Volume 2 > Half-Volume 4

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under the Christian term of humility, "bretheren,"
concealing an assumption of spiritual superiority,
which the word "sons" would hardly have suffi-
ciently expressed.
HUME, DAVID, of Godscroft. The scantiness of
the materials for lives of literary Scotsmen has, with
us, often been a subject of remark and regret; and we
are sure that every one who has had occasion to make
investigations into this department of our national
history will at once acquiesce in its truth. Our
statesmen have been applauded or condemned�at
all events they have been immortalized�by contem-
porary writers; the deeds of our soldiers have been
celebrated in works relative to our martial achieve-
ments; and our divines have always, and more espe-
cially in the darker ages, preserved a knowledge of
themselves and their transactions,�but literary men
are nearly forgotten, and for what is known of them
we are principally indebted to the labours of conti-
nental biographers. It would be difficult to point
out a more striking illustration of this than the well-
known individual whose name appears at the head of
this article. His name is familiar to every one who
is in the least degree conversant with Scottish history
or poetry;�he was descended from an honourable
family�he acted a prominent part in some of the
earlier transactions of his own time�and still almost
nothing is known of his history. The indefatigable
Wodrow has preserved many scattered hints regard-
ing him in his Biographical Collections in the library
of Glasgow College, and except this we are not aware
of any attempt at a lengthened biographical sketch
of him. In drawing up the following we shall take
many of our facts from that biography, referring also
to the excellent works of Dr. M'Crie, and occasion-
ally supplying deficiencies from the few incidental
notices of himself in Hume's works.
David Hume, it is probable, was born about, or a
few years prior to, the period of the Reformation.
His father was Sir David Hume, or Home, of Wed-
derburn, the representative of an old and distinguished
family in the south of Scotland. His mother was
Mary Johnston, a daughter of Johnston of Elphin-
stone. This lady died early, and her husband, after
having married a second wife, who seems to have
treated his family in a harsh and ungenerous manner,
died of consumption while the subject of this memoir
was a very young man. The family thus left consisted
of fours sons�George, David, James, and John; and
four daughters�Isabell, Margaret, Julian, and Joan.
Of the early education of David Hume we have
not been able to learn almost anything. His elder
brother and he were sent to the public school of
Dunbar, then conducted by Mr. Andrew Simson,
and there is abundant evidence that he made very
considerable progress in the acquisition of classical
knowledge. He has left a poem entitled Daphn-
Amaryllis, written at the age of fourteen, and he in-
cidentally mentions the expectations George Buchanan
formed of his future eminence from his early produc-
tions. After receiving, it may be conjectured, the
best education that a Scottish university then afforded,
Hume set out for France, accompanied by his rela-
tion John Haldane of Gleneagles. His intention
was to have also made the tour of Italy, and for that
purpose he had gone to Geneva, when his brother's
health became so bad as to make his return desirable.
On receiving the letters containing this information
he returned to Scotland without delay, "and arrived,"
to use his own words in his History of the Family of
Wedderburn, "much about the time that Esme,
Lord Aubigny (who was afterwards made Duke of
Lennox), was brought into Scotland�and that
Morton began to decline in his credit, he being soon
after first imprisoned, and then put to death;" that
is, about the beginning of 1581.
Sir George Home seems to have recovered his
health soon afterwards, and David was generally left
at his castle to manage his affairs, while he was en-
gaged in transactions of a more difficult or hazardous
nature. This probably did not continue long, for the
earliest public transaction in which we have found
him engaged took place in 1583. When King
James VI. withdrew from the party commonly known
by the name of the Ruthven Lords, and readmitted
the Earl of Arran to his councils, Archibald, "the
good Earl" of Angus, a relation of Hume's family,
was ordered to confine himself to the north of Scot-
land, and accordingly resided for some time at the
castle of Brechin, the property of his brother-in-law
the Earl of Mar. At this period Hume seems to
have lived in Angus' house in the capacity of a
"familiar servitour," or confidential secretary.
When the Ruthven party were driven into England
Hume accompanied his master and relation ; and
while the lords remained inactive at Newcastle, re-
quested leave to go to London, where he intended
pursuing his studies. To this Angus consented, with
the ultimate intention of employing him as his agent
at the English court. During the whole period of
his residence at the English capital he maintained a
regular correspondence with the earl, but only two
of his letters (which he has printed in the History of
the Houses of Douglas and Angus) have come down
to us.
The Ruthven Lords returned to Scotland in 1585,
but soon offended the clergy by their want of zeal in
providing for the security of the church. Their
wrath was still farther kindled by a sermon preached
at this time before the king at Linlithgow, by John
Craig, in which the offensive doctrine of obedience
to princes was enforced. A letter was accordingly
prepared, insisting upon the claims of the church,
and transmitted to Mr. Hume, to be presented to
Angus. A very long conference took place betwixt
the earl and Hume, which he has set down at great
length in the above-mentioned work. He begins his
own discourse by refuting the arguments of Craig,
and shows, that although it is said in his text, " I
said ye are gods," it is also said, "Nevertheless ye
shall die;" "which two," Hume continues, "being
put together, the one shows princes their duty�Do
justice as God doth; the other threateneth punishment
�Ye shall die if you do it not." He then proceeds
to show that the opinions of Bodinus in his work
De Republica, and of his own countryman Blackwood
[see BLACKWOOD], areabsurd; and having established
the doctrine that tyrants may be resisted, he applies
it to the case of the Ruthven Lords, and justifies the
conduct of Angus as one of that party. He then
concludes in the following strain of remonstance:�
"Your declaration which ye published speaks much
of the public cause and common weal, but you may
perceive what men think of your actions since they do
not answer thereto by this letter, for they are begun
to think that howsoever you pretend to the public,
yet your intention was fixed only on your own par-
ticular, because you have done nothing for the church
or country, and have settled your own particular.
And it is observed, that of all the parliaments that
were ever held in this country, this last, held since
you came home, is it in which alone there is no
mention of the church, either in the beginning thereof
(as in all others there is), or elsewhere throughout.
This neglect of the state of the church and country,
as it is a blemish of your fact, obscuring the lustre of
it, so is it accounted an error in policy by so doing,