CHAPTER XI 



THE PRINCIPLES OF MORALS 



IN his autobiography, Hume writes : 



" In the same year [1752] was published at London my 

 ' Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals ' ; which in my 

 own opinion (who ought not to judge on that subject) is of all my 

 writings, historical, philosophical, and literary, incomparably 

 the best. It came unnoticed and unobserved into the world." 



It may commonly be noticed that the relative 

 value which an author ascribes to his own works 

 rarely agrees with the estimate formed of them 

 by his readers ; who criticise the products, with- 

 out either the power, or the wish, to take into 

 account the pains which they may have cost the 

 producer. Moreover, the clear and dispassionate 

 common sense of the "Inquiry Concerning the 

 Principles of Morals" may have tasted flat after 

 the highly-seasoned " Inquiry Concerning the 

 Human Understanding." Whether the public 

 like to be deceived, or not, may be open to ques- 

 tion ; but it is beyond a doubt that they love to 



