He
might have given a truer character of their friendship, had
he thought less of his own standing in public estimation, and
more of the dead woman. But he was in all things, as Burke
said of his son in that ever memorable passage, a public
creature. He wished that even into this private place of his
affections posterity should follow him with a complete
approval; and he was willing, in order that this might be so,
to exhibit the defects of his lost friend, and tell the world
what weariness he had sustained through her unhappy
disposition. There is something here that reminds one of
Rousseau.
(1) Works, vi. 513, 514.
I do not think he ever saw Mrs. Locke after he left Geneva;
but his correspondence with her continued for three years.
It may have continued longer, of course, but I think the last
letters we possess read like the last that would be written.
Perhaps Mrs. Locke was then remarried, for there is much
obscurity over her subsequent history. For as long as their
intimacy was kept up, at least, the human element remains in
the Reformer's life. Here is one passage, for example, the
most likable utterance of Knox's that I can quote:- Mrs Locke
has been upbraiding him as a bad correspondent. "My
remembrance of you," he answers, "is not so dead, but I trust
it shall be fresh enough, albeit it be renewed by no outward
token for one year.
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