practised a little in Oxf. At the same time his mind had been much
exercised by questions of morals and government, and in 1667 he wrote
his _Essay on Toleration_. In the same year he became known to Lord
Ashley (afterwards 1st Earl of Shaftesbury), in whose house he went to
reside. Here he made the acquaintance of Buckingham, Halifax, and other
leading men of the time, and was entrusted by Ashley with the education
of his _s._, and afterwards of his grandson, the famous 3rd Earl of
Shaftesbury (_q.v._). He was also employed by him to draw up a
constitution for the new colony of Carolina, the provisions of which in
regard to religion were regarded as too liberal and were, at the instance
of the Established Church, departed from. In 1672 when Ashley became
Chancellor he bestowed upon L. the office of Sec. of Presentations, and
afterwards a post at the Board of Trade. In 1675 L. graduated M.B., and
in the same year went for the benefit of his health, which had always
been delicate, to Montpelier, where there was then a celebrated medical
school, and subsequently to Paris, where he became acquainted with most
of the eminent Frenchmen of the day. Recalled by Shaftesbury in 1679 he
returned to England but, his patron having in 1682 been obliged to take
refuge in Holland from a prosecution for high treason, he followed him
there. In consequence of this he became obnoxious to the Government, and
was in 1684 deprived of his studentship at Christ Church. Shaftesbury
having _d._ in Holland, L. remained there until the Revolution, when he
returned to England in the fleet which carried the Princess of Orange. He
was now in favour with Government, and had the offer of diplomatic
employment which, on account of his health, he declined, but was
appointed a Commissioner of Appeals. In 1698 he was an adviser of the
Government on the question of the coinage, and was made a member of the
newly instituted Council on Trade, which position he resigned in 1700.
During his last years he lived with Sir Francis and Lady Masham at Gates
in Essex, where Lady M., who was a _dau._ of Ralph Cudworth (_q.v._), and
an old friend, assiduously tended his last years. The services of L. to
his country in civil and religious matters were various and great; but it
is upon his philosophical writings, and chiefly on his _Essay on the
Human Understanding_ (1690) that his fame rests. It is divided into four
books, of which the first treats of innate ideas (the exis