Denkend aan Hume in Holland

Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 94 To: Blanc [54] p 191
† * 94. To the ABBበLE BLANC† 1

Sir,

Yours of the 25th of August† 2 gave me a very real Pleasure. I doubt not but the Translation, with which you have honour’d my Performance, will renew my Satisfaction. I expect every day to have it from London. I must confess, that I cannot conceal my Vanity, when I find an Author, so justly celebrated for his own Performances, deign to give the Public a Translation of Works, so much inferior. I have often read Les Letres† 3 d’un Francois, with Profit and Pleasure: And as I never peruse a good Book without wishing to possess the Friendship of the Author; how much more, where my Gratitude is mov’d by such Marks of Esteem & Distinction as you have confer’d on me?

I have just now finish’d a new Edition of the political Discourses,† 1 where there are some Alterations & Additions. I have here subjoin’d in a Paper apart, that in case the Demand of the Public require a new Edition of the Translation, there may be no Delay in finishing it. You mention Notes to your Translation. This encreases my Impatience to see it. I doubt not but I shall learn from them to correct many of my Errors.

192

You drop a Hint as if you intended to introduce some more of my Performances to the Acquaintance of the learned World abroad.† 2 Allow me, therefore, to inform you of the best Editions. The only good Edition of my Essays moral & political is the fourth:† 3 It begins with this Sentence Some People are subject to a certain Delicacy of Passion &c.† 4 The best Edition of the Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals is the second.† 5 The Booksellers are reprinting in London the philosophical Essays;† 6 but the second Edition† 7 differs very little from this new one. I doubt these Essays are both too bold & too metaphysical for your Climate; tho’ we have lately, in some French Writers, been entertain’d with Liberties, that are not much inferior.

I know with what Advantage I must appear, when I pass thro your hands, who are so capable to improve & embellish my weak Performances. For this Reason I have sent you all the best Editions of these four Volumes.† 8 They go by the way of Boulogne; & you may expect to have them in about a Month. If they be of no Use to you in this Design, I beg at least you will favor me with an Acceptance of them as a Mark of my sincere Gratitude and Esteem.

A few days ago I finish’d the printing the first Volume of a Work, about which I have been long employ’d. It will be publish’d in about two Months. It is the History of Great Britain from the Accession of James the first: This first Volume contains the Reigns of James the I and Charles the I; and consists of 470 Quarto Pages. If you consider the vast Variety of Events, with which these two Reigns, particularly the last, are crowded, you will conclude, that my Narration is rapid, and that I have more propos’d as my Model the concise manner of the antient Historians, than the prolix, tedious Style of some modern Compilers. I have inserted no original Papers, and enter’d into no Detail of minute, uninteresting Facts. The philosophical Spirit, which I have so much indulg’d in all my Writings, finds here ample Materials to work upon.

193

The great Distance, which I have always kept from all Party & Dependance, from all Satyre and Panegyric, has made the Public entertain Expectations from this Work; and I tremble, I own, the more for the Opinion, which will be form’d on its Publication. I have sent you a Copy, which I beg you to accept of. The Bookseller gave me 400 pounds for allowing him to print one Edition of 2000 Copies; and his hopes are so sanguine, that he speaks of beginning a second Edition of 3000, and of paying me 600 pounds more for it.† 1 I mention this Circumstance that you may see there is some Chance that a Translation might turn to account. If it be done under your Eye I am sure it will be well executed. A few Notes, to clear up Passages obscure to Foreigners, may also be requisite. I esteem this Period, both for signal Events & extraordinary Characters, to be the most interesting in modern History; and considering some late Transactions in France,† 2 your Ministry may think themselves oblig’d to a man, who, by the Example of English History, discovers the Consequences of puritanical & republican Pretensions. You wou’d have remark’d in my Writings, that my Principles are, all along, tolerably monarchical, & that I abhor, that low Practice, so prevalent in England, of speaking with Malignity of France

194

I beg the Continuance of your Correspondence & Friendship; and tho’ I be at present in a remote Part of the World, which can furnish nothing curious or entertaining to a Man who lives in the Center of all the fine Arts, you will at least have the Satisfaction, whenever you write to me, of conferring an Honour on a Person, who knows the Value of it. A Letter directed to me at this Place will always find me.

I have the Honour to be, with great Regard

Sir

Your most obedient & most obliged humble Servant

DAVID HUME

Edinburgh

12th of Septr. 1754

† 1 Jean-Bernard Le Blanc (1707-81), French man of letters, ‘historiographe des Bá¢timens du Roy de France’; author of Lettres d’un Franá§ois concernant le gouvernement, la politique et les moeurs des Anglois et Franá§ois, 3 vols., Paris, 1745 (English translation, Letters on the English and French Nations, 2 vols., Dublin, 1747); translator of Hume’s Political Discourses as Discours politiques de M. Hume, traduits de l’Anglois, Amsterdam (et se vend á  Paris), 1754, 2 vols., 12mo, and 2nd edit., Dresden, 1755, 2 vols. 8vo.

† 2 Le Blanc opened the correspondence with this letter from Paris (MS., R.S.E.; Burton, i. 458 f.). He announces that he is sending a copy of his translation of the Pol. Disc., and asks Hume to read it with care and to point out any errors in translation. The sooner this is done the better, he says, ‘car il est bon de vous dire que cette traduction, grá¢ce á  l’excellence de l’original se débite ici comme un roman…. Le libraire m’avertit qu’il sera bientá´t tems de penser á  la seconde édition. J’attendray votre réponse pour l’enrichir de vos remarques qui feront que celle-ci sera reá§ue du public avec encor plus d’applaudissements.’

† 3 Sic in MS.

† 1 Published as vol. iv of the Essays and Treatises, 1754.

† 2 I doubt if Le Blanc really meant that. What he said, after asking for Hume’s comments on the translation, was: ‘J’en profiterai á  la premiere édition, ainsi que des remarques, changements, ou additions qu’il vous plaira me communiquer, soit á  l’occasion de vos discours, soit sur les autres ouvrages anglois dont je parle dans mes notes.’

† 3 Vol. i of Essays and Treatises, 1753.

† 4 The opening of the essay Of the Delicacy of Taste and Passion. In its earlier form it opened: ‘There is a certain delicacy of passion, to which some people are subject, that makes them extremely sensible….’

† 5 Vol. iii of Essays and Treatises, 1753.

† 6 Vol. ii of Essays and Treatises, 1754 (reprinted, still as third edition, in 1756).

† 7 The second edition appeared, first with A. Millar’s name on the title-page in 1750, and then with M. Cooper’s, in the same year.

† 8 I presume he means the 4 vols. of Essays and Treatises, including vol. iv, Political Discourses.

† 1 From a letter of Gavin Hamilton, the bookseller in question, to William Strahan, printed by Hill (p. 3, n. 2), it appears that Hume was originally offered £1,200 in all, in return for which the booksellers were to have the right to print 2,000 copies of each of the 3 vols. of the History when ready. As things fell out, Hume did not give Messrs. Hamilton, Balfour, and Neill the chance to publish any volume after the first. He objected to contracting for books too far ahead.

† 2 A reference to the quarrels between the clergy and the Parlement of Paris, in which the Court took first one side and then the other. In May 1753 the King by lettres de cachet ordered all Presidents and Councillors to residences that were named for them, away from Paris, the Grand Council being sent to Pontoise. The result was the publication of the Grandes Remonstrances on 23 May, containing the memorable statement: ‘If subjects owe obedience to kings, kings on their side owe obedience to law.’ In 1754 the Court reversed its policy, and recalled the exiled parlementaires.

(meer…)

Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 113 To: Blanc [55] p 227
I had heard of the Dutch Translation of my political Discourses† 2 before yours; but have never yet seen it. I sent a Copy of my other Writings (except the History) to the Bookseller at Amsterdam .† 3 This I wou’d not have done, had I known, that you had any Thoughts of translating them: But it is of no Consequence. I have the Honor to be

Sir Your most obedient & most humble Servant

DAVID HUME

Edinburgh

5th of Novr 1755.

† 2 Mauvillon’s.

† 3 Some of these appeared as OEuvres philosophiques de Mr D. Hume [translated by J.-B. Mérian and J.-B.-R. Robinet], Amsterdam , J. H.Schneider, 1758-60, 5 vols., 8vo. The Essays Moral and Political, however,were not all translated into French till later.

Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 94 To: Blanc [54] Fn 1 p 191

† 1 Jean-Bernard Le Blanc (1707-81), French man of letters, ‘historiographe des Bá¢timens du Roy de France’; author of Lettres d’un Franá§ois concernant le gouvernement, la politique et les moeurs des Anglois et Franá§ois, 3 vols., Paris, 1745 (English translation, Letters on the English and French Nations, 2 vols., Dublin, 1747); translator of Hume’s Political Discourses as Discours politiques de M. Hume, traduits de l’Anglois, Amsterdam (et se vend á  Paris), 1754, 2 vols., 12mo, and 2nd edit., Dresden, 1755, 2 vols. 8vo.

† 2 Le Blanc opened the correspondence with this letter from Paris (MS., R.S.E.; Burton, i. 458 f.). He announces that he is sending a copy of his translation of the Pol. Disc., and asks Hume to read it with care and to point out any errors in translation. The sooner this is done the better, he says, ‘car il est bon de vous dire que cette traduction, grá¢ce á  l’excellence de l’original se débite ici comme un roman…. Le libraire m’avertit qu’il sera bientá´t tems de penser á  la seconde édition. J’attendray votre réponse pour l’enrichir de vos remarques qui feront que celle-ci sera reá§ue du public avec encor plus d’applaudissements.’

† 3 Sic in MS.

Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 94 To: Blanc [54] Fn 1 p 192

† 1 Published as vol. iv of the Essays and Treatises, 1754.

† 2 I doubt if Le Blanc really meant that. What he said, after asking for Hume’s comments on the translation, was: ‘J’en profiterai á  la premiere édition,
ainsi que des remarques, changements, ou additions qu’il vous plaira me communiquer, soit á  l’occasion de vos discours, soit sur les autres ouvrages anglois dont je parle dans mes notes.’

† 3 Vol. i of Essays and Treatises, 1753.

† 4 The opening of the essay Of the Delicacy of Taste and Passion. In its earlier form it opened: ‘There is a certain delicacy of passion, to which some people are subject, that makes them extremely sensible….’

† 5 Vol. iii of Essays and Treatises, 1753.

† 6 Vol. ii of Essays and Treatises, 1754 (reprinted, still as third edition, in 1756).

† 7 The second edition appeared, first with A. Millar’s name on the titlepage in 1750, and then with M. Cooper’s, in the same year.

† 8 I presume he means the 4 vols. of Essays and Treatises, including vol. iv, Political Discourses.

Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 94 To: Blanc [54] Fn 1 p 193

† 1 From a letter of Gavin Hamilton, the bookseller in question, to William Strahan, printed by Hill (p. 3, n. 2), it appears that Hume was originally offered
£1,200 in all, in return for which the booksellers were to have the right to print 2,000 copies of each of the 3 vols. of the History when ready. As things fell out, Hume did not give Messrs. Hamilton, Balfour, and Neill the chance to publish any volume after the first. He objected to contracting for books too far ahead.

† 2 A reference to the quarrels between the clergy and the Parlement of Paris, in which the Court took first one side and then the other. In May 1753 the King by lettres de cachet ordered all Presidents and Councillors to residences that were named for them, away from Paris, the Grand Council being sent to Pontoise. The result was the publication of the Grandes Remonstrances on 23 May, containing the memorable statement: ‘If subjects owe obedience to kings,
kings on their side owe obedience to law.’ In 1754 the Court reversed its policy, and recalled the exiled parlementaires.

Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 101 To: Blanc [54] Fn 2 p 207

† 2 Discours politiques de Mr David Hume, traduits de l’Anglois par M. de M*** [Eléazar de Mauvillon], Amsterdam , 1754 (16mo, pp. ii, 355).

† 3 Le Blanc thought so too. In his letter of 25 Dec. 1754 he says: ‘J’ay vu ici la traduction de vos Discours Politiques imprimée en Hollande; elle ne se peut pas lire…. Le traducteur quel qu’il soit ne sait constament ni l’anglois ni le franá§ois. C’est probablement un de ces auteurs qui travaillent á  la foire pour les libraires de Hollande, et dont les ouvrages bons ou mauvais se débitent aux foires de Leipsig et de Francfort…. Cette traduction passe ici pour être d’un Mr Mauvillon de Leipsig dont le métier est de faire des livres franá§ois pour l’Allemagne, et d’enseigner ce qu’il ne sait pas, c’est á  dire votre langue et la ná´tre’ (MS., R.S.E.; Burton, i. 461).

† 4 Voltaire’s breach with Frederick the Great was an old story by this time.

† 5 Voltaire did spend a month (June-July 1754) at the abbey of Sénones, living to all outward seeming as a monk but writing free-thinking articles for the Encyclopédie. The episode was a piece of hypocrisy designed to facilitate his return to Paris and the French Court.

Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 101 To: Blanc [54] Fn 1 p 208

† 1 David Mallet edited all Bolingbroke’s Works in 5 vols., 1753-4. With Hume’s opinion cf. Horace Walpole (Letters, iii. 269): ‘It is comical to see how he [Bolingbroke] is given up here, since the best of his writings, his metaphysical divinity, have been published. While he betrayed and abused every man who trusted him, or who had forgiven him, or to whom he was obliged, he was a hero, a patriot, and a philosopher, and the greatest genius of the age: the moment his Craftsmen against Moses and St. Paul, &c., were published, we have discovered that he was the worst man and the worst writer in the world.’

† 2 James Harris (1709-80), a man of rank and wealth; M.P., Lord of Admiralty, and Lord of the Treasury; Secretary and Controller to Queen, 1774-80; author of Hermes, or a Philosophical Inquiry concerning Universal Grammar (1751), and Philosophical Arrangements (1775). As Hume notes, he was an Aristotelian, and applied Aristotle’s methods to modern problems.

† 3 Gabriel Girard (1677-1748), author of Synonymes franá§ois; leurs différentes significations et le choix qu’il en faut faire pour parler avec justesse, a very popular work many times reprinted during the century.

Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 101 To: Blanc [54] Fn 1 p 209

† 1 Lyttelton’s Henry II, which he wrote and re-wrote with infinite pains and which in the end made very dry reading, did not begin to appear till 1764, but the printing was begun in 1755.

† 2 William Guthrie (1708-70). The book referred to here is probably An Essay upon English Tragedy, with Remarks upon the Abbé Le Blanc’s Observations on the English Stage, 1747.

Hume: TLDH Vol 2 App B [Early French Translators] p 343
APPENDIX B
HUME’S EARLY FRENCH TRANSLATORS (zie: ‘Over vroege Franse vertalingen’)

Hume: TLDH Vol 2 App B [Early French Translators] p 344

Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 225 To: Robertson [63] Fn 1 p 415

† 1 Octavie Guichard, Madame Belot (died 1805). Left a young widow with an income of only 60 livres a year, she sold her annuity for 1,200 livres and spent the money in learning English. Her first book was Reflexions d’une provinciale sur le discours de J.-Jacques Rousseau touchant l’inégalité des conditions, 1756; her second, Mélanges de littérature angloise, 2 parts, 1759 (which included a translation of Garth’s Dispensary). Her Hume translations were: Histoire de la Maison de Tudor, sur le Trá´ne d’Angleterre, Par M. David Hume, Traduite de l’Anglois, Par Madame B***, Amsterdam , 2 vols., 4to, 1763; and Histoire de la Maison de Plantagenet, sur le Trá´ne d’Angleterre, Depuis l’Invasion de Jules César, jusqu’ á  l’avénement de Henry VII. Par M. David Hume, Traduite de l’Anglois Par Madame B***, Amsterdam , 2 vols., 4to, 1765. She also translated Johnson’s Rasselas, 1768. In Dec. 1765 she married Jean-Baptiste-Franá§ois Durey de Meinières, Président de Meinières (born 1705), who had some time before established her in his house in order that she might have the use of his fine library.

Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 225 To: Robertson [63] Fn 1 p 416

† 1 Grimm says of Mme Belot’s translation of The Tudors: [‘Elle] ne prend point dans le public, et . . . on lui reproche déjá  un style lourd, froid, et lá¢che (Corr. Litt., iii. 331); and of The Plantagenets: [Le style de Mme Belot] ‘plat et “Ce gouvernement ne ressemblait pas mal á  l’aristocratie polonaise” et Mme Belot traduit: “Ce gouvernement ressemblait assez á  une aristocratie polie”. . . On a dit que M. Hume avait revu lui-même les épreuves de cette traduction, et son séjour á  Paris pouvait rendre la chose vraisemblable; mais cela n’est pas vrai’ (ibid., iv. 403).

Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 225 To: Robertson [63] Fn 1 p 417
† 1 Apparently Stewart omitted a passage here.

† 2 Several books purporting to be extracts from these Memoirs have been published, but the MSS. themselves seem to have been destroyed during the French Revolution.

Sir

Whenever you see my Name, you’ll readily imagine the Subject of my Letter. A young Author can scarce forbear speaking of his Performances to all the World: But when he meets with one, that is a good Judge, & whose Instruction & Advice he depends on, there ought some Indulgence to be given him. You were so good as to promise me, that, if you cou’d find Leizure from your other Occupations, you woud look over my System of Philosophy, & at the same time ask the Opinion of such of your Acquaintaince as you thought proper Judges. Have you found it sufficiently intelligible? Does it appear true to you? Do the Style & Language seem tolerable? These three Questions comprehend every thing; & I beg of you to answer them with the utmost Freedom & Sincerity. I know ‘tis a Custom to flatter Poets on their Performances; but I hope Philosophers may be exempted: And the more so, that their Cases are by no means alike. When we do not approve of any thing in a Poet, we commonly can give no Reason for our Dislike, but our particular Taste; which not being convincing we think it better to conceal our Sentiments altogether. But every Error in Philosophy can be distinctly markt, & prov’d to be such; & this is a Favour I flatter myself you’ll indulge me in with regard to the Performance I put into your Hands. I am, indeed, afraid, that it wou’d be too great a Trouble for you to mark all the Errors you have observ’d. I shall only insist on being informd of the most material of them, & you may assure yourself will consider it as a singular Favour. I am with great Esteem. Sir

Your most obedient, and most humble Servant

DAVID HUME.

Please direct to me at Ninewells near Berwick upon Tweed.

Aprile. 6. 1739.

Mr Des Maizeaux at Chaugnion’s† 1 Bookseller in the Strand London.

(brief 10 in Greigs “The Letters of David Hume (as found on Intelex Online)

† 2 Pierre Desmaizeaux (1673?-1745), a French Protestant refugee in London, and a voluminous writer in both French and English; friend of Pierre Bayle, whose works he edited and whose life he wrote; came to England at end of the seventeenth century; employed (and rewarded) by Addison and Halifax, the Whig ministers; friend of the Deist, Anthony Collins; F.R.S., 1720. See Isaac D’Israeli, Curiosities of Literature, and MS. volumes of Desmaizeaux’s correspondence in B.M.

Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 10 To: Desmaizeaux [39] Fn 1 p 30
† 1 This must have been a branch of the Dutch firm of that name. Desmaizeaux was constantly employed as a hack writer for the Dutch booksellers.
Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 10 To: Desmaizeaux [39] Fn * p 29
† * B.M. MSS. 4284 (Bibl. Birch); Englische Studien, B. 63, Heft 3 (1929); hitherto unpublished in England.

Boekverkopers:

Arrenberg, Reinier (14)
Baalde, J.S. (Amsterdam, 4)
Beman, Hendrik (12)
Blussé, A en zoon (Dordrecht, 6)
Bohn, C. H. (Haarlem, 2)
Bosch, Jan (Boekverkoper te Haarlem, 1 ex?))
Bosch, Jacobus (Haarlem?, 8)
Botter, Hendrik (3)
Braam, Pieter van (Dordrecht, 3)
Bulderen, H. van (Zutphen, 2)
Burgvliet, Jacobus (7)
Corbelyn, Th (Vlissingen, 2)
Entrop, P. J. (Amsterdam, 2)
Groenewoud, Abraham (Groningen, 1?)
Hogeveen, Junior, C. van (Leiden, 1)
Hoorn, A. J. van (Zutphen, 1)
Ippinga, Johannes (Franeker, 1)
Kanter, Jakobus (Zierikzee, 1)
Klipping
Kok
Kroe, Albert van der (Amsterdam, 1)
Kruyff, F. de (Amsterdam, 1)
Lee, Jan van (Haarlem 1)
Losel, Weduwe J (Delft 1)
Losel, Ph (10)
Losel, Andreas (4)
Paddenburg, A. van (Utrecht, 1)
Sas, H. (Middelburg, 1)
Schmidt, L. (Schiedam)
Smithof (Nicolaes – voorwoord, 6)
Stael (Gouda)
Stanhoffius, J (Amsterdam, 1)
Thoorn, P. O. van der (Zierikzee, 5)
Yntema en Tielboel (Amsterdam, 2)

Een aantal bijzondere particulieren:

• Daniël van Alphen, de broer van Hieronymus
• Raadspensionaris P. Stein
• Diderik Gregorius van Teylingen
• Leesgezelschap, Het (Amsterdam, Bergen op den Zoom, Rotterdam, “onder de zinspreuk “Omne tulit Punctum qui miscuit utile dulci“”)
• Ockkerse W.C. (niet dezelfde familie)
• G, Bonnet – godgeleerdheid professor Utrecht
• Paulus Bonnet, Predikant, mennonieten, remonstranten

De particulieren zijn dus o.a. predikanten, doktoren, raadsleden