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.