embaffy to the courts of Vienna and Turin. He held, on this occafion, the ftation of fecretary, and, by mingling in the gay world, familiarized himself with the manners of the great. It was formerly mentioned, on the authority of Mr. Hume himself, that his fanguine turn of mind, ever ready to bend itself towards the bright fide of things, had afcribed the want of fuccefs, which his Treatife experienced, to too precipitate an appearance before the public; and that the manner in which the work was executed, rather than the doctrines it fupported, was the rock on which he had ftruck. Impreffed with this notion, he employed the leifure, which his prefent fashionable mode of life afforded, in retouching the first part of that performance, and tranfmitted the manufcript from Turin to London, where it was printed under the new title of an Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. The reception, which this production met with, was not calculated to confirm him in the opinion he entertained of the cause of his former bad fortune. In fact, it attracted as little notice as his Treatife had done; and he himself tells us, that, on his return from Italy, he had the mortification to find all England in a ferment on account of Dr. Middleton's Free Inquiry, while his * Dr. Conyers Middleton's Free Inquiry into the miraculous Powers, which are fuppofed to have fubfifted in the Chriflian Church, was published in 4to. in 1749. It forms the first of the five volumes of his Mifcellaneous Works. own own performance was entirely overlooked and neglected. In 1748, and immediately prior to the publication of the Enquiry, his Effays, Moral and Political, were re-published at London *; but, according to his own account, they were received with as much indifference as his new work had been. It is not now easy to ascertain, whether this edition, which contained four additional effays, was the second or the third: it was probably the latter; and if this opinion be correct, a third edition in the fpace of fix years ought to have afforded confolation to Mr. Hume on his recent difappointment. Perhaps, on perufal of thefe pieces, the reader will be inclined to think, that they had a better fate, than their merit entitled the author to expect. The additional Effays were, 1. Of the Origin of Government. 4. Of the Standard of Tafte. So many difcouragements, as he had encountered by the untoward fortune of his literary productions, would, doubtlefs, have had their full influence on a more timid mind. But our author's temporal circumftances were now eafy ; and being totally independent of the fales of his works, he did not look to his pen for fupport: he fought only the reputation of a man of letters. No fenfe of the neceflity of labour, no privations, no clamorous wants, obtunded his powers. In fo favourable a fituation, he could give full reins to his inclination: there was no call of hafte, no urgency to toil; and he was not conftrained to fit down, invitá Minervá, to his cheerlefs tafk. Every new performance, therefore, matured in the bofom of tranquillity, may be regarded as a fair criterion of his talents at the time; and from his unremitting perfeverance, he feems to have imbibed the true cacoëthes fcribendi. In 1749, he retired to his brother's houfe at Ninewells, where he refided two years. During this period he compofed the fecond part of his Effays, which he ftyled Political Difcourfes. He likewife wrote his Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals, which, as has been already noticed, originally formed part of his treatife on Human Nature, but which he now thought proper to new-model. It was published in London, in November 1751*, by Andrew Millar, the well-known bookfeller in the Strand. This production flood highly in the author's favour, who, during the whole of his life, manifefted a strong predilection for it; and he frankly tells us, that, in his own opinion, it was, of all his writings, *In 12mo. price 38. historical, hiftorical, philofophical, or literary, incomparably the best: yet, like all his former labours, it came unnoticed into the world. Mr. Hume left Ninewells in 1751, and eftablished his refidence at Edinburgh, where his Political Difcourfes were printed in one volume, 8vo. and published in the following year. This performance was the only one, which met with a flattering reception on its first appearance; and in the short space of two years, it reached a third edition, which was publifhed at London, with additions and corrections *. Thefe Political Difcourfes were on the following fubjects: 1. Of Commerce. 2. Of Refinement in the Arts. 4. Of Interest. 5. Of the Balance of Trade. 7. Of the Balance of Power. 8. Of Taxes. 9. Of Public Credit. 10. Of fome remarkable Customs. 11. Of the Populousness of ancient Nations. 12. Of the original Contract. *The first edition was published at Edinburgh in the month of January 1752, price 4s. 6d. the fecond by Andrew Millar in 1754. 13. Of Paffive Obedience. 14. Of the Coalition of Parties. In 1753, the eleventh Effay, viz. that on the Populousness of Ancient Nations, was attacked by Dr. Robert Wallace, one of the minifters of Edinburgh, in an octavo volume intitled, A DISSERTATION ON THE NUMBERS OF MANKIND IN ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES: with an Appendix, containing additional Obfervations on the fame Subject, and fome Remarks on Mr. Hume's Political Difcourfe on the Populoufnefs of Ancient Nations *. The Rev. Mr. Adams likewife published at London, in 1753, An Effay on Mr. Hume's Effay on Miracles. This laft Effay is the tenth in our Author's Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. In the fame year, in which Mr. Hume's Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals appeared, Mr. Henry Home, who was then at the bar, but afterwards better known as Lord Kames, published his celebrated Effays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion t. This work, although anonymous, attracted great attention by the boldnefs of its research. It was attacked in Published at Edinburgh. They were published in the month of March 1751, 12mo. A new edition appeared in 1758, with alterations and additions. various |