Life and Correspondence of David Hume, Volume 2

David Hume · en
You think it inconvenient to take the house only for an
     interval. Alas! my prospects of being home are very distant
     and very uncertain: I am afraid I might say worse. My
     connexions with Lord Hertford must probably last for some
     years; after which, I shall be rich enough to live in Paris or
     London as I please, or to retire to a provincial town in
     France, or to Bath, or God knows whither. I like to keep my
     house in case of accidents, and therefore neither choose to
     sell it, nor let a lease of it; but there is no great chance
     of your being disturbed in it for some time. I am, &c.

     P.S.--Pray, do you not all pay court to the Lord
     Marischal?[182:1] Do you imagine that you ever saw so
     excellent a man? or that you have any chance for seeing his
     equal if he were gone?


HUME _to_ COLONEL EDMONDSTOUNE.

     _Paris, 9th January, 1764._

     DEAR EDMONDSTOUNE,--I was fully settled, and, as I thought,
     for life at Edinburgh; had bought a very pretty little house,
     which I had repaired and furnished to my fancy; had purchased
     a chaise, and fixed every thing about my family on such a
     footing as to continue there the rest of my days. But while I
     was in this situation, which was far from disagreeable, I
     received a letter from my friend Mr. Wood, wrote by directions
     from Lord Hertford, by which I was invited to attend his
     lordship in his embassy to Paris, and to perform the
     functions of secretary to the embassy. I had never seen Lord
     Hertford, though I had heard an excellent character of him;
     but as I thought myself too old to enter on a new scene of
     life, and found myself settled to my mind, I at first refused
     the invitation; but on its being urged more home to me, I came
     up to London, where I found that Mr. Bunbury, a gentleman of
     considerable fortune, and married to the Duke of Richmond's
     sister, had already been appointed secretary; but was so
     disagreeable to the ambassador, that he was resolved never to
     see, or do business with his secretary, and therefore desired
     I should attend him, in order to perform the functions. He
     also thought himself certain that Bunbury could not possibly
     continue in the situation; but in order to make me more
     secure, he procured me a pension of £200 a-year for life, from
     the king. As I became every day better acquainted with my
     lord, I liked him every day better; and I do not believe there
     is in the world a man of more probity or humanity, endowed
     with a very good understanding, and adorned with very elegant
     manners and behaviour. My lady is also a person of great
     merit; and nothing can be more amiable than my Lord Beauchamp:
     so that you see I have every domestic means of happiness; and
     the good reception I have met with at Paris, particularly, as