uisites of life. Books?
That is one of them; and I have more than I can use. In short, I
cannot find any pleasure of consequence which I am not possessed of
in a greater or less degree; and, without any great effort of
philosophy, I may be easy and satisfied.

"As there is no happiness without occupation, I have begun a work
which will occupy me several years, and which yields me much
satisfaction. 'Tis a History of Britain from the Union of the
Crowns to the present time. I have already finished the reign of
King James. My friends flatter me (by this I mean that they don't
flatter me) that I have succeeded."

In 1752, the Faculty of Advocates elected Hume their librarian, an
office which, though it yielded little emolument--the salary was only
forty pounds a year--was valuable as it placed the resources of a large
library at his disposal. The proposal to give Hume even this paltry
place caused a great outcry, on the old score of infidelity. But as Hume
writes, in a jubilant letter to Clephane (February 4, 1752):--

"I carried the election by a considerable majority.... What is more
extraordinary, the cry of religion could not hinder the ladies from
being violently my partisans, and I owe my success in a great
measure to their solicitations. One has broke off all commerce with
her lover because he voted against me! And Mr. Lockhart, in a
speech to the Faculty, said there was no walking the streets, nor
even enjoying one's own fireside, on account of their importunate
zeal. The town says that even his bed was not safe for him, though
his wife was cousin-german to my antagonist.

"'Twas vulgarly given out that the contest was between Deists and
Christians, and when the news of my success came to the playhouse,
the whisper rose that the Christians were defeated. Are you not
surprised that we could keep our popularity, notwithstanding this
imputation, which my friends could not deny to be well founded?"

It would seem that the "good company" was less enterprising in its
asseverations in this canvass than in the last.

The first volume of the _History of Great Britain, containing the reign
of James I. and Charles I._, was published in 1754. At first, the sale
was large, especially in Edinburgh, and if notoriety _per se_ was Hume's
object, he attained it. But he liked applause as well as fame and, to
h