When he was introduced to the Dauphin, his son, afterwards the unfortunate Louis XVI., but then a boy of nine, stepped forth, evidently by instruction, and told him how many friends and admirers he had in the country, and that he reckoned himself among the number from the reading of many passages in his works.The Comte de Provence (who, after his long exile, became Louis XVIII.),a year or so younger, now approached Hume, and told him he had been long and impatiently expected in France, and that he anticipated great pleasure from reading his fine history.Even the Comte d'Artois, afterwards Charles X., but then a boy of six, had to mumble a panegyric.A wise man learned in providence might have seen that awful miseries must issue from a state of things in which, as Horace Walpole pointedly expresses it, " There is a God and the king to be pulled down first, and men and women are devoutly employed in the demolition,"while princes were taught to cherish the viper that was to sting them.It would have been an appropriate punishment to have got Hume placed, half a century later, in the scenes of the French Revolution, to let him eat the fruit of the seed he had helped to sow.{128}
But what, it may be asked, did be think of the state of society in which he had to mingle? It is evident that he was horrified at times with the proclaimed atheism of men and women.But what did he think of the morality of the circles in which he moved, more especially of the loose relationship of the marriage tie? Did his utilitarian theory of morals, of which he surely knew the bearing and tendency, allow of such a state of things? It is certain that Hume uttered no protest at the time, and he has left behind no condemnation of the morality of France, while he was fond of making sly and contemptuous allusions to the manifestations of religious zeal in his own country.The tone of morality in France could never have been amended by him, nor, we venture to say, by any utilitarian.When the husband of Madame Boufflers dies, he writes to her as a person now within reach of honor and felicity; that is, as likely to be married to the Prince de Conti.However, the prince declines, and Hume gives her wise enough counsel: gradually to diminish her connection with the prince, and at last to separate from him; and, he says: " If I could dispose of my fate, nothing would be so much my choice as to live where Imight cultivate your friendship.Your taste for travelling might also afford you a plausible pretence for putting this plan in execution; a journey to Italy would loosen your connections here; and, if it were delayed, I would, with some probability, expect to have the felicity of attending you thither." One can picture the scene; the countess travelling with Hume attending her.But the prospect had not such attractions as to induce her to leave the prince.Hume continued his correspondence with her; and, on hearing of the death of the Prince of Conti, wrote her within a few days of his own death, knowing he was dying, and expresses no condemnation of her past conduct.The question arises whether this would be the moral tone allowed in a community in which the word of God is discarded, and utilitarian principles are adopted?
We do not mean to discuss the miserable quarrel between him and Rousseau.His attention was called to the alleged ill usage of Rousseau by Madame de Boufflers, who described him as a noble and disinterested soul, " flying from intercourse with the world," and " feeling pleasure only in solitude." Hume, believing him to be persecuted, exerted himself to help him.{129} But his morbid vanity and intolerable habits (he insisted in taking his disgusting governante with him when he visited a family) rendered it impossible to befriend him.Unwilling to allow himself to think, or let others conclude, that he was indebted to any one, he repaid Hume's manly and delicate kindness with suspicion; and Hume, who began by describing him as a man whose modesty proceeded from ignorance of his own excellence," ended by declaring him to be " the blackest and most atrocious villain beyond comparison that now exists in the world." It is justice to Hume to say that he was always kind to persons of literary ability.Thus, he interested himself much in Thomas Blacklock, a blind man, of some poetical talent, when the people of Kirkcudbright declined to accept him as their minister.He also did all in his power to bring into notice the publications of Robertson, Adam Smith, and Ferguson.
By his connection with the embassy and the sale of his works, which had become great, he now attained a competency which made him feel independent.He had many temptations to settle in France, but old associations drew him back to Scotland.It was proposed by Lord Hertford to send him to Ireland as Secretary; but the Irish would not receive him, because he was a Scotchman.It was on this occasion that the Princess Amelia said that she thought the affair might be easily accommodated."Why may not Lord Hertford give a bishopric to Mr.Hume?" In 1767-68 he was appointed by Lord Conway Under-Secretary of State, and had charge of Scottish affairs, including the patronage of churches But his residence was now mainly in Edinburgh, first in the old town, afterwards in a house which he built in the new town, in St.David Street, so called as the name had been chalked on the wall by a witty young lady as she passed.Here he was the acknowledged chief of a literary circle, embracing men of considerable eminence, such as Robertson, Blair, Lord Kames, Adam Ferguson, and Adam Smith at Kirkcaldy, who all looked up to him with respect.He rather enjoyed being an object of wonder to the multitude beyond the favored circle in which he mingled, and made many jocular remarks about the unpopularity of his opinions.Good-natured, sociable, and avoiding controversy, he suffered few annoyances {130}