EARLY BIOGRAPHIES OF DAVID HUME S.J. Pratt 1777 5/1/95 Copyright 1995, James Fieser (jfieser@utm.edu). See end note for details on copyright and editing conventions. This is a working draft; please report errors.[1] Editor's note: S.J. Pratt (1749-1814) wrote three works pertaining to the life of Hume: the (1777), (1777), and (1788). Review journals did not enthusiastically receive the because of its lack of new information. notes that "little new is to be found in these meagre pages" except for a three anecdotes (1777, Vol. 57, p. 338). 's complete review is that "We observe nothing very material in this publication" (1777, Vol. 57, p. 482), and the complete review in is "Containing a copy of Mr. Hume's will, with a few anecdotes of no material consequence" (1777, Vol. 5, p. 529). Nevertheless, for the modern reader, the is of interest, especially for its graphic account of the events surrounding Hume's funeral. Pratt's was reprinted in 1789; the following is from the 1777 edition. * * * * SUPPLEMENT /TO THE\ LIFE /OF\ DAVID HUME, E/SQ\. /CONTAINING\ GENUINE ANECDOTES, /AND A CIRCUMSTANTIAL ACCOUNT OF HIS\ DEATH /AND\ FUNERAL. /TO WHICH IS ADDED,\ A CERTIFIED COPY OF HIS LAST WILL /AND\ TESTAMENT. Illum aget penna metuente solvi Fama superstes. H/OR\. LONDON, PRINTED FOR J. BEW, PATER-NOSTER-ROW. M DCC LXXVII. {4} Entered in Stationer's-Hall, according to Act of Parliament. It is requested of Printers of News-Papers, to be cautious of injuring the Proprietor of this little Performance. {5} THERE can be no stronger proof of the high estimation in which Mr. Hume was held, and of his being considered {6} as an extraordinary character, than the eager, yet perhaps, idle curiosity, which the public entertained to learn the most minute circumstances respecting his exit. As sincere admirers of Mr. Hume, in the Historian, the Philosopher, and the Man; we felt much regret in hearing announced to the public, "The Life of David Hume Esq; written by Himself." It is {7} an undertaking which we hesitate not to pronounce impossible to be executed with propriety: egotism is disgusting; vanity intolerable; and a just estimation of one's self, the most difficult thing in life. Upon reading this performance, however, which has been dished out into a pamphlet, we find that it only incurs a general charge of insipidity, perhaps in some articles of injustice. Mr. Hume's natural temper {8} disposed him to feel, with exquisite sensibility, every thing which affected his literary fame; and, notwithstanding his boasted equanimity, philosophy did not shield him from the excessive chagrin which he felt from those arrows, which envy and Prejudice darted at his reputation. Anxiety about his difference with the whimsical Rousseau extracted from him a personal, but complete justification. The illiberal criticisms {9} which Mr. Gray[2] threw out against him, in his Epistolary {10} Correspondence, gave him much concern. He saw, with mortification, {11} the laurel wreath which Oxford weaved to cover the bald reputation of Beattie, . And such was the antipathy that subsisted between him and Mr. Tyler, the author of the Vindication of Mary Queen of Scots; that not satisfied with a most acrimonious note,[3] which {12} he has published in the last edition of his History, he would {13} not even sit in company with him, and the appearance of the one effected the instantaneous withdrawing of the other.{14} Mr. Hume, in the History of his Life, has not informed us of his having stood candidate for the Professorship of Moral Philosophy, in the University of Edinburgh; of the opposition which the Scots clergy excited to his pretensions; nor of the enquiry which was moved for in the venerable assembly of the Church of Scotland, respecting the principles inculcated in his Writings; and of the censures proposed {15} to be inflicted on him as the author of Heretical Doctrines. He has observed in the nineteenth page of his Life, that his History of Great Britain met at first with an indifferent reception. But with respect to this, Mr. Hume himself was mistaken. The first edition of the History of Great Britain, for the reigns of James the First and Charles the First, was printed at Edinburgh, A.D. {16} 1754, for . Hamilton, upon his expectations from this book, took a shop, and settled in London. He applied to the London booksellers to take copies of the History from him, but none of them would deal with an . Hamilton, sadly distressed, has recourse to , Mr. Millar; Millar by taking fifty copies: but when gentlemen, in his well-frequented shop, asked for the book, "Pho (says Millar {17} generously) "it is incomplete, another volume is coming out soon. You are welcome to the use of this in the mean time." Thus did Millar circulate the fifty copies among some hundred readers, without selling one, And by this ingenious device attained his favourite purpose, of getting Hamilton to sell him his right in the copy for a trifle, as being an insignificant performance. {18} Mr. Hume, and the late Reverend Dr. Jardine, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, lived in habits of much intimacy. Religion, and , was frequently the subject of their conversation. It happened one night, after they had entertained themselves with theological controversy, that Mr. Hume's politeness, when bidding adieu, would not permit Dr. Jardine (whose oeconomy was not incumbered with many domestics) to light him {19} down stairs. Mr. Hume stumbled in the dark, and the Doctor hearing it, ran to his assistance with a candle, and when he had recovered his guest said to him "David, I have often told you not to rely too much upon yourself, and that is not ." This pleasantry Mr. Hume never relished. As a proof of the steadiness of Mr. Hume's sceptical tenets it may be observed, that when he {20} published the first volume of his History of Great Britain, he was advised, that the opinions he had delivered concerning matters of religion, would hurt the sale of his work; and that some apology would be proper. He accordingly in his second volume, P. 449, when speaking of the religious parties, subjoins the following note, which when his fame was established beyond the reach of party, he cancelled as unworthy of admission. {21} This sophism, of arguing from the abuse of any thing against the use of it, is one of the grossest, and at the same time, the most common, to which men are subject. The history of all ages, and none more than that of the period, which is our subject, offers us examples of the abuse of religion; and we have not been sparing, in this volume more than in the former, to remark them: But whoever would thence draw {22} an inference to the disadvantage of religion in general, would argue very rashly and erroneously. The proper office of religion is to reform mens lives, to purify their hearts, to inforce all moral duties, and to secure obedience to the laws and civil magistrate. While it pursues these salutary purposes, its operations, tho' infinitely valuable, are secret and silent, and seldom come under the cognizance of history. That {23} adulterate species of it alone, which inflames faction, animates sedition, and prompts rebellion, distinguishes itself on the open theatre of the world, and is the great source of revolutions and public convulsions. The historian, therefore, has scarce occasion to mention any other kind of religion; and he may retain the highest regard for true piety, even while he exposes all the abuses of the false. He may even think, that he {24} cannot better show his attachment to the former than by detecting the latter, and laying open its absurdities and pernicious tendency. It is no proof of irreligion in an historian, that he remarks some fault or imperfection in each sect of religion, which he has occasion to mention. Every institution, however divine, which is adopted by men, must partake of the weakness and infirmities {25} of our nature; and will be apt, unless carefully guarded, to degenerate into one extreme or the other. What species of devotion so pure, noble, and worthy the Supreme Being, as that which is most spiritual, simple, unadorned, and which partakes