295
The last work in which we are aware of Hume's
having been engaged, is his largest, and that by
which he is best known. The History of the House
and Race of Douglas and Angus seems to have been
first printed at Edinburgh by Evan Tyler in 1644,
but this edition has several discrepancies in the title-
page. Some copies bear the date 1648, "to be sold
by T. W. in London;" and others have a title alto-
gether different, "A Generall History of Scotland,
together with a particular History of the Houses of
Douglas and Angus," but are without date. After
mentioning in the preface that, in writing such a
work, it is impossible to please all parties—that some
may say that it is an unnecessary work—others, that
it is merely a party-statement—and a third complain
of "the style, the phrase, the periods, the diction,
and the language," Hume goes on to say, " In all
these particulars, to satisfy all men is more than we
can hope for; yet thus much shortly of each of them
to such as will give ear to reason: that I write, and
of this subject, I am constrained to do it, not by any
violence or compulsion, but by the force of duty, as
I take it; for, being desired to do it by those I would
not refuse, I thought myself bound to honour that
name, and in it and by it, our king and countrey. . . .
Touching partiality, I deny it not, but am content
to acknowledge my interest. Neither do I think
that ever any man did set pen to paper without some
particular relation of kindred, countrey, or such like.
The Romans in writing the Romano, the Grecians
in writing their Greek histories ; friends writing to,
of, or for friends, may be thought partiall, as coun-
treymen and friends. The vertuous may be deemed
to be partiall towards the vertuous, and the godly
towards the godly and religious; all writers have some
such respect, which is a kind of partiality. I do not
refuse to be thought to have some, or all of these
respects, and I hope none wil think I do amisse in
having them. Pleasing of men, I am so farre from
shunning of it, that it is my chief end and scope: but
let it please them to be pleased with vertue, other-
wise they shal find nothing here to please them. If
thou findest anything here besides, blame me boldly;
and why should any be displeased that wil be pleased
with it? would to God I could so please the world,
I should never displease any. But if either of these
(partiality or desire to please) carry me besides the
truth, then shal I confesse myself guilty, and esteem
these as great faults, as it is faultie and blame-worthy
to forsake the truth. But otherwise, so the truth be
stuck unto, there is no hurt in partiality and labour-
ing to please. And as for truth, clip not, nor champ
not my words (as some have done elsewhere), and I
beleeve the worst affected will not charge mee with
lying. I have ever sought the truth in all things
carefully, and even here also, and that painfully in
every point : where I find it assured, I have set it
down confidently ; where I thought there was some
reason to doubt, I tell my authour : so that if I de-
ceive, it is my self I deceive, and not thee; for I hide
nothing from thee that I myself know, and as I know
it, leaving place to thee, if thou knowest more or
better, which, if thou doest, impart and communicate
it; for so thou shouldest do, and so is truth brought
to light, which else would lye hid and buried. My
paines and travel in it have been greater than every
one would think, in correcting my errours; thine will
not bee so much, and both of us may furnish matter
for a third man to finde out the truth more exactly,
than either of us hath yet done. Help, therefore, but
carp not. . . . For the language, it is my mother-
tongue, that is, Scottish : and why not, to Scottish
men ? why should I contemne it ? I never thought
the difference so great, as that by seeking to speak
English, I would hazard the imputation of affectation.
Every tongue hath its own vertue and grace. Some
are more substantiall, others more ornate and succinct.
They have also their own defects and faultinesses;
some are harsh, some are effeminate, some are rude,
some affectate and swelling. The Romanes spake
from their heart, the Grecians with their lips only,
and their ordinary speech was complements ; espe-
cially the Asiatick Greeks did use a loose and blown
kind of phrase. And who is there that keeps that
golden mean ? For my own part, I like our own,
and he that writes well in it, writes well enough to
me. Yet I have yeelded somewhat to the tyrannie
of custome and the times, not seeking curiously for
words, but taking them as they come to hand. I
acknowledge also my fault (if it be a fault), that I
ever accounted it a mean study, and of no great com-
mendation to learn to write or to speak English,
and have loved better to bestow my pains and time
on forreign languages, esteeming it but a dialect of
our own, and that perhaps more corrupt." The
work commences with a preface concerning "the
Douglases in general, that is, their antiquity, to
which is joined their original, nobility, and descent,
greatness and valour of the family of the name of
Douglas." The history begins with Sholto Douglas,
the first that bore the name, and the vanquisher of
Donald Bane in the reign of King Salvathius, and
concludes with the death of Archibald ninth Earl
of Angus, who has been already noticed in the course
of this memoir. With this work closes every trace
of David Hume of Godscroft. It is supposed to
have been written about 1625, or between that period
and 1630, and it is not probable that he survived that
period long. Supposing him to have been born about
1560, he must then have attained to the age of three-
score years and ten.
Respecting Hume's merits as a poet, different
opinions exist. While in the estimation of Dr.
Irving he never rises above mediocrity, Dr. M'Crie
places him in a somewhat higher rank:—"The easy
structure of his verse reminds us continually of the
ancient models on which it has been formed; and if
deficient in vigour, his fancy has a liveliness and
buoyancy which prevents the reader from wearying
of his longest descriptions." These opinions are,
after all, not irreconcilable; the poetry of Hume pos-
sesses little originality; but the reader is charmed
with the readiness and the frequency of his imitations
of the Roman poets.
As a historian Hume can never become popular.
He is by much too prolix—nor will this be wondered
at when we consider the age at which he wrote his
principal historical work. To the reader, however,
who is disposed to follow him through his windings,
he will be a most valuable, and in many cases a
most amusing author. As the kinsman of the Earls
of Angus, he had access to many important family
papers, from which he has compiled the history prior
to his own time. But when he writes of transac-
tions within his own recollection, and more especially
those in which he was personally engaged, there is
so much judicious remark and honesty of intention,
that it cannot fail to interest even a careless reader.
Besides the works which we have mentioned,
Hume wrote " Apologia Basilica, seu Machiavelli
Ingenium Examinatum, in libro quem inscripsit
Princeps, 4to, Paris, 1626." De Episcopatu, May I,
1609, Patricio Simsono; A Treatise on Things In-
different ; Of Obedience to Superiors. In the Bio-
graphie Universelle there is a memoir of him, in
which it is mentioned that "Jaques Iier. I'employé
à concilier les differends qui s'estaient élevé entre
Dumoulin et Tilenus au sujet de la justification,"