146 THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY 



part of the book, while the second and larger part is 

 taken up by Hume's philosophy. The following passages 

 near the end of the former, having reference to Hume's 

 self-selected place of burial on the Calton Hill, are 

 among the finest of their kind that Huxley ever penned : — 



" From the summit of this hill, there is a prospect unequalled 

 by any to be seen from the midst of a great city. Westward 

 lies the Forth, and beyond it, dimly blue, the far-away Highland 

 hills ; eastward, rise the bold contours of Arthur's Seat and 

 the rugged crags of the Castle rock, with the gray Old Town 

 of Edinburgh; while, far below, from a maze of crowded 

 thoroughfares, the hoarse murmur of the toil of a polity of 

 energetic men is borne upon the ear. At times a man may be 

 as solitary here as in a veritable wilderness ; and may meditate 

 upon the epitome of nature and of man — the kingdoms of this 

 world — spread out before him. 



" Surely, there is a fitness in the choice of this last resting- 

 place by the philosopher and historian, who saw so clearly that 

 these two kingdoms form but one realm, governed by uniform 

 laws and alike based on impenetrable darkness and eternal 

 silence ; and faithful to the last to that profound veracity which 

 was the secret of his philosophic greatness, he ordered that the 

 simple Roman tomb which marks his grave should bear no 

 inscription but 



DAVID HUME, 



BORN 171 I. DIED 1776. 



Leaving it to posterity to add the rest. 



" It was by the desire and at the suggestion of my friend, 

 the Editor of this Series, that I undertook to attempt to help 

 posterity in the difficult business of knowing what to add to 

 Hume's epitaph ; and I might, with justice, throw upon him 

 the responsibility of my apparent presumption in occupying a 

 place among the men of letters, who are engaged with him, in 

 their proper function of writing about English Men of Letters. 



" That to which succeeding generations have made, are 

 making, and will make, continual additions, however, is Hume's 

 fame as a philosopher ; and, though I know that my plea will 



