, the hoarse murmur of the toil of a polity of
energetic men is borne upon the ear. At times, a man may be as solitary
here as in a veritable wilderness; and may meditate undisturbedly upon
the epitome of nature and of man--the kingdoms of this world--spread out
before him.

Surely, there is a fitness in the choice of this last resting-place by
the philosopher and historian, who saw so clearly that these two
kingdoms form but one realm, governed by uniform laws and alike based on
impenetrable darkness and eternal silence: and faithful to the last to
that profound veracity which was the secret of his philosophic
greatness, he ordered that the simple Roman tomb which marks his grave
should bear no inscription but

DAVID HUME

BORN 1711. DIED 1776.

_Leaving it to posterity to add the rest._

It was by the desire and at the suggestion of my friend, the Editor of
this Series, that I undertook to attempt to help posterity in the
difficult business of knowing what to add to Hume's epitaph; and I
might, with justice, throw upon him the responsibility of my apparent
presumption in occupying a place among the men of letters, who are
engaged with him, in their proper function of writing about English Men
of Letters.

That to which succeeding generations have made, are making, and will
make, continual additions, however, is Hume's fame as a philosopher;
and, though I know that my plea will add to my offence in some quarters,
I must plead, in extenuation of my audacity, that philosophy lies in the
province of science, and not in that of letters.

In dealing with Hume's Life, I have endeavoured, as far as possible, to
make him speak for himself. If the extracts from his letters and essays
which I have given do not sufficiently show what manner of man he was,
I am sure that nothing I could say would make the case plainer. In the
exposition of Hume's philosophy which follows, I have pursued the same
plan, and I have applied myself to the task of selecting and arranging
in systematic order, the passages which appeared to me to contain the
clearest statements of Hume's opinions.

I should have been glad to be able to confine myself to this duty, and
to limit my own comments to so much as was absolutely necessary to
connect my excerpts. Here and there, however, it must be confessed that
more is seen of my thread than of Hume's beads. My excuse must be