John Locke’s grave plaque, High Laver, Essex, United Kingdom

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Text of the plaque in English:

Traveler, halt!
Near here is buried
JOHN LOCKE.
If you inquire about him, he replies that he
was content with his middling station. He was educated
to the extent that you may learn from his writings
how he worshipped truth alone; they [his writings]
will reveal to you everything else about him more faithfully
than the suspect eulogy of an epitaph: his virtues (if he had any)
altogether too small for him to offer them to you as
deserving of praise, as something to imitate; [and] as for his
faults, let them be buried with him. If you should seek an example of
morals, you have it in the Gospels; if you should wish an example of
vice, may you not seek it at all!; if you should wish an example of
mortality (may it profit you!), it is here and everywhere.

He was born Aug. 29, A. D. 1632.
He died Oct. 28, A. D. 1704.
The tablet that commemorates these events will soon perish as well.

Translated by Francis Newton, Duke University Classics Department, 2016.

Citation: Essex Record Office, Chelmsford, United Kindgom. I/Mb 212/1/3. Black and white print: Monument to John Locke, High Laver. Date unknown.
Permissions: Used with permission from the Essex Record Office, 2016.
Credit: © Essex Record Office
Associated timeline dates: 1704
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