Abstract

Recounts the last years of seventeenth-century philosopher John Locke, published by the parish of High Laver, Essex on the occasion of the tercentenary of his death. For fourteen years, from 1690 to 1704, Locke lived at the manor house of Oates, in High Laver parish in Essex, as a guest of Lady Damaris Cudworth Masham, the young wife of Sir Francis Masham, the Member of Parliament for Essex. This work reveals something about life in a gentleman's country house in the seventeenth century, explores the relationship between Locke and his hostess, and discusses the greater context of Locke's final works and his role in the emerging Enlightenment in Europe.