34 HUME n 



If Hume had told this story to Dr. Carlyle, the 

 latter would have said so ; it must therefore have 

 come from Mr. Boyle ; and one would like to have 

 the opportunity of cross-examining that gentleman 

 as to Hume's exact words and their context, before 

 implicitly accepting his version of the conversation. 

 Mr. Boyle's experience of mankind must have 

 been small, if he had not seen the firmest of 

 believers overwhelmed with grief by a like loss, 

 and as completely inconsolable. Hume may have 

 thrown off Mr. Boyle's " principles of religion," but 

 he was none the less a very honest man, perfectly 

 open and candid, and the last person to use am- 

 biguous phraseology among his friends ; unless, 

 indeed, he saw no other way of putting a stop to 

 the intrusion of unmannerly twaddle amongst the 

 bitter-sweet memories stirred in his affectionate 

 nature by so heavy a blow. 



The " Philosophical Essays " or " Inquiry " was 

 published in 1748, while Hume was away with 

 General St. Clair, and, on his return to England, 

 he had the mortification to find it overlooked in 

 the hubbub caused by Middleton's " Free Inquiry," 

 and its bold handling of the topic of the " Essay 

 on Miracles," by which Hume doubtless expected 

 the public to be startled. 



Between 1749 and 1751, Hume resided at 

 Ninewells, with his brother and sister, and busied 

 himself with the composition of his most finished, 

 if not his most important works, the " Dialogues 



