DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70031#0139
SCOTLAND.] HUME.
so often the object of malignity and hatred. He died
as he lived. Attacked by a slow but incurable disease,
he beheld, without dismay, the gradual diminution of
his strength; and preserved almost to his last mo-
ments his ardour for study, his habitual serenity and
even gaiety of temper. A few days before his death,
he said to his physician, “ I am going as fast as my
enemies, if I have any, can wish, and as calmly as
my best friends can desire.”
We shall close this memoir of Mr. Hume with the
following description of his character, written by him-
self. “ I am, or rather was, (for that is the style I
must now use in speaking of myself, which emboldens
me the more to speak my sentiments) I was, I say,
a man of mild disposition ; of command of temper; of
an open, social, and cheerful, humour, capable of at-
tachment, but little susceptible of enmity; and of
great moderation in all my passions. Even my love
of literary fame, my ruling passion, never soured my
temper, notwithstanding my frequent disappoint-
ments. My company was not unacceptable to the
young and careless, as well as to the studious and li-
terary ; and as I took particular pleasure in the com-
pany of modest women, I had no reason to be dis-
pleased with the reception I met with from them. In
a word, though most men, any wise eminent, have
found reason to complain of calumny, I was never
touched, or even attacked, by her baneful tooth; and
although I wantonly exposed myself to the rage of
both civil and religious factions, they seemed to be
disarmed, in my behalf, of their wonted fury.
“ My friends never had occasion to vindicate any
one circumstance of my character and conduct; not
8
so often the object of malignity and hatred. He died
as he lived. Attacked by a slow but incurable disease,
he beheld, without dismay, the gradual diminution of
his strength; and preserved almost to his last mo-
ments his ardour for study, his habitual serenity and
even gaiety of temper. A few days before his death,
he said to his physician, “ I am going as fast as my
enemies, if I have any, can wish, and as calmly as
my best friends can desire.”
We shall close this memoir of Mr. Hume with the
following description of his character, written by him-
self. “ I am, or rather was, (for that is the style I
must now use in speaking of myself, which emboldens
me the more to speak my sentiments) I was, I say,
a man of mild disposition ; of command of temper; of
an open, social, and cheerful, humour, capable of at-
tachment, but little susceptible of enmity; and of
great moderation in all my passions. Even my love
of literary fame, my ruling passion, never soured my
temper, notwithstanding my frequent disappoint-
ments. My company was not unacceptable to the
young and careless, as well as to the studious and li-
terary ; and as I took particular pleasure in the com-
pany of modest women, I had no reason to be dis-
pleased with the reception I met with from them. In
a word, though most men, any wise eminent, have
found reason to complain of calumny, I was never
touched, or even attacked, by her baneful tooth; and
although I wantonly exposed myself to the rage of
both civil and religious factions, they seemed to be
disarmed, in my behalf, of their wonted fury.
“ My friends never had occasion to vindicate any
one circumstance of my character and conduct; not
8