Hume / (English Men of Letters Series)

hurch, apparently on a visit to the Scottish capital, as the small estate which his father Joseph Hume, or Home, inherited, lay

he property derived its name of Ninewells from a considerable spring, which

ack that she had "precisely the same constitution with himself" and died of the disorder which proved fatal to him, it is probable that the qualities inherited from his mother had much to do with the future philosopher's eminence. It is curious, however, that her estimate of her son in her only recorded, and perhaps slightly apocryphal utterance, is of a somewhat unexpected character. "Our Davie's a fine goodnatured crater, but uncommon wake-minded." The first part of the judgment was indeed verified by "Davie's" whole life; but one might seek in vain for signs of what is commonly understood as "weakness of mind" in a man who not only showed himself to be an intellectual athlete, but who had an eminent sh

s studies were continued, and he did not graduate. In 1727, at any rate, he was living at Ninewells, and already possessed by that love of learning and thirst for literary fame, which, as My Own Life tells us, was the ruling passion

lf, neither full of action nor perturbation-molles somnos. This state, however, I can foresee is not to be relied on. My peace of mind is not sufficiently confirmed by philosophy to withstand the blows of fortune. This greatness and ele

d" may then have recorded itself. But, though few lonely, thoughtful, studious boys of sixteen give vent to their thoughts in such stately periods, it

fancied I was poring upon Voet and Vinnius, Cicero and Virgil were the authors which I was secretly devouring," and t

ted to the traditional recollections of the Parliament house, or associated with important decisions. He was through life an able, clear-headed, man of business, and I have seen several legal documents, written in his own hand and evidently drawn by himself. They stand the test of general professional observation; and their writer, by preparing documents of facts of such a character on hi

bark in a practical career-this time commerce-and with a like result. For a few

yne) a remarkable letter. Whether it was ever sent seems doubtful; but it shows that philosophers as well as poets have their Werterian crises, and it presents an interesting parallel to John Stuart M

these two sciences, and that they contain little more than endless disputes, even in the most fundamental articles. Upon examination of these, I found a certain boldness of temper growing on me, which was not inclined to submit to any authority in these subjects, but led me to seek out some new medium, by which truth might be established. After much study and reflection on this, at last, when I was about eighteen years of age, there seemed to be opened up to me a new scene of thought, which transported me beyond measure, and made me, with an ar

l representations of virtue in the works of Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch, and being the

ctions against death, and poverty, and shame, a

very charact

ion, works it into the soul, and makes it take a deep impression: but, in solitude, they serve to little other purpose than to wa

tions were, at first, at the bottom of the whole business; for, in 1731, a ravenous appetite set in and, in six weeks from being tall, lean, and raw-boned, Hume says he became sturdy and robust, with a ruddy complexion and a cheerful countenance-eating, sleeping, and feeling well, except that the capaci

re very few; and, as Hume's option lay between a travelling tu

esolution to forget myself, and everything that is past, to engage myself, as far as is possible, in that cou

ut a profession or any assured means of earning a guinea; and having doubtless, by his apparent vacillation, but r

have steadily and successfully pursued. I resolved to make a very rigid frugality supply my deficiency of fortune, to maintai

quent intercourse with the Jesuits of the famous college in which Descartes was educated. Here he composed his first work, the Treatise of Human Nature; though

ir natural philosophy, of being entirely hypothetical, and depending more upon invention than experience: every one consulted his

getically, in one of his letters, that it was planned before he was tw

ley, indeed, published the Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision, the Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, and the Three Dialogues, between the ages of twenty-four

.[6] The publisher gave fifty pounds for the copyright; which is probably more than an unknown writer of twenty-seven years of age would get for a similar

d news from London of the success of my Philosophy, which is but indifferent

m that which Hume, looking through the inverted telesco

Human Nature. It fell deadborn from the press without reaching

ntestable marks of a great capacity, of a soaring genius, but young, and not yet thoroughly practised;" and he adds, that we shall probably have reason to consider "this, compared with the later productions, in the same light as we view the juvenile works of a Mil

ich were likely to yield, and did in fact yield, a much better return of that sort of success which his soul loved. The Philosophical Essays Concerning the Human Understanding, which afterwards became the Inquiry, is not much more than an abridgment and recast, for popular use, of parts of the Treatise, with the addition of the essays on Miracles and on Necessity. In style, it exhibits a great improvement on the Treatise; but the substance, if not deteriorated, is certainly not improved. Hume does not really bring his mature powers to bear upon his early speculations, in the later work. The crude fruits have not

niversity of Glasgow; and Hume sends a copy of the Treatise to "Mr. Smith," apparently on the recommendation of the well-known Hutcheson, Professor of Moral Philosop

, the first volume of Essays Moral and Political

m of political philosophy may be gathered from their contents. Thus the third essay, That Politics m

they on the humours and tempers of men, that consequences almost as general and certain may someti

rom universal suffrage, from aristocratic privilege, and fro

and a people voting by their representatives, form the

n nearly a century and a half ago, it would seem that whatever other

e is no meanness or crime, of which, in their judgment, he is not capable. Unnecessary wars, scandalous treaties, profusion of public treasure, oppressive taxes, every kind of maladministration is ascribed to him. To aggravate the charge, his pernicious conduct, it is said, will extend its baneful influence even to posterity

nd interest of the nation supported abroad, public credit maintained at home, persecution restrained, faction subdued: the merit of all these blessings is ascribed solely to the minister. At the same time, he crowns

uth there may be in either, rather tends to show that our much-vaunted constitution does not ful

undermines it and affords us the opportunity

iscusses the Orig

mutual intercourse. We are therefore to look upon all the vast apparatus of our government, as having ultimately no other object or purpose but the distribution of justice, or, in other words, the support of the twelve judges. Kings and parliaments, fleets and armies, officers of the court and r

e could be certain by intuition, or by the aid of revelation, that it is wrong for society, as a corporate body, to do anyth

es; and, though the proposition that the State has no business to meddle with anything but the administration of justice, seems sometimes to be regarded as an axiom, it can hardly

h in the fourth essay, On the F

on. It is, therefore, on opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim extends to the most

rvation, if for no better reason, society has a right to see that the means of forming just opinions are placed within the reach of

ht to power, and right to property. No government can permanently exist, unless the majority of the citizens, who are the ultimate depos

tion allows any share of power, though small, to an order of men who possess a large share of property, it is easy for them gradually to stretch their

ity of the Commons was by no means equivalent to t

uence that multitude of people, or withstand that balance of property. It is true, the crown has great influence over the collective body in the elections of members; but were this influence, which at present is only exerted once in seven years, to be employed in bringing over the people to every vote, it

exact definite pledges from candidates, they are rapidly becoming, if not delegates, at least attorneys for committees of electors. The same causes are constantly tending to exclude men, who combine a keen sense of self-respect with large intellectual capacity, from a position in wh

o the probable ultimate result of the forces which were at work in t

ious reverence to names and authority; the clergy have much lost their credit; their pretensions and doctrines have been much ridiculed; and even religion can scarcely support itself in the world. The mere name o

ing tendency of monarchy to become slightly absurd, from the ever-widening discrepancy between modern political ideas and the theory of kingship. As Hume observes, even in his time, people had left off making believe that a king was a different species of man from, other men; and, since his day, more and more such make-believes have become impossible; until the maintenance of kingshi

doubt but a popular government may be imagined more perfect than an absolute monarchy, or even than our present constitution. But what reason have we to expect that any such government will ever be established in Great Britain, upon the dissolution of our monarchy? If any single person acquire power enough to take our constitution to pieces, and put it up anew, he is really an absolute monarch; and we have already had an instance of this kind, sufficient to convince us, that such a person will never resign his power, or establish any free government. Matters, therefore, must be trusted to their natural progress and operation; and the House of Commons, according to its present constitution, must be t

at quarter; we have also reason to be more jealous of popular government, because that danger is mo

they are at present, there is no more reason why it should cease to exist in the next, than in the past, hundred million years or so. The true ground for doubting the possibility of the establishment of absolute monarchy in Britain is, that opinion seems to have passed through, and left far behind, the stage at which such a change would be possible; and the true reason for doubting the permanency of a republic, if it is ever established, lies in the fact, that a republic requires for its maintenance a far higher standard of morality and of intelligence in the members of the state than any other form of government. Samuel gave the Israelites a k

o expunge everything that savoured of democratic tendencies. But the passage just quoted shows that this was no recantation, but simply a confirmation, by his expe

nce of the marvellous change which has taken place in the social condition of Scotland since 1741, contai

d to produce so sudden and so visible an alteration in this part of Britain. There are only two ranks of men among us; gentlemen who have some fortune and education, and the meanest slaving poor; without any considerable number of that middling rank of men, which abound more in England, both in cities and in the country, than in any other part of the world. The slaving poor are inca

tirely vanished in 1741" sounds strange enough: and the passage which contains it is omitted in the third edition of the Essays, published in 1748. Neverthele

d be said nowadays, is Hume's remark in the E

us licentiousness of their stage from the exampl

oundingly conjoined) "knew too little of the rules of art to be esteemed elegant writers," and the prose of Bacon, Harrington, and Milton is "altogether stiff and pedantic." Hobbes, who whether

been and is talked than upon any other topic, Hume's observations are full of sense and shrewdness. He d

plenty or penury in which people live, the situation of the nation w

er the

ne and habit of the body, and giving a particular complexion, which, though reflexion and reason may sometimes o

fying the great influence o

operation in this particular; nor do I think that men owe anything

, that he would not have had recourse to the circumambience of the "melancholy main" to account for the troublous history of Ireland. He

th one another, they will preserve during several centuries a distinct and even opposite set of manners. The integrity, grav

a part in modern political speculations, was hardly broach

.... Such a uniform and constant difference [between the negroes and the whites] could not happen in so many countries and ages, if nature had not made an original distinction between these breeds of

ss they deserved. Hume wrote

; and, as one of them tells me, Innys, the great bookseller in Paul's Churchyard, wonders there is not a new edition, for he cannot find

ut he was out of town; and being shortly afterwards made Bishop of Bristol, Hume

, by becoming bear-leader to the Marquis of Annandale, a young nobleman of feeble body and feebler mind. As might have been predicted, this venture was not more fortunate than his previ

TNO

hambers's Book of Days (April 26th); and if, as Drummond says, "It is a favourable specimen of the best

me, on which, I need hardly say, I have drawn freely

d of young Descartes' renunci

y Own

before I was one-and-twenty, and composed before twenty-five, must necessari

"'Tis now a fortnight since my book was published." But it is a curious illustration of the value of testimony, that Hume,

Life, vol.