DAMARIS LADY MASHAM AN LEIBNIZ

S^r Oates 24 Novbr. 1704.

It being a long while since the date of your First Letter to me, thō not very long since I receiv'd it; the High value that I have for the Honour of your Correspondence makes me fear incuring the suspicion of a neglect I can never be Guiltie of in your regard; and induces me now to write, thō the loss I have but lately had; and since That the solicitous Care which attends the first sending an onely Child into the world under his own Conduct, dos at present much indispose me.

Yours of the 16^th of Sept^br came not to my Hands till our 31 of October: the day wherin was Perform'd the last office to one that had been my Freind above half my life time. M^r Locke I meane. A Freind who thō very Accidentally an Acquaintance and Perfectly unknown to my Familie, has supplyd to me the Plan of a Father, and Brother: and to whose Direction, next to the Favour of God, I cheifly ascribe it if my Son (as I have reason to Hope) be Bless'd with a Sound Mind in a Sound Body. But This has been but the Best Effect of M^r Locks Freindship, not the onely one: for he has in his last Will left to my Son (or in case of his Death to myself) a legacie in money of a value seldom givn by Any to such as are no way related: with other Gifts to him amongs which is the division of his Librarie betwixt him, and his Kinsman and Executor M^r Peter King; a man of great Worth on many Accounts; and Particularly as a member of Parliament (wherin no one is Beleev'd more immoveably True to the Protestant Interest).

In telling you thise Obligations which I have had to M^r Locke, I shall, I hope, make my excuse, if the Tribute which I pay of a well Merited Affection to the Memorie of this Extraordinarie Freind, as well as Extraordinarie Man, unfits me yet for other Thought than such as the Heart Dictates.

Your 2^d Letter came to my Hands but two days since. I have no remembrance of it at present if M^r Locke has ever explain'd to me his Thoughts concerning the Production of Matter. That This is less Inconceivable than the Creation of an Immaterial Substance was what I imagin'd before I knew M^r Locke, which has made me, perhaps, more inadvertant than I should else have been to what he intimates in the Chapter you cite.

Not long since, the Library Keeper of the Universitie of Oxford desir'd of M^r Locke, for the Bodleian Library, the Books of which he was the Author.

M^r Locke in return to this request, Presented to the said Library All the Books Publish'd under his Name.

But in a Codicil to his Will he takes Notice That he had not been herein understood fully to have answer'd the request made him; it being suppos'd he was the Author of other Treatises to which his Name was not prefix'd. In Complyance therefore, he says, with what was ~~desir'd, in the utmost extent of it, and in acknowledgment of the Honour done him in thinking his Writings Worthy to be plac'd amongst the Works of the Learned, in that August Repositorie; he dos further give to the Publick Library of the Universitie of Oxford these following Books~~, which are;

Three letters Concerning Tolleration.

Two Treatises of Goverment.

The Reasonableness of Christianitie as deliver'd in the Scriptures.

A Vindication of the Reasonableness etc. from M^r Edwards Reflections.

A 2d Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianitie.

These he says are All the Books whereof he was the Author, Publish'd without his Name. and many other Anonymous Books besides These, haveing been Attribut'd to M^r Locke. I thought you Might not be Unwilling to know what he truely did Write, and what was not His; which has made me Transcribe this so Solemn a Declaration. If you have read the Reasonableness of Christianitie as deliverd in the Scriptures. I should be very glad to know your Thoughts of it. If you have not seen this Book, I desire to Present you with it. It was long ago Translated into French by a Person whom I have been Happy in haveing for Praeceptor to my Son. Mons^r Coste, the Translator of M^r Lockes Essay.

I am much oblig'd to you S^r for your good Wishes. They will always be a Pleasure to, and always return'd by

Your Most Humble Servant Da Masham.