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being then very troublesome and his breathing very bad, Locke had not intended to go to town and execute Limborch's commissions in person; but he went on the 19th of November and returned on the 26th. As soon as I heard of the arrival of your books," he wrote to Limborch on the 28th, "I hurried to London with such haste as I could manage. I called first on the archbishop, who was very much obliged and pleased, and said that, though he is just now very much occupied with pressing business, he was not able to keep himself from looking into your work, and had hurriedly read a large part of it with great pleasure; but you will better understand his opinion and praise of it from the letter which he promised to write to you. The bishop of Salisbury said much the same, and that, while heartily thanking you at once, he should write to you as soon as he had read it through, adding that you appeared to have set forth the history of the Inquisition far more clearly and correctly than he could have expected. The Earl of Pembroke, among much praise of you, bade me assure you of his thanks, in anticipation of his doing so with his own hand. The bishop of Bath and Wells was not at home when I called, and during my short stay I could not find an opportunity of seeing him; but your book will reach him safely, for I have asked our friend Mr. Clarke to deliver it to him and to apologise for its being unbound, as I have done to the others."1

Then follow some sentences on a subject that Locke, though not fond of writing about himself, had to speak of now very frequently. "Perhaps you will wonder that that I, who owe you prompt thanks on my own account, besides being charged with all these messages, have delayed writing to you until my return to the country.

1 Familiar Letters,' p. 341; Locke to Limborch, 28 Nov., 1692.

The fact is that, though I was tolerably well when I went to town, after a single day's stay there I fell so ill that I could hardly breathe, and as I was getting worse and worse I was forced to come away, leaving undone a great deal that I ought to have attended to. I came back last Saturday, bringing my copy of your book with me, and, thanks to you, Lady Masham and I promise ourselves some Attic nights this winter.'

"I got safe hither, I thank God," Locke wrote on the same day to Clarke; "well I cannot say I yet am, under so troublesome a cough as I have, but my lungs move easier than they did. My wife's shoes are too little. We thought at first to send them back, but, upon consideration that it will be longer much before another pair can come from London, and that the sending one and t'other pair will cost almost the price of a pair of shoes, we think to send one of these new ones to-day to Bishop Stortford, and hope on Friday to have a pair that will fit her. Amongst the many things I left undone and forgot at my coming away, you will not think it strange that I should let slip the Cheddar cheese at Mr. Pawling's. There it is, and there pray dispose of it as you think fit. I expected to hear from you to-day how madam is and whether the medicine did any good, but by your silence I conclude all goes well, and hope I shall not find myself deceived in your next. My lady, my wife, and all here are well, give their service to madam and you, and wish you joy of the lusty boy."

Clarke disposed of the Cheddar cheese, which had probably been sent up to Locke by some of his kinsfolk in Somersetshire, or may have been a present from Clarke himself, by forwarding it to Oates. "The cheese is come

1 Additional MSS., no. 4290; Locke to Clarke, 28 Nov., 1692.

safe hither, and my lady desires me to return you her thanks," Locke wrote in his next letter. "She intends to do it suddenly herself; but the news to-day of the death of a niece, and the short stay of the messenger that carries back our letters, makes her desire me to excuse it by this post.

Locke's letters to Clarke abound in homely details that help us to a very clear understanding of his every-day life at Oates. "I had designed to draw you hither if you have any holidays," he wrote just before Christmas day in this year. "I long to talk with you, and mightily desire you should have a little refreshment in the air. But I fear I shall make you an ill compliment to invite you to a bedfellow, and such an one as I am. If you can dispense with that, pray come. You will be to everybody very welcome, I know, and would be desired if it could be a civil invitation. The house will be so full when Mr. Cudworth comes"—this was apparently Lady Masham's brother, to whom Locke had written two years before, and now returned from India-" who was expected with Mr. Andrews, and is looked for every day, that Mrs. Masham is fain to 7 lie in a servant's chamber and bed in the passage to the

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nursery.

That invitation seems not to have been accepted, and it was renewed in the following spring. "I am extremely troubled," Locke wrote then, "that your cold sticks so upon you. Pray drink water, and carefully, no wine, and be as little abroad in the evenings as you can. I know not what else to say to you unless you will come hither a little while for some country air. If your cold increases upon you, quit all business that you may serve your 1 Additional MSS., no. 4290; Locke to Clarke, 9 Dec., 1692. 2 Ibid.; Locke to Clarke, 23 Dec., 1692.

country; for, when you are sick or worn, you will not be able to serve it. Therefore, pray come hither. We will make very much of you. My lady would take it very kindly, and says this is a sure place to get rid of colds. My service to my wife."1

Little Betty had gone home after spending three or four months with the big "husband," whom, somewhat before the world had learnt to recognise his worth as one of its greatest teachers, she had found to be the kindest of playmates.

There were other hospitable homes open to Locke, and the Earl of Monmouth was not the only friend who, save for the benefit that it caused to his health, grudged his so long and frequent absences from London. Monmouth had written to him on the day when, in spite of the raw November weather, he was riding up to London to distribute Limborch's presentation copies of the 'Historia Inquisitionis.' "I am told," he then said, "that so many of your friends have sent you word how desirous they are you should come to town, that I am resolved I will not be of the number, concluding that your health obliges you to stay in the country. I am afraid of mentioning Parson's Green to you, for I find you would be importuned, if so near, to come to town, and our innocent air would be accused of the ill effects of London smoke. If your acquaintances would make you visits, and expect no returns, I would do all in my power to tempt you to a lady, who would take all possible care of you. She has prepared you a very warm room, and if you take the resolution, which she thinks you are obliged to by your promise, you must send me word of it; for, as your physician, you must refuse none of her prescriptions; and

1 Additional MSS., no. 4290; Locke to Clarke, 6 March, 1692-3.

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she will not allow you to come up but in a glass coach. This is no compliment; and you can gain no admittance except my coach brings you, which I can send without the least inconvenience. But after all, I desire you not to venture coming towards us if it may be prejudicial to your health. If you stay in the country, I will send you now and then a news letter. Our revolving government always affords us something new every three or four months; but what would be most new and strange would be to see it do anything that were really for its interest. There seems a propensity towards something like it. I fear their sullen and duller heads will not allow it. Blanquet tells us the king is grown in love with Englishmen and whigs: it is true, he smiles and talks with us, but Messrs. Seymour and Trevor come up the back stairs." Sir John Trevor, it will be remembered, was the Earl of Carmarthen's profligate friend and chief agent in corrupting the house of commons, of which he was now speaker. Sir Edward Seymour, a man about as worthless, had lately been made a commissioner of the treasury. "I will engage no further in politics," the earl added, after some more complaint about the disorganised condition of public affairs, "but, being sick, am going, by way of physic, to eat a good supper and drink your health in a glass or two of my reviving wine."1

Feeling that he could do nothing thus to serve his country, Locke appears to have concerned himself very little about the political movements of this time.

Though the first letter written by Locke to Edward Clarke, which has come down to us in its original shape,

1 Lord King, p. 236; Monmouth to Locke, 19 Nov., 1692.