One or two passages may be cited from Boswell in further illustration of the bitter feeling with which Hume's death was expected. When we were alone, I introduced the subject of death, and endeavoured to maintain that the fear of it might be got over. I told him that David Hume said to me, he was no more uneasy to think he should not be after his life, than that he had not been before he began to exist. Johnson: "Sir, if he really thinks so, his perceptions are disturbed; he is mad: if he does not think so, he lies. He may tell you, he holds his finger in the flame of a candle, without feeling pain; would you believe him? When he dies, he at least gives up all he has." Boswell: "Foote, Sir, told me, that when he was very ill he was not afraid to die?" Johnson: "It is not true, Sir. Hold a pistol to Foote's breast, or to Hume's breast, and threaten to kill them, and you'll see how they behave."" Letter from Boswell to Johnson: Without doubt you have read what is called "The Life of David Hume," written by himself, with the letter from Dr. Adam Smith subjoined to it. Is not this an age of daring effrontery? My friend Mr. Anderson, Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow, at whose house you and I supped, and to whose care Mr. Windham, of Norfolk, was intrusted at that University, paid me a visit lately; and after we had talked with indignation and contempt of the poisonous productions with which this age is infested, he said there was now an excellent opportunity for Dr. Johnson to step forth. I agreed with him that you might knock Hume's and Smith's heads together, and make vain and ostentatious infidelity exceedingly ridiculous. Would it not be worth your while to crush such noxious weeds in the moral garden?' I mentioned to Dr. Johnson, that David Hume's persisting in his infidelity, when he was dying, shocked me much. Johnson: "Why should it shock you, Sir? Hume owned he had never read the New Testament with attention. Here then was a man who had been at no pains to inquire into the truth of religion, and had continually turned his mind the other way. It was not to be expected that the prospect of death would alter his way of thinking, unless God should send an angel to set him right." I said, I had reason to believe that the thought of annihilation gave Hume no pain. Johnson: "It was not so, Sir. He had a vanity in being thought easy. It is more probable that he should assume an appearance of ease, than so very improbable a thing should be, as a man not afraid of going (as, in spite of his delusive theory, he cannot be sure but he may go) into an unknown state, and not being uneasy at leaving all he knew. And you are to consider, that upon his own principle of annihilation he had no motive to speak the truth." According to the author of the Supplement to the Life of David Hume' (1777), it was thought necessary that his grave should be watched by two men for eight nights, and the droppings of grease from their lanterns were long visible on the tomb. In this Edition the text of the Treatise of Human Nature has been followed in all its curiosities of spelling and punctuation. In the Essays the posthumous edition of 1777 has been reprinted; the variations of earlier editions are given in the notes, which in all cases adopt the latest text. The Essays, which did not survive, will be found at the end of Vol. IV. Many thanks are due to Mr. Burton, both for personal kindness, and for permission to make free use of his 'Life of Hume.' QUEEN'S COLLEGE: Feb. 2, 1874. T. H. GROSE. 85 LIST OF EDITIONS. Essays Moral and Political. Tros Rutulusve fuat, nullo discrimine habebo.-VIRG.: : Edinburgh Printed by R. FLEMING and A. ALISON, for A. The Second Edition, Corrected. MDCCXLII. Brit. Mus. Edition B. Essays Moral and Political.-Volume II. MDCCXLII. Brit. Mus. Edition C. Essays Moral and Political.-By David HUME, Esq. The Third Edition, Corrected with Additions. London: Printed for A. MILLAR, over against Catharine Street, in the Strand, and A. KINCAID in Edinburgh. MDCCXLVIII. One vol. octavo. 3s. Gent. Mag., Nov. 1748. Bodl. Edition D. Philosophical Essays concerning Human Understanding.-By the Author of the Essays Moral and Political. London: A. MILLAR. MDCCXLVIII. One vol. octavo. 3s. Gent. Mag., April 1748. (The only copy the Editor has seen is in Mr. Burton's possession.) Edition E. Ditto. The Second Edition, with Additions and Corrections. By Mr. HUME, Author of the Essays Moral and Political. London: An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals.-By DAVID HUME, Political Discourses.-By DAVID HUME, Esq. Edinburgh: Printed by Four Dissertations. I. The Natural History of Religion. II. Of the Passions. III. Of Tragedy. IV. Of the Standard.of Taste.-By DAVID HUME, Esq. London: A. MILLAR. MDCCLVII. One vol. octavo. 3s. Gent. Mag., Feb. 1757. Bodl. Edition L. First Proof of the Above. No Title-page: but in (?) Hume's handwriting-Five Dissertations, to wit, The Natural History of Religion: Of the Passions: Of Tragedy: Of Suicide: Of the Immortality of the Soul. In the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects.-By DAVID HUME, Esq. A New Edition. London: A. MILLAR. Edinburgh: A. KINCAID and A. DONALDSON. MDCCLVIII. Brit. Mus. Edition M. Ditto, MDCCLX. Four vols. duodecimo. Brit. Mus. Edition N. Ditto, MDCCLXIV. Two vols. octavo. Brit. Mus. Edition O. Ditto. London: Printed for A. MILLAR, A. KINCAID, J. BELL, and A. DONALDSON, in Edinburgh. And sold by T. CADELL, in the Strand. MDCCLXVIII. Two vols. quarto. Brit. Mus. Edition P. Ditto. Printed for T. CADELL, (Successor to Mr. MILLAR), in the Strand; and A. KINCAID and A. DONALDSON, at Edinburgh. MDCCLXX. Four vols. octavo. Brit. Mus. Edition Q. Ditto, Printed for T. CADELL, in the Strand; and W. DONALDSON and W. CREECH, at Edinburgh. MDCCLXXVII. 2 vols. octavo. Brit. Mus. and Bodl. Edition R. Two Essays.-London. MDCCLXVII. Price Five Shillings. (On Suicide and the Immortality of the Soul.) Dialogues concerning Natural Religion.-By DAVID HUME, Esq. 1779. This list exhausts the Editions: all have been collated by the present Editor. |