8 HUME I 



life, that Hume addressed to some eminent 

 London physician (probably, as Mr. Burton 

 suggests, Dr. George Cheyne) a remarkable letter. 

 Whether it was ever sent seems doubtful; but it 

 shows that philosophers as well as poets have 

 their Werterian crises, and it presents an interest- 

 ing parallel to John Stuart Mill's record of the 

 corresponding period of his youth. The letter is 

 too long to be given in full, but a few quotations 

 may suffice to indicate its importance to those who 

 desire to comprehend the man. 



" You must know then that from my earliest infancy I 

 found always a strong inclination to books and letters. As 

 our college education in Scotland, extending little further 

 than the languages, ends commonly when we are about 

 fourteen or fifteen years of age, I was after that left to my 

 own choice in my reading, and found it incline me almost 

 equally to books of reasoning and philosophy, and to poetry 

 and the polite authors. Every one who is acquainted either 

 with the philosophers or critics, knows that there is nothing 

 yet established in either of these two sciences, and that they 

 contain little more than endless disputes, even in the most 

 fundamental articles. Upon examination of these, I found 

 a certain boldness of temper growing on me, which was not 

 inclined to submit to any authority in these subjects, but 

 led me to seek out some new medium, by which truth might 

 be established. After much study and reflection on this, at 

 last, when I was about eighteen years of age, there seemed 

 to be opened up to me a new scene of thought, which trans- 

 ported me beyond measure, and made me, with an ardour 

 natural to young men, throw up every other pleasure or 

 business to apply entirely to it. The law, which was the 

 business I designed to follow, appeared nauseous to me, 

 and I could think of no other way of pushing my fortune 



