second edition appeared in 1694, the third in 1697, and the fourth in 1700. It was translated into French by M. Coste in 1700, and into Latin by Mr. Burridge in the following year, while Mr. (afterwards Bishop) Wynne's well-known abridgment appeared in 1695, about which time the "Essay" was condemned by the Oxford heads of houses, who endeavoured to exclude it from the university. In Cambridge it was received with greater favour; and in Trinity college, Dublin, where it was introduced before the close of the seventeenth century, on the recommendation of Locke's friend Molyneux, it has ever since held an honourable place. In 1690 John Norris, afterwards rector of Bemerton, the mystical disciple of Malebranche, and author of the Ideal and Intelligible World, published his Cursory Reflections upon a Book called an Essay concerning Human Understanding. Norris was followed, in 1697, by John Sergeant in his Solid Philosophy asserted against the Ideists; by Henry Lee, in his Anti-Scepticism; in 1702, by Sherlock, in his Digression on Connate Ideas and Inbred Knowledge; and by Lowde, in his Moral Essays and Discourse on the Nature of Man—who, all in turn, and on various grounds, charged the "Essay" with unsound philosophy and dangerous consequences. But Locke's most celebrated adversary was Stillingfleet, bishop of Worcester. In 1696 Toland had published his Christianity not Mysterious, in which he sought to prove that the Bible contains nothing above reason. He drew several of his arguments from the "Essay" of Locke. A similar doctrine was maintained in some Unitarian treatises published about that time. Stillingfleet, defending the mysteries of the Trinity against Toland and the Unitarians, condemned some of Locke's principles as heretical, and classed his works with those of the heretical writers. Locke answered the bishop, who replied the same year. This reply was met by a second letter of Locke, which drew a second answer from the bishop in 1698. Locke again replied in a third letter, in which he proved the harmony of his philosophy with Christianity, and maintained that he had advanced nothing which had the least tendency to scepticism, as was alleged in the misrepresentations of Stillingfleet, whose death in the following year ended the controversy. This discussion was managed by Locke with extraordinary skill, and in no part of his writings is there a greater display of acuteness and masterly employment of language. Stillingfleet was better fitted for ecclesiastical than philosophical disputation, and was no match for the antagonist he had evoked. The subsequent history of the criticisms and controversies occasioned by Locke's "Essay," is in some sort the history of metaphysical philosophy during the last hundred and fifty years. In England, it is associated, in the early part of last century, with the names of Shaftesbury, Clarke, Collins, Jackson, Brown, Butler, Law, and Watts. In 1736 Vincent Perronet, vicar of Shoreham, published two Vindications of Locke against objections by Bishops Brown and Butler. Hartley, Priestley', Tucker, and Horne Tooke, all claim allegiance with Locke, founded on a one-sided interpretation of his theory. Hume, through the Scottish school of Reid, has drawn forth another. Stewart and Mackintosh, Coleridge and Hamilton, are among the most illustrious critics of the "Essay." In France, Condillac and Cousin, coinciding in their interpretation of his works, have ranged themselves and their respective schools as the disciples and the adversaries of the English philosopher. In Germany, the "Essay" of Locke gave birth to the Nouveaux Essais of Leibnitz, his psychological masterpiece, prepared by him a few years after the appearance of the "Essay," though it remained unpublished till 1765; and the metaphysic of Kant was meant to be a modification and supplement of the metaphysic of Locke. Two posthumous works, which with the "Essay" constitute Locke's metaphysical works, may be read in connection with it—his "Examination of P. Malebranche's Opinion of Seeing all Things in God," and his "Remarks on some of Mr. Norris' books, wherein he asserts P. Malebranche's opinion of seeing all things in God." These tracts in particular throw light on Locke's meaning of the term "idea." Two other works, one of them posthumous, are a practical supplement to the "Essay"—the "Thoughts on Education," written before 1690 to his friend Edward Clarke of Chipley, and afterwards enlarged and given to the world in 1693, to be soon translated into French and Dutch; and his "Conduct of the Understanding," which should be read by every student at some period in his academical course. Soon after the Revolution, Locke's attention was (not for the first time) drawn to political economy by the monetary circumstances of the nation, and in 1691 he published his "Considerations on the lowering of interest and raising the value of money," followed by other tracts on the same subject, which led King William's ministers to consult him on the new coinage. The latter years of our philosopher's life were much devoted to theological and biblical studies. In 1695 he published his "Reasonableness of Christianity as delivered in the Scriptures"—a treatise written, it is said, to promote King William's favourite scheme for a comprehension of the dissenters in the national church. It was attacked in the following year by Edwards, a scurrilous divine, in a pamphlet entitled Socinianism Unmasked, which drew from Locke two "Vindications" of his opinions. The last four years of the life of Locke were much devoted to the study of holy scripture, and especially of the epistles of St. Paul. He applied to the Bible the inductive method, which was his favourite organ in science, and with the same philosophical independence to which he was accustomed in other departments of research. He found so much pleasure in these biblical studies, that he regretted not having given more time to them in the previous part of his life. The fruits of his labours were not given to the world until after his death, when his Paraphrases of the Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, and Ephesians were published, along with his preliminary "Essay for the Understanding of St. Paul's Epistles by consulting St. Paul himself." Locke is one of the earliest of our lay biblical critics, and his interpretations connect him generally with the Arminian school.
In the summer of 1703 his health, long indifferent, became weaker than before, notwithstanding the care taken of him by the Mashams in his retreat at Gates. There, from time to time, in his fourteen years' residence, he enjoyed the society of his friends Lord Peterborough, Lord Pembroke, Lord Shaftesbury, Sir Isaac Newton, Molyneux, Collins, his own nephew Sir Peter King, and many others. His strength continued to decline in the following winter and in the summer of the next year. He was satisfied that death was approaching, and spoke of it frequently and with great composure. M. Coste, the translator of many of his works, who lived in Sir Francis Masham's family during the closing years of Locke's life, has given a most interesting record of his last days. There, and in his correspondence with Collins, we have his conversations and manner of life in the months before his death, as he was wont to sit by the fireside in his library, or in the garden at Oates, enjoying the air in a bright sunshine, or on horseback and in the chaise which carried him on the country roads towards Ongar or Harlow. For some weeks before his death he could not walk, and was moved over the house in an easy chair. As he had long been unable to attend church, he received his last communion at home, and at its close told the clergyman that he was "in perfect charity with all men, and in communion with the church of Christ, by whatever name it was distinguished." His last hours were watched by Lady Masham, who on the day of his death was reading to him in his great weakness from the Psalms of David, when he interrupted her by saying that the end was come, and passed away a few minutes after, in the afternoon of October 28. 1704, in the seventy-third year of his age. The tomb of Locke may now be seen by the traveller who passes from Ongar to Harlow, on the south side of the church of High Laver, not far from Stanford Rivers, bearing the Latin inscription prepared by his own hand. It stands a few feet distant from the tomb of the Mashams, and from the monumental tablet of Damaris, the widow of the learned Cudworth. At the distance of a mile may be seen the trees and garden and park, where the manor house of Gates, now represented by a decayed farmhouse, once stood, surrounded by the grassy and undulating county of Essex, all associated with this illustrious Englishman, who was distinguished not more by his intellectual insight than by his rational piety, love of truth for its own sake, and manly sympathy with civil and religious liberty.—A. C. F.
LOCKE, Joseph, an eminent civil engineer, was born at Attercliffe, near Sheffield, in 1806; and died at Beattock in Dumfriesshire, on the 18th September, 1860. He was educated at Barnsley grammar school, and at an early age entered the office of George Stephenson. In 1820 Stephenson was appointed chief engineer of the Liverpool and Manchester line, on which he employed Locke as an assistant. The Grand Junction railway, commenced by Stephenson and carried to a successful completion by Locke, was finished in 1837. The completion of this line
