Cudworth Damaris, Lady Masham (1659– 1708), English philosopher and author of two treatises on religion, A Discourse Concerning the Love of God (1690) and Occasional Thoughts in Reference to a Virtuous Christian Life (1705). The first argues against the views of the English Malebranchian, John Norris; the second, ostensibly about the importance of education for women, argues for the need to establish natural religion on rational principles and explores the place of revealed religion within a rational framework. Cudworth’s reputation is founded on her long friendship with John Locke. Her correspondence with him is almost entirely personal; she also entered into a brief but philosophically interesting exchange of letters with Leibniz. See also LOCKE , MALEBRANCH. M.At.