He is now publicly committed to a theory, and he adheres to it resolutely and doggedly.In after years he said: " So {123} great an undertaking, planned before I was one-and-twenty, and composed before twenty-five, must necessarily be very defective.I have repented my haste a hundred and a hundred times." But this refers to the form and style, not the matter.He never abandoned nor modified the scepticism advanced in the early work.When he failed in obtaining a hearing for his views in the more elaborate treatise, he set them forth in " Essays," which might be more attractive to the general reader.He had instituted an inquiry, and satisfied himself that speculative truth was unattainable, either in philosophy or theology , owing to the weakness of the human intellect, and he did not wish to be disturbed with questionings.He seems to have studiously abstained from speaking on such subjects in social intercourse, except at times, in a tone of playful humor, not meant to be offensive; and on becoming an author he formed the resolution " never to reply to anybody." He rather delighted to associate with ministers of religion, such as Robertson, Blair, and Carlyle, whom he reckoned moderate and tolerant, and helpful in producing a religious indifference; but he never allowed them to try to convert him to the truths of natural and revealed religion which they held by; and when Dr.Blair ventured on one occasion to make the attempt, he received such a reply as prevented the repetition of it on any future occasion.There are traditions of him and Adam Smith conversing familiarly on such subjects on the sands of Kirkcaldy, and of Hume succeeding in bringing his friend over to infidelity; but we have no authenticated record of Hume ever opening to any human being the religious or irreligious convictions of his soul.A good-natured and sociable man, kind and indulgent to those with whom he came in contact, he passed through life a solitary being, certainly with no God, and apparently with no human being to whom to unbosom himself.
Having set the matured and confirmed man before our readers, we have no intention of detailing minutely the events of his future life.Having published his work, he retired to Ninewells to wait the result."Never literary attempt was more unfortunate than my `Treatise of Human Nature.' It fell deadborn from the press without reaching such distinction as even to create a murmur among the zealots." He evidently felt the {124} disappointment."I am out of humor with myself." He was amazed that the liberty he had taken with all established truth had not created a sensation.But he was conscious of intellectual power: he had laid his plan for life; and he indomitably persevered in his literary career.Next year he published the third volume of his treatise, that on ethics, with no better success.In 1741 he printed at Edinburgh the first, and in 1742 the second, of his " Essays Moral and Political." The work was favorably received and he was encouraged.In 1744 he was anxious to be appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, but public sentiment could not bear the idea of one so sceptical being appointed a teacher of youth.He was a younger brother without a profession, and he wished to have a competency; and so in 1745, the year of the rebellion of Prince Charles, he became the companion and guide of the weak-minded Marquis of Annandale.The engagement brought him some accession of fortune, but terminated abruptly from the caprice of the Marquis.In 1747he attended General St.Clair in his military embassy to the Courts of Vienna and Turin.There he saw a variety of life;and he congratulates himself that when the engagement closed, he was " master of near a thousand pounds." In 1748he cast the first part of his unfortunate treatise in a new form, in the "Inquiry concerning Human Understanding," but the work failed to excite any interest.His brother at Ninewells having married in 1751, his place of residence was now Edinburgh, where he was appointed to, and held for five years, the office of librarian to the advocates' library, a situation which brought him little or no emolument.In 1752he published in Edinburgh the second part of his essays, being his " Political Discourses." This work was immediately received with acclamation; and, being translated into French, it procured him a high reputation, and in fact awakened those discussions which issued in making political economy a science in the " Wealth of Nations." Whatever merit Hume may have in demolishing error, he has, I believe, established very little positive truth: what he effected in this way was done in political economy.The same year he published his " Inquiry concerning the Principles of Morals," being an improved version of the third part of his treatise." Meanwhile my bookseller, A.Millar, informed me that my {125} former publications (all but the unfortunate treatise) were beginning to be the subject of conversation, that the sale of them was gradually increasing, and that new editions were demanded.Answers by reverends and right reverends came out two or three in a year; and I found, by Dr.Warburton's railing, that the books were beginning to be esteemed in good company." He had long had the idea of writing some historical work, and from the time of his being appointed librarian to the well-stored advocates' collection of books, he formed the plan of writing the " History of England." The first volume commenced with the accession of the house of Stuart, but was received so coldly that in a twelvemonth the publisher sold only forty-five copies.
