, one of the greatest philosophers this country has produced, was
, one of the greatest philosophers this country has produced, was the son of John Locke, of Pensford, a market-town in Somersetshire, five miles from Bristol, by Anne his wife, daughter of Edmund Keen, or Ken, of Wrington, tanner. His father, who was first a clerk only to a neighbouring justice of the peace, Francis Baber, of Chew Magna, was advanced by col. Alexander Popham, whose seat was near Pensford, to be a captain in the parliament’s service. After the restoration, he practised as an attorney, and was clerk of the sewers in Somersetshire *. Although our philosopher’s age is not to be found in the registers of Wrington, which is the parish church of Pensford, it has been ascertained that he wasborn there Aug. 29, 1632. By the interest of col, Popham, he was admitted a scholar at Westminster, whence in 1652 he was elected to Christ church, Oxford. Here he took the degree of B. A. in 1655, and that of M. A. in 1658; but although he made a considerable progress in the usual course of studies at that time, he often said that what he learned was of little use to enlighten and enlarge his mind. The first books which gave him a relish for the study of philosophy, were the writings of Des Cartes, whom he always found perspicuous, although he did not always approve of his sentiments.