RESIDENCE IN HOLLAND.--THE REVOLUTION.--RETURN TO ENGLAND.--PUBLICATION
OF THE "ESSAY" AND OTHER WORKS.
Locke must have landed in Holland in one of the autumn months of 1683,
being then about fifty-one years of age. We are not able, however, to
trace any of his movements till the January of 1683-84, when he was
present, by invitation of Peter Guenellon, the principal physician of
Amsterdam, at the dissection of a lioness which had been killed by the
intense cold of the winter.
Through Guenellon, whom he had met during his stay in Paris, he must
have made the acquaintance of the principal literary and scientific
men at that time residing in or near Amsterdam. Amongst these was
Philip van Limborch, then professor of theology among the Arminians
or Remonstrants. The Arminians (called Remonstrants on account of
the remonstrance which they had presented to the States-General in
1610) were the latitudinarians of Holland, and, though they had been
condemned by the Synod of Dort in 1619, and had been subjected to a
bitter persecution by the Calvinist clergy for some years following,
were now a fairly numerous body, possessing a theological seminary, and
exercising a considerable influence, not only in their own country,
but over the minds of the more liberal theologians throughout Europe.
The undogmatic, tolerant, and, if I may use the expression, ethical
character of the Remonstrant theology must have had great attractions
for Locke, and he and Limborch, united by many common sentiments,
subsequently became fast friends.
In the autumn of 1684 Locke made a tour of the country, noting, as was
usual with him, all objects and matters of interest, and evidently
benefiting much in health by the diversion of travelling. Indeed,
we are somewhat surprised to hear that his health derived more
advantage from the air of Holland than from that of Montpellier. What,
however, he put down to climate was, perhaps, at least equally due to
pleasant companionship, and to the variety of interests--political,
commercial, literary, and theological--which the Dutch nation at that
time so pre-eminently afforded. Amongst the objects which attracted
his attention was a sect of communistic mystics established near
Leeuwarden. "They receive," he says, "all ages, sexes, and degrees,
upon approbation. They live all in common; and whoever is admitted
is to give with himself all he has to Christ the Lord--that is, the
Church--to be managed by officers appointed by the Church. These
people, however, were very shy to give an account of themselves to
strangers, and they appeared inclined to dispense their instruction
only to those whom 'the Lord,' as they say, 'had disposed to it,' and
in whom they saw 'signs of grace;' which 'signs of grace' seem to me
to be, at last, a perfect submission to the will and rules of their
pastor, Mr. Yonn, who, if I mistake not, has established to himself
a perfect empire over them. For though their censures and all their
administrations be in appearance in their Church, yet it is easy to
perceive how at last it determines in him. He is _dominus factotum_;
and though I believe they are, generally speaking, people of very
good and exemplary lives, yet the tone of voice, manner, and fashion
of those I conversed with seemed to make one suspect a little of
Tartuffe." After Locke's experiences of the Puritan ministers in his
early life, the character of Mr. Yonn was, probably, by no means new
to him, though he now repeated his acquaintance with it under novel
circumstances.
In November Locke was again in Amsterdam, and here he heard of Dr.
Fell's "moneo," summoning him back to Christ Church. At first it would
seem that he resolved to comply with it, but the intelligence of the
"moneo" must soon have been followed by that of his deprivation, and
thus he was saved from the dangers which might have befallen him had
he returned to England. In more ways than one, his continued absence
abroad was probably an advantage to him. "In Holland," says Lady
Masham, "he had full leisure to prosecute his thoughts on the subject
of _Human Understanding_--a work which, in probability, he never would
have finished had he continued in England." The winter of this year
was spent in Utrecht and devoted to study--probably to the preparation
of the _Essay on Human Understanding_. But this quiet mode of life was
quickly coming to an end. On the 6th of February, 1684-85, Charles
the Second had died; and, though the succession of the Duke of York
was at first undisputed, Monmouth, the natural son of the late king,
was soon persuaded by his impatient and injudicious followers to head
the insurrection which resulted in his defeat and execution. From
Monmouth's intrigues Locke had always held aloof, "having no such
high opinion of the Duke of Monmouth as to expect anything from his
undertaking." But prudence, in those days of fierce political hatred
and unblushing fabrications, was often of very little avail. Locke was
well known as an adherent of Shaftesbury, and Shaftesbury had long and
ardently favoured Monmouth's pretensions. Moreover, stories tending
to discredit him with the advisers of the Court, and to connect his
name with the plots of the other exiles, were probably circulating
pretty freely at this time. On the 7th of May--a few days after Argyle
had set out on his ill-starred expedition to Scotland, and while
Monmouth was still preparing for his descent on the west coast of
England--Colonel Skelton, who had been sent over as a special envoy to
the Hague, presented to the States-General a list of persons regarded
as dangerous by the English Government, and demanded their surrender.
On this list Locke's name stood last, having been added, we are told,
by Sir George Downing, the English representative at the Dutch Court,
but whether or not in pursuance of further instructions from home we
do not know. Locke was at this time living at Utrecht, and it was at
once arranged that he should be concealed in the house of Dr. Veen, of
Amsterdam, the father-in-law of his old acquaintance, Dr. Guenellon.
Though it was necessary, for appearance' sake, that he should keep
strictly to his hiding-place, he does not seem to have incurred any
real danger. The municipal authorities of Amsterdam had too great a
horror of Popery and too much sympathy with liberty to show any marked
zeal in carrying out the wishes of the English king; nor does the
Prince of Orange himself appear to have been very eager to hunt out the
fugitives, provided they went through the decent ceremony of concealing
themselves from the ministers of justice. To Locke the confinement was
doubtless irksome; but he was solaced by the visits of his friends,
especially of Limborch, and the monotony of his solitude was broken by
a visit of a few weeks to Cleve. Here, however, he does not appear to
have felt so safe as at Amsterdam; and, consequently, he soon returned
to his old quarters, assuming the name of Dr. Van der Linden, as at
Cleve he had assumed that of Lamy. Meanwhile, two of his friends in
England--William Penn, the celebrated Quaker, and the Earl of Pembroke,
to whom he afterwards dedicated the _Essay_--were moving the king for
a pardon. The latter, writing to Locke on the 20th of August, informs
him that the king "bid me write to you to come over; I told him I would
then bring you to kiss his hand, and he was fully satisfied I should."
Locke, however, appears to have had little confidence in the king's
sincerity, and, perhaps, no desire to compromise any political action
that might be open to him in the future by making formal submission to
a monarch who was tolerably certain to work out his own ruin. He still
remained in concealment, and replied that, "having been guilty of no
crime, he had no occasion for a pardon." But in May, 1686, all fear
of arrest was removed by the appearance of a new proclamation of the
States-General, in which his name was not included, and henceforth he
was enabled to move about with perfect freedom.
The name of Limborch, one of the friends whom Locke made in Holland,
has already been mentioned. A long series of letters which passed
between them, beginning with Locke's arrival at Cleve in September,
1685, and ending only a few weeks before his death, is still extant,
though some are still unpublished. This correspondence is interesting,
not only as throwing light on Locke's pursuits, but also as affording
a free expression of his theological opinions. Thus, in a letter
written to Limborch soon after his arrival at Cleve, with reference to
a work recently published by Le Clerc, he acknowledges his perplexities
respecting the plenary inspiration of the Bible. "If all things which
are contained in the sacred books are equally to be regarded as
inspired, without any distinctions, then we give philosophers a great
handle for doubting of our faith and sincerity. If, on the contrary,
some things are to be regarded as purely human, how shall we establish
the divine authority of the Scriptures, without which the Christian
religion will fall to the ground? What shall be our criterion? Where
shall we draw the line?" He applies to Limborch for help. "For many
things which occur in the canonical books, long before I read this
treatise, have made me anxious and doubtful, and I shall be most
grateful if you could remove my scruples." From the character of his
theological writings, composed during the latter years of his life, it
would appear that these scruples were afterwards either removed or set
aside.
With Le Clerc (Joannes Clericus) himself Locke first became personally
acquainted after his return to Amsterdam in the winter of 1685-86. Le
Clerc was still young, having been born at Geneva in 1657, but he had
already acquired considerable reputation both as a philosopher and as a
theologian. As a philosopher, he had at first embraced the doctrines of
Descartes, but, in after-life, he leaned rather to those views which,
a few years after the time of which I am writing, became famous by the
publication of Locke's _Essay_. As a divine, his theology was liberal
and critical beyond even that of the Remonstrant School. He questioned
the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, regarded some of the books of
the old Testament as of purely human origin, and, in his treatment
of the miracles and of Christian doctrine, rationalized so far as to
expose himself to the charge of Socinianism, though he himself warmly
repudiated the imputation. In literary activity and enterprise he
yielded to no other author of the age. Such a man, full of energy and
of novel views, ready to entertain and discuss any question of interest
in theology, criticism, or philosophy, must have been peculiarly
acceptable to an exile like Locke, whose mind was now engaged with just
the same problems that were occupying Le Clerc. The intimacy between
the two students, though never so affectionate as that between Locke
and Limborch, soon became a close one. Though widely separated in age,
and though differing, probably, in many of their specific opinions,
they were conscious that they were travelling the same road--a way then
little frequented--the way which led from the received tenets of the
churches and the schools to the arena of free inquiry and impartial
investigation.
In the winter of 1685-86, Locke, while still hiding in Dr. Veen's
house, employed himself in writing the famous _Epistola de Tolerantia_,
addressed to Limborch. This tract was not, however, published till
1689, when it was almost immediately translated into English, Dutch,
and French. Of the opinions expressed in this and the other letters on
Toleration I shall have occasion to speak hereafter, when describing
Locke's theological views. It must be recollected that, though now
in his fifty-fourth year, he had as yet published nothing of any
importance. He had, indeed, for several years been slowly putting
together the materials for many books; but it is possible that his
natural modesty, together with what seems to have been an excessive
prudence, might have prevented him from giving any of his thoughts
to the world, at least during his lifetime, had it not been for the
fortunate circumstances which brought him into contact with Le Clerc.
At the time when the two friends were introduced to one another,
Le Clerc was projecting the _Bibliothèque Universelle_, one of the
earliest literary and scientific reviews, and to this Locke soon became
a constant contributor. In the July number of 1686 appears his method
of a Commonplace Book, under the title, _Méthode Nouvelle de dresser
des Recueils_. The ice was now broken, and from this time onwards we
shall find his publications follow one another in rapid succession.
In September, 1686, Locke moved again to Utrecht, intending,
apparently, to make a prolonged residence there; but in December,
for some mysterious reason with which we are not acquainted, though
connected in all probability with English politics, he was threatened
with expulsion from the city, and was obliged to return to Amsterdam.
It seems, from his correspondence with Limborch, that he did not wish
this expulsion to be talked about. At the same time, he accepted
stoically the inconveniences to which it put him. "These are the sports
of fortune, or rather the ordinary chances of human life, which come
as naturally as wind and rain to travellers." At Amsterdam he remained
for two months as the guest of his old friend, Dr. Guenellon, and then
removed to Rotterdam, where, with occasional breaks, he resided during
the rest of his stay in Holland. This removal was undoubtedly connected
with the turn which English politics were now taking at the Dutch
Court. Monmouth being now out of the way, the only quarter to which
those who were weary of the Stuart despotism could look for redress
was the House of Orange. Secret negotiations were at this time going
on with the Prince and Princess, and there can be no doubt that Locke
was taking an active share in the schemes that were in preparation.
Rotterdam was within a short distance of the Hague, and also a
convenient place for carrying on a correspondence with England as well
as for meeting the Englishmen who landed in Holland. As soon as Locke
arrived at Rotterdam his hands seem to have been tolerably full of
political business. Writing to Limborch in February, 1686-87, he says,
"To politics I gave but little thought at Amsterdam; here I cannot pay
much attention to literature." Mr. Fox Bourne conjectures that it was
through Lord Mordaunt, afterwards Earl of Peterborough, who shortly
before this time had taken up his residence in Holland, that Locke was
brought into personal relations with the Prince and Princess. Any way,
these relations gradually ripened into friendship, and a mutual feeling
of respect and admiration seems soon to have grown up between him and
the royal couple.
While at Rotterdam, Locke resided with Benjamin Furly, an English
Quaker, who was a merchant of considerable wealth and a great
book-collector. At Furly's death, in 1714, the sale-catalogue of his
books occupied nearly 400 pages. Locke was thus at no loss for the
instruments of his trade, and, notwithstanding his preoccupation
in politics, he seems to have been working with fair assiduity at
the _Essay_ and on other literary subjects. In the number of the
_Bibliothèque Universelle_ for January, 1687-88, appeared an abstract
of the _Essay_, translated into French by Le Clerc, from a manuscript
written by Locke, which is still extant. The epitome was announced
as communicated by Monsieur Locke, and a note was appended inviting
criticisms, if anything false, obscure, or defective were remarked in
the system. After the review had appeared, separate copies of the
epitome were struck off, and the opuscule, with a short dedication to
the Earl of Pembroke, was published in a separate form. Locke went
to Amsterdam for the purpose of superintending the printing of the
epitome, and appears to have been sorely tried by the "drunken" and
"lying" workmen, who, however, were all "good Christians," "orthodox
believers," and "marked for salvation by the distinguishing L that
stands on their door-posts, or the funeral sermon that they may have
for a passport if they will go to the charge of it." On the 29th of
February he returned to Furly's house, where he seems to have lived
in great comfort, and on most intimate and affectionate terms with
the family. One of the sons, a little boy of four or five years old,
named Arent, was a special favourite, and is playfully alluded to in
the letters to Furly as "my little friend!" Kindness to children seems
always to have been one of Locke's characteristics, as it is of all men
of simple manners and warm hearts.
It was on the 1st of November, 1688, that William of Orange set out on
his expedition to England. Locke still remained in Holland, and appears
to have had frequent interviews with the Princess Mary, who was waiting
till she could with safety join her husband. At last the word was given
from England, and, after being detained for some time by unfavourable
weather, the royal party, accompanied by Locke and Lady Mordaunt, left
the Hague on the 11th of February, 1688-89. They arrived at Greenwich
on the following day. It was with mixed feelings that Locke took leave
of the country where he had been entertained so long, and where he had
formed so many warm and congenial friendships. Writing to Limborch
shortly before his departure, he says, "There are many considerations
which urge me not to miss this opportunity of sailing: the expectation
of my friends; my private affairs, which have now been long neglected;
the number of pirates in the channel; and the charge of the noble lady
(Lady Mordaunt) with whom I am about to travel. But I trust that you
will believe me when I say that I have found here another country,
and I might almost say other relations; for all that is dearest in
that expression--good-will, love, kindness--bonds that are stronger
than blood--I have experienced amongst you. It is owing to this
fellow-feeling, which has always been shown to me by your countrymen,
that, though absent from my own people and exposed to every kind of
trouble, I have never yet felt sick at heart."[1] Still, it must have
been with a thrill of delight that, after an absence of more than five
years, he once more stepped on the shores of his native land, and felt
that a new era of liberty and glory had dawned for her.
[1] It should be mentioned, perhaps, that the correspondence
between Locke and Limborch is in Latin.
About a week after his arrival in England, Locke was offered, through
Lord Mordaunt, the post of ambassador to Frederick the First, Elector
of Brandenburg. The letter to Lord Mordaunt, in which he declines the
post, shows the feeble condition in which, notwithstanding all his
precautions, his health still continued. "It is the most touching
displeasure I have ever received from that weak and broken constitution
of my health, which has so long threatened my life, that it now
affords me not a body suitable to my mind in so desirable an occasion
of serving his Majesty.... What shall a man do in the necessity of
application and variety of attendance on business who sometimes, after
a little motion, has not breath to speak, and cannot borrow an hour
or two of watching from the night without repaying it with a great
waste of time the next day?" But there was another reason, besides his
health, why he could not accept a mission to the Court of Brandenburg.
"If I have reason to apprehend the cold air of the country, there is
yet another thing in it as inconsistent with my constitution, and that
is their warm drinking." It was true that he might oppose obstinate
refusal, but then that would be to take more care of his own health
than of the king's business. "It is no small matter in such stations
to be acceptable to the people one has to do with, in being able to
accommodate one's self to their fashions; and I imagine, whatever I
may do there myself, the knowing what others are doing is at least one
half of my business, and I know no such rack in the world to draw out
men's thoughts as a well-managed bottle. If, therefore, it were fit
for me to advise in this case, I should think it more for the king's
interest to send a man of equal parts that could drink his share
than the soberest man in the kingdom." But, though Locke shrank from
this post, the importance of which could hardly be exaggerated, for
Frederick was the ally on whom William most confided in his opposition
to Louis the Fourteenth, he was ready to place his services at the
disposal of the Government for domestic work. "If there be anything
wherein I may flatter myself I have attained any degree of capacity to
serve his Majesty, it is in some little knowledge I perhaps may have
in the constitutions of my country, the temper of my countrymen, and
the divisions amongst them, whereby I persuade myself I may be more
useful to him at home, though I cannot but see that such an employment
would be of greater advantage to myself abroad, would but my health
assent to it." The disinterested patriotism of this letter was only of
a piece with the whole of Locke's political life. He was next offered
the embassy to Vienna, and, in fact, invited to name any diplomatic
appointment which he would be prepared to accept; but he regarded his
health as an insuperable bar to work of this kind at so critical a
time in the history of Europe. Having declined all foreign employment,
he was now named a Commissioner of Appeals, an office with small
emolument and not much work, which he appears to have retained during
the remainder of his life. This office seems to have been given to him
partly as a compensation for the arrears of salary due under the late
Government; for, with an exhausted exchequer, it was impossible to
satisfy such claims by immediate payment.
Locke's health suffered considerably by his return to London. Writing
to Limborch shortly after his arrival, and complaining of the worry
caused him by the pressure of private affairs and public business, the
climax of all his grievances, we are hardly surprised to find, is the
injury to his health "from the pestilent smoke of this city" (_Malignus
hujus urbis fumus_). Amongst the public affairs which claimed his
attention, the foremost, doubtless, was the attempt then being made to
widen the basis of the National Church by a measure of comprehension,
as well as to relieve of civil disabilities the more extreme or
scrupulous of the sectaries by what was called a measure of indulgence
or toleration. Locke, of course, with his friend Lord Mordaunt, took
the most liberal side open to him as respects these measures; but he
complains that the episcopal clergy were unfavourable to these as well
as to other reforms, whether to their own advantage and that of the
State it was for them to consider. Unfortunately both for the Church
and nation, the issue of the religious struggles which were carried
on at the beginning of William's reign was, on the whole, in favor of
the less tolerant party. The Comprehension Bill, after being violently
attacked and languidly defended, was dropped altogether. The Toleration
Bill, though passed by pretty general consent, and affording a
considerable measure of relief on the existing law, was entirely of the
nature of a compromise, and what we should now note as most remarkable
in it is the number of its provisos and exceptions. No relief was
granted to the believer in transubstantiation or the disbeliever in
the Trinity. No dissenting minister, moreover, was allowed to exercise
his vocation unless he subscribed thirty-four out of the Thirty-nine
Articles, together with the greater part of two others. The Quakers
had to make a special declaration of belief in the Holy Trinity and in
the Divine inspiration of the Scriptures. The measure of toleration
which Locke would have been prepared to grant, it need hardly be
said, far exceeded that which was accorded by the Act. Speaking of
the law recently passed in a letter to Limborch on the 6th of June,
he uses apologetic language. "Toleration has indeed been granted, but
not with that latitude which you and men like you, true Christians
without ambition or envy, would desire. But it is something to have
got thus far. On these beginnings I hope are laid the foundations of
liberty and peace on which the Church of Christ will hereafter be
established." In a subsequent letter, speaking again of the same law,
he says, "People will always differ from one another about religion,
and carry on constant strife and war, until the right of every one to
perfect liberty in these matters is conceded, and they can be united in
one body by a bond of mutual charity." If there be any truth in the
tradition to which Lord King alludes, that Locke himself negotiated
the terms of the Toleration Act, he must have regarded it simply as
an instalment of religious liberty, the utmost that could be procured
under the circumstances, and an earnest of better things to come.
On William's accession to the throne, one only of the English Sees was
vacant, the Bishopric of Salisbury. To this he nominated the famous
Gilbert Burnet, who had been one of his advisers in Holland. Locke,
in one of his letters to Limborch, tells a rather malicious story of
the new prelate. When he paid his first visit to the king after his
consecration, his Majesty observed that his hat was a good deal larger
than usual, and asked him what was the object of so very much brim. The
bishop replied that it was the shape suitable to his dignity. "I hope,"
answered the king, "that the hat won't turn your head."
The topic that most interested Locke probably at this time, next to the
political regeneration of his country, was the approaching publication
of the _Essay_. The work must have been finished, or all but finished,
when he left Holland. In May, 1689, he wrote the dedication to the
Earl of Pembroke, and the printing commenced shortly afterwards.
The proof-sheets were sent to Le Clerc. As before at Amsterdam, the
printers appear to have caused him some trouble, but the book was in
the booksellers' shops early in 1690. It is a fine folio, "printed by
Eliz. Holt for Thomas Basset at the George in Fleet Street, near St.
Dunstan's Church." Locke received 30_l._ for the copyright. But when we
remember that Milton only lived to receive 10_l._ for _Paradise Lost_,
we cannot feel much surprise at Locke's rate of payment. The days when
authorship was to become a lucrative profession were still far distant
in England.
Previously to the publication of the _Essay_, in the spring of 1689,
the _Epistola de Tolerantia_ had appeared at Gouda, in Holland; but it
was published anonymously, and apparently without Locke's knowledge,
the responsibility of giving it to the world being undertaken by
Limborch, to whom it had been addressed. On the title-page are some
mysterious letters, the invention, probably, of Limborch: "Epistola
de Tolerantia ad Clarissimum Virum T. A. R. P. T. O. L. A. Scripta
a P. A. P. O. I. L. A." These being interpreted are, "Theologiæ
Apud Remonstrantes Professorem, Tyrannidis Osorem, Limborchium
Amstelodamensem;" and "Pacis Amico, Persecutionis Osore, Joanne Lockio
Anglo." Dutch and French translations were issued almost immediately,
and the book at once created considerable discussion on the Continent;
but it does not at the first appear to have excited much attention in
England. Locke himself was for some time unable to obtain a copy. In
the course of the year, however, it was translated into English by
one William Popple, an Unitarian merchant residing in London. In the
preface the translator, alluding to recent legislation, says, "We have
need of more generous remedies than what have yet been made use of in
our distemper. It is neither declarations of indulgence nor acts of
comprehension, such as have as yet been practised or projected amongst
us, that can do the work. Absolute liberty, just and true liberty,
equal and impartial liberty, is the thing that we stand in need of."
Locke affords a curious instance of a man who, having carefully
shunned publication up to a late period of life, then gave forth a
series of works in rapid succession. It would seem as if he had long
mistrusted his own powers, or as if he had doubted of the expediency
of at once seeking a wide circulation for his views, but that, having
once ventured to reveal himself to the public, he was emboldened,
if not impelled, to proceed. Early in 1690, there appeared not only
the _Essay_, but also the _Two Treatises of Government_. These
were published anonymously, but it must soon have been known that
Locke was their author. For reasons which I have given in another
chapter, the former of the two treatises, which is a criticism of
Sir Robert Filmer's _Patriarcha_, seems to have been written between
1680 and 1685, the latter during the concluding period of Locke's
stay in Holland, while the English Revolution was being prepared and
consummated.
The translation of the Epistle on Toleration soon provoked a lively
controversy. To one answer, that by Jonas Proast, Locke replied in a
_Second Letter concerning Toleration_, signed by Philanthropus, and
dated May 27, 1690. Proast, as the manner is in such controversies,
replied again, and Locke wrote a _Third Letter for Toleration_, again
signed Philanthropus, and dated June 20, 1692. After many years'
silence, Proast wrote a rejoinder in 1704, and to this Locke replied in
the _Fourth Letter for Toleration_, which, however, he did not live to
publish, or, indeed, to complete. It appeared amongst his Posthumous
Works. These Letters on Toleration doubtless exercised great influence
in their day, and probably contributed, in large measure, to bring
about the more enlightened views on this subject which in this country,
at least, are now all but universal.
The authorship of the Letters on Toleration, though it could hardly
fail to be pretty generally known, was first distinctly acknowledged
by Locke in the codicil to his will. Limborch, on being hard pressed,
had divulged it, in the spring of 1690, to Guenellon and Veen, but
they appear, contrary to what generally happens in such cases, to have
kept the secret to themselves. Locke, however, was much irritated at
the indiscretion of Limborch, and for once wrote him an angry letter.
"If you had entrusted me with a secret of this kind, I would not have
divulged it to relation, or friend, or any mortal being, under any
circumstances whatsoever. You do not know the trouble into which you
have brought me." It is not easy to see why Locke should have felt so
disquieted at the prospect of his authorship being discovered, but
it may be that he hoped to bring about some extension of the limits
of the Toleration Act which had been passed in the preceding year,
and that he feared that his hands might be tied by the discovery that
he entertained what, at that time, would be regarded as such extreme
views; or it may have been simply that he was afraid, if his authorship
were once acknowledged, of being dragged into a long and irksome
controversy with the bigots of the various ecclesiastical parties which
were then endeavouring to maintain or recover their ascendancy.