I EARLY LIFE 29 



The "Essays" met with the success they de- 

 served. Hume wrote to Henry Home in June, 

 1742: 



" The Essays are all sold in London, as I am informed 

 by two letters from English gentlemen of my acquaintance. 

 There is a demand for them ; 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 copies for his 

 customers. I am also told that Dr. Butler has everywhere 

 recommended them; so that I hope that they will have 

 some success." 



Hume had sent Butler a copy of the " Trea- 

 tise " and had called upon him, in London, but he 

 was out of town; and being shortly afterwards 

 made Bishop of Bristol, Hume seems to have 

 thought that further advances on his part might 

 not be well received. 



Greatly comforted by this measure of success, 

 Hume remained at Ninewells, rubbing up his 

 Greek, until 1745; when, at the mature age of 

 thirty-four, he made his entry into practical life, 

 by becoming bear-leader to the Marquis of Annan- 

 dale, a young nobleman of feeble body and 

 feebler mind. As might have been predicted, this 

 venture was not more fortunate than his previous 

 ones; and, after a year's endurance, diversified lat- 

 terly with pecuniary squabbles, in which Hume's 

 tenacity about a somewhat small claim is remark- 

 able, the engagement came to an end. 



