N: LIBERTY AND NECESSITY 183

CHAPTER XI.

THE PRINCIPLES OF MORALS 197

* * * * *

HUME.

PART I.

_HUME'S LIFE._

CHAPTER I.

EARLY LIFE: LITERARY AND POLITICAL WRITINGS.

David Hume was born, in Edinburgh on the 26th of April (O.S.), 1711. His
parents were then residing in the parish of the Tron church, apparently
on a visit to the Scottish capital, as the small estate which his father
Joseph Hume, or Home, inherited, lay in Berwickshire, on the banks of
the Whitadder or Whitewater, a few miles from the border, and within
sight of English ground. The paternal mansion was little more than a
very modest farmhouse,[1] and the property derived its name of
Ninewells from a considerable spring, which breaks out on the slope in
front of the house, and falls into the Whitadder.

Both mother and father came of good Scottish families--the paternal line
running back to Lord Home of Douglas, who went over to France with the
Douglas during the French wars of Henry V. and VI. and was killed at the
battle of Verneuil. Joseph Hume died when David was an infant, leaving
himself and two elder children, a brother and a sister, to the care of
their mother, who is described by David Hume in _My Own Life_ as "a
woman of singular merit, who though young and handsome devoted herself
entirely to the rearing and education of her children." Mr. Burton says:
"Her portrait, which I have seen, represents a thin but pleasing
countenance, expressive of great intellectual acuteness;" and as Hume
told Dr. Black that she had "precisely the same constitution with
himself" and died of the disorder which proved fatal to him, it is
probable that the qualities inherited from his mother had much to do
with the future philosopher's eminence. It is curious, however, that her
estimate of her son in her only recorded, and perhaps slightly
apocryphal utterance, is of a somewhat unexpected character. "Our
Davie's a fine goodnatured crater, but uncommon wake-minded." The first
part of the judgment was indeed verified by "Davie's" whole life; but
one might seek in vain for signs of what is commonly understood as
"weakness of mind" in a man who not only showed himself to be an
intellectual athlete, but who had an eminent share of practical wisdom
and tenacity of purpose. One would like to know, however, when it was