replied to me, that he was sure my true secret reason was my regard to you. He ought thence to have known, that it would be disagreeable to me to see such a piece annexed to mine. I have remarked also the omission of a phrase in the translation; and this omission could not be altogether by accident it was where I mention your suppressing the king of Prussia's letter, while we lived together at Paris. I said it was agreeable to your usual politeness and humanity. I have wrote to Becket the bookseller to restore this passage, which is so conformable to my real sentiments: but whether my orders have come in time, I do not know as yet. Before I saw the Paris edition, I had desired Becket to follow it wherever it departed from my original. The difference, I find, was in other respects but inconsiderable.

It is only by conjecture I imagine, that D'Alembert's malevolence to you (if he has any malevolence) proceeds from your friendship with madame du Deffand; because I can find no other ground for it. I see also, that in his declaration there is a stroke obliquely levelled at her, which perhaps you do not understand, but I do; because he wrote me that he heard she was your corrector. I found these two persons in great and intimate friendship when I arrived at Paris: but it is strange how intemperate they are both become in their animosity; though perhaps it is more excusable in her, on account of her age, sex, and bodily infirmities. I am very sensible of your discretion in not citing me on this occasion; I might otherwise have a new quarrel on my hands.

With regard to D'Alembert, I believe I said he

was a man of superior parts, not a superior genius; which are words, if I mistake not, of a very different import. He is surely entitled to the former character, from the works which you and I have read: I do not mean his translation of Tacitus, but his other pieces. But I believe he is more entitled to it from the works which I suppose neither you nor I have read, his Geometry and Algebra. I agree with you, that in some respects Rousseau may more properly be called a superior genius; yet is he so full of extravagance, that I am inclined to deny him even that appellation. I fancy D'Alembert's talents and Rousseau's united might fully merit such an eulogy.

In other respects, D'Alembert is a very agreeable companion, and of irreproachable morals. By refusing great offers from the czarina and the king of Prussia, he has shown himself above interest and vain ambition: he lives in an agreeable retreat at Paris, suitable to a man of letters. He has five pensions: one from the king of Prussia, one from the French king, one as member of the academy of sciences, one as member of the French academy, and one from his own family. The whole amount of these is not 6000 livres a year; on the half of which he lives decently, and gives the other half to poor people with whom he is connected. In a word, I scarce know a man, who, with some few exceptions (for there must always be some exceptions), is a better model of a virtuous and philosophical character.

You see I venture still to join these two epithets as inseparable and almost synonymous; though you seem inclined to regard them almost as incom

patible. And here I have a strong inclination to say a few words in vindication both of myself and of my friends, venturing even to comprehend you in the number. What new prepossession has seized you to beat in so outrageous a manner your nurses of mount Helicon, and to join the outcry of the ignorant multitude against science and literature? For my part, I can scarce acknowledge any other ground of distinction between one age and another, between one nation and another, than their different progress in learning and the arts. I do not say be.. tween one man and another; because the qualities of the heart and temper and natural understanding are the most essential to the personal character; but being, I suppose, almost equal among nations and ages, do not serve to throw a peculiar lustre on any. You blame France for its fond admiration of men of genius; and there may no doubt be, in particular instances, a great ridicule in these affectations but the sentiment in general was equally conspicuous in ancient Greece, in Rome during its flourishing period, in modern Italy, and even perhaps in England about the beginning of this century. If the case be now otherwise, it is what we are to lament and be ashamed of. Our enemies will only infer, that we are a nation which was once at best but half civilized, and is now relapsing fast into barbarism, ignorance, and superstition. I beg you also to consider the great difference in point of morals between uncultivated and civilized ages. But I find I am launching out insensibly into an immense ocean of common-place; I cut the matter therefore short, by declaring it as my opinion, that if you had been born a barbarian, and

166 LETTERS CONCERNING ROUSSEAU.

had every day cooked your dinner of horseflesh by riding on it fifty miles between your breech and the shoulder of your horse, you had certainly been an obliging, good-natured, friendly man; but at the same time, that reading, conversation, and travel have detracted nothing from those virtues, and have made a considerable addition of other valuable and agreeable qualities to them. I remain, not with ancient sincerity, which was only roguery and hypocrisy, but very sincerely, dear sir,

Your most obedient

and most humble servant,

Edinburgh, 20th of Nov. 1766.

DAVID HUME.

P. S. The French translation of this strange piece of mine (for I must certainly give it that epithet) was not made by D'Alembert, but by one under his direction.

THE END.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS.

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