Excerpt from Original Letters of John Locke, Alg. Sidney, and Lord Shaftesbury: With an Analytical Sketch of the Writings and Opinions of Locke and Other Metaphysicians

The publisher of this volume, having obtained permission from Dr. Forster to reprint those letters of Locke, Sidney and Shaftesbury which that gentleman published nearly twenty years ago, has added several others written by the same eminent men, and procured from the same source, namely the mss. Collection of the Forster family. It would be unbecoming in the pub lisher to premise one word concerning the merits of any thing written by such illustrious men as John Locke, Algernon Sid nev and the Earl of Shaftesbury: but he may be permitted to say there are two points which particularly claim the attention of the reader to the following collection of letters. They are selected out of the correspondence of a private family, and, as containing the unreserved thoughts of the writers, and conse quently never intended for publication, they possess the greatest interest for those who delight in pictures of domestic life and friendship. But the second point of attraction is peculiarly suited to invite attention: the political movements which at that time disturbed Europe were precisely the same as those which at the present moment are influencing its different courts. The all-engrossing question concerning the rights of the Bourbons to the crown of Spain is repeatedly alluded to and discussed in the following letters, and the same question has again, of late years, kept the courts of England and France in a ferment, and almost destroyed the good understanding which existed between them. It is curious to see the same causes arising after a hundred and fifty years, and again producing the same results.

A few passages of the following letters appear to be corrupt.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.