38 HUME ii 



yielded little emolument the salary was only 

 forty pounds a year was valuable as it placed 

 the resources of a large library at his disposal. 

 The proposal to give Hume even this paltry place 

 caused a great outcry, on the old score of infidel- 

 ity. But as Hume writes, in a jubilant letter to 

 Clephane (February 4, 1752): 



" I carried the election by a considerable majority. . . . 

 .What is more extraordinary, the cry of religion could not 

 hinder the ladies from being violently my partisans, and I owe 

 my success in a great measure to their solicitations. One has 

 broke off all commerce with her lover because he voted against 

 me ! And Mr. Lockhart, in a speech to the Faculty, said there 

 was no walking the streets, nor even enjoying one's own fire- 

 side, on account of their importunate zeal. The town says 

 that even his bed was not safe for him, though his wife was 

 cousin-german to my antagonist. 



" 'Twas vulgarly given out that the contest was between 

 Deists and Christians, and when the news of my success came 

 to the playhouse, the whisper rose that the Christians were 

 defeated. Are you not surprised that we could keep our 

 popularity, notwithstanding this imputation, which my 

 friends could not deny to be well founded 1 " 



It would seem that the " good company " was 

 less enterprising in its asseverations in this canvass 

 than in the last. 



The first volume ; of the " History of Great 

 Britain, containing the reign of James I. and 

 Charles I.," was published in 1754. At first, the 

 sale was large, especially in Edinburgh, and if 

 notoriety per se was Hume's object, he attained it. 



