Philosophical Works, v. 1 (of 4): Including All the Essays, and Exhibiting the More Important Alterations and Corrections in the Successive Editions Published by the AuthorHume, David
PhilosophyPhilosophy
Philosophical Works, v. 1 (of 4): Including All the Essays, and Exhibiting the More Important Alterations and Corrections in the Successive Editions Published by the Author
Hume, David
Knowledge, Theory of; Philosophy, English -- 18th century
The perusal of the letter above mentioned alarmed me a
good deal, when, perceiving that I had been brought over
to England in consequence of a project which began to be
put in execution, but of the end of which I was ignorant,
I felt the danger without knowing what to guard against,
or on whom to rely. I then recollected four terrifying
words Mr Hume had made use of, and of which I shall speak
hereafter. What could be thought of a paper in which my
misfortunes were imputed to me as a crime, which tended, in
the midst of my distress, to deprive me of all compassion,
and, to render its effects still more cruel, pretended
to have been written by a Prince who had afforded me
protection? What could I divine would be the consequence
of such a beginning? The people in England read the public
papers, and are in no wise prepossessed in favour of
foreigners. Even a coat, cut in a different fashion from
their own, is sufficient to excite a prejudice against
them. What then had not a poor stranger to expect in his
rural walks, the only pleasures of his life, when the good
people in the neighbourhood were once thoroughly persuaded
he was fond of being persecuted and pelted? Doubtless
they would be ready enough to contribute to his favourite
amusement. But my concern, my profound and cruel concern,
the bitterest indeed I ever felt, did not arise from the
danger to which I was personally exposed. I have braved
too many others to be much moved with that. The treachery
of a false friend,[26] to which I had fallen a prey, was
the circumstance that filled my too susceptible heart with
deadly sorrow. In the impetuosity of its first emotions, of
which I never yet was master, and of which my enemies have
artfully taken the advantage, I wrote several letters full
of disorder, in which I did not disguise either my anxiety
or indignation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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