Life and Correspondence of David Hume, Volume 1

David Hume · en
Captain Vincent held a commission from the Marquis to "hire and dismiss
servants," and perform other like functions. It was in virtue of this
authority that he dealt with Hume; and he seems at first to have
thought, that in the person of the philosopher he had met with a sort of
superior and valuable member of the fraternity of upper-servants. Though
Hume had then written the works on which a large portion of his European
reputation was afterwards built, this man seems to have regarded his
literary abilities as merely an enhancement of the qualities which
suited him for his servile office. Looking upon himself as a member of
the family, he appears to have had much the same disposition to admit
that Hume's literary distinction put them on a par with each other, as
he might have had to admit that the display of an unexpected degree of
musical talent in the servants' hall would qualify one of its
frequenters to be hail-fellow well met with him in the dining-room.
Whether Hume was right or wrong in the suspicions he entertained of
Vincent, the conduct of Vincent to Hume was brutal, and that on his own
showing.

One of Hume's views, as to the proper treatment of the Marquis, was,
that the isolation of Weldhall was unsuitable to his condition: that he
should be in a a more cheerful residence, and one in other respects
more suitable; and the dispute appears to have been for some time
suspended on this peg. On the 31st October, Hume writes:--

"What is the mighty matter in dispute? Only about hiring a few carts to
remove the family to another house, in order to quit this; which, for
very good reasons, is infinitely disagreeable to your friend, very
dangerous, will be uninhabitable for cold during the winter season, and
costs £300 to £400 a-year, at least, to the family, more than is
requisite." And afterwards he says of Vincent:--"He said, when he was
here, that we shall live in this house till the lease was out, in spite
of all opposition."

In the letter from which the preceding passage is taken, he says to Sir
James Johnstone,--