In  the  Making. — He  was  born  in  a  humble  Wrington
cottage  of  Somersetshire.  While  not  wealthy,  the
Lockes  were  well  descended.  His  father  was  a  lawyer
and  served  as  captain  in  the  Parliamentary  army.  The
boy's  education  was  carefully  supervised.  At  the  age
of  fourteen  he  was  sent  to  Westminster  School,  a  Puri-
tan institution,  for  his  preparatory  course,  and  re-
mained  six  years.     Then   he  entered   Christ   Church


280  HISTORY  OF  EDUCATION

College,  Oxford.  The  intellectual  and  moral  commo-
tion through  which  Cromwellian  England  was  passing
must  have  stirred  the  soul  of  Locke,  and  he  soon  found
himself  at  war  with  the  antiquated  humanism  of
Oxford,  but  finished  his  course  regularly  in  1656.  He
continued  to  reside  at  Oxford,  and  for  brief  periods
was  lecturer  on  Greek,  rhetoric,  and  philosophy.
Later,  about  1658,  perhaps  because  he  was  never
very  strong,  he  took  up  the  study  of  medicine.  In
1667  he  became  an  attach6  of  Lord  Shaftesbury's  family,
first  as  physician  and  later  also  as  tutor  of  that  noble-
man's son  and  grandson.  After  the  fall  of  Shaftesbury
Locke  fled  to  Holland,  where  he  remained  for  six  years,
returning  to  England  in  1689.  In  1691  he  was  wel-
comed into  the  home  of  Sir  Francis  Masham,  where  he
lived  the  rest  of  his  days.
During  his  connection  with  Lord  Shaftesbury  Locke
found  himself  much  in  company  with  the  brightest  men
of  his  time.  In  easy  circumstances,  and  relieved  from
the  professional  work  which  had  hindered  him  in  his
pursuit  of  philosophy,  he  was  now  free  to  devote  himself
almost  wholly  to  the  gratification  of  his  highest  aspira-
tions. Accordingly,  he  was  a  student  most  of  his  life,
devoting  himself  especially  to  physics,  chemistry,  medi-
cine, psychology,  philosophy,  politics,  and  even  theology.
