The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-02 00:00:00

TAIT'S.

Mr Baron Hume, nephew of the historian, it is well
known in the literary world, possessed for many years
all the papers, documents, letters, &c., left by his uncle,
and strong wishes were often expressed that the most
important of them would be given to the world during
his life-time. They were, however, kept from the know-
ledge of the world up to his death, and about that period
were intrusted to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, to be
dit;posed of as that learned body might think proper.
Mr Hume has now been dead for many years, and little
or nothing was heard of them, till the announcement of
a work, entitled " Life and Correspondence of David
Hume, from the papers bequeathed by his nephew to
the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and other Original
Sources." This work has been drawn up by Mr John Hill
Burton, Advocate, and published by Tait, and as far as
we can ju3ge of it, from the brief notice in the present
number, possesses deep interest, and will be eagerly
perused by literary men. Hume was one of the most
conspicuous men of his age, his philosophical works,
notwithstanding their sceptical character, have been much
read and admired ; his history, though liable to strong
objections, is still the history of England ; he associated
with the brightest geniuses of a period remarkable for
characters, celebrated in every department of literature
and science; and, as a proof how little his philosophical
disquisitions were considered injurious to Christianity, he
was the intimate friend of some of the moat orthodox
clergymen of the Scottish church. Several of their
letters are found among his papers, and they satisfac-
torily refute a story circulated by the Quarterly Review,
that the Scottish clergy at that period were a set of hy-
pocritical sceptics and scoffers. Mr Burton, and some
of the gentlemen forming the Council of the Royal So-
ciety, had examined all the correspondence, and " found
nothing whatever to give colour to such an accusation."
We find in this collection a brief account of Hume's
appearance, given by Lord Charlemont, who happened
to meet him at Turin, while a young man, on his travels.
llume was at that time secretary to Lord St. Clair, then i
on a military embassy to the Courts of Turin and
Vienna. The following is the picture drawn by the
young Irish Peer :
" Nature, I believe, never formed any man more unlike his
real character than David Hume. The powers of pysiognomv
were baffled by his countenance; neither could the most
skilful in that science pretend to discover the smallest trace
of the faculties of his mind in the unmeaning features of his
visage. His face was broad and fat, his mouth wide,
and without any other expression than that of imbecility.
His eyes vacant and spiritless, and the corpulence of bis
whole person, was far better fitted to communicate the idea
of a turtle-eating alderman, than of a refined philosopher. His
speech in English was rendered ridiculous by the broadest
Scotch accent, and his French was, if possible, still more
laughable; so that wisdom most certainly never disguised
herself before in so uncouth a garb. Though now near fifty
years old, he was healthy and strong; but his health and
strength, far from being advantageous to his figure, instead
of manly comliness, had only the appearance of rusticity.
His weating an uniform added greatly to his natural awk-
wardness, for he wore it like a grocer of the trained-bands."
The Reviewer calls this a " true portraiture." Now, we
have no hesitation in saying that it is not only much
surcharged, but in several respects devoid of truth. In
none of the portraits of Hume that we have seen is he
represented with his " mouth wide." He had thick lips,
like most of his family, but they had nothing of that
appearance of stupidity which this portraiture of him
implies ; probably he was awkward in his military uni-
form, did not button his coat so well, or tie his sash so
much in style, as the dashing young Irishman, but we
have no doubt Hume thought that Lord Charlemont's
Irish accent was infinitely worse than his own ; and as
to his French being " still more laughable," the fact
that Hume in his youth resided three years in France,
had mixed with the learned both at Rheims and La
Fleehe, and disputed with them many intricate points of
philosophy in their own language, and, while at Paris,
was the especial favourite of the wits of both sexes,
would lead almost to conviction that these remarks of
Lord Cbarlemont were destitute of truth. Besides this
we have several articles in the number above mediocrity,
independent of a humorous one by De Quincy, on "The
Memoirs and Correspondence of the Marquis Wel-
lesley." Tait is highly pleased with the measures of
Peel. The following is the Postscript to " Politics of
the Month :"

F' At the time when we go to press, it is impossible to
say what will be the immediate fate of the Ministerial mea-
sure or its authors ; and the rapid march of events may
bailie conjecture, and falsify our conclusions before they can
be published. This much is certain ; the Ministerial mea-
sure, in all its integrity at the least, will be carried. It was
coolly and suspiciously received at first, but with every suc-
cessive day it has grown more acceptable. The public snuffed
at it as 'a dog dbes at a piece of meat thrown down to him
by a stranger or suspected person ; and, like the dog, ap-
pears inclined to finish by bolting it greedily. In the City,
meaning thereby in the money market of London, Peel is
strong. The very faults of his character strengthen him
with. the rich burghers upon 'Change. He is looked upon as
a prosaic safe Minister; we have heard his measure
rapturously applauded by some c.f these capitalists before
they could possibly have mastered its details, who would
have exclaimed against the tithe of its innovations as revo-
lutionary and destructive, if proposed by any other states-
.