But you will find, sir, the same mind, the same ge nius, not only in this small piece, but in all others in this collection. Mr. LOCKE every-where discovers a sincere love of truth, and an invincible aversion to whatever may do it the least wrong. To the quality of a great philosopher, he every-where joins that of a true christian. You see him full of love, respect, and admiration, for the christian religion. And thereby he furnishes us with the strongest presumption, that can be imagined, for the truth as well as excellency of that holy institution. For this is not the approbation of a vulgar mind, who is still fettered by the prejudices of infancy; it is the suffrage of a wit, a superior genius, who has laboured all his life to guard against error; who, in several important points, departed from the common opinion; and made christianity his study, without taking it upon trust. It is, doubtless, a great advantage, not to say an honour, for a doctrine to be embraced and countenanced by such a man. But let us return to our collection. To make it more useful, I have added notes to illus trate certain passages, which suppose the knowledge of some facts that may be unknown to the reader, or which would not readily occur to his memory; and therefore these notes are merely historical. I pretend neither to approve nor disapprove the particulars they contain. I only act the part of an historian. There is but one of them that can be looked upon as critical; and even that is only intended to settle a matter of fact, misrepresented by a late historian. These notes are not very numerous: and I do not know but the fear of swelling them too much may have made me suppress some, which would not have been wholly useless. As for what concerns the impression itself, in order to make it more beautiful, I have been obliged to recede, in several respects, from our usual way of printing; which, if I am allowed to speak freely, is extremely vicious. It is a matter of wonder, that in such a country as this, where there is so much encouragement for printing, there should prevail a sort of Gothic taste, which deforms our English impressions, and makes them not a little ridiculous. For can any thing be more absurd, than so many capital letters, that are not only pre fixed to all noun substantives, but also often to adjectives, pronouns, particles, and even to verbs? And what shall we say of that odd mixture of italic, which, instead of helping the reader to distinguish matters the more clearly, does only perplex him; and breeds a confusion shocking to the eye? But you are not to be informed, sir, you, who every day enrich your library with books of the finest editions, that none of these faults were ever committed by the printers, who have been eminent in their art. Surely, if the authors on the one hand, and the readers on the other, would oppose this barbarism, it would be no difficult matter to restore a just taste, and a beautiful way of printing. To the pieces already mentioned, I have prefixed the character of Mr. LOCKE, at the request of some of his friends; as you will see by the letter before it, which was sent to me together with that character. These, sir, are all the pieces, which make up this volume. Why may I not, at the same time that I offer it to you, unfold to the view of the public so many perfections, which a too severe and scrupulous modesty conceals from it! Why may I not make known the rare endowments of your mind, as well as the noble and gene rous sentiments of your heart! But I fear I have already too much presumed upon your goodness, by prefixing your name to this discourse. And after having been so bold, as not to consult you, upon a thing which you would never have permitted; I ought to account myself very fortunate, if, on consideration of my passing over your excellent qualities in profound silence, you are pleased to forgive the freedom I have taken; and will give! me leave to declare to you and all the world, how sensible. I am of the friendship you honour me with, and to assure you that I shall always be, with the greatest respect,' ›..I March 23, 1719 SIR, TABLE OF THE PIECES Contained in this COLLECTION. THE character of Mr. Locke, by Mr. Peter Coste. A letter from a person of quality to his friend in the country; giving an account of the debates and resolutions of the house of lords, in April and May 1675, concerning a bill, intitled, " An act to prevent the dangers which may arise from persons disaffected "to the government. 66 Remarks upon some of Mr. Norris's books, wherein he asserts F. Malebranche's opinion of "our seeing all things in God." 66 * Elements of natural philosophy. * Some thoughts concerning reading and study for a gentleman. A letter to Mr. Oldenburgh, secretary to the Royal Society. Letters to Anthony Collins, Esq. A letter to the Rev. Mr. Richard King. Letters to the Rev. Mr. Richard King. Rules of a society which met once a week, for their improvement in useful knowledge, and for the promoting of truth and christian charity. *It has been deemed expedient, in the present edition, to transfer these two articles to the second volume. A LETTER relating to that CHARACTER, and to the AUTHOR of it. A LETTER to Mr. ***** SIR, London, Feb. 4, 1720. BEING informed, that you design to publish several new pieces of Mr. Locke, I here send you, at the request of some of his friends, the translation of a letter, attempting his character, and containing several passages of his life and conversation; which you are desired to prefix before that collection. The author of that letter is Mr. Peter Coste, who has translated into French Mr. Locke's Thoughts concerning Education, his Reasonableness of Christianity, and Vindications thereof; with his principal work, the Essay concerning Human Understanding. Mr. COSTE lived in the same family with Mr. Locke, during the seven last years of that great man's life; whereby he had all possible opportunities to know him. The letter was written some time after Mr. Locke's death; and appears to be the production of a man in |