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…)