Ijgi. ON SOME ENGLISH HISTORIANS. 93 



a fingle town, or a fingle country parifli. Why then 

 fhould we think it tirelome to read twenty or thirty 

 volumes on the national hiftory of our anceftors ? Mr. 

 Hume, like many men of eminence, has performed too 

 little, by attempting to perform too much ; yet his 

 writings aiford univerfal and lp.ftmg pleafure. The 

 diftinctnefs of hi'5 manner, and the acutenefs of Jiis 

 general obfervations, caft a veil over the errors and de- 

 ficiencies of nis narrative. 



In the Mifcellanies in Profe and Verfe, of which fe- 

 verp.l extrafts have been lately made in the Bee, aid 

 which are jiift now advertiled by Mr. Creech, there is 

 a note on this fubjeft, which I beg leave to infert. 



•' I would not walk acrofs my parlour to learn whe- 

 " ther Mary was guilty or innocent of any one crime 

 " laid to her charge. The conducl of Darniey to his 

 " wife, his fovtreign, his benefa^lrefs, deferved ten 

 *' deaths; and Mary, if connected with the confpira- 

 " tors, was at ^vorlt bn't an executioner of jutliQe. If 

 " we fl-iall, without a f[)ark of evidence, admit her a- 

 " mour with Rizzio, it may be faid in apology, that 

 *' fhe (hrunk with propriety from the embraces of a 

 " monfter ; and is there one of her accufers who has 

 " not, at fome unguarded moment, been fcduced by 

 " the infirmities of our nature? In all that relates to 

 " Bothwell, and the fequel of her ftory, I fee nothing 

 " but fome imprudence, much magnanimity, and infinite 

 ♦• bad fortune. Iffhe wanted to depofe and deftroy Eli- 

 •' zabeth, ftill the ruin of her country, the maffacr" 

 " of her friends, the lofs of her kingdom, her liberty, 

 " and her child, juftified her revenge. David Hume, 

 " that MAN OF MILD DISPOSITIONS.*, who endeavoured 

 *' to run one of his critics through the body, and who 

 *' replied to another f in the language of a clown, has, 

 *' on this fuhjeft diflinguiflied himfelf, by perfevering 

 " in detected untruth. Let us' fuppofe a familiar 



■• See my own life, 

 t Mr. Tytlcr. 



