Life and Correspondence of David Hume, Volume 2

by John Hill Burton

Entering one of the doors opposite the main entrance, the stranger is sometimes led by a friend, wishing to afford him an agreeable surprise, down flight after flight of the steps of a stone staircase, and when he imagines he is descending so far into the bowels of the earth, he emerges on the edge of a cheerful crowded thoroughfare, connecting together the Old and New Town; the latter of which lies spread before him, a contrast to the gloom from which he has emerged. When he looks up to the building containing the upright street through which he has descended, he sees that vast pile of tall houses standing at the head of the Mound, which creates astonishment in every visiter of Edinburgh. This vast fabric is built on the declivity of a hill, and thus one entering

on the level of the Lawnmarket, is at the height of several stories from the ground on the side next the New Town. In Hume's day, a lake lay not many yards from the base of the building; and the whole space now occupied by the streets and squares of the New Town, was open ground, covered with woodland in those places where it did not consist of agricultural ground or barren heath. A full view of the surrounding country must have been possessed by every floor in this mass of buildings. I have ascertained that by ascending the western of the two stairs facing the entry of James's Court, to the height of three stories, we arrive at the door of David Hume's house, which, of the two doors on that landing-place, is the one towards the left.[137:1]

Of the first impression made on a stranger, at that period, when entering such a house, a vivid description is given by Sir Walter Scott in "Guy Mannering;" and in Counsellor Pleydell's library, with its collection of books and the prospect from the window, we have probably an accurate picture of the room in which Hume spent his studious hours when he was in his own house in Edinburgh.

When Boswell describes the veritable locality of the house in which he did actually receive the illustrious Dr. Johnson, he tells us at the same time that it was in James's Court. Hume had then left his house, and it appears that James Boswell became his tenant.[137:2] One cannot therefore resist the conclusion,

that the house thus consecrated, was the very one which had been occupied by Hume. Would Boswell communicate such a fact, or tell what manner of man was the landlord of the habitation into which he had, under the guise of hospitality, entrapped the arch-intolerant?[138:1] Who shall appreciate the mental conflict which Boswell may have experienced on this occasion! On the one side he would have to consider, whether it would not be more candid to let the

appalling truth be known. But would Johnson have been able to "sleep o' nights" in such a house? The dilemma might not have been so easily solved as the dinner with Wilkes.

Hume's house was, during his absence in France, occupied by Dr. Blair; so that the old flat, three stories up from the entrance in James's Court, had in its day sheltered inmates of no common eminence.

Hume to Andrew Millar.

"Edinburgh, 22d Nov. 1762.

"Dear Sir,—As yours of the 16th of last month did not require any immediate reply, I have used the freedom to delay answering it. I am glad to find your two new editions so well advanced: I hope they will be successful. Some people tell me, that, as the two volumes last published do not shock any party prejudices, they have been better received than the former, and procure a good reception for the whole. If I should see them make any farther progress, it would be the best encouragement for me to proceed in writing the more recent history. I am far from losing sight of that project; but it is better not to begin it, till matters are more ripe for the execution, and till I find, that every one would frankly concur in opening their cabinets, and allowing me the use of all papers which may be necessary for my purpose. I had a letter from Mr. Mallet lately, by which I find, that he will no longer be an obstacle in my way; for he tells me that his History of the Duke of Marlborough is ready for the press; which is more than I or most people expected.