with him should never be any obstruction to the sale or success of his work. Nor do I yet repent my having resisted many solicitations to alter this resolution. But the case I now think is entirely changed. His History will have been published several years before any work of mine on the same subject can appear; its first run will not be marred by any justling with me; and it will have taken that station in the literary system which be longs to it. This objection, therefore, which I thought and still think so weighty at that time, makes no impression on me at present; and I can now justify my undertaking the English history to myself, to the world, and to him. Besides, our manner of viewing the same subject is so different or peculiar, that (as was the case in our last books) both may maintain their own rank, have their own partisans, and possess their own merit, without hurting each other.

I am sensible how extensive and laborious the undertaking is, and that I could not propose to execute it in the manner I could wish, and the public will expect, unless I should be enabled to consecrate my whole time and industry to it. Though I am not weary of my profession, nor wish ever to throw off my ecclesiastical character, yet I have often wished to be free of the labour of daily preaching, and to have it in my power to apply myself wholly to my studies. This the encourage. ment your lordship mentions will put in my power. But as my chief residence must still be in Scotland, where I would choose, both for my own sake and that of my family, to live and to compose as a visit of three or four months now and then to England will be fully suffi

cient for consulting such manus scripts as have never been published-I should not wish to drop all connexion with the church of which I am a member, but still to hold some station in it, without being reduced entirely to the profession of an author.

Another circumstance must be mentioned to your lordship. As I have begun the History of Charles V. and have above one-third of it finished, I would not choose to lose what I have done. It will take at least two years to bring that work to perfection; and after that I shall begin the other, which was my first choice long before Mr. Hume undertook it, though I was then too diffident of myself, and too idle to make any progress in the execution of it, further than forming some general ideas as to the manner in which it should be prosecuted.

As to the establishment to be made in my favour, it would ill become me to say any thing. Whether the present time be a proper one for settling the matter finally I know not. I beg leave only to say, that, however much I may wish to have a point fixed so much for my honour, and which will give such stability to all my future schemes, I am not impatient to enter into possession before I can set to work with that particular task for which my appointments are to be given.'

"In a letter addressed to Mr. baron Mure (dated Nov. 25, 1761), Dr. Robertson has explained himself still more fully on some points touched on in the foregoing cotrespondence.

I need say no more of my reasons for not undertaking the History of England immediately after the publication of my last

book,

any

book, or the circumstances which induce me to think that I may now engage in it with propriety. These I have already explained, and I hope they are approved of. The only thing about which I have difficulty is the proposal of my residing in London with my family during the time I shall be employed in my intended work. If such a prospect had opened to me a dozen of years ago I should have reckon ed it a very fortunate accident, and would have embraced it without hesitation. But, at my time of life, accustomed to the manners of my own country, and living with ease and credit and in good company here, I am unwilling to think of entering upon new habits, of forming new connexions and friendships, and of mingling with a society which, by what I have seen of it, I do not relish so much as that to which I am more familiar. This is the light in which, if I were still a single man, I must have viewed the matter. But in my present situation, with a wife and four children, my difficulties increase; and I must consider not only what would be agreeable to myself, but what may be of advantage to them. You know how greatly the expense of house-keeping at London exceeds that at Edinburgh, and how much the charge of educating children increases. You know with what ease women of a middling fortune mingle with good company in Edinburgh; how impossible that is in London; and even how great the expense is of their having any proper society at all. As I happen to have three daughters, these circumstances must occur to me, and have their own weight. Besides this, if it shall please God to spare my life a few yers, I shall be able to leave my

family, if it continue in Scotland, in a situation more independent than I could ever expect from any success or encouragement, if they shall settle in England.

...... Were I to carve out my own fortune, I should wish to continue one of his majesty's chaplains for Scotland; but to resign my charge as a minister of Edinburgh, which engrosses more of my time than one who is a stranger to the many minute duties of that office can well imagine. I would wish to apply my whole time to literary pursuits, which is at present par celled out among innumerable occupations. In order to enable me to make this resignation, some appointment must be assigned me for life. What that should be it neither becomes me, nor do I pretend, to say. One thing, however, I wish with some earnestness-that the thing might be executed soon, both as it will give me great vigour in my studies to have my future fortune ascertained in such an honourable manner, and because, by allowing me to apply myself wholly to my present work, it will enable me to finish it in less time, and to begin so much the sooner to my new task.'

In what manner this plan, after being so far advanced, came to be finally abandoned, I have not been able to discover. The letters from which the foregoing extracts are taken seem to have been preserved by mere accident; and, after the date of the last, I find a blank till 1763 in Dr. Robertson's correspon dence with lord Cathcart. Some letters which passed between them about that time are now in my possession. They relate chiefly to a scheme which was then in agitation, and which was soon after accomplished, of reviving in Dr. Ro

bertson's

bertson's favour the office of historiographer for Scotland; but, from various incidental passages in them, it appears clearly that he still looked forwards to a history of England as the next subject he was to undertake after that of Charles V. It is not impossible that the resignation of lord Bute, in 1764, may have contributed somewhat to alter his views, by imposing on him the necessity of a new negotiation through a different channel. The History of Charles V. besides, employed him much longer than he foresaw; partly in consequence of his avocations as principal of the university, and partly of those arising from his connexion with the church, in which, at that period, faction ran high. In the execution too of this work, he found that the transactions relating to America, which he had originally intended as the subject of an episode, were of such magnitude as to require a separate narrative: and when at last he had brought to a termina tion the long and various labours in which he was thus involved, his health was too much impaired, and his life too far advanced, to allow him to think of an undertaking so vast in itself, and which Mr. Hume had already executed with so splendid and so merited a reputation.

"The delays which retarded the publication of the History of Charles V. together with the author's established popularity as a writer, had raised the curiosity of the public to a high pitch before that work appeared; and perhaps there never was a book, unconnected with the circumstances of the times, that was expected with more general impatience. It is unnecessary for me Lo say, that these expectations were not disap

1301.

pointed; nor would it be worth while to swell this memoir with a repetition of the eulogiums lavished on the author in the literary journals of the day. The sentiments of his own personal friends, as expressed in the openness and confidence of a private epistolary correspondence, cannot fail to be more interesting; and I shall accordingly on this, as on other occasions, avail myself of whatever passages in his papers appear to me to be useful, either for illustrating his literary progress, or his habits and connexions in private life.

The

"The paragraphs which immedi ately follow are part of a letter from Mr. Hume, without any date; but written, as appears from the contents, while the History of Charles V. was still in the press. levity of the style forms such a striking contrast to the character which this grave and philosophical historian sustains in his publications, that I have sometimes hesitated about the propriety of subjecting to the criticisms of the world so careless an effusion of gaiety and affection. I trust, however, that to some it will not be wholly uninteresting to enjoy a glimpse of the writer and his correspondent in the habits of private intercourse; and that to them the playful and good-natured irony of Mr. Hume will suggest not unpleasing pictures of the hours which they borrowed from business and study. Dr. Robertson used frequently to say, that in Mr. Hume's gaiety there was something which approached to infantine; and that he had found the same thing so often exemplified in the circle of his other friends, that he was almost disposed to consider it as characteristical of genius. It has cortainly lent an amiable grace to some

B

cient story.

.' Atqui

Primores populi arripuit, populumque

tributim

Quin ubi se a vulgo et scena in secreta

remorant

I got yesterday from Strahan about thirty sheets of your History to be sent over to Suard, and last night and this morning have run them over with great avidity. I could not deny myself the satisfaction (which I hope also will not displease you) of expressing presently my extreme approbation of them. To say only they are very well written is by far too faint an expression, and much inferior to the sentiments I feel: they are composed with nobleness, with dignity, with elegance, and with judgment, to which there are few equals. They even excel, and, I think, in a sensible degree, your History of Scotland. I propose to myself great pleasure in being the only man in England, during some months, who will be in the situa tion of doing you justice, after which you may certainly expect that my voice will be drowned in that of the public.

You know that you and I have always been on the footing of finding in each other's productions something to blame, and something to commend; and therefore you may perhaps expect also some seasoning of the former kind; but really nei ther my leisure nor inclination allowed me to make such remarks, and I sincerely believe you have afforded me very small materials for them. However, such particulars as occur to my memory I shall mention. Maltreat is a Scotticism which occurs once. What

old-fashioned dangling word wherewith? I should as soon take back whereupon, whereunto, and wherewithal. I think the only tolerable, decent gentleman of the family is wherein; and I should not chuse to be often seen in his company. But I know your affection for wherewith proceeds from your partiality to Dean Swift, whom I can often laugh with, whose style I can even approve, but surely can never admire. It has no harmony, no eloquence, no ornament; and not much correctness, whatever the English may imagine. Were not their literature still in a somewhat barbarous state, that author's place would not be so high among their classics. But what a fancy is this you have taken of saying always an hand, an heart, an head? Have you an car? Do you not know that this (n) is added before vowels to prevent the cacophony, and ought never to take place before (h) when that letter is sounded? It is never pronounced in these words: why should it be wrote? Thus, I should say, a history, and an historian; and so would you too, if you had any sense. But you tell me, that Swift does otherwise. To be sure there is no reply to that; and we must swallow your hath too upon the same authority. I will see you d-d sooner. But I will endea vour to keep my temper.

'I do not like this sentence in page 149. This step was taken in consequence of the treaty Wolsey had concluded with the emperor at Brussels, and which had hitherto been kept secret. Si sic omnia dixisses, I should never have been plagued with hearing your praises so often sounded, and that fools preferred your style to mine. Certainly it had been better to have said, which

Wolscy

Wolsey, &c. That relative ought very seldom to be omitted, and is here particularly requisite to preserve a symmetry between the two members of the sentence. You omit the relative too often, which is a colloquial barbarism, as Mr. Johnson calls it.

Your periods are sometimes, though not often, too long. Suard will be embarrassed with them, as the modish French style runs into the other extreme.'....*

"Another letter of Mr. Hume's (dated 28th March, 1769,) relates to the same subject. I find then that you are not contented without a particular detail of your own praises, and that the very short but pithy letter I wrote you gives you no satisfaction. But what can I say more? The success has answered my expectations: and I, who converse with the great, the fair, and the learned, have scarcely heard an opposite voice, or even whisper, to the general sentiment. Only I have heard that the Sanhedrim at Mrs. Macaulay's condemns you as little less a friend to government and monarchy than myself.'.

"Mr. Walpole's congratulations on this occasion were no less warm than Mr. Hume's; but as they are expressed in more general terms, they do not supply materials equally interesting for a quotation. The only letter, besides, from Mr. Walpole relative to Charles V. that has

come into my hands, was written before he had proceeded further in the perusal than the first volume. What the impressions were which that part of the work had left upon his mind may be judged of from the following paragraph.

'Give me leave, sir, without flattery, to observe to yourself, what is very natural to say to others. You are almost the single, certainly the greatest instance, that sound parts and judgments can attain every perfection of a writer, though it be buried in the privacy of retired life and deep study. You have neither the prejudices of a recluse, nor want any of the taste of a man of the world. Nor is this polished ease confined to your works, which parts and imitation might possibly seize. In the few hours I passed with you last summer I was struck with your familiar acquaintance with men, and with every topic of conversation. Of your Scottish History I have often said, that it seemed to me to have been written by an able ambassador, who had seen much of affairs. I do not expect to find less of that penetration in your Charles. Why should I not say thus much to you? Why should the language of flattery forbid truth to speak its mind, merely because flattery has stolen truth's expressions? Why should you be deprived of the satisfaction of hearing the impression your merit has made? You have sense enough to be conscious that you deserve what