"1st April, 1767.
"My way of life here is very uniform, and by no means disagreeable. I pass all the forenoon in the secretary's house, from ten till three, where there arrive, from time to time, messengers, that bring me
all the secrets of the kingdom, and, indeed, of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. I am seldom hurried; but have leisure, at intervals, to take up a book, or write a private letter, or converse with any friend that may call for me; and from dinner to bed-time is all my own. If you add to this, that the person with whom I have the chief, if not only transactions, is the most reasonable, equal tempered, and gentleman-like man imaginable, and Lady Aylesbury the same, you will certainly think I have no reason to complain; and I am far from complaining. I only shall not regret when my duty is over; because, to me, the situation can lead to nothing, at least in all probability; and reading, and sauntering, and lounging, and dosing, which I call thinking, is my supreme happiness. I mean my full contentment.
"I thank you for the acquaintance you offer me of Mr. Percy; but it would be impracticable for me to cultivate his friendship, as men of letters have here no place of rendezvous; and are, indeed, sunk and forgot in the general torrent of the world. If you can therefore decline, without hardship, any letter of recommendation, it would save trouble both to him and me."[385:1]
In the beginning of the year 1767, Ferguson published his "Essay on the History of Civil Society," a work which speedily acquired a wide reputation through Europe. The allusions which Hume has been found making to some work of a similar character, so early as 1759,[385:2] probably refer to a particular portion of this book. Immediately before its publication, he recommended Ferguson's friends to prevail on him to suppress the work, as likely to be injurious to its author's literary reputation: one of the few
instances, if it be not the only one, in which he discouraged a fellow-countryman, desirous of casting his lot into the competition for literary distinction. He ultimately found that his advice was erroneous, as the book soon obtained a high character. But, had his own opinion of its merits coincided with the suffrages of the public, it would not have been so honourable to his memory, as the satisfaction he expressed on the discovery that the verdict of the reading world was against him. Writing to Blair on 24th February, 1767, he says:—
"I happened yesterday to visit a person three hours after a copy of Ferguson's performance was opened, for the first time, in London. It was by Lord Mansfield. I accept this omen of its future success. He was extremely pleased with it; said it was very agreeable, and perfectly well wrote; assured me that he would not stop a moment till he had finished it; and recommended it strongly to the perusal of the Archbishop of York, who was present. I have wrote the same article of intelligence to Ferguson himself; but as he is the likeliest person in the world to suppress it, I thought it safest to put it into your hands, in order to circulate it."[386:1]
Again:—
"I hear good things said of Ferguson's book every day. Lord Holderness showed me a letter from the Archbishop of York, where his Grace says, that in many things it surpasses Montesquieu. My friend, Mr. Dodwell, says that it is an admirable book, elegantly wrote, and with great purity of language. Pray, tell to Ferguson and to others all these things."[386:2]
Again, writing to the same correspondent, on 1st April, he says:—