the establishment of poor-rates, has any tendency to open the heart. Certain it is, that no lack of kindly reciprocities is discoverable among the Americans; although, from their peculiar phlegmatic character they hear and see both joy and sorrow with comparatively little emotion.

I am not aware of having heard of their phlegmatic character before embarking in the steam-boat; at least it then surprised me. The drawling unaccentuated style of their conversation is not entirely confined to the lower orders; and I apprehend, though public speaking is necessary amongst them, and generally cultivated, they have as yet few orators. The most evident peculiarity, however, of the Yankees, is their phraseology. No caricature can convey a correct idea of the extravagance of term-metaphor in which a genuine Jonathan indulges. The fancies of Mathews have been ingeniously collected, but many of them fall far short of the flights which may be heard every day during a passage from New York to Albany.

By the way, we are much in the wrong in calling the inhabitants of the United States generally "Yankees," and in speaking of them collectively as Jonathan. The two terms are applied properly only to the New Englanders. Yankee is said to be an Indian corruption, or transmutation of English. "Uncle Sam," the national designation for the United States, is said to have originated with a drummer-boy, who being questioned by a British officer, as to the meaning of the initials U. S. on his drum, replied, "I guess they be Uncle Sam." The epithet is not bad, nor, considering the relationship among the states, inapplicable. It has come as yet but little into use on your side of the Atlantic.

The North River, as the Hudson is commonly called, presents in its course, several splendid views both of beautiful and sublime scenery. Soon after leaving New York for Albany, the land, on the left, rises into steep and lofty precipices overhanging the river, until the hills to which they belong terminate in the Katskyl Mountains. The shores on the right are also of an abrupt character, but their features are softer, and enlivened with innumerable bright and brilliant country-seats. The villages on the banks are also uncommonly gay and riant, partly owing to their white-painted houses, but perhaps as much to the absence of smoke. The river itself is magnificent, and the number of white-sailed schooners which you meet when the wind serves, so pleasantly harmonizes with the cheerfulness of the shores, as to banish from the mind of the stranger all those ideas of solitude and forest which we unconsciously associate with the name of America.

I am here speaking of the general character of the landscape, as it appears in the steam-boat season; but when I first ascended the Hudson, every thing was saddened with the sullen hues and melancholy of winter. The snow was still in the hollow of the rock, and the leaf within the bud, and the comfortless icerafts were so " thick coming, that it was deemed unsafe to proceed higher than Pookipsi, where we found carriages and stage-coaches waiting to convey us to Albany.

A.

LORD KING'S LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF LOCKE.*

SIR PETER KING, who succeeded the corrupt and degraded Parker, and held the office of Chancellor from 1725 to 1733, was a son of a sister of Locke's, and in quality of executor came into possession of his uncle's correspondence and manuscripts. These treasures fell, along with the Chancellor's title and estate, in the course of descent, into the hands of his great-grandson, the present liberal-minded Lord King; who, apparently, was the first to disturb the repose in which they had slumbered, in the retreats of Oakham, for a hundredand-twenty years. Upon a close examination, they were found, in addition to the originals of many of Locke's printed works, to consist of a very extensive correspondence with his friends, both at home and abroad; a journal kept during his travels in France and residences in Holland; and his common-placebooks, filled with miscellaneous matters, scraps of extempore scribble, and morsels of finished performance. Furnishing, as these materials did, some confirmatory testimony relative to his personal history, and new emanations of his genius, they appeared, at least some of them, to possess sufficient interest to be given to the public; and out of them, accordingly, Lord King has constructed a new life, so arranged as to make Locke, for the most part, his own biographer. The only account we have of him, bearing any authority, is one written by Le Clerc, who for some years enjoyed, at Amsterdam, his personal acquaintance, and for many more his correspondence, chiefly on literary, but sometimes on confidential matters. This account, which was originally printed in Le Clerc's Bibliotheque Choisie (1716), and which, on the whole, on points of fact, there appears little reason to impeach, constitutes the basis of the present narrative. Considerable obscurity still hangs over much of Locke's history; but little as Lord King has been able to produce to clear up doubtful matters, that little is an acceptable service, and will be duly appreciated. He has made no attempt to analyse the writings of the "English Philosopher," or to define their specific merits, or compare them with those of their class which precede or follow. They are presumed by him, and with good reason, to be too well-known to require any such attempt; and the author's efforts have accordingly been limited to show the individual in his external relations-the general tenour of his life, and its main incidents-his literary and political career-his station, his connexions, his engagementswithout some knowledge of which it is next to impossible to form a full or fair estimate of any man. To supply what may appear to some a deficiency, selon les regles, in the biography, is no part of our intention; but a slight sketch of the distinguished subject of the book may not be wholly unwelcome -a reminding sketch, that will cost the reader but a few glances, and may serve to correct some misconceptions.

Locke was born at Wrington, in Somersetshire, in 1632. Of his father and family nothing is known, beyond the bare facts of the former being a man of some property, and holding a commission in the Parliamentary forces. The estate, which apparently suffered from the times-it does not appear howfell to his son, still yielding sufficient to furnish a competency for a man of simple habits and unambitious pursuits. He alludes in his letters, more than once, to his tenants, and, indeed, seems never to have been in any way straitened about money matters. He was educated at Westminster, and graduated at Christ-church, when Owen was Dean, and the tutor, in Antony Wood's prejudiced language, a fanatic. Though obtaining a studentship, he seems to have run his academical career with no particular distinction. According to Le Clerc, whose acquaintance with him, however, did not commence till Locke was near fifty, he chose his friends rather among the lively and agreeable than the learned of his time. The truth is, Locke's genius was never of the showy cast-it was not calculated for display; at no time could he have been so remarkable for acquiring other people's thoughts, as for developing

The Life of John Locke, with Extracts from his Correspondence, Journals, and Common-place Books. By Lord King.

or

and defining his own. His mind was manifestly of the contemplative class, and, what commonly goes with it, of the independent one, and never likely to run steadily in the curriculum of any particular beat. Had he lived in our days, he would never have been either "double-first" at Oxford, "Senior Wrangler" at Cambridge; neither distinguished for skilfully manipulating modern analysis, nor dexterously patching ancient metres-the common results of laborious "cramming." "He was often," says Le Clerc, "accustomed to regret his education at Oxford." There is no crediting this story; he was always attached to Oxford--returned to it at every opportunity, and, till he was deprived of his studentship, near thirty years after, passed much of his time there. Lord King judiciously observes" Le Clerc, probably, laid too much stress upon some accidental expressions, which applied rather to the plan and course of instruction, than any disadvantage to himself. He spoke of it, doubtless, according to his conceptions, in after-life, of possible improvement." What," asks Lord King-" what could the false philosophy and vain discussions of the schools profit a man, distinguished, as Locke was, for love of truth, unshackled inquiry, &c.?" But how know we that such were his obvious characteristics then? The business of the schools, as then conducted, however objectionable or futile the subject, was calculated, far more than now, to rouse and draw forth the best energies of his mindto give freedom and command of language-promptitude to his thoughts, and flexibility to his powers. It was a real conflict, a keen encounter of the wits. The very acuteness and dexterity which such exercises generated and demanded, qualified a powerful mind, like Locke's, to detect sophistry, even while he employed it; and he may very well have been indebted to what he thus gained for the facility and the subtility which he afterwards employed in dissecting the most complicated subjects-in discriminating and exposing. Oxford, Lord King allows, had its advantages; but then he mars the concession, by limiting them to the "ease, and leisure, and opportunity the residence gave for other studies, and the intercourse it afforded with persons from whose society and conversation the idea of his great work arose." "Locke," he adds, "was more indebted to himself, than his instructors." But this is no disparagement to Oxford, or any other place of education. It is universally true, that those who are apparently most capable of benefiting by instruction can best do without it, and are most usually restive, and reject it. But great as Locke undoubtedly was, he was not early great; nor will it be safe to judge of him at twenty, by what he proved to be at sixty. Though he became a master, he was once only a student; and though, finally, he digested meat, milk might once have been strong enough for him. But a fling at Oxford there is sometimes no resisting, let the stone be picked up from what quarter it may." After receiving his degrees at the usual period, Locke, it is more than probable, took up his residence permanently at Oxford -engaged, there can be no doubt, wherever he might be, in the cultivation of his powers, but not, it should seem, with any view to a particular profession. Medicine certainly formed a branch of his studies, to which he was led, says Le Clerc, "without any design of practising, but for the benefit of his own constitution, which was but weakly." This is probably a guess, and founded chiefly on the attention he was known to give to the subject. The Diary, Lord King informs us, presents frequent memoranda of curious cases; his friends also occasionally consulted him, and the number of medical books he had collected was very great. Sydenham's testimony is, perhaps, too much relied upon in the dedication of his History and Cure of Acute Diseases, 1676, he mentions Locke's approbation of his book, and speaks of hiin, generally, as a man of eminent abilities and judgment, to whom, indeed, there were few superior. It is always necessary to reduce the language of panegyric, especially in matters of dedication, and still more in Latin ones. That he had not contemplated medicine as a profession, is, however, pretty clear, from the attempts which his friends appear to have frequently made to provide for him in other professions.

Wholly at Oxford, however, he could not have been, nor wholly absorbed

in books and abstract matters; for, in 1665, we find him engaged in a way that implied he had friends in power, and the reputation of a capacity for business. He accompanied Sir William Vane (the name is Swan in Le Clerc), as his secretary, on a special mission to the Court of Brandenburg. Three months seem to have been the extent of his absence; but in this interval he wrote several letters to his friends, now published, which exhibit Locke in a perfectly new light-that of an aspirant to wit and gaiety. One of these letters describes the politics of the Court; but the others are addressed to a more intimate acquaintance, and are filled with details of current events and daily sights. We present a specimen of very elaborate humour:

"You must not expect any thing remarkable from me all the following week, for I have spent it in getting a pair of gloves, and think, too, I have had a quick dispatch. You will perhaps wonder at it, and think I talk like a traveller; but I will give you the particulars of the business. Three days were spent in finding out a glover; for though I can walk all the town over in less than an hour, yet their shops are so contrived as if they were designed to conceal, not expose their wares; and though you may think it strange, yet methinks it is very well done, and 'tis a becoming modesty to conceal that which they have reason enough to be ashamed of. But to proceed; the two next days were spent in drawing them on, the right-hand glove, (or, as they call them here, hand-shoe,) Thursday, and the left-hand, Friday; and I'll promise you this was too good days' work, and little enough to bring them to fit my hands, and to consent to be fellows, which, after all, they are so far from, that when they are on, I am always afraid my hands should go to cuffs, one with another, they so disagree. Saturday we concluded on the price, computed, and changed our money, for it requires a great deal of arithmetic, and a great deal of brass, to pay twenty-eight stivers and seven doits; but, God be thanked! they are all well-fitted with counters for reckoning; for their money is good for nothing else, and I am poor here with my pockets full of it. I wondered at first why the market-people brought their wares in little carts, drawn by one horse, till I found it necessary to carry home the price of them; for a horse-load of turnips would be two horse-load of money. A pair of shoes cannot be got under half a year. I lately saw the cow killed out of whose hide I hope to have my next pair. The first thing after they are married here is to bespeak the child's coat; and truly the bridegroom must be a bungler that gets not the child before the mantle be made, for it is easier here to have a man made than a suit, &c."

Satis superque. On his return from this short mission, an offer was made to him of accompanying the ambassador to Spain, in the same capacity; which fair offer, as he calls it, did not prevail with him,-whether fate or fondness kept him at home he knows not, or whether he has let slip the minute they say every man has once in his life to make himself,-but he never troubles himself for the loss of what he never had, &c. Fortune, however, notwithstanding this perhaps critical rejection, favoured him with a second opportunity of recovering her good graces, which he again declined. The same year, too, an offer was made him, through a friend in Dublin, of considerable preferment in the Church, from the patronage of the Duke of Ormond. This, too, was declined, partly because he had not thought of the Church as a profession, and was unwilling to undertake any thing in which he might not acquit himself worthily; but chiefly, it should seem, because, as he says, if he should prove a bungler, there was no retreat. He was not willing to put himself into a calling that would not leave him. "Were it a profession," says he, " from whence there was any return, and that amongst all the occurrences of life may be very convenient, you would find me with as great a forwardness to embrace your proposals as I now acknowledge them with gratitude. The same considerations have made me a long time reject very advantageous offers of several very considerable friends in England.”

And well would it be if this consideration deterred others. The unreturnableness, to which Locke alludes, has been the ruin and misery of numbers. Hundreds of young men go into the Church with the hopes, founded or unfounded, of preferment, and find themselves, in a few years, left without the slightest chance of realizing them. What are they to do? Some quietly resign themselves to starvation and contempt in a curacy,whilst others

have too much energy not to struggle for life and even distinction, but find themselves cribbed and cabined within a wall of brass. Nothing, it will be said, but Parliament and the Courts are closed against the clergy. And why should these be closed? But the fact is-every thing, save teaching and scribbling, is equally closed, because existing prejudices make it disreputable for a clergyman to quit his profession, and these undoubtedly have been aided, if not originated, by exclusions sanctioned by law. The indelible engagement of the clergy was once a privilege-a holy distinction; it is no longer so, nor is it the first instance where privilege has become a burden, and laws have forgotten to change with circumstances. Relief is demandable upon the strong grounds of immutable justice-the right which every man has, on the principles of enlightened and civilized society, to move, as he pleases, where, when, and how, unchecked by obstructions, that are nothing more than a nuisance.

The year in which Locke thus wisely refused to shackle himself in a profession which would yoke him for life, brought him into contact with Lord Shaftesbury, which must be considered as the deciding incident of his life. Shaftesbury was suffering from disease, and recommended to go to Oxford to drink the waters of Astrop. Dr. Thomas, a friend of Locke's, had engaged to procure these waters in bottles against his lordship's arrival, but being himself physician to the fleet, and obliged suddenly to embark, he wrote to Locke to supply his place. This introduction led to an acquaintance, which ended in close and confidential intercourse. Shaftesbury was delighted with him, and pressed him to visit him; at his house Locke had the invaluable privilege of encountering all the more influential persons of the day, in politics and literature.

A year or two, however, after the commencement of his acquaintance with Shaftesbury, he appears to have accompanied the Earl and Countess of Northumberland into France-in what capacity must be guessed at; it might be as secretary to the Earl, or, it is possible enough, as a sort of medical attendant on the Countess. Lord King does not even mention the fact-not finding, it may be, any confirmation or allusion among Locke's papers. The Earl, it appears, died on his way to Rome, and the Countess, with whom Mr. Locke was left, returned to England, apparently the same year.

His intercourse with Shaftesbury was again, it appears, renewed. His home was with that distinguished person, but he went occasionally to Oxford, partly, it should seem, to superintend the education of Shaftesbury's son, then about sixteen or seventeen. And here a droll story is told-not by Lord King, who takes no notice of it, probably from a feeling of its radical absurdity, but by Le Clerc. The young lord, it seems, was of a very weakly constitution, but, notwithstanding, his father, anxious for the perpetuation of his family, proposed to have him married forthwith; and having the highest opinion of Mr. Locke's judgment and integrity, commissioned him to make a suitable choice-the young man being too young and inexperienced, and himself, it must be supposed, too busy. The task was not, it seems, a very easy one, for though Lord Shaftesbury did not insist upon fortune-family, temper, beauty, particularly vigorous beauty, education, understanding, and conduct different from the generality of court ladies, were indispensable. Such, however, was Mr. Locke's good tact or good luck, he succeeded admirably in the main point at least, for the match produced seven children, all remarkably healthy, though the father was of so weakly a constitution. The eldest son of this union of Locke's arrangement, born in 1670, was the wellknown author of the Characteristics, and committed, as has been supposed, to the care and instruction of Mr. Locke. This, however, cannot have been the case to any great extent, for, of the usual years of education, Locke was in England, and in connexion with the family only when the boy was between nine and twelve. Lord King says nothing about the matter.

The year 1670 was certainly the year the "Essay" was first sketched. A copy exists, dated 1671—not in the state, of course, in which it was published, for its publication did not take place till 1689, when it had been matured by