HUME. 



341 



Hume. 



|r*rdles* of conclusions, trusting that investigation, if 

 free from bias, could not be too keen or persevering, 

 and that all its apparent disadvantages must be acci- 

 dental and temporary. He studied human nature in a 

 point of view which was in a great measure his own, 

 without consulting the prevailing taste, either in the 

 choice of his subject, or in the style and manner in 

 which be chose to handle it. He has been accused of 

 a passion for singularity ; but we find him in this in- 

 stance regretting, that opinions which he found inevi- 

 table were so different from those which prevailed around 

 him. He published his treatise in London in 1738, 

 and then returned to his friends in Scotland. But all 

 the visions of a sanguine author were now severely mor- 

 tified. He had been prepared to encounter opposition 

 and outcry. These he expected, and be seems to have 

 pleased himself with contrasting his own unanswerable 

 theorems with the shallow replies which would be zeal- 

 ously and from numerous quarters elicited. But his 

 work excited no interest ; it was neither known nor 

 read, and, as he himself expresses it, " fell dead born 

 from the presa." He continued, however, to value the 

 opinion* which it contained ; and endeavoured, by va- 

 rious persevering efforts, to conciliate to them the pub- 

 lic attention. The admirer* of his metaphysics reckon 

 it the most profound of his works, and consider bit 

 subsequent writings on the same subject a* losing in 

 depth what they gained in popularity of manner. 



His disappointment, though keenly felt, was sur- 

 mounted by a cheerful and sanguine temper ; and be 

 prosecuted, with renewed industry, bis literary labour* 

 in the country. In 1742. he published the first partof his 

 Kuayi, which met with a reception sufficiently favour- 

 able to console him for his first disappointment In 

 he resided as a companion to the Marquis of An- 

 nandale in England for twelve months ; and, from hi* 

 appointment* during that time, acquired a considerable 

 acce**ion to hi* small fortune. About this time the pro- 

 fessorship of moral philosophy in the university of 

 :>urgh becoming vacant by the resignation of Dr 

 (afterward* Sir John) I'ringle, Mr Hume became a 

 candidate for that situation ; but the sceptical princi- 

 ples which he had advanced in his first work were too 

 offensive to allow the magistrates, who were the pa- 

 trons, or those learned person* whom they consulted, 

 to receive him as a public instructor of youth, and that 

 application was coneqaently ineffectual 



In ITVi, he amwapaniad General St Clair, as hi* 

 private secretary, in an expedition fieatinsd for Canada, 

 which terminated in an incursion on the coast of France. 

 In 17 17, he attended the same gentleman in his military 

 embassies to the court* of Vienna and Turin. From 



>u* hit literary occupation* were ssia]>enilil for 

 two years ; but he enjoyed with much relish that po- 

 lished society which he highly ornamented, and in 

 which he was a general favourite. At this time he at- 

 tempted to give a more popular form to his first specu- 

 lations, in a work entitled An Inquiry COUKI mug the 

 Human Undemanding ; which, however, had little bet- 

 ter success than the original trtaiut. A new edition of 

 his Lttayi was also published, which met not with a 

 much better reception. Mortified in some degree, but 

 not discouraged, by these miscarriages, he continued 

 hi* efforts to rouse the attention of the world to his fa- 

 vourite subjects. He had now returned to his brother's 

 bouse in Scotland, where he composed his 1'fJilical l>it- 

 corriet. and his Inquiry concerning the Principles 

 rah. His opinions had gradually worked themselves in- 

 to notice ; an effect which the plausibility of his 



ings, the charms of his language, and the importance of ^ 

 the subjects, could not fail to produce. Being adver>e to 

 the prevailing philosophy, as well as bearing strongly 

 on the religion of the age, and considered by many 

 persons as alarming in their tendency, they could not, 

 of course, be permitted to extend their influence, with- 

 out having their validity subjected to the most rigid 

 scrutiny. Mr Hume, either unalterably confident in 

 the justness of his views, or considering them as less 

 important than his fame, was principally disposed to 

 look on the appearance of a succession of replies as flat- 

 tering symptoms of his rising reputation, and derived 

 from them encouragement to proceed in his career. In 

 1752, his Political Discoursei were published. This 

 waa the first of his works which gained immediate at- 

 tention, and general approbation. He also now pub- 

 lished his Inquiry concerning tht Principle* oj Morals, 

 a work which met with little notice, though more high- 

 ly valued by the author than any other. It appeared 

 to correspond too much with the sceptical principles of 

 hi* other writings on moral subjects, by referring all mo- 

 ral distinction to utility. It certainly, however, display- 

 ed much acuteness of research, and contributed to remove 

 much of the rubbish by which questionsof this nature had 

 been encumbered. The dangerous character which Lord 

 K "*, and some others of his opponents, attached to 

 a theory which reduced all moral differences to utility, as 

 leaving them to thearbitrary decisions and varying judg- 

 ments of individual*, is more *r less applicable to every 

 theory on the subject. The agreement or disagreement 

 of mankind on particular moral questions is rather mat- 

 ter of fact than of theory. The apprehensions of any 

 dangerous tendency attached to the theory of Mr 

 , imply, in their most obvious sense, a contra- 

 diction in terms. Utility is, in itself, real and precise, 

 however obscurely understood ; and in its every essence 

 exclude* all idea of danger. We have, indeed, heard 

 particular acts represented as inculcated by utility, 

 while their danger was capable of l>eing painted in the 

 most convincing term*. These arguments only prove, 

 that the character of utility may be rashly applied, 

 while some circumstances essential to it are omitted. 

 I'tility, indeed, is not a simple original principle. It 

 is a general feature applicable to a variety of phenome- 

 na, among which human actions are to be numbered ; 

 and even with those who grant that there are prior 

 principle* of our nature which serve to suggest moral 

 distinction*, all Mich anggmtknis must be allowed to 

 bacoust the subject* of computation ; and in all discus- 

 ions of the propriety of particular actions, utility is the 

 ultimate test to which we are referred, and is necessary 

 to stamp them with the character of rectitude. 



In the same year, he was made librarian to the Facul- 

 ty of Advocate* of Edinburgh, a situation which not 

 only gave him command of the invaluable library be- 

 longing to that body, but forcibly directed his atten- 

 tion to the character of the works which it contained. 

 It was now that he began to write his History of Eng- 

 land, that highly pleasing performance, which, however 

 censured in some of it* parts and tendencies, is read 

 with delight by all classes of persons, and does high cre- 

 dit to the country which gave birth to its author. The 

 first volume that was published, commenced with the 

 accession of the house of Stuart, and contained the 

 HJgn* of James I. and Charles I. It appeared in 1754. 

 The public, however, were not *o easily won by the 

 splendour of his narrative, and that air of easy philoso- 

 phy which dictated the remarks of the historian, as to 

 give any quarter to hi* obnoxious sentiments. He of- 



Humr. 



