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

74 HISTORY 011' 'I'IIE EIIITLONS. HISTORY OF THE EDITIONS. 75thah iiilpartial observation on the history and conduct of theCourt and Country Parties was obsolete.The study of English History appears to have occasionedbut few alterations in statements of fiact : the clearest beingnu the first page of 'The Balance of Trade," where EditionsN and 0 vimy with the progress of his 'History.' Thecourse of conteinporary politics relieved him of the fear thatEarope would be s~vallo~ved up by enormous monarchies ;"ant1 in 1770 lie omitted passages which boasted of Englandas the bulwark against French aggre~sion.~ As regards theRoman Catholic religion, and indeed religion generally, hesoftened or witlldre~v offensive expressions, though the generaltenor of his sentiments remained unchanged, auci in 1770lle added a paragraph on the doctrine of the Intention ofthe Priest, characterizing it as positive, a,rrogant, and dog-~natioal.~ There is a rnarked change in his opinion of LordBolingbroke, who, up to 1748, was instanced as ' a cultivatedgenius for oratory:' the citation was changed in thenext edition, when also praise of his oratory was modified in~trlotlier yas~age.~ At the same time he omitted an invectiveagainst Dr. Swift, a.s an author, ' who has Inore humour thank tio wledge, Inore taste than judgment, and more spleen,prejudice, and passion than any of these qualities :' howeverto the last he was called the first Englishman to write politeprose.6 Rapin had a sudden downfall in his good graces.In the edition of 1752 he is styled 'the most judicious ofhistorians ;' Edition K in 1754-the year in which the firstvolume of the History of the Stuarts was published-censureshis ' usual malignity and partial it^.'^The general development of style may easily be seen, bycomparing either the Treatise or the Essays which o111y appearedin Edition A with the language of the text, as hefilially left it. A few words and phrases deserve specialnotice. For some years he invariably wrote Britain, notGreat Britain. ' Sonlething of the Misanthrope ' wns struckout in 1770. From 1742 to 1748 he wrote, ' to the mstrumor- Verve of the poets :' Vrom 1754 to 1768 it is their' U3st)rurn or native enthusiasm :,' in 1770 the barbarousVol. iii. p. 331. Vol. iii. pp. 170, 173.Vol. iii. p. 355. Vol. iii. pp. 332, 159.1-01. iii. pp. 353. 476. Vol. iii. p. 473.In a note to the Enqi~iry Concerning Vol. iii. p. 151.the Pri~~ciples of Morals. scc. iii. "01. iii. p. 197.word disappeared. In 1748 he replaced Gaietk de Caur 'by g-aiety of heart." Up to 1754 he apologized for speak-ing of the absurd naivety of Sancho Panza, ' a word which Illape borrow'd froin the French, and which is wanted in ourlanguage : ' in 1758 the apology was thought unnecessary.Lastly, we may notice that in 1770 he dropt the obsoletephrase, ' the stated clubs at the inns.'3On reriewing the history of Hume's literary and philosophicalworks, we are at once struck by the suddenness withwhich his labours in philosopliy came to an end. The Trentiseon Human Nature was written when he was five-andtwenty: that is, in the beginning of 1736 ; it mas publisl~edin 1739-40, and after that date he wrote little that was new.The Essay on Miracles was already drafted in manuscript.The Enquiries are for the most part popular reproductions.Even a large portion of the Essays appears to have beenwritten before 1730. The only additions which philosophyreceived from Hume, are to he found in the Natural Historyof Religion and the Dialogues concerning Natural Reli,' ("1011 :the latter were written before 1751, and the former ' he hadkept some years by him ' in 1755. To be brief: Hume's contributionsto metaphysics were written by 1736, when he wasfive-and-twenty : his contribution to the philosophy of religion,by 1750, when he was thirty-nine : and after this datehe added nothing.Various theories have been invented to account for this.It has been suggested that the negative character of Hume'sspeculation reacted upon their author, chilling the earnestspirit of enquiry which had composed the Treatise, and reconcilinghim to lazy acquiescence. It is said that indifferenceof this sort explains the candour and impartiality withwhich Hume treated the political disputes of his day. Thesame supposition has been adduced to explain the habitualirony with which he wrote on religious topics. Mr. Hunt,following the late Professor Maurice, adopts language to asimilar effect.'The title generally applied to Hume is that of Sceptic,and this both in philosopliy and religion. He follows experiencetill he finds there is something beyond experience.Then he either acknowledges that we must fall back upoilnatural instincts, and trust to reason, such as it is, or hevol. iji. y. 230. Vol, iii. I). 240. Val, ill. p 320.