II 



LATER YEARS 35 



on Natural Religion/' the "Inquiry Concerning 

 the Principles of Morals," and the " Political 

 Discourses." 



" The Dialogues on Natural Religion " were 

 touched and re-touched, at intervals, for a quarter 

 of a century, and were not published till after 

 Hume's death : but the " Inquiry Concerning the 

 Principles of Morals " appeared in 1751, and the 

 "Political Discourses" in 1752. Full reference 

 will be made to the two former in the exposition 

 of Hume's philosophical views. The last has been 

 well said to be the " cradle of political economy : 

 and much as that science has been investigated 

 and expounded in later times, these earliest, 

 shortest, and simplest developments of its prin- 

 ciples are still read with delight even by those 

 who are masters of all the literature of this great 

 subject." 1 



The " Wealth of Nations," the masterpiece of 

 Hume's close friend, Adam Smith, it must be 

 remembered, did not appear before 1776, so that, 

 in political economy, no less than in philosophy, 

 Hume was an original, a daring, and a fertile 

 innovator. 



The <: Political Essays " had a great and rapid 

 success ; translated into French in 1753, and 

 again in 1754, they conferred a European reputa- 

 tion upon their author; and, what was more to 



1 Burton's Life of David Hume, i. p. 354. 



D 2 



