Page:An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding - Locke (1690).djvu/9

  and instructive a Draught of, I think it Glory enough, if your Lordship permit me to boast, that here and there I have fallen into some Thoughts not wholly different from yours. If your Lordship think fit, that by your encouragement this should appear in the World, I hope it may be a Reason, some time or other, to lead your Lordship farther; and you will allow me to say, That you here give the World an earnest of something, that, if they can bear with this, will be truly worth their expectation. This, my Lord, shews what a Present I here make to your Lordship; just such as the poor Man does to his rich and great Neighbour, by whom the Basket of Flowers, or Fruit, is not ill taken, though he has more plenty of his own growth, and in much greater perfection. Worthless Things receive a Value, when they are made the Offerings of Respect, Esteem, and Gratitude: These you have given me so mighty and peculiar Reasons to have in the highest degree for your Lordship, that if they can add a price to what they go along with, proportionable to their own Greatness, I can with Confidence brag, I here make your Lordship the richest Present you ever received. This I am sure, I am under the greatest Obligation to seek all occasions to acknowledge a long Train of Favours I have received from your Lordship; Favours, though great and important in themselves, yet made much more so by the Forwardness, Concern, and Kindness, and other obliging Circumstances, that never failed to accompany them. To all this you are pleased to add that which gives