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HUMBOLDT, KARL WILHELM, BARON VOX. 



HUME, DAVID. 



6H 



who are merely conspicuous through their reasoning faculties, through 

 learning, or through abstract speculation. You will of course not 

 attain perfection within the sphere of mental creation, but within 

 the sphere of reasoning." Schiller's judgment was at once frank and 

 correct : the spirit of universal criticism was embodied in Humboldt, 

 who, with the exception of one large work which he left unfinished 

 in manuscript, composed only minor works, most of them critical 

 essays, which he published at different periods. The greater part of 

 them was collected by his brother Alexander, and published under 

 the title, ' Wilhelm vou Humboldt's Gesammelte Werke,' Berlin, 1841, 

 4 vols. 8vo. 



The principal productions contained in the first volume are Two 

 Memoirs on the ' Bhagavadgita,' a Sanscrit poem, the first of which 

 was first printed in the ' Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Berlin,' 

 and in Schlegel's ' Indische Bibliothek ; ' ' A Critique on F. A. Wolf's 

 second edition of Homer's Odyssey," previously printed in the 

 ' Jenaische Literatur-Zeitung ' (1795) ; ' Rom," a poem, first published 

 at Berlin, 1806; 'Die Sonne ' (the Sun), a poem, first published at 

 Berlin, 1820 ; Twenty-five Sonnets, not printed during the author's 

 lifetime. Those of the second volume are ' Prufung der Unter- 

 suchungen uber die Urbewohner Hispaniens vermittelst der Vaskischen 

 Sprache ' (' Examination of the Researches on the Aborigines of 

 Spain, by means of the Basque Language'), first published at Berlin, 

 1821, 4to. This is a celebrated work, and has become the type on 

 which many similar investigations have been modelled. Humboldt 

 purposely went to the Basque provinces in order to learn the Basque 

 language, and he confounded for ever the absurd theories of Lara- 

 mendi and many other Basque and Spanish scholars on the origin 

 of the Basque language, which most of them endeavoured to establish 

 an the primitive language of mankind, and consequently of paradise. 

 Humboldt's opinion is that the present Basques are the only unmixed 

 descendants of the ancient Iberians, and he shows that in remote 

 times the Iberians inhabited the whole peninsula south of the Pyrenees, 

 the southernmost part of France (Aquitania included), Liguria in 

 Italy, and the islands of Sardinia, Corsica, part of Sicily, and the 

 Buleares. In the time of the Romans the central part of Spain was 

 inhabited by Celtiberiang, a mixture of Celts and Iberians : the limits 

 assigned by Humboldt to this mixed race, that is, the extent of country 

 where the ancient local names were not purely Iberian or Celtic, but 

 mostly Celtic and Iberian compounds, correspond with those assigned 

 to the Celtiberians by Caesar, Strabo, and other ancient writers. In 

 the countries inhabited by the Celtici (the southernmost part of 

 Portugal) and the Tamarici (Qalicia), the aucient names are so exclu- 

 sively Celtic that the author concludes that both those nations were 

 pure Celta. The Iberians, according to Humboldt, were of North 

 African origin, and 'Berber' and 'Iber' are probably the same. 

 The second volume also contains a ' Memoir on the Limits within 

 which Government! ought to confine themselves in their care for the 

 welfare of their Subjects ; ' A metrical Oerman translation of the 

 lt-6th, the 12th and 14th of Pindar's Olympic Odes; the 1st, 2nd, 

 and 4th-9th of the Pythian Odea, among which Mo. 4 appeared first, 

 with a commentary, in the ' Xeue Deutsche Monatsschrift' (1795), 

 ninl N'o. 9, with a commentary, in Schiller's ' Horen ' (1797) ; the 4th, 

 fith, and 10th of the ' Nemean Odes;' Forty-one Sonnets printed 

 from manuscript, &c. The contents of the third volume are: A 

 metrical German translation of the Agamemnon of ^Eschylus, first 

 published, Leipzig, 1816, 4to, considered to be a masterpiece; A 

 metrical German translation of the Choruses of the Eumenides ; An 

 Essay on the Drama in France, first printed in Gothe's ' Propylseen ; ' 

 Travelling Sketches from Biscay ; A most interesting Memoir on 

 Comparative Linguistic, treated historically, and first printed in the 

 ' Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Berlin ; ' Forty-two Sonnets from 

 manuscript, Ac. The fourth volume contains the celebrated critical 

 essay on Gothe's ' Hermann and Dorothea ' (268 pages), which 

 the author first published in the first volume of his 'Aesthetische 

 Versiiche," Brunswick, 1799, 2 vols. 8vo; An Essay on the influence 

 of different Sexes on Organic Nature; Fifty-seven Sonnets from manu- 

 script, Ac. Humboldt's 'Essay on the Dual' (' Ueber den Dualis '), 

 Berlin, 182S, 4to, is not in this collection. 



During the last ten years of his life Humboldt was actively engaged 

 in investigating the Malay and American languages ; but finding the 

 task above his strength, he abandoned the American languages to his 

 friend Dr. Buscbmaun, for whom he afterwards obtained the place of 

 chief librarian of the Royal Library at Berlin, and he devoted hii time 

 exclusively to the Malay languages, on which he intended to write an 

 extensive work. When he died, the first volume was nearly finished, 

 and it was prepared for the press by Dr. Buschmann and Alexander 

 von Humboldt, who published it, with a preface of his own, under 

 the title, ' Ueber die Kawi Sprache auf der Inscl Java,' Berlin, 1836, 

 8vo, which attracted the attention of all Europe. The greater portion 

 of this work comprehends investigations of the progress of civilisation 

 from the continent of India towards the large islands in the Indian 

 Sea, which he traces in the monuments, the languages, and the litera- 

 tur- of the different Malay nations; and only a small portion is 

 devoted to the examination of the Kawi language. Humboldt 

 bequeathed the store of valuable materials he had got together with 

 to much labour, as well as a collection of rare manuscripts and 

 bookn, chiefly on linguistic subjects, to the Royal Library at Berlin. 



HOG. DIV. VOL. III. 



HUME, DAVID, was born at Edinburgh on the 26th of April 1711. 

 Hia father's family was a branch of that of the Earl of Home, or Hume ; 

 but it was not a wealthy family, and Hume, being besides a younger 

 brother, inherited but a slender patrimony. He was destined by his 

 mother (his father had died when he was very young), for the pro- 

 fession of the law, but for this he showed no inclination, and it was 

 eventually given up. The following is his own account of the matter : 

 " I passed through the ordinary course of education with, success, and 

 was seized very early with a passion for literature, which has been the 

 ruling passion of my life, and the great source of my enjoyments. My 

 studious disposition, my sobriety, and my industry gave my family a 

 notion that the law was a proper profession for me ; but I found an 

 insurmountable aversion to everything but the pursuits of philosophy 

 and general learning ; and while they fancied I was poring upon Voet 

 and Vinnius, Cicero and Virgil were the authors which I was secretly 

 devouring." 



We proceed with quotations from his autobiography : " My very 

 slender fortune however being unsuitable to this plan of life, and my 

 health being a little broken by my ardent application, I was tempted, 

 or rather forced, to make a very feeble trial for entering into a more 

 active scene of life. In, 1734 I went to Bristol, with some recom- 

 mendations to eminent merchant?, but in a few months found that 

 scene totally unsuitable to me. I went over to France with a view of 

 prosecuting my studies in a country retreat, and I then laid that plan 

 of life which I have steadily and successfully pursued. I resolved to 

 make a very rigid frugality supply my deficiency of fortune, to main- 

 tain unimpaired my independency, and to regard every object as con- 

 temptible except the improvement of my talents in literature." Ho 

 first went to Rheims, and thence to La Fluche in Anjou ; and at these 

 two places, but chiefly at the latter, he composed his 'Treatise of 

 Human Nature.' He returned to London in 1737, and published his 

 ' Treatise ' the year after. " Never," he observes, " was literary attempt 

 more unfortunate than my ' Treatise of Human Nature.' It fell dead- 

 born from the press, without reaching such distinction as even to 

 excite a murmur among the zealots." But the disappointment did 

 not affect him much or long ; and going to Scotland to his brother's 

 house, he there prosecuted his studies with vigour. In 1742 he pub- 

 linhed at Edinburgh the first part of his ' Essays,' which was on the 

 whole favourably received, and the success of which consoled him in 

 some measure for the failure of his first literary attempt. 



In 1745 Hume went to live with the Marquis of Aunandale, whose 

 state of mind and health was such as to require a companion. He 

 lived with him a twelvemonth, and received, it appears, a handsome 

 salary. He had immediately after an invitation from General St. Clair 

 to attend him as secretary to his expedition, which was at first intended 

 against Canada, but ended in an incursion on the coast of France. 

 Hume took the appointment, and the next year (1747) went a a secre- 

 tary to the same general iu his military embassy to the courts of 

 Vienna and Turin. " These two years were almost the only interrup- 

 tions which my studies have received during the course of my life ; I 

 passed them agreeably and in good company ; and my appointment", 

 with my frugality, had made me reach a fortune, which I called inde- 

 pendent, though most of my friends were inclined to smile when I 

 said so ; in short, I was now master of near a thousand pounds." 



On his return to England he went again to his brother's house, and 

 living there two years, composed his ' Political Discourses,' which 

 formed the second part of his ' Essays,' and his ' Enquiry concerning 

 the Principles of Morals.' These two works were published in 1752, 

 the first iu Edinburgh, and the second in London. Of the first he 

 tells us that it was " well received abroad and at home ; " but the 

 other " came unnoticed and unobserved into the world." In the same 

 year he was appointed librarian to the Faculty of Advocates, nn office 

 which was unattended with emolument, but which, as he tells us, gave 

 him the command of a large library. He now formed the plau of 

 writing the ' History of England.' " Being frightened," he says, " with 

 the notion of continuing a narrative through a period of 1700 years, 

 I commenced with the accession of the House of Stuart, an epoch 

 when, I thought, the misrepresentations of faction began chiefly to 

 take place." Priding himself much on his own impartiality, he was 

 bitterly disappointed when, on the appearance of the first volume, he 

 was accused on all hands of onesidedness. " I was assailed by one cry 

 of reproach, disapprobation, and even detestation ; English, Scotch, 

 and Irish, Whig and Tory, churchman and sectary, freethinker and 

 religionist, patriot, and courtier, united in their rage against the man 

 who had presumed to shed a generous tear for the fate of Charles I. 

 and the Earl of Strafford ; and after the first ebullitions of their fury 

 were over, what was still more mortifying, the book seemed to sink 

 into oblivion. Mr. Millar told me that in a twelvemonth he sold only 

 forty-five copies of it. . . . I was, I confess, discouraged ; and had 

 not the war been at that time breaking out between France and 

 England, I had certainly retired to some provincial town of the former 

 kingdom, have changed my name, and never more, have returned to 

 my native country. But as this scheme was not now practicable, and 

 the subsequent volume was considerably advanced, I resolved to pick 

 up courage and persevere." 



In the interval between the appearance of the first and that of the 

 second volume of his ' History,' ho published his ' Natural History of 

 Religion,' against which a violent pamphlet was written by Dr. Hurd. 



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