50 HUME ii 



and the rugged crags of the Castle rock, with the 

 gray Old Town of Edinburgh; while, far below, 

 from a maze of crowded thoroughfares, the hoarse 

 murmur of the toil of a polity of energetic men is 

 borne upon the ear. At times a man may be as 

 solitary here as in a veritable wilderness; and may 

 meditate undisturbedly upon the epitome of nature 

 and of man the kingdoms of this world spread 

 out before him. 



Surely, there is a fitness in the choice of this 

 last resting-place by the philosopher and historian, 

 who saw so clearly that these two kingdoms form 

 but one realm, governed by uniform laws and 

 alike based on impenetrable darkness and eternal 

 silence; and faithful to the last to that profound 

 veracity which was the secret of his philosophic 

 greatness, he ordered that the simple Eoman 

 tomb which marks his grave should bear no 

 inscription but 



DAVID HUME 

 BORN 1711. DIED 1776. 



Leaving it to posterity to add the rest. 



It was by the desire and at the suggestion of 

 my friend., the Editor of this Series,* that I under- 

 took to attempt to help posterity in the difficult 

 business of knowing what to add to Hume's 

 epitaph; and I might, with justice, throw upon 



* English Men of Letters. Edited by John Morley. 



