'■o/essor of Logic in the Unii'ersity of Oxford; Fello7v of Lincoln College AT THE CLARENDON PRESS i MDCCCLXXXI [ All rights resetted ] PREFACE.
Locke's tract or rather chapter ' Of the Conduct of the Understanding,' though often praised, and occa- sionally republished in a separate form, has never been edited with notes. It is thought that such assistance as is offered to the student in this edition may cause it to be more widely read and more generally useful.
The testimony accorded to this book by Hallam, in his Introduction to the Literature of Europe, may fittingly occupy a position in its editor's preface: — 'I cannot think any parent or instructor justified in neglecting to put this little treatise in the hands of a boy about the time when the reasoning faculties become developed. It will give him a sober and serious, not flippant or self-conceited, independency of thinking; and, while it teaches how to distrust ourselves and to watch those prejudices which necessarily grow up from one cause or another, will inspire a reasonable confidence in what he has well considered, by taking off a little of that deference to authority which is the more to be regretted in its excess that, like its cousin-german, party-spirit, it is frequently united to loyalty of heart and the generous enthusiasm of youth,' VI PREFACE.
The treatise is unrevised and incomplete, but these circumstances (the reasons of which are explained in the Introduction) only slightly affect its value to the student.
It may be remarked that the punctuation of the original edition, which seems to have been made almost entirely at hap-hazard, has been revised throughout by the pre- sent editor.
The sketch of Locke's life prefixed to this work is necessarily meagre. For a fuller biography and an account of his writings generally, the reader is referred to the editor's 'Locke,' recently published by Messrs. Macmillan in their series of ' English INIen of Letters,' or to the elaborate and, so far as concerns the biographical portion, almost exhaustive Life of Locke by Mr. Fox- Bourne in two volumes.
*** Words obelized, thus, t t, occur in the original text, but require to be omitted, in order to make sense. Words within brackets, thus, [ ], do not occur in the original text, but require to be inserted, in order to make sense. Both these signs have been used as sparingly as possible.
Lincoln College, CONTENTS.
Page Section 24.
I/joHN Locke, who is now best known as a philosopher, though, in his own time, he was almost equally celebrated as a theologian, financier, and statesman, was born at Wrington, a villaga^n the North of Somersetshire, not far from Bristol, Aug. 29, 1632. His family, who belonged to the lower class of English gentry, were in tolerably comfortable circumstances, and to the judicious care of his father young Locke seems to have been indebted for many of his characteristics, both moral and mental. Of his early boyhood we learn next to nothing, except that it pretty nearly coincided with the troubles of the Civil Wars. * I no sooner perceived myself in the world,' he wrote in 1660, 'but I found myself in a storm which has lasted almost hitherto.' It was probably in 1646 that he was admitted, under the stern government of Dr. Busby, a scholar of Westminster School. In the ' Thoughts concerning Education,' where he criticises most severely the discipline, methods, and studies of the English public-schools, there are probably many passages inspired by a recollection of his owo experiences as a school-boy. In the Michaelmas Term of '1652, at what was then the rather late age of twenty, Locke commenced residence in Oxford as a Student of Christ Church. There he took his degrees, and became in due time Tutor and Censor. Probably the most powerful influence, which he underwent in Oxford, was that of Dr. John Owen, then Dean of Christ Church, a learned and, for those days, remarkably tolerant divine, who ranged himself on the side of the Independents. It has been suggested, with b X INTRODUCTION.
some plausibility, that the views subsequently embodied in Locke's Letters on Toleration may partly have had their origin in the example and teaching of Owen. ■ Locke's first introduction to public life was as secretary to Sir Walter Vane in his mission to the Elector of Branden- burg, in 1665-6.' The mission came to nothing, but Locke's notes on the manners, customs, and sights of Cleves, the quaint old capital of Brandenburg, are still full of a curious interest. He is peculiarly sarcastic on the scholastic dispu- tations of the monks, but abounds in admiration for the mutual toleration shown, in private life, by the different re- ligious sects. -^In the summer of 1666, some months after his return to England, he made an acquaintance at Oxford, which probably determined the future course of his life by diverting him from the quiet pursuits and studies of the University to politics and public business. The famous Lord Ashley, afterwards First Earl of Shaftesbury, had come to Oxford, for the purpose of drinking the Astrop waters, and the duty of providing them had been entrusted by Dr. David Thomas, Ashley's Oxford physician, to Locke, who was himself preparing for a medical career. There having been some miscarriage, Locke waited on Lord Ashley, to excuse the delay. 'Each was much pleased with the con- versation of the other, and thus began a friendship which, ■whether in prosperity or adversity, seems never to have cooled during the remainder of their joint livesi" "In the summer of 1667, Locke took up his residence with Lord Ashley in London',' though he still paid occasional visits of some length to Oxford. At Lord Ashley's town-house he formed the acquaintance of many men of letters and science, as well as of some of the leading politicians, then residing in London. At the same time, he was quietly pursuing his studies in medicine, politics, and philosophy.' Besides acting as general adviser and medical attendant to Lord Ashley and his family, he was specially charged with the tuition of Anthony Ashley, the eldest son, who subsequently became Second Earl of Shaftesbury. It is curious that Locke after- INTRODUCTION. XI •wards stood in a similar relation, though rather as supervisor of studies than actual instructor, to the Third Earl of Shaftesbury, son of the second and grandson of tlie first Earl, the famous author of the Characteristics. While living in Lord Ashley's house, and acting, in a sort of informal capacity, as secretary to the 'lords proprietors of the colony of Carolina,' of whom Ashley was one, he drew up the document, now printed in his works, called ' The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina.' Some of the provisions, however, must have been decidedly distasteful to Locke, and we must by no means regard him as responsible for the scheme in its final shape. But a far more important work, the famous Essay on the Human Understandingj'^eems to have had its first origin about or soon after the same period. We are told, in his Epistle to the Reader, thatlive or six friends meeting at his chamber, ' and discoursing on a subject very remote from this, found themselves quickly at a stand by the difficulties that rose on every side.' After they had puzzled themselves for some time, without coming any nearer to a resolution of their doubts, it came into his thoughts that they took a wrong course, ' and that, before we set ourselves upon enquiries of that nature, it was necessary to examine our own abilities, and see what objects our Understandings were or were not fitted to deal with.' This course he proposed to the com- pany, and * it was thereupon agreed that this should be our first cnqm'ry.' ' Some hasty and undigested thoughts on a sub- ject I had never before considered, which I set down against our next meeting, gave the first entrance into this discourse, which, having been thus begun by chance, was continued by entreaty; written by incoherent parcels; and, after long in- tervals of neglect, resumed again, as my humour or occasions permitted; and, at last, in a retirement where an attendance on my health gave me leisure, it was brought into that order thou now seest it.' i-'The Copy of the First Edition of the E^say which belonged to Sir James Tyrrell, one of Locke's most intimate friends, is now in the British Museum. In it is a marginal note, stating that the discussion on the occasion, b2 XII INTRODUCTION.
alluded to turned on ' the principles of morality and revealed religion.' It is also stated that the time was the winter of 1673. The latter statement, however, is probably mistaken, as there is concurrent evidence to show that it was in 1670 or 167 1. It would thus appear that Locke was occupied nearly twenty years in maturing the greatest of his works; for the Essay Avas not published till 1690.
In November, 1672, Lord Ashley, who had recently been created Earl of Shaftesbury, was appointed Lord High Chan- cellor of England. Locke shared to some extent in his patron's good fortune, being made Secretary of Presentations, that is, of the Chancellor's Church Patronage, and subsequently Secretary to the Council of Trade and Foreign Plantations. The salary of the latter office, however, he appears never to have received. But his circumstances were always easy, and, being neither needy nor avaricious, he was entirely free from the sordid cares which often consume so much of the time and thoughts of men of letters.
One care, however, he constantly had. His health was always extremely weak, and the air of London seems to have been peculiarly trying to it. The malady from which he mainly suffered was a bronchial affection, which compelled him •^n 1675 to seek what was then the usual resort of English invalids, Montpellier.''' There, at Paris, and in making ex- cursions in the country parts of France, he spent his time till the spring of 1679, when he returned to England. While r>ocke was living abroad, Shaftesbury had been imprisoned in the Tower for a year, but, by a sudden turn of fortune, he had been restored to office as President of the newly created Council. What were Locke's exact relations to Shaftesbury during this second tenure of office, we do not know, but any way the two friends were in close and frequent intercourse. In the autumn, however, of this year, the King felt himself strong enough to assert his own predilections, and Shaftesbury's name was, * by his Majesty's command in Council,' struck out of the list of the Privy Council. Locke, like a true man, adhered to the cause of his patron, even in adversity, and we INTRODUCTION. xHi never obtain the slightest glimpse of any attempt to make terms with the party in power on his own account. One of his main cares at this time was the superintendence of the education of Shaftesbury's grandson, afterwards the third Earl, who, the second earl being apparently a person of somewhat tceble intellect, had been made over to the formal guardian- ship of his grandfather. The author of the Characteristics, though an opponent of Locke's philosophy, always acknow- ledges the deepest gratitude for the care which he had be- stowed on him in childhood and youth. During these years, political animosities were growing more and more bitter, and political intrigues more and more complicated, till, at last, the state of the kingdom became exceedingly critical. We can hardly be surprised that, when both sides seemed ready to strike, ministers took the initiative. On the 2nd of July, 1 68 1, Shaftesbury was arrested on a charge of High Treason, and committed to the Tower. AVhen he was at length brought to trial, the Grand Jury, amidst the plaudits of the spectators, threw out the Bill. But both his political and natural life were drawing to a close. In the summer of 1682, he began to concert measures with Monmouth, Russell, and others, for a general rising against the King. The plot was soon discovered, and, after hiding for some time in England, he escaped to Holland, where he died of gout in the stomach, Though there is no evidence to implicate Locke in Shaftes- bury's conspiracy, and though it is most improbable that he was engaged in the plots which succeeded it, enough suspicion attached to him to render his residence in England highly dangerous. He escaped to Holland in the autumn of 1683, and remained there, in what was, on the whole, a very pleasant, and certainly a very profitable exile, till the occurrence of the English Revolution. With the exception of some months during which he was obliged to hide for his life or, at least, to go through the ceremony of hiding for it, in consequence of demands from the English court, his surroundings seem to have been as comfortable and congenial as they could XIV INTRODUCTION.
well be. He made many friendships, including those of the theologian, Limborch, and the philosopher and critic, Le Clerc. And his leisure was sufficient, not only to enable him to complete the Essay on the Human Understanding, but also to write the Letter on Toleration, the Thoughts con- cerning Education, and the second of the two Treatises on Government, none of which, however, were published till after his return to England: But, though he was mainly engaged in study and writing, his political interests and activities had by no means flagged, Locke took a principal share in the nego- tiations which placed William of Orange on the throne of England, and, when he returned to his own country, it was in the company of the Princess Mary, William's Queen, One incident of his exile ought not to be omitted, though, perhaps, his biographers have made too much of it. Soon after his retreat to Holland, and in consequence of his being suspected of writing political pamphlets, he was deprived, by order of the government, of his Studentship at Christ Church. The responsibility of this act attaches to the Ministry and not to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, for, the College being a royal foundation, it was then held that the Crown had an absolute right to appoint or suspend membei-s on the foundation at its pleasure. And, though the Dean and Chapter might have won our admiration, had they, at the risk of their places, resisted the royal commands, like the Fellows of Magdalen College in the next reign, they can hardly be blamed for not having exhibited so extraordinary a spirit of heroism. It may be mentioned, as an instance of Locke's magnanimity, that he desisted from an appeal for restitution, made after the Revolution, out of consideration for the existing possessor.
(..On his return to England, in 1688-9, Locke was almost immediately ollcrcd the important diplomatic post of ambas- sador to Frederick the (ircat, Elector of Brandenburg, but, on the ground of his feeble health, he was compelled to decline it.'^His health, which seems to have suffered from his return to England, and especially from * the pestilent smoke of the INTRODUCTION. XV metropolis ' (maligtius hujus urbis fumus), was henceforth an object of constant solicitude to him. He often made pro- longed visits to the houses of his friends in the country, but, at hust, in the spring of 1691, he entered into an arrangement with Sir F>ancis and Lady Masham, by which he was able to regard their manor-house of Oates, near High Laver in Essex, as his permanent home. Oates is in a pleasant country, abounding in wood and water, and Locke, ' having made trial of the air of the place, thought none would be more suitable to him.' Lady Masham, who was daughter of Dr. Ralph Cudworth, the metaphysician and moralist, best known to us as the author of the ' Treatise concerning Eternal and Immu- table Morality,' had, as Damaris Cudworth, been one of Locke's acquaintances, before his retirement to Holland. She and her step-daughter, Esther Masham, devoted them- selves to him for the remainder of his life, and nothing can be more touching than the mutual esteem and affection, never broken, apparently, by the slightest jealousy or ill-feeling, which henceforth marked his relations with the whole of the IMasham family. No philosopher, probably, ever enjoyed a more congenial retreat, or had the good fortune to be tended in his later years with more care and solicitude.
u About a year before his settlement at Oates, Locke had brought out his great work, the Essay on the Human Under- standing, the main topics of which, as we have already seen, had suggested themselves to him about twenty years before. For the copyright of this book, the most important treatise, and that which has exercised the greatest and widest influence, in the whole range of English philosophy, he received the sum of ^30. In the spring of 1689, had appeared, at Gouda in Holland, the Epistola de Tolerantia, in which he boldly maintained that the civil magistrate has no concern with re- ligious worship or doctrine, except so far as it may affect the security of civil government. The exception, Locke con- ceived, excluded Atheists, Roman Catholics, and perhaps cer- tain sects of Antinomians. This tract, which was soon trans- lated into English, was brought out, without Locke's name XVI INTRODUCTION.
and apparently without his knowledge, by Limborch, to whom it had been addressed as a letter.
Except some congratulatory verses, presented by Oxford students to Cromwell in the ' Musarum Oxoniensium iXaio- <l)opia,' which was published, while he was an Undergraduate, in 1654, Locke, active as his pen had been all along, made no appearance in print till he was nearly fifty-four years of age. Such was his natural modesty that, had it not been for the fortunate circumstances which brought him into contact with Le Clerc, the editor of the Bibliotheque Universelle, he might never have consented to make any of his writings public. In the number of the Review just mentioned for July, 1686, appeared Locke's Method of a Common-Place Book, under the title ' Methode Nouvelle de dresser des Re- cueils,' and in the number for January, 1687-8, an epitome of the Essay, which seems to have been then completed, was translated into French by Le Clerc. After his return to England, his works followed one another in rapid succession, though they generally appeared anonymously.'' Thus, besides the Epistola de Tolerantia and the Essay, there were pub- lished, within a year or two of his return, the Two Treatises of Government (designed to defend the principles of the Revolu- tion), and the Second Letter concerning Toleration. In 1692 appeared the Third Letter for Toleration (Locke, notwithstanding his peaceful disposition, had now been forced into an embittered controversy), and a financial tract, of which I shall say more presently, entitled ' Some Considera- tions of the Lowering cf Interest and Raising the Value of Money.' In the following year, he published, in the form of a Treatise, several letters on Education which he had written, during his stay in Holland, to his friend Edward Clarke of Chipley. These ' Thoughts concerning Education' touch on some of the same topics as the treatise here re-publishcd on ' The Conduct of the Understanding,' and the two might ad- vantageously be read together. Much of the earlier portion of the work, relating, as it does, to diet and physical manage- ment is rather tedious and antiquated. But the criticisms on INTRODUCTION. XVU what were then the main ingredients of a public-school educa- tion, theme-writing, verse-writing, repetition, and grammar, and on the irrational severity which mai-ked the scholastic dis- cipline of that time, may still be read with interest, perhaps even with profit.
/Though Locke had refused diplomatic employment, he was frequently consulted by the government and contributed often very largely to the various political measures which were passed during William's reign. Thus, he probably took a considerable share in settling the terms of the Toleration Act of J 689, though the 'small beginnings,' as he calls them, of that act by no means satisfied his ideal of religious liberty. Another order of questions which greatly interested him, and towards the solution of which he probably contributed more than any other man of that generation, was connected with the monetary and financial difficulties which specially embar- rassed William the Third's government during its earlier years. It had been proposed to lower the maximum rate of interest, allowed by law, from six per cent, to four, with the mistaken idea that the trade of the country would, by this means, be improved. It had also been proposed to remedy the very serious evils under which the country was suffering from the clipped coinage by * raising the value,' as it was called, or, in other words, lowering the denomination of the silver coins. Both these schemes were opposed by Locke in the tract just referred to, which was dedicated to Somers, an old friend of his, now rapidly becoming one of the most powerful of William the Third's ministers. Two other tracts on the latter of these subjects followed in 1695. But Locke did not content himself simply with opposing the schemes of others. The re-coinage bill which received the Royal Assent on the 2ist of January, 1695-6, and which, in spite of some tem- porary inconvenience, established the silver coinage once for all on a satisfactory basis, had been shaped, to a great extent, by his suggestions, and was largely facilitated in its passage through the two Houses by his exertions. The country soon got rid of its clipped money, then the bane of all commerce, XVUl INTRODUCTION.
and individuals lost comparatively little by the transition to a sound currency. Only a few months before the re-coinage bill was introduced, Locke had, it is said, drawn up the paper of Reasons by which the Commons induced the Lords to agree to the Repeal of the Licensing Act, thus effecting for the liberty of the press and the diffusion of literature what, as INIacaulay says, '?»Iilton's Areopagitica had failed to do.' In connection with these topics, it may be mentioned that he was one of the original proprietors of the Bank of England, which, in spite of much Tory opposition, was established by Act of Parliament in the spring of 1694.
Scon after his return to England, Locke was appointed a Commissioner of Appeals, an office with a modest salary and very slight duties. In 1696, however, his services were en- listed for a far more arduous and important post. The government of William, of which Montague and Somers were now the most active members, determined to revive the old Council of Trade and Plantations. The duties of this com- mission were of the most multifarious character, comprising at once the administration of the colonies, of the poor-laws, and of the whole trade, internal and external, of the country. '-iLocke very unwillingly accepted a place on the Council, but, having once consented to serve, he became its •T)residing genius. Whether in town or at Gates, he was always striking out new schemes, or working assiduously at the details of the department. For a little more than four years he devoted himself to this employment, conjointly, of course, with his literary work, but at last, in the summer of 1700, he was compelled, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the King, to resign his place at the board, in which it is interesting to know that he was succeeded by Matthew Prior, the poet.