1826, }, Thoughts on the Purification of Gibbon, &c, 63 
and a great object of compassion. He accepts, however, of his pension. He 
aight all the world in England are prejudiced against him; for which, how- 
ever, he knows no reason, except his behaviour to me, in which he confesses 
he might be to blame. I have wrote to some of my friends in France to pro- 
tect him, if possible. 
Iam, dear Sir, yours with great sincerity, Davin Home, 
Dear Sir: London, 28th of May 1767. 
‘The letter of poor Rousseau to the general was so far obliging that it con- 
sidered him as only led astray by evil council: but it still supposed him to be 
engaged in the conspiracy against him ; and he even insinuates that Mr. Conway 
mi y be induced to cut his throat in private, which, he says, will not be a safe 
attempt, considering that he is unhappily but too well known, and enquiries 
will be made after him if he disappear. In short, he is plainly and thoroughly 
mad. I have used all my persuasion with Monsieur de Guerchy to represent 
him in that light to his court; I have wrote to several of my friends in Paris, 
and represented him as an object of compassion rather than of anger: yet am 
I afraid such is the rage of bigots, that he may be seized, and the law put in 
€xecution against him. I hope he may possibly pass disguised and concealed 
through France. But whither will he go? If to Geneva, as is probable, it 
will be worse for him; for both parties are there in a rage against him. It 
was unlucky he left Wootton, or did not return to it; for he ought really, for 
his good, to be, what he imagines himself, a captive; and he could not haye 
fallen into the hands of a person more prudent and humane than yourself, 
“As to his pension, it will undoubtedly be reserved to him; but we are at a 
loss to know to whom it can be paid, he never gave any directions about the 
matter, as you know, since he fled from Wootton before you could give him in- 
telligence of my last letter. But he will be heard of in some part of the world, 
and must at last fall under some guidance and direction, in which case, it is 
probable, his Majesty will continue his bounty to him, in order to be a relief to 
him in his present unhappy condition. 
He said to General Conway that he had wrote his memoirs, and had de- 
posited them in safe hands, who would deliver them up to the general in case 
he would grant him his liberty. It appears that the chief object of them is to 
give a relation of the treatment he met with in England; and they seem to be 
a satire on the ministers and people: neither of whom he can know any thing 
about. I suppose they will be published. 
_ IT cannot tell the date of his letter to the chancellor, but it came to hand on 
Friday the 15th: it had probably been wrote on the 13th. 
~I wish you had an amanuensis, for I should be sorry to give you the trouble 
of copying his letters. I should send you a copy of his to the general, but it 
is very long; and, besides, Mr. Conway scruples to give a copy, till it be quite 
determined, as he says, whether he be quite mad or only whimsical. But the 
affair appears very clear to me, and, I suppose, to you also. 
* Thope your gout is now a good deal easier. 
Tam, dear Sir, your most obedient humble servant, Davip Hume. 
_P.S. Mr. Fitzherbert had in his hands Rousseau’s letter to the chancellor, 
S8i 
THOUGHTS ON THE PURIFICATION OF GIBBON, SHAKSPEARE, &e. 
AND ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF GOODY TWO-SHOES. 
s No~—give me the carcase-butcher : who examines the dead animal with a butcher's eye, I allow; but 
if he finds the vital part sound, cares not for those trifling discolourments, which give a tinge here and 
there to the bright and healthy hue of the subject under his inspection.” 
ae Talk youof Reviewers, Master Launcelot?” 
Nor I, my friends ; it is against the non-reviewers that I am incensed, 
against those who have not a reviewer's coat on; against those who have 
not the entrée into the temples of literature, but, with brazen audacity, 
climb-over the walls, and disturb the dead in those sanctuaries where 
ED, : rioy be 
FASO 13 Prt te 
Oe! ered 
