Denkend aan Hume in Holland

Hume: TLDH Vol 2 App C §2 Fm: Stewart [59] p 347

† * II. From JOHN STEWART (see Letter 164 above)
Paris 1st March
1759
My Dear David

My Father has probably communicated to you a part of two letters I have wrote him from this place. If he has not, tell him I beg he may, as he knows I hate writing much, and it will save me some pages. The principal motive I have for troubling you with an epistle is to express my gratitude for the obligations I owe to your friendship, for under the title of your friend I have been more caressed
here than ever stranger was by people of distinguished merit and a high rank in life. I hinted at your intention of one day paying them a visit and I assure you it gave a most general & unfeigned satisfaction to a great number of People you would like to live with and who, as far as my penetration goes, would be very happy to have you amongst them. If you have any thoughts of making a trip this Summer or Autumn, you need only say the word, and your Passport will be sent you by the return of the Post.
Hume: TLDH Vol 2 App C §2 Fm: Stewart [59] p 348
Madame Dupres your friend is a woman of fortune, fashion, and great good sense remarkably well behaved & generally esteemed. At her house you will see a great deal of the Politest & genteellest Company. Monsr de Trudaine who is equally desirous to see you & to have you at his Country house is a man so well known that I need not tell you the advantages of being acquainted with him. His
son is one of the most amiable Characters in Paris. He has made a translation of your natural History of Religion which is too bulky to send you by the Post but I shall convey it to you by a private hand. To each of these you must send a Copy of your last Volume of the History as also to Monsr Turgot a man of very good sense great knowledge and one of your Admirers. You may add one too for the Chevalier de Chatlus [Chastellux] whom you’ll wish to know when you come here. He learned the English language on purpose to read your works in the Original. All these may be directed to Mr de Trudaine, who being a Minister has every thing brought to him from the different parts of the kingdom very carefully & free of Charges. Pray don’t forget our old friend Helvetius too who says he’ll come to England to see you if you dont come to Paris. He lives in friendship with the above set because they love his aimiable Character at the same time that they have no very high idea of his Philosophy. He certainly is one of the best men ever was formed.

I am charged to make many Compliments to you from Mr Crebillon, Mr du Hamel, the Abbé du Renel [Raynal] & many many more who look for your coming amongst them with the same anxiety & impatience that —-† 1 look for —-† 1 Pray indulge them & me and come next winter. I’ll meet you here soon after the Vintage is over & if you don’t like the Place we’ll return together.
The following books must be purchased & sent at the same time & an Acct of the charge transmitted to me.

• Two copies of Robinson’s [Robertson’s] History
• Johnson’s Dictionary in Octavo
• Dº in Folio
• Shakespears Works
• Popes Illiad
• Tom Jones
• Memoires of a woman of pleasure 2 Volumes printed for G.
• Fenton in the Strand 17[?]
• Miscellaneous Tracts byMiddleton
• Human Nature in 3 volumes by Dav: Hume
• An Introduction to Languages Literary & Philosophical by H. Bailey 2 vols 8vo
• Gerard Malines on Money

Hume: TLDH Vol 2 App C §2 Fm: Stewart [59] p 349

The whole may be sent to the care of Mr. Crawford at ROTTERDAM with orders to forward them to Mr de Trudaines Intendant General des finances & du commerce.
If an Cartel ship is going from Dover to Calais it will save Charges. My father will know by writing a line to Messrs Minet at Dover or sending to the Sick & Wounded Office on Tower Hill.
Messrs Minet will consign the Parcell to their friend at Calais.

Adieu my Dear Sir I won’t tire you any longer. Believe me always most sincerely & respectfully Yours

JOHN STEWART

Please add to the list of books to be purchased & sent here.

• The Bible in the Erse & in the Welsh languages
• The best Grammar (if there ever was one) in these two languages.
• Dº as to the Dictionarys in Dº languages

No matter whether the Grammars are wrote in Latin or English but the Dictionarys must be double viz Erse & English or Latin and English or Latin & Erse. The same as to the Welsh Dictionary. This commissn is for Mr Turgot who’s a great Etymologist.

Madame du Pres husband is an Antiquarian & wishes to know from Bob Wood the dimensions of the three Pyramids in Egypt in case he measured them. Mr Dupres also wishes to know if there is any book published giving an Acct of the Ancient English moneys & particularly their weights which he says Ld Pembroke has carelessly omitted & which he’s very angry at.

The Principal of the Scots Colledge here is also very angry at your friend Robinson [Robertson] for publishing his book before he came or sent somebody to examine 18 Volumes in folio of Manuscripts & records in the reign of Mary Queen of Scots which they have in this Colledge here.

———————————–

To David Hume Esqr
London.
† * III. From JOHN STEWART (see Letter 164 above)
[undated]
My Dear Sir

I wrote to you about a fourthnight ago by the Post. The present goes by a Servant I had brought with me from England who chuses to return because his health does not well bear the fatigue of posting. I send you herewith Mr Montigny de Trudaine’s Translation of your N.H. of R. He’s a very fine Young fellow, a rising man here and a great admirer of yours.
Hume: TLDH Vol 2 App C §3 Fm: Stewart [??] p 350
Besides the books I formerly begged of you to get I must trouble you for some more to be sent with the same address.

For Mr Turgot

• The Peerage of England Dº of Scotland Dº of Ireland
• Robinson’s [Robertson’s] history of Scotland
• Baskerville’s Milton 2 Volumes
• second volume of Hume’s History of England
• Essays & Treatises on various subjects by David Hume one Volume in quarto
• Four Dissertations by Ditto in Duodecimo

For President de Brosses

• Baskerville’s Milton and Ditto for Mr de Trudaine le fils

I’m not sure whether Mr Turgot does not mean by the second Volume of your History what we commonly call the first because he reckons that of the House of Tudor to be really the first.
This is a deal of trouble I give you but ‘tis to serve men who would go to the Indies to serve you, for I’m in great earnest when I tell you that you’re the man of the world they hold in the highest esteem.
Pray remember to write either to Monsr or Made du Pre de St Maur about the different things I recommended in my last & you should also write a short line to Mr Montigny de Trudaine after you have read his translation. A letter from you will at all times give great Satisfaction here. The few you have wrote have been much talked of. I once more repeat to you that your Correspondent Made du Pre de St Maur is without exception the most accomplished woman I ever saw and I also think the most rational & sensible.

I have sent you inclosed Proposals for publishing that fine Map of France you have heard so much of. Tis under the direction of the Academy and there are 31 Sheets already struck off. These I have seen and they are inimitably well done. Pray communicate these proposals to the curious for they are vastly surprized here in having as yet had only 25 subscriptions from Great Britain. Adieu.

J.S.
[Written in Hume’s hand:
The Irish Bible
A Grammar & Dictionary of Irish
Harris instead of Gerrard de Malines]
Hume: TLDH Vol 2 App C §3 Fm: Stewart [??] Fn * p 349
† * MS., R.S.E., unpublished.

dit is dus in zijn stuk over publiek krediet, maar ook in Sur le luxe valt Humes naam onmiddellijk

hieronder de brieven:
***********************

Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 229 To: Neville [64] p 423
† * 229. To RICHARD ALDWORTH NEVILLE† 3

Paris, March 14, 1764.

Manifold have been the persecutions, dear Sir, which the unhappy Jews, in several ages, have suffered from the misguided zeal of the Christians, but there has at last arisen a Jew capable of avenging his injured nation, and striking terror into their proud oppressors; this formidable Jew is Monsr. de PINTOo, and the unhappy Christian, who is chiefly exposed to all the effects of his cruelty, is your humble servant. He says, that you promised to mention him to me; I do not remember that you did: he says, that he has done the most signal services to England, while the Duke of Bedford was Ambassador here; I do not question it, but they are unknown to me: he says, that he is poor, and must have a pension for his reward; I wish he may obtain it, but I cannot assist him: he sends me letters, which I transmit to you, but I cannot oblige you to answer them: he says, that Lord Hertford must get justice done him, if the Duke of Bedford neglects him; I do not believe that the Duke of Bedford neglects anybody that has done him service: he grows angry; I exhort him to patience.

424

This, dear Sir, is a very abridged account of the dialogue which passes every day between M. PINTO and me, that is, every day when he can break in upon me, and lay hold of me: when he catches Lord Hertford, he is very copious on the same subject; but when he seizes poor Lord Beauchamp, his Lordship has good reason to curse the day he was born mild and gentle, and made incapable of doing or saying a harsh thing.

But to be serious with regard to the man, I imagine, from what he tells me, and from a letter of yours which he showed me, that he had endeavoured to be useful to the Duke of Bedford and you during the negotiations of the peace: perhaps he was useful in some particulars, but to what extent you best know, and I am certain, that you neither forget nor neglect him, tho you have not answered his multiplied letters. I should not think, that it at all lay upon me to solicit you in his behalf, or even to write to you about him, had I not been forced by his constant teazing, which I could no otherwise get rid of. If the Duke of Bedford thinks him entitled to no reward, you would do this family a great service by telling him so at once: if the Duke intends to do him service, he would be very happy to have the encouragement of some hint in his favour. I only beg of you to excuse my meddling at all in this affair; which, I am sensible, does not belong to me, and which I should have avoided, had it not been in this manner extorted from me.† 1

I am, &c.

DAVID HUME

† * Bedford Corr., iii. 257 f.

† 3 See note 1 on p. 409 above.

† 1 ‘The information with which M. de PINTO furnished the Duke [of Bedford] consisted chiefly of extracts from the papers of the celebrated Dupleix, who after having ruled the Carnatic with absolute sway was living in abject poverty in Paris, by which it appeared that territories of the annual value of £70,000 had been ceded to the French East India Company on the 1st of July 1749 (or about a fortnight before the commencement of hostilities), on such terms as left no doubt of the connexion between the session and the hostilities. These territories, of which the Company had long been dispossessed, would of course have been restored to it under the words of the Treaty. Such a result was obviously a gross injustice on the English Company, and the scruples of the Duke to press their case further being at once removed, he renewed his application to the duc de Choiseul for the alteration of the epoch. Finding the French ministers obstinate in their refusal, he frankly told them that he would return home in twelve hours, and lay the whole affair before Parliament, unless he gained his point.’ They then agreed (Bedford Corr., iii. 184 n.). On the representations of the Duke, de PINTO subsequently received a pension of £500 per annum from the East India Company (ibid., iii. 258 n.). See also Letter 250 below.

(meer…)

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.

Malherbe meldt op bladzijde 55 “From this letter and the following one (noot 51: to abbé le blanc 12 sept 1754) it is clear that he was keen for continental diffusion of his works in a language spoken everywhere in Europe.

(bron: Intelex online editie van The Letters of David Hume – TLDH, pagina 343 en 344)

Hume: TLDH Vol 2 App B [Early French Translators] p 343
APPENDIX B
HUME’S EARLY FRENCH TRANSLATORS

Hierin schrijft … (editor van de brieven) over de eerste Franse vertalingen van Humes werk en de correspondentie die daarmee te maken had.

1. The ‘Political Discourses’.

This was the first of Hume’s works to appear in a foreign translation. The earliest translation of it was published as:

Discours politiques de Mr David Hume, traduits de l’Anglois par M. de M***. A Amsterdam; chez J. Schreuder, & Pierre Mortier le Jeune. MDCCLIV. [16mo, pp. ii + 355.]
The translator was Eléazar de Mauvillon , of whom Le Blanc gives an unfavourable and probably an unfair account in his letter to Hume of 25 Dec. 1754 (see extract in vol. i, p. 207, note 3). There is nothing to show that Hume ever established touch with Mauvillon ; and there is much to show that he did not. As soon as we put together Letters 94, 97, 97A, 101, 113, 114, and 137, we see that they must have been all addressed to the same person; and as the replies to some of them are extant among the MSS., R.S.E., and are all from Le Blanc, we can establish the identity of Hume’s correspondent with certainty. Hume wrote all these letters to Le Blanc, and as far as we can tell, wrote no letters to Mauvillon . The entries in the Brit. Mus. Catalogue of Autograph Letters for Letters 94, 97, 101, and 113 (all among Egerton MSS. 21) should be revised accordingly.

The Abbé Le Blanc’s translation appeared first as:
Discours politiques de Monsieur Hume, traduits de l’Anglois. Amsterdam, et se vend á  Paris, chez M. Lambert, 1754. [2 vols., 12mo.]

The following year a second edition appeared as:

Discours politiques de Monsieur Hume. Traduits de l’Anglois. Nouvelle Edition Par Monsieur L’Abbé Le Blanc Historiographe des Batimens du Roi de France . . . Avec Privilège du Roi. A Dresde, chez Michel Groell, Libraire et Marchand d’Estampes. M.DCC.LV. [2 vols., 8vo.]

2. Other Philosophical Works.

In 1758, J. H. Schneider, an Amsterdam bookseller, began the publication of what he later on entitled OEuvres philosophiques de Mr. D. Hume. His translators were J.-B. Mérian, J.-B.-R. Robinet de Chá¢teaugiron and Mlle de la Chaux; and 5 vols. appeared, 1758-60, as follows:

I-II. Essais philosophiques sur l’entendement humain . . . Avec les Quatres [sic] philosophes [The Epicurean, the Stoic, the Platonist, and the Sceptic].

III. Histoire naturelle de la Religion . . . avec un examen critique et philosophique de cet ouvrage.

Hume: TLDH Vol 2 App B [Early French Translators] p344

IV. Dissertation sur les passions, sur la tragédie, sur la règle du goá»t. (Only III and IV bear on the half-title OEuvres philosophiques de Mr. D. Hume.)

V. Essais de morale, ou Recherche sur les principes de la morale.

In 1759 the same bookseller brought out: OEuvres philosophiques de M. D. Hume [2 tomes in 1 vol., 8vo.], which contained the same works as III and IV above, in the same translations, and
with the same accompaniments. In 1764 he brought out what he called a second edition of OEuvres de M. Hume, in 2 vols., 8vo. This contained:
I. Essais moraux et politiques.
II. Essais philosophiques sur l’entendement humain.


On 5 Dec. 1763, Schneider wrote to Hume:

‘Il y a près de quatre ans que j’ai cherché á  me procurer votre adres, pour avoir l’honneur de vous présenter un exemplaire de vos Essais en Franá§ais, que j’ai fait traduire dans cette Langue & dont je vais dans peu publier le 6e volume de la premiere Edition, et le 1e de la seconde Edition …. Les tomes 1. 2. 3. & 4 sont traduit á  Berlin, & le 5e á  Paris. La traduction de tomes 3 4 & 5, je les ai payé deux fois; pour en avoir seul le fond de l’Edition Franá§aise; il me fallais faire ce Sacrifice, pour empecher qu’on n’en fit pas une edition á  Geneve.
‘Si vous publiez Monsieur, encore quelque chose, oserai-je vous prier, de me le faire parvenir d’abord, afin que je le puisse joindre sans delais. ‘Un de mes Confrere ici, a fait traduire un volume, en franá§ais, dont je ne peux pas encore avoir le Droit de copie, mais j’ai esperance d’en faire l’acquisition dans peu, pour le faire imprimer d’un même caractere & format. La Traduction est fait par Mr Mauvillon á  Dresde; Mr L’Abbé le Blanc en a fait aussi une de ce volume, qui á  mon avis, me semble beaucoup mieux que l’autre . . .’

(MS., R.S.E., unpublished.)

J.-B.-R. Robinet, author of the book, De la Nature, which made some stir in its day and which Hume mentions to Blair in Letter 237, may have made Hume’s acquaintance in France, but I think this is unlikely. At any rate he wrote to Hume from Amsterdam on 17 Dec. 1765, addressing his letter to Dublin on the assumption that Hume had gone there with Lord Hertford. This letter went astray, and on 2 Sept. 1767 Robinet sent another copy of it to Hume. He says that he is proposing to bring out a complete edition of Hume’s works in French, and he asks for Hume’s opinion on the comparative merits of Mauvillon’s and Le Blanc’s translations of the Political Discourses. He continues:

‘On a imprimé en Hollande 6 petits volumes sous le titre d’OEuvres Philosophiques contenant les Essais sur l’entendement Humain, les Essais de Morale, l’histoire naturelle de la Religion &c. Cette traduction ou plutot ces traductions sont de plusieurs mains. Il y a quelque peu de Voltaire dans les essais de morale, au moins j’ai vu des corrections de sa main sur une mauvaise traduction des premiers Essais, qui m’a passé manuscrite sous les yeux, & qui est entrée dans les 6 petits volumes dont je vous parle . . . Les traducteurs ont joint quelques notes dans lesquelles ils prétendent refuter le texte: ils me semblent de pigmées qui vont heurter étourdiment un colosse, ou des enfans qui veulent enchaá®ner un géant avec un cheveu. Toutes ces notes seront supprimées…. On vous attribue un Traité de la Nature humaine imprimé á  Londres en 1739 & dont je ne connois point de traduction franá§oise. On imprime actuellement ici la traduction d’un Ouvrage Anglois intitulé: Tableau Philosophique de l’histoire du Genre humain, depuis l’origine du monde jusqu’á  Constantin. Le traducteur vous l’attribue.’ (MS., R.S.E., unpublished.)
Hume: TLDH Vol 2 App B [Early French Translators] p 345
Apparently Hume answered this letter on 26 Sept. 1767, and either then or a little later sent Robinet a copy of the Essays and Treatises. There are two further letters from Robinet, both dated from Bouillon, among the MSS., R.S.E. He speaks of pushing on with his edition of Hume’s works, and of having it ready by the spring of 1769; but all that seems ever to have appeared is Le Temple du Bonheur noted below.
Meanwhile Andrew Millar’s friend, David Wilson, the London bookseller who visited Paris in the later summer of 1764 and was presented by Hume to Lord Hertford (see letter 250 above), had reprinted Schneider’s translations as: Hume:
OEuvres philosophiques de M. Hume, traduites de l’Anglois . . . Nouvelle
Edition, Londres, D. Wilson, 1764, in 6 vols., 8vo:
I. Les huits [sic] premiers Essais sur l’entendement
humain.
II. Les quatre derniers Essais sur l’entendement humain et les quatre
philosophes.
III. Histoire naturelle de la
religion.
IV. Les Dissertations sur les passions, sur la tragédie et sur la règle du
goá»t.
V. Les Recherches sur les principes de la
morale.
VI. Les Essais moraux et
politiques.
This was probably a pirated edition.
Three other publications about this time may be noted:
(a) Essais sur le commerce; le luxe; l’argent; l’intérêt de l’argent; les
impá´ts; le credit public; et la balance du commerce; par M. David Hume.
Traduction nouvelle, avec des Réflections du Traducteur. Et Lettre d’un
négociant de Londres á  un de ses amis . . . A Paris, chez Saillant . . . A Lyon,
Chez Aimé De la Roche . . . M.DCC.LXVII. [8vo, pp. 232.]

(b) Pensées philosophiques, morales, critiques, littéraires et politiques de
M. Hume . . . A Londres. Et se trouve á  Paris, chez la Veuve Duschesne . . .
M.DCC.LXVII. [12mo, pp. xii + 416.]

(c) Le Temple du Bonheur, ou Recueil des plus excellens Traités sur le
Bonheur, extraits des meilleurs auteurs anciens et modernes, Tome premier. A
Bouillon, Aux Dépens de la Société Typographique. Et se trouve á  Paris, chez
Lacombe. M.DCC.LXIX. [8vo.]
Hume: TLDH Vol 2 App B [Early French Translators] p 346

3. The Suppressed Essays.

Copies of Hume’s two suppressed essays, Of Suicide and Of the Immortality of the Soul, found their way early into France. Perhaps Hume himself lent them to some of his philosophical friends in Paris and allowed copies to be taken; perhaps they were shown as curiosities by John Wilkes, who had a proof copy in his possession at one time. However it may have been, they appeared for the
first time in a French translation in a book entitled Recueil Philosophique, 2 tom. in 1 vol., Londres, 1770. Tome II of this publication contains, inter alia:

(i) Sentences des Philosophes sur la nature de l’á¢me, par M. Mirabaud.
(ii) Dissertation sur l’immortalité de l’á¢me, traduit de l’anglois.
(iii) Dissertation sur le suicide, traduit de l’anglois.
(iv) Problème important. La religion est-elle nécessaire á  la morale et utile á  la politique? par M. Mirabaud.
(v) Pensées sur la religion. Anonyme.

(ii) and (iii) are Hume’s essays. The ‘Mirabaud’ given as the author of (i) and (iv) is a pseudonym for the Baron d’Holbach, and Lanson definitely gives d’Holbach as the translator of Hume’s essays, I do not known on what authority. I imagine Hume never heard of these translations and would have been somewhat annoyed if he had.

4. The ‘History’.

These have all been referred to in the Notes above. (See especially Vol. i, pp.
258, 302, 415, 494.)