"Nay, I so far incline to comply with your Desires, that I every now and then lay by some Materials for it, as they occasionally occur in the Rovings of my Mind."
— Locke, John (1632-1704)
Author
Date
March 30, 1696; 1708
Metaphor
"Nay, I so far incline to comply with your Desires, that I every now and then lay by some Materials for it, as they occasionally occur in the Rovings of my Mind."
Metaphor in Context
I am asham'd to receive so many Thanks for having done so little for a Man who came recommended to me by you. I had so little Opportunity to shew the Civility I would have done to Mr. Burridge, that I should not know how to excuse it to you or him, were not he himself a Witness of the perpetual Hurry I was in all the Time I was then in Town. I doubt not at all of his Performance in the Translation of my Book he has undertaken. He has Understanding, and Latin, much beyond those who usually meddle with such Works: And I am so well satisfied, both of his Ability, and your Care, that the sending me a Specimen, I shall look on as more than needs. As to a Treatise of Morals, I must own to you that you are not the only Persons (you and Mr. Burridge I mean) who have been for putting me upon it; neither have I wholly laid by the Thoughts of it. Nay, I so far incline to comply with your Desires, that I every now and then lay by some Materials for it, as they occasionally occur in the Rovings of my Mind. But when I consider that a Book of Offices, as you call it, ought not to be slightly done, especially by me, after what I have said of that Science in my Essay, Nonumque prematur in annum, is a Rule more necessary to be observed in a Subject of that Consequence, than in any Thing Horace speaks of; I am in doubt whether it would be prudent, in one of my Age and Health, not to mention other Disabilities in me, to set about it. Did the World want a Rule, I confess there could be no Work so necessary, nor so commendable. But the Gospel contains so perfect a Body of Ethicks, that Reason may be excused from that Enquiry, since she may find Man's Duty clearer and easier in Revelation than in her self. Think not this the Excuse of a lazy Man, though it be perhaps of one, who having a sufficient Rule for his Actions, is content therewith, and thinks he may, perhaps, with more Profit to himself, employ the little Time and Strength he has in other Re-searches, wherein he finds himself more in the dark.
(pp. 113-114)
(pp. 113-114)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in Google Books
Citation
3 entries in ESTC for uniform title Some Familiar Letters Between Mr. Locke and Several of His Friends (1708, 1737, 1742).
Text from Familiar Letters Between Mr. John Locke, and Several of His Friends. In Which Are Explain'd, His Notions in His Essay Concerning Human Understanding, and in Some of His Other Works, 4th ed. (London: Printed for F. Noble; T. Wright; and J. Duncan, 1742). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>. ESTC note: "A reissue of the 1737 Bettesworth and Hitch edition, with the addition of the 'life', and a cancel titlepage."
See also Some Familiar Letters Between Mr. Locke, and Several of His Friends. (London: Printed for A. and J. Churchill at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster Row, 1708). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>
Text from Familiar Letters Between Mr. John Locke, and Several of His Friends. In Which Are Explain'd, His Notions in His Essay Concerning Human Understanding, and in Some of His Other Works, 4th ed. (London: Printed for F. Noble; T. Wright; and J. Duncan, 1742). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>. ESTC note: "A reissue of the 1737 Bettesworth and Hitch edition, with the addition of the 'life', and a cancel titlepage."
See also Some Familiar Letters Between Mr. Locke, and Several of His Friends. (London: Printed for A. and J. Churchill at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster Row, 1708). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
10/13/2013
