Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/72

132 Hume had returned to Edinburgh with the renewed intention of there spending his days in retirement, and in the affluence which his frugality, perseverance, genius, and good conduct had acquired for him; but in 1765, at the solicitation of general Con way, he acted for that gentleman as an undersecretary of state. It is probable that he did not make a better under-secretary than most men of equally diligent habits might have done, and nothing occurs worthy of notice during his tenure of that office, which he resigned in January, 1768, when general Con way resigned his secretaryship.

We have nothing to record from this period till we come to the closing scene of the philosopher's life. In the spring of 1775, he was struck with a disorder of the bowels, which he soon became aware brought with it the sure prognostication of a speedy end. "I now," he says "reckon upon a speedy dissolution. I have suffered very little pain from my disorder; and what is more strange, have, notwithstanding the great decline of my person, never suffered a moment's abatement of my spirits, insomuch, that were I to name the period of my life, which I should most choose to pass over again, I might be tempted to point to this latter period. I possess the same ardour as ever in study, and the same gayety in company. I consider, besides, that a man of sixty-five, by dying, cuts off only a few years of infirmities, and though I see many symptoms of my literary reputation breaking out at last with additional lustre, I know that I could have but few years to enjoy it. It is difficult to be more detached from life than I am at present."

The entreaties of his friends prevailed on Hume to make a last effort to regain his health, by drinking the Bath waters, and he left Edinburgh for that purpose in the month of April, after having prepared his will, and written the memoir of himself, so often referred to. As he passed through Morpeth, he met his affectionate friends John Home the poet and Adam Smith, who had come from London for the purpose of attending him on his journey, and who would have passed him had they not seen his servant standing at the inn door. The meeting of these friends must have been melancholy, for they were strongly attached to each other, and the intimacy betwixt the philosopher and the enthusiastic poet Home, seemed to have been strengthened by the striking contrast of their temperaments. The intercourse of the friends on their journey was supported by Hume with cheerfulness, and even with gayety; and he never morosely alluded to his prospects of dissolution. On one occasion, when Home was officiously preparing his pistols, (for he was usually inspired with a military enthusiasm,) Hume said to him, "you shall have your humour, John, and fight with as many highwaymen as you please, for I have too little of life left to be an object worth saving." Of this journey a journal was found among the papers of Home, in the handwriting of the poet, which has been fortunately given to the world by Mr M'Kenzie. Regretting that we cannot quote the whole of this interesting document, we give a characteristic extract.

"Newcastle, Wednesday, 24th Aprile.

"Mr Hume not quite so well in the morning ; says, that he had set out merely to please his friends; that he would go on to please them; that Ferguson and Andrew Stuart, (about whom we had been talking) were answerable for shortening his life one week a piece; for, says he, you will allow Xenophon to be good authority; and he lays it down, that suppose a man is dying, nobody has a right to kill him. He set out in this vein, and continued all the stage in this cheerful and talking humour. It was a fine day, and we went on to Durham—from that to Darlington, where we passed the night,

"In the evening Mr Hume thinks himself more easy and light than he has