paris, where Sir Richard Dutton is to deliver him up to your care. As for the charges of your travels, Sir John is to defray them, and will otherwise, as he saith, give you such a reward as becometh a gentleman."1

Locke agreed to the arrangement that had been thus made for him. "I received your letter from Toulouse," Stringer wrote, "and am glad to hear you are so far on your journey towards us. I should be mighty glad all things would so far concur that we might be so happy to see you perfectly well in England this summer. Sir John Banks is very much satisfied with your taking charge of his son. He concludes him as well as though he was under his own care, and I am very well pleased you have so fair an opportunity to close your travels this

Whether Locke intended in any case to leave Montpellier in the spring of 1677 does not appear; but Shaftesbury's letter caused him to start for Paris at once. He did not follow the most direct road, however, preferring to travel through western France instead of returning by the eastern route, which he had taken in the autumn of 1675. He was at Toulouse towards the end of March, and thence he proceeded towards Bordeaux. But either while he was on the road to Bordeaux, or after his arrival, he fell ill, and was detained on the road for several weeks. Continuing his journey as soon as he was able, he journeyed by way of Poitiers and Tours, and reached Paris on the 23rd of May.

3

1 Christie, vol. ii., p. 235; Shaftesbury to Locke, 23 Feb., 1676-7. 2 lbid., vol. ii., p. 236; Stringer to Locke, 9 April, 1677.

3 Lord King, pp. 68, 69.

1677.

Et. 44.

FROM MONTPELLIER TO PARIS.

367

His new pupil had probably been waiting for him about two months. Of his relations with this pupilwhose father, according to Evelyn, "was a merchant of small beginning, but had amassed 100,000l."-we know very little. They were maintained through nearly two years, instead of the four or five months that had been at first projected; and, in consequence of this arrangement, Locke remained in France some time longer than he had intended. Writing to Boyle in July, 1678, he named Sir John Banks as the friend who transmitted his English letters to him.1

Of Locke's connection with Boyle we have not seen much for some years past. That it had not been broken, however, appears from a letter that he wrote to his old Oxford friend two days after his arrival in Paris. This letter tells us a little about Locke's illness and shows us that it had robbed him neither of his playfulness nor of his interest in scientific questions and the more useful of the matters with which the Royal Society was concerned. His purpose in writing it was to offer his services in collecting curiosities and information fo the prince of virtuosi.

"Now I have come to this place, which is one of the great magazines of things and persons of all sorts," he said, "I thought there might be something wherein I might here be in a condition to serve you. Though I believe you are not much concerned to know whether broad or narrow-brimmed hats be like to carry it this summer, or which is the newest à-la-mode cut of pantaloons: yet, in this universal mint of new things, there are

6

1 Boyle, Works,' vol. v., p. 569; Locke to Boyle, [27 July-] 6 Aug., 1678. In dating his letters, Locke followed the continental arrangement of the calendar, making a difference of ten days.