iS78 HIS BOOK ON HUME r,i 



The extract above given contains the first reference to 

 the book on Hume,* written this summer as a holiday 

 occupation at Penmaenmavvr. The speed at which it was 

 composed is remarkable, even allowing for his close knowl- 

 edge of the subject, acquired many years before. Though 

 he had been "'picking at it " earlier in the summer, the 

 whole of the philosophical part was written during Sep- 

 tember, leaving the biographical part to be done later. 



The following letters from Marlborough Place show him 

 at work upon the book : — 



March 31, 1878. 



My dear Morley — I like the notion of undertaking your 

 Hume book, and I don't see why I should not get it done this 

 autumn. But you must not consider me pledged on that point, 

 as I cannot quite command my time. 



Tulloch sent me his book on Pascal. It was interesting as 

 everything about Pascal must be, but Tulloch is not a model 

 of style. 



I have looked into Bruton's book, but I shall now get it and 

 study it. Hume's correspondence with Rousseau seems to me 

 typical of the man's sweet, easy-going nature. Do you mean 

 to have a portrait of each of your men? I think it is a great 

 comfort in a biography to get a notion of the subject in the 

 flesh. 



I have rather made it a rule not to part with my property 

 in my books — but I daresay that can be arranged with Mac- 

 millan. Anyhow I shall be content to abide by the general 

 arrangement if you have made one. 



We have had a bad evening. Clifford has been here, and 

 he is extremely ill— in fact I fear the worst for him. 



It is a thousand pities, for he has a fine nature all round, 

 and time would have ripened him into something very consid- 

 erable. We are all very fond of him. — Ever yours very faith- 

 fully, T. H. Huxley. 



July 6, 1878. 



My dear Morley — Very many thanks for Diderot. I have 

 made a plunge into the first volume and found it very interesting. 

 I wish you had put a portrait of him as a frontispiece. I have 

 seen one — a wonderful face, something like Goethe's. 



* In the "English Men of Letters" series, edited by Mr. John 

 Morley. 



