HUME, DAVID, a Scotch historian and philosopher; born in Edinburgh, Scotland, April 26 (o. s.), 1711. Origi nally designed for the law, he became, in 1734, clerk in a mercantile house at Bristol. Having a strong propensity to literature, for the sake of seclusion he went to France, where he wrote his "Treatise of Human Nature" (1738). This work excited no interest on its first appearance, though it holds an important place in the history of philosophy. liume's "Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary," appeared in 1742 and 1752, and were favorably received. In 1745 he was invited to reside with the young marquis of Annandale. Here he spent a year; meanwhile the chair of moral philosophy in the University of Edin burgh having become vacant, he be came a candidate, but failed. In 1746 he became secretary to General St. Clair, whom he accompanied to the courts of Vienna and Turin. In 1752 appeared at
Edinburgh his "Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals," which of all his writings is considered the best. In 1754 he published the first volume of his "History of England," which he did not complete till 1761. While this work was in progress he published "The Natural History of Religion." His great work, "The History of England," had now ac quired considerable celebrity, and the author gained largely by its popularity, for besides the profits it brought him, he obtained a pension through Lord Bute. In 1763 he accompanied the Earl of Hertford on his embassy to Paris, from whose fashionable and literary circles he received an enthusiastic welcome; and where, in 1765, he remained as charge d'affaires. He became under-secretary of State in 1767. He died in,Edinburgh, Scotland, Aug. 25, 1776.