county of Middlesex the choice of its member! Think of the impudence of that fellow,[423:1] and his quackery—and his cunning—and his audaciousness: and judge of the influence he will have over such a deluded multitude.
"I was struck with a very sensible indignation at the decision of the Douglas cause,[423:2] though I foresaw it for some time. It was abominable with regard to poor Andrew Stuart, who had conducted that cause with singular ability and integrity; and was at last exposed to reproach, which unfortunately never can be wiped off. For the cause, though not in the least intricate, is so complicated, that it never will be reviewed by the public, who are besides perfectly pleased with the sentence; being swayed by compassion and a few popular topics. To one who understands the cause as I do, nothing could appear more scandalous than the pleadings of the two law lords. Such gross misrepresentation, such impudent assertions, such groundless imputations, never came from that place. But all was good enough for their audience; who, bating their quality, are most of them little better than their brethren the Wilkites in the streets.
"I am very much obliged to you for giving me the acquaintance of your cousin, Mr. Blair,[423:3] who seems,
indeed, to me, a very accomplished young man. The death of your brother-in-law is a great loss to you, and even to us all. I comprehend myself; for I intend to visit you soon, and for good and all. Indeed, I know not what detains me here, except that it is so much a matter of indifference where I live; and I am amused with looking on the scene, which really begins to be interesting. I had taken one of Allan Ramsay's houses;[424:1] but gave it up again, on the representation of some of my friends in Edinburgh, who said that a house, on the north side of a high hill, in the 56th degree of latitude, could not be healthful. But I now repent it, though I have my old house to retreat to till I get a better. I am glad you like my nephew. He is, indeed, clever, though, I am afraid, a little giddy.[424:2]"
Andrew Stuart, who is noticed in the preceding letter, and has frequently been referred to in Hume's correspondence, was a man of great talent. His letters to Lord Mansfield, on the Douglas cause, remarkable for their solemn asperity, belong to a species of literature, of which the English language scarcely boasts of any other instance,—a systematic and serious arraignment of the conduct of a Judge in the highest court in the realm, by the law agent of a litigant! Stuart conducted the investigations in France, on which the evidence that the children said to be born to Lady Jane Douglas were spurious, was founded; and from the strange circumstances brought forward in the evidence, we can imagine that, if Stuart had left a diary of his adventures and inquiries, few works of fiction could be more interesting. His
arraignment of the judge was accompanied by an act almost equally anomalous: his challenging the counsel on the other side—who was Mr. Wedderburn, afterwards Lord Loughborough—on account of the manner in which his conduct had been spoken of in the appeal case. The challenge was accepted; but neither party was wounded. From occasional allusions, in Hume's correspondence, he and Stuart appear to have been early friends; and many of the letters, which he preserved, within a few years of his death, are from Stuart, who, occasionally, appears to write in acknowledgment of pecuniary advances. Among Hume's papers, there is a letter, of which the address has not been preserved, but in which there is a note, in Baron Hume's handwriting, that it was, "respecting his friend Stuart—Andrew, I suppose." The letter has a sufficient interest in itself. It is as follows:—
"My dear Sir,—Nothing can be more just than the sentiment you have expressed in your letter. I am to be envied for having had it in my power to contribute to the happiness of the best man, and the most intimate friend I have ever had in the world. There is nothing else in the possession of a fortune that deserves the least envy or the least consideration. Every man is independent who thinks himself so. But every man has not been blessed with such a friend, or with the power of showing, in some small degree, the value he puts upon worth, delicacy, attachment, and ability like his. It adds to my happiness not a little, that your sentiments coincide so entirely with mine. You have known Stuart enough to value him as much as I do; and he has too much discernment not to put the same high value upon you, which you have commanded from every one of your friends."
Hume received a letter from the Abbé Morellet, dated 15th May 1769,[426:1] requesting him to accept of a copy of his forthcoming "Prospectus d'un Nouveau Dictionnaire de Commerce;" and to distribute some others among a list of names, including those of Adam Smith and Benjamin Franklin. The comprehensive work of which the Abbé thus developed what he considered the proper principles, was never written by him. He was too much occupied with fugitive literature, and the absorbing politics of the time, to be able seriously to pursue a project involving so much steady industry. Hume answered as follows:—
Hume to the Abbé Morellet.
London, 10th July, 1769.