46 HUME 



II 



increases every day without the least appearance of provocation 

 on our part. It has frequently made me resolve never in nay 

 life to set foot on English ground. I dread, if I should under- 

 take a more modern history, the impertinence and ill-manners 

 to which it would expose me ; and I was willing to know from 

 you whether former prejudices had so far subsided as to ensure 

 me of a good reception." 



His fears were kindly appeased by Millar's 

 assurance that the English were not prejudiced 

 against the Scots in general, but against the 

 particular Scot, Lord Bute, who was supposed to 

 be the guide, philosopher, and friend, of both the 

 King and his mother. 



To care nothing about literature, to dislike 

 Scotchmen, and to be insensible to the merits of 

 David Hume, was a combination of iniquities on 

 the part of the English nation, which would have 

 been amply sufficient to ruffle the temper of the 

 philosophic historian, who, without being foolishly 

 vain, had certainly no need of what has been said 

 to be the one form of prayer in which his country- 

 men, torn as they are by theological differences, 

 agree ; " Lord ! gie us a gude conceit o' oursels." 

 But when, to all this, these same Southrons 

 added a passionate admiration for Lord Chatham, 

 who was in Hume's eyes a charlatan ; and filled 

 up the cup of their abominations by cheering for 

 " Wilkes and Liberty," Hume's wrath knew no 

 bounds, and, between 1768 and 1770, he pours a 

 perfect Jeremiad into the bosom of his friend Sir 

 Gilbert Elliot. 



