صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

dignis, ægrotantis querelis, laboriosisque verbis anhelum scriptorem redolentibus fatigare? juvat tamen experiri amicitiam tuam, veterem amicum, etiamsi senio et morbo mutilum, ad sepulchrum usque prosequi. Nihil sane jucundius, nec est, quod magis animum debilem et languescentem refocillat, quam constans et vegeta amicorum benevolentia; magnum perfugium humanæ fragilitatis, in quo reperitur magna pars voluptatis, cum reliqua plane insipida sunt et frustra solicitantur. Gratissimæ igitur mihi fuerunt epistolæ tuæ benevolentiæ et amicitiæ plenæ, nec quantum ex illis solatii perceperim, ex taciturnitate meâ, sed ex voluptate quam profiteor, judicare debes. Ea enim infirmi corporis morbus est, hoc sentientis grati et animi testimonium.

Etiamsi servilium ingeniorum, humana venerantium, exempla cumulate satis mihi obtulit longa dies, nec melior omnino mihi spes est de futuro; donec placuerit Deo optimo maximo, ex misericordiâ suâ, secundo Filii sui adventu, restaurare ecclesiam ; maxime tamen mihi placuit historia ista, quam in novissimis tuis perscripsisti. Actus ille triennalis, cum omni suo apparatu, partim ridiculo, partim superstitioso, habet in se quod et stomachum et splenem moveat: certe cum omnibus suis circumstantiis ita graphice depictus conservari debet, etiam, ubi commode fieri potest, typis mandari, et in publicum prodire, ut quod privatim obtinet, oculis hominum obversetur, et pudefiant qui sic sacris illudunt, Deique nomen sacrosanctum placitis inventisque suis audacter præfigunt. Vitam tibi in utilitatem religionis longam validamque, et in usum familiæ et amicorum tuorum animitùs precor, uti et omnia prospera tibi tuisque. Optimam tuam fæminam filiamque, reliquosque amicos nostros, meo nomine, rogo officiosissime salutes. Hæc tota familia te tuosque salutat. Vale, vir amplissime, et me ama, Tui amantissimum, J. LOCKE.

Oates, 4 August. 1704.

VOL. X.

L

A

COLLECTION

OF

SEVERAL PIECES

OF

MR. JOHN LOCKE.

PUBLISHED BY

MR. DES MAIZEAUX,

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF

ANTHONY COLLINS, ESQ.

то

HUGH WROTTESLEY, Esq.

SIR,

HAVING met with several of Mr. Locke's works, which were never printed, I thought myself obliged to impart them to the public, together with some pieces of that illustrious writer, which had indeed been published before, but without his name to them, and were grown very scarce. The value you have for every thing that was written by Mr. Locke, and your esteem for some of his friends concerned in this collection, emboldens me to offer it to you; and I flatter myself that you will favour it with your acceptance.

The first piece in this collection, contains The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina. You know, sir, that Charles II. made a grant of that country by letters patents, bearing date March 24th, 1663, to the duke of Albemarle, the earl of Clarendon, the earl of Craven, the lord Berkeley of Stratton, the lord Ashley, sir George Carteret, sir William Berkeley, and sir John Colleton; who thereupon became proprietors of that colony. My lord Ashley, afterwards so well known by the title of earl of Shaftesbury, was distinguished by an exquisite judgment, an uncommon penetration, and a deep insight into civil affairs. The other proprietors desired him to draw up the laws necessary for the establishment of their new colony; to which he the more readily consented, because he relied on the assistance of Mr. Locke, who had the good fortune to gain his friendship and confidence.

My lord Ashley well knew, that our philosopher had a peculiar right to a work of this nature. He called to his mind so many ancient philosophers, who had been legislators, and who, on this very account, had statues erected to them. And indeed, sir, if we consider, on the one hand that a philosopher makes Man his particular study,

« السابقةمتابعة »