HUME 



CHAPTEE I 



EARLY LIFE: LITERARY AND POLITICAL 

 WRITINGS 



DAVID HUME was born in Edinburgh on the 

 26th of April (0. S.), 1711. His parents were then 

 residing in the parish of the Tron church, ap- 

 parently on a visit to the Scottish capital, as 

 the small estate which his father, Joseph Hume, 

 or Home, inherited, lay in Berwickshire, on the 

 banks of the Whitadder or Whitewater, a few 

 miles from the border, and within sight of English 

 ground. The paternal mansion was little more 

 than a very modest farmhouse,* and the property 

 derived its name of Ninewells from a considerable 



* A picture of the house, taken from Drummond's His- 

 tory of Noble British Families, is to be seen in Chambers's 

 Book of Days (April 26th) ; and if, as Drummond says, " It 

 is a favourable specimen of the best Scotch lairds' houses," 

 all that can be said is that the worst Scotch lairds must 

 have been poorly lodged indeed. 



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