Page:The Works of John Locke - 1823 - vol 01.djvu/42

xxxvi extension of knowledge, and of science, might give men just reason to hope for, and to expect. And in our time, we have seen a formal attempt made to overturn the principles in Mr. Locke's work by Dr. Tucker, dean of Gloucester, in his Treatise on Civil Government, published in the year 1781. That gentleman was pleased to assert, that the principles of Mr. Locke "are extremely dangerous to the peace and happiness of all society;" that his writings, and those of some of the most eminent of his disciples, "have laid a foundation for such disturbances and dissensions, such mutual jealousies and animosities, as ages to come will not be able to settle and compose;" and, speaking of the paradoxes which he supposes to attend the system of Mr. Locke and his followers, he asserted, that "they rendered it one of the most mischievous, as well as ridiculous schemes, that ever disgraced the reasoning faculties of human nature." To the disgrace of the age, it was for a time fashionable to applaud his libel on the doctrines of our author. But his gross misrepresentations of the principles of Mr. Locke, his laborious attempts to involve him in darkness and obscurity, and to draw imaginary consequences from his propositions, which cannot by any just reasoning be deducible from them, were ably exposed in different publications; and by no writer with greater force and spirit, than by Dr. Towers, in his Vindication of the political Principles of Mr. Locke, in Answer to the Objections of the Rev. Dr. Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, published in 1782, in octavo.

Of Mr. Locke's private character an account was first published by Mr. Peter Coste, who had lived with him as an amanuensis, which was afterwards prefixed by M. des Maizeaux to A Collection of several Pieces of Mr. Locke never before printed, &c., published in 1720; from which, together with M. le Clerc's Bibliotheque Choisie, we shall present our readers with some interesting particulars relating to this great man. Mr. Locke possessed a great knowledge of the world, and was intimately conversant in the business of it. He was prudent, without cunning; he engaged men's esteem by his probity; and took care to secure himself from the attacks of false friends and sordid flatterers. Averse to all mean compliance, his wisdom, his experience, and his gentle manner, gained him the respect of his inferiors, the esteem of his equals, the friendship and confidence of those of the highest quality. He was remarkable for the ease and politeness of his behaviour; and those who knew him only by his writings, or by the reputation which he had acquired, and who had supposed him a reserved or austere man, were surprised, if they happened to be introduced to him.