There are several indications that Hume still retained the half-formed intention of continuing his History through a portion of the period succeeding the Revolution. In a brief undated letter, written to Smith in Paris, he says:—

"Some push me to continue my History. Millar offers me any price. All the Marlborough papers are offered me: and I believe nobody would venture to refuse me. But cui bono? Why should I forego idleness, and sauntering, and society, and expose myself again to the clamours of a stupid factious public? I am not yet tired of doing nothing; and am become too wise either to mind censure or applause. By and bye I shall be too old to undergo so much labour. Adieu."[392:2]

Smith's opinion is thus reported by Andrew Millar, on 22d November, 1766.

"He is of opinion, with many more of your very good sensible friends, that the History of this country, from the Revolution, is not to be met with in books yet printed; but from MSS. in this country, to which he is sure you will have ready access, from all accounts he hears from the great here; and therefore you should lay the ground-work here, after your perusal of the MSS. you may have access to, and doing it below will be laying the wrong foundation. I think it my duty to inform you the opinion of your most judicious friends, and I think he and Sir John Pringle may be reckoned amongst that number."[393:1]

Millar, indeed, seems to have scarcely ever relaxed from urging this project; and perhaps it was his perseverance, and not any self-originating desire to pursue the task, that kept the design alive in Hume's mind. He had written to his worthy publisher on 8th October, 1766:—

"I shall probably do as you advise, and sketch out the outlines of the two or three subsequent reigns, which I may finish at London, after I find that there remains no farther obstacles to this work, and that it is favoured, I do not say by every body, (for that is impossible,) but by the generality of the world."

At a later date he thus expressed his views:—

On the same subject, and in the same tone, he writes to his brother, on 6th October:—

"As to myself, I pass my time, as I told you, in an agreeable enough kind of business, and not too much of it. My income, also, is at present very considerable—above £1100 a-year, of which I shall not spend much above the half. Notwithstanding, I sometimes wish to be out of employment, in order to prosecute my History, to which every body urges me. When Mr. Conway was on the point of resigning, I desired him to propose to the king that I might afterwards have the liberty of inspecting all the public offices for such papers as might serve to my purpose. His majesty said, that he was glad that I had that object in my eye; and I should certainly have all the assistance in his power. He was also pleased, some time after, to send to me the Baron Behr, minister for Hanover, to tell me that he had ordered over some papers from Hanover, to be put into my hands, because he believed they would be of use to me. I believe I have told you that the use of the Marlborough papers had been promised me by Lord and Lady Spencer; but Marchmont, who had some pretence of authority over them, as trustee, delayed giving them up, suspecting, I suppose, the use they intended to make of them."[395:1]

Though it was as part of Lord Rockingham's administration that Conway became secretary of state, and his political connexions attached him to that leader, he had been prevailed on to retain office on the formation of the Grafton and Chatham cabinet, in August 1766. In the summer of 1767, that ministry seemed likely to be formidably assailed by the united efforts of the Rockingham and Bedford parties, whose meetings and resolutions at Newcastle House are matters well known in history. General Conway's resignation would have terminated Hume's tenure of office; and we find, in his correspondence, a few indications of interest in the political movements of the time; yet so calm and modified, that even the possession of office seems scarcely to have affected the stoic philosophy with which he contemplated ministerial revolutions.

He says to his friend Blair, on the 18th of June:—

"We are all again in confusion. Negotiations for a new ministry; the fatal month of July approaching; a new settlement to be made, which will be no settlement. I fancy I return, in a few weeks, to my former situation."[395:2]

And to Smith, on 14th July:—

"Dear Smith,—I send you the enclosed, with a large packet for Count Sarsfield. This is the last ministerial act which I shall probably perform; and with this exertion I finish my functions. I shall not leave this country presently. Perhaps I may go over to France. Our resignation is a very extraordinary incident, and will probably occasion a total change of ministry. Are you busy?"[396:1]

His official life, however, was not so near a conclusion as he thought it was. The following letter is more full and explicit, in regard to these matters:—

"London, 28th July, 1767.

"Dear Brother,—Were my present situation any object of anxiety, I should have been very unhappy of late: so uncertain has my continuance appeared every moment, and so near did my ministerial functions seem to draw towards their conclusion. But as the matter was very nearly indifferent to me, I neither felt anxiety for my past danger, nor do I experience any joy from my present establishment; for we are now established, for some time at least, and all apprehensions of a change are removed to a distance. The history of our late transactions is, in short, as follows: About this time twelvemonth, when the last revolution of ministry took place, Mr. Conway staid in, though Lord Rockingham, and most of his friends, were turned out: But it was with reluctance, and only on the earnest entreaties of the king and Lord Chatham, and on their giving him a promise that several of his friends and party should still continue to hold their places. This engagement was broke last winter. Some of these gentlemen were turned out; and Mr. Conway, after protesting against this usage, declared, that though he would keep his office during the session, not to disturb the king's business, he would resign as soon as the parliament should rise. He accordingly desired the king, about six weeks ago, to provide him a successor, and was entreated only to keep the seals till a proper person should be thought of. When the matter came to be discussed, it was found very difficult. The Duke of Grafton declared, that being deprived of Lord Chatham's support, he could not continue to serve without Mr. Conway: and a total dissolution of the ministry seemed to be the effect of the incident. Negotiations were accordingly set on foot with the leaders of the opposition, and a great meeting of them was held last week, at Bedford House. It was found that they could not, by any means, agree in their demands; and they separated in mutual discontent. Every body thinks that Mr. Conway has now satisfied, to the full, the point of honour, in which he is very scrupulous, and that he will cordially resume his functions, especially as he stands so well with the king and his fellow ministers, and has brought it within the choice of his old friends to accept of the ministry, if they had thought proper. I was beginning to wish for our dissolution; but upon this turn of affairs, I resume my occupations with cheerfulness."[397:1]

The remainder of this letter is devoted to a matter in which we have already frequently found him taking interest—the education of his nephews. From his earliest to his latest days, his connexion with his elder brother was cordial and affectionate. On the 6th of October we find him writing, in a tone which indicates a sympathy with some domestic calamity which his brother must have suffered:—

"The time of your going to Edinburgh approaches, which makes a great change in your way of life, and will naturally make yourself, as well as all your friends, anxious about the issue of it. However, I cannot but think that you will there live more cheerfully, with all your children about you, than in the country, during the winter, when your boys were absent. At first only, as your spirits are not very strong at present, you may feel uneasy at the alteration, as you are at present somewhat apprehensive about it."[398:1]

There was apparently but one point in which the two brothers differed; and it was a subject on which Hume seems to have been at war with all his clan. The Laird of Ninewells, notwithstanding all the lustre that had now gathered round the name of Hume, would not adopt it in place of that of Home, which his father had borne. He was a simple, single-hearted man, moderate in all his views and wishes, and neither ambitious of distinction nor of wealth. He passed his life as a retired country gentleman; and while Europe was full of his brother's name, he was so averse to notoriety, that he is known to have objected to the domestic events of births, marriages, and deaths, in his family, obtaining the usual publicity through the newspapers.[398:2] His eldest son, Joseph, frequently mentioned in the following correspondence, succeeded him in his estate and retired habits, but not entirely in his disposition; for he indulged in many of the eccentricities and peculiarities so often exhibited by the Scottish gentry,—a characteristic they seem to derive from the circumstance, that, in the British empire, there is no person less liable to encounter an equal, and to be thwarted in his small exercise of absolute power, than a Scottish laird. It is evident from his uncle's letters, that Joseph obtained an excellent education. He was for some time placed under the charge of poor Blacklock,—an arrangement by which Hume sought to perform a double act of beneficence.[399:1] Joseph died unmarried, on 14th February, 1832, and was succeeded by his brother David, whose career was more public and distinguished. He was born on 27th February, 1757,[401:1] and died on 27th July, 1838. He was successively sheriff of the counties of Berwick and Linlithgow. He was professor of Scots law in the university of Edinburgh, and a principal clerk of Session. He subsequently resigned these offices, on his being appointed a Baron of the Scottish Exchequer. His works are of great authority in the practical departments of the law. While he taught in the university, his students zealously collected notes of his lectures; and, as he refused to permit any version of them to be published, the well preserved collections of these notes have been considered valuable treasuries of legal wisdom. In 1790, he published "Commentaries on the law of Scotland, respecting trials for crimes;" and, in 1797, "Commentaries on the law of Scotland respecting the description and punishment of crimes," forming, in four quarto volumes, a comprehensive treatise on all the departments of the criminal law of Scotland, which has now passed through three editions. It has been justly remarked, that lawyers of the present generation, can, with difficulty, appreciate the merit of this work, because, from its having converted the whole subject it embraces into a system, the chaotic mass, from which the present comparatively orderly criminal code of Scotland was constructed, has disappeared.[402:1]

Few literary reputations have been more unlike each other than those of the two David Humes, uncle and nephew. The former hated legal details and the jargon of technical phraseology; to the latter they were the breath of his literary life. The one, as a philosopher, saw, throughout a wide circumference of vision, the relations to each other of the most distant objects of human knowledge; the latter saw nothing beyond the bounds of the professional details before him; but these he noted with an unrivalled accuracy. The strength, clearness, and beauty of the philosopher's language have been a lasting object of admiration; the lawyer's diction was clumsy, rude, and ponderous, without being either strong or clear. On one point only did they agree—their political opinions; and yet, on this subject, they seem not always to have been in unison. From a very curious letter, which will be found a few pages farther on, it appears that Hume thought it necessary seriously to warn his nephew against republican principles. Few, who are only acquainted with the opinions of Baron Hume's later life, will be inclined to believe that this danger could ever have been serious. He was a supporter of all those parts of the criminal law of Scotland,—in his day not a few,—which put the subject at the mercy of the crown and of the judges; and a warm admirer of his sagacity and learning, as a lawyer, cannot quit this subject without regretting that these qualities should have been brought to aid the promulgation of arbitrary principles.

The education of his nephews, occupies, as has been already stated, the remainder of the letter by Hume to his brother above cited.

"My present situation revives those reflections which have frequently occurred to me concerning the education of your sons, particularly of Josey, whose age now advances, and seems to approach towards a crisis. The question is, whether he had better continue his education in Scotland or in England. There are several advantages of a Scots education; but the question is, whether that of the language does not counterbalance them, and determine the preference to the English. He is now of an age to learn it perfectly; but if a few years elapse, he may acquire such an accent, as he will never be able to cure of. It is not yet determined what profession he shall be of: but it must always be of great advantage to speak properly: especially if it should prove, as we have reason to hope, that his good parts will open him the road of ambition. The only inconvenience is, that few Scotsmen, that have had an English education, have ever settled cordially in their own country; and they have been commonly lost ever after to their friends. However, as this consequence is not necessary, the superior recommendations of an English education ought not to be neglected. I have been making inquiries for some time, and on the whole I find Eton the best place for the education of youth. He would there be able to form connexions with many young people of distinction; though the whole expense would scarcely exceed £70 a-year, which I fancy is little more than he costs you at present. I suggest, therefore, this idea to you that you may weigh it at leisure, and determine upon it. I know you do not like to be hurried, and therefore the more time for reflection the better. His friend and companion, young Adam, is coming up soon, but is going to Westminster school, which is a place that I find some objections to.

"I hope Mrs. Home is perfectly recovered. I am glad to hear such good news of Jock. I had a letter from Davie last week, which gave me pleasure. I am, dear brother, yours sincerely."[404:1]

On 13th October, in a letter of which a portion has been cited above, Hume writes further on the same subject:

"Dear Brother,—I never prognosticated well of Josey's genius for the mathematics, from his great slowness in learning arithmetic: and I am not surprised to find that his progress in Euclid has not been so great as might have been expected from his quickness and his capacity in other particulars. There is indeed something very unaccountable in his turn; so childish in many cases, and yet so manly, and quick, and sensible in others. The presence of strangers, above all, seems to make him recollect himself, and he is exceedingly taking among them. His address in particular, is remarkably good, and he seems to have a turn for the world and for company. However, I do not think him by any means deficient in his talents for literature. It appeared to me that he always read his books with a very good taste, Latin as well as French and English; and I imagine that he will make at least a very gentlemanlike scholar. I wish therefore he had a further trial of the Greek; and if that will not do, I think with you that the Italian is an easy and genteel acquisition, which will furnish him with occupation for this winter."[405:1]

Hume expressed no high respect for the historical abilities of Dr. Smollett, nor could he have well expected credit for sincerity if he had done so. With the works in which the novelist let loose his native genius, it is not likely that the philosopher could have had much sympathy. But two letters addressed by him to Smollett, show that the successful and affluent man of letters was substantially kind and friendly to his less fortunate countryman.

It has been a matter of speculation, if not of dispute among ecclesiastical politicians, how far Hume had an influence in the dispensation of church patronage in Scotland. The following letters, having however a more immediate reference to state politics, may be held to afford some light on this question.

The next in the chronological order of Hume's letters, reverts to the prospect of his continuing his History.

Gibbon tells us, in his amusing autobiography, that with the assistance of his friend Deyverdun, he had written in French a portion of a history of Switzerland, and that the opinions he heard expressed when a fragment of it was anonymously read before a society in London, prompted him to abandon the work, and burn the portion he had written. "I delivered," he says, "my imperfect sketches to the flames." Yet, singularly enough, he seems to have confounded the intention with the fulfilment, for they were discovered after his death, but were not thought worthy of being published by his literary executor, Lord Sheffield.[409:3] Gibbon had endeavoured to find for his friend Deyverdun some employment in England, picturesquely observing, that his own "purse was always open, but it was often empty." They wrote in company some numbers of a periodical, now very rare, called "Mémoires Littéraires de La Grande Bretagne," and Gibbon informs us that these specimens of their labours introduced them to the notice of Hume,[410:1] in whose office Deyverdun held an appointment at the date of the following letter:—

Some remarks communicated to Dr. Robertson, on his "History of Charles V." while that work was passing through the press, have deservedly attracted notice by their unconstrained and natural playfulness.

Turgot, at the instigation of some Italian friends, had applied to Hume to recommend a scholar, who would undertake to teach the English language and literature at Parma. He selected Robert Liston; but he had overlooked an objection which the enlightened promoters of the scheme in Italy appear to have considered too obvious to require preliminary explanation, that Liston was a Protestant! In returning thanks to Hume for the unavailing recommendation, Liston discovers the bent of his genius, by desiring that, if an opportunity should occur, Hume would recommend him as secretary of legation to any of the secondary embassies. The fate of the Parma scheme was thus communicated to Elliot.

Gilbert Stuart, then unknown to fame, whether good or bad, and still possessed of any small portion of modesty he had ever been endowed with, was about to publish his little work on the British constitution, the temporary celebrity of which had so prejudicial an effect on his subsequent career. We shall afterwards have an opportunity of noticing him on an occasion when he seems to have thought that the relation which Hume and he bore to each other, in 1768, of humble admirer and distinguished patron, was reversed in his favour.