Life and Correspondence of David Hume, Volume 1

David Hume · en
Transcriber's Notes: Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been
left as in the original. Words in italics in the original are surrounded
by _underscores_. A row of asterisks represents a thought break. Letters
superscripted in the original are surrounded by {braces}. Ellipses match
the original. A complete list of corrections follows the text.

The original has two different kinds of blockquotes: one uses a smaller
font than the main text, and the other has wider margins. In this text,
the blockquotes in a smaller font have wider margins, and the other
blockquotes have two blank lines before and after the quotation. An
explanation of the different kinds of quotations can be found at the end
of the "ADVERTISEMENT".

The Index that was printed at the end of Volume II. of this series has
been included at the end of this Volume for reference purposes.

                           LIFE AND

                      CORRESPONDENCE OF

                         DAVID HUME.

              [Illustration: Bust of David Hume]

                             LIFE

                             AND

                        CORRESPONDENCE

                              OF

                         DAVID HUME.

       FROM THE PAPERS BEQUEATHED BY HIS NEPHEW TO THE
            ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH; AND OTHER
                      ORIGINAL SOURCES.

                  BY JOHN HILL BURTON, ESQ.
                          ADVOCATE.

                          VOLUME I.

                          EDINBURGH:
             WILLIAM TAIT, 107, PRINCE'S STREET.
                          MDCCCXLVI.

                          EDINBURGH:
        Printed by WILLIAM TAIT, 107, Prince's Street.

                 TO THE PRESIDENT AND COUNCIL

                              OF

               THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH,

             THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

                              BY

             THEIR MOST OBEDIENT HUMBLE SERVANT,

                        J. H. BURTON.

ADVERTISEMENT.

In this work, an attempt has been made to connect together a series of
original documents, by a narrative of events in the life of him to whom
they relate; an account of his literary labours; and a picture of his
character, according to the representations of it preserved by his
contemporaries. The scantiness of the resources at the command of
previous biographers, and the extent and variety of the new materials
now presented to the world, render unnecessary any other apology for the
present publication. How far these materials have been rightly used,
readers and critics must judge; but I may be perhaps excused for
offering a brief explanation of the spirit in which I desired to
undertake the task; and the responsibility I felt attached to the duty,
of ushering before the public, documents of so much importance to
literature.