Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary - Faculty of Social Sciences

66 IIISTOIiY OF TIIE EDITIONS. HISTORY OF THE EDITIONS. 67not of servility and flattery. In those days of ingenuous a11dcandid liberty, a dedication did honour to the person towhom it was addressed, without degrading the author. Ifany partiality appeared towards the patron, it was at leastthe partiality of friendship and affection.' Another instance of true liberty, of which antient tinlescan alone afford us an example, is the liberty of thought,which engaged nien of letters, however different in theirabstract opinions, to maintain a mutual friendship and regard;and never to quarrel about principles, while theyagreed in inclinations and manners. Science was often thesubject of disputation, never of animosity. Cicero, an academic,addressed his phil'osophical treatises, so~netimes toBrutzcs, a stoic ; sometimes to Atticus, an epicurean. ,' I have been seized with a strong desire of renewing theselaudable- practices of antiquity, by addressing the followingdisseirtations to you, my good friend : For such I will evercall and esteem you, notwithstanding the opposition, whichprevails between us, with regard to many of our speculativetenets. These differences of opinion I have only found toenliven our conversation ; while our common passion forscience and letters served as a cement to our friendship. Istill admired your genius, even when I imagined, that youlay under the influence of prejudice; and you sometimestold me, that you excused my errors, on account of thecandor and sincerity, which, you thought, acconlpanied them.'But to tell truth, it is less my admiration of your finegenius, which has engaged me to make this address to you,- than my esteem of your character and my affection to yourperson. That generosity of mind which ever accompaniesyou ; that cordiality of friendship, that spirited hoilour andintegrity, have long iilterested ine strongly in your behalf,and have made me desirous, that a monument of our mutualamity sllould be publicly erected, and, if possible, be preservedto posterity.I own too, that I have the ambition to be the first whoshall in public express his admiration of your noble tragedy ofDOUGLAS ; one of the most interesting and pathetic pieces,tliat was ever exhibited on any theatre. Should I yive itthe preference to the Mcrope of Ilfciflei, and to that of Voltaire,which it resembles in its subject ; should I affirm, that itcontained more fire aid spirit than the former, inore tender-ness and simplicity than the latter; I might be accused ofpartiality : And how could I entirely acquit myself, after theprofessions of friendship, which 1 have made you ? But theunfeigned tears which flowed from every eye, in the numerousrepresentations which were made of it on this theatre ; theunparalleled command, which you appeared to have overevery affection of the human breast! : These are incontestibleproofs, that you possess the true theatric genius of Shakespearand Otway, refined from the unhappy ba,rbarism of the one,and licentiousness of the other.My enemies, you know, and, I own, even sonletimes myfriends, have reproached me with the love of paradoxes andsingular opinions ; and I expect to be exposed to the sameimputation, on account of the character which I have heregiven of your DOUGLAS. I shall be told, no doubt, that I hadartfully chosen the only time, when this high esteem of thatpiece could be regarded as a paradox, to wit, before its publication;and that not being able to contradict in this particularthe sentiments of the public, I have, at least, resolved to gobefore them. But I shall be amply compensated for all thesepleasantries, if you accept this testimony of my regard, andbelieve me to be, with the greatest sincerity,' Dear Sir,' Your most affectionate Friend,and humble Servant,'EDINRUW: 3 January, 1757.'' DAVID HUME.The history of this volume is not yet concluded. It isnow proved that Huine originally intended to include in itEssays on Suicide and on the Immortality of the Soul, andthat they were already in print, when he yielded to his disliketo stirring a nest of hornets, and sent orders for them tobe expunged.He was extremely anxious that no copy containing theseEssays shollld reinain in existence : what then was hisaniloyance on finding that Wilkes was possessed of one ? Hewrites to Millar, April 23, 1764 :'I never see Mr. Wilkes here but at chapel, where he isa most regular, and devout, and edifying, and pious attendant ;I ti~kc lliin to be entirely regenerate. He told me last Sunday,