Hume, Memoranda

Hume's Early Memoranda, 1729-1740: The Complete Text
Author(s): Ernest Campbell Mossner

Source: Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 9, No. 4, Arthur O. Lovejoy at Seventy-Five:
Reason at Work (Oct., 1948), pp. 492-518
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
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NOTES AND DOCUMENTS
HUME 'S EARLY MEMORANDA, 1729-1740: THE COMPLETE TEXT
EDITED WITH FOREWORD BY ERNEST CAMPBELL MOSSNER
The first two volumes of David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature were
published early in 1739, some three months before his twenty-eighth birth-
day; the manuscript for these volumes was virtually ready for the press upon
his return from France in the summer of 1737. Most of the actual composi-
tion was completed during his residence in France, 1734-1737, and most of
the reading and thinking embodied in the work go back to the Ninewells and
Edinburgh period, 1729-1734. Any scrap of evidence, therefore, relating to
this crucial period of creation or even to a still earlier period may prove of
value toward fuller understanding of the Treatise itself and, indeed, of its
author's entire career. One such fragment from his youthful pen, "An
Historical Essay on Chivalry and modern Honour," which may be dated
toward the close of his undergraduate study at Edinburgh University, 1725-
1726, has recently been made available.1 This essay emphasizes Hume 's early
interests in fine letters, history, and philosophical methodology. Unquestion-
ably of greater importance in delineating the trend of his interests and the
development of his thinking, however, are the twenty-six sheets, containing
a total of 318 memoranda in his hand, also to be found among the Hume
manuscripts in the Royal Society of Edinburgh.2
Presumably but a few surviving sheets out of many more, these notes
by no means provide a complete outline of Hume's intellectual develop-
ment. Indeed, probably the most important of the manuscript collections
of the critical years was destroyed by Hume himself in 1751. For in that
year he informed Gilbert Elliot of Minto:
And tis not long ago that I burn'd an old Manuscript Book, wrote before I
was twenty; which contain'd Page after Page, the gradual Progress of my
Thoughts on that head [religious scepticism]. It begun with an anxious
Search after Arguments, to confirm the Common Opinion: Doubts stole in,
dissipated, return'd, again dissipated, return 'd again; and it was a perpetual
Struggle of a restless Imagination against Inclination, perhaps against
Reason.3
The extant memoranda, all on the same large notepaper, are evidently the
I
See E. C. Mossner, "David Hume's 'An Historical Essay on Chivalry and
modern Honour,"' Modern Philology, XLV (1947), 54-60.
2 R.S.E., Hume MSS., IX, 14. In the Calenidar of Hume MSS. in the possession
of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, 1932), compiled by J. Y. T. Greig
and Harold Beynon, the memoranda are described as "22 pp. +2 pp., 18x29 cm."
There are, however, twenty-six pages of actual notes.
3
Letters of David Hume, ed. J. Y. T. Greig (Oxford, 1932), I, 154.
492
HUME 'S EARLY MEMORANDA, 1729-1740 493
work of many pens over the course of many years. Unnumbered in Hume's
hand, the twenty-six sheets lack ostensible organization beyond division into
three sections. The largest and most miscellaneous of these, consisting of
twenty sheets, bears no title; a single sheet is labelled "Natural Philoso-
phy"; and a group of five, "Philosophy." The above order of binding in
the R.S.E. collections seems purely fortuitous and, for reasons shortly to be
presented, will not be followed in the present publication.
Hume's memoranda do not constitute a commonplace book on the Lockean
or any other model; they are merely notes of his ideas and comments on his
readings under three loose headings. Yet within each section, insofar as the
sheets remain in the original order of composition, runs an implicit chronol-
ogy. And while the three sections may have been written concurrently, at
least to some extent, it is clear that each one provides an individual problem
of dating. What they have in common are the same handwriting and the
same notepaper. The watermarks of the paper have been examined by
Norman Kemp Smith, who comments: "The watermarks on the sheets of
the memoranda occur also on paper used in the years 1734, 1739, and 1743,
but not, so far as I have observed, on any later, definitely datable R.S.E.
manuscripts. "4 John Hill Burton, the first to publish a sampling5 of these
memoranda, dates the bulk of them subsequent to the completion of the
Treatise and prior to the publication of the first volume of Essays, that is,
between 1739 and 1741; the items on "Natural Philosophy," he assigns to
the years immediately preceding 1739. With these conjectures, Kemp Smith
is in apparent agreement.6 It remains to be asked, to what extent do they
cover all the available facts, and can anything more precise be offered about
the dating?
In general, I am forced to the conclusion that Burton's dating, at least
of some part of the notes, is late. A brief review of certain pertinent facts
from Hume's letters will provide the necessary background to the earlier
and more important period. Writing to a physician, probably Dr. Arbuth-
not,7 in the spring of 1734, Hume remarks that, "within these three Years,
4Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, ed. Norman Kemp Smith,
2nd ed. with supplement (London and Edinburgh, 1947), p. 35, n. 3.
5John Hill Burton, Life and Correspondence of David Hume (Edinburgh,
1846), I, 95-96, 124-35. Burton prints all nine notes on "Natural Philosophy,"
eight
out of forty on "Philosophy," and eighty-six out of two hundred and sixty-nine
in
the "General" section.
6 So iS Charles W. Hendel, Jr., in Studies in the Philosophy of David Hume
(Princeton, 1925), 28 ff. But John Laird, in Hume's Philosophy of Human Nature
(London, 1932), 302, goes to the extreme in dating the "Philosophy" section as of
"the period of the early draft of the Dialogues," that is to say, about 1751. Laird
(302-303) prints several notes of this section omitted by Burton.
7
See E. C. Mossner, "Hume's Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, 1734: The Biographical
Significance."' Huntington Library Quarterly, VII (1944), 135-52.
494 ERNEST CAMPBELL MOSSNER
I find I have scribled many a Quire of Paper, in which there is nothing
contain'd but my own Inventions," and further indicates his "Reading
most of the celebrated Books in Latin, French & English, & acquiring the
Italian.. e '8 Most of the present memoranda, it will be noticed, belong
to the second category, that of notes of readings; most of the memoranda
in the first category, that of original thoughts, were presumably among those
deliberately burned in 1751. Hume's earliest extant letter (4 July 1727)
alludes to a course of reading of borrowed books sent down from Edinburgh
to Ninewells; a letter of about 1730 refers to the reading of two modern
French historians; and another of 1732 makes almost certain that he was
studying Bayle.9 One final point remains to be clarified before proceeding
to the problems of dating. According to a passage in My Own Life,'0
Hume was residing at Ninewells, 1739-1745, and "in that time, recovered the
Knowledge of the Greek Language, which I had too much neglected in my
early Youth." This statement might be interpreted as disqualifying him
from any knowledge of Greek before that period, and his remark of 1734
about having read the celebrated books in several languages does not include
the Greek. It is certain, however, both from the Treatise (1739-1740) and
the Essays (1741), that Hume had sufficient knowledge for purposes of
reference and of quotation." What he wanted in the post-Treatise period
-and acquired-was mastery.
The dating of the memoranda must be approached separately for each
of the three sections. That on "Natural Philosophy" seems to be the
earliest. Although this section contains no references to readings, three
of the notes offer other possible clues. Notes 5 and 6, on mineral waters,
and Note 9, with its strong prejudice against medicines and its exposure of
medical quackery, bespeak the personal experiences of the years, 1730-1734,
so eloquently portrayed in the "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot." I would, there-
fore, suggest 1734 as the date of completion of this section, and guess that
it might have been begun as early as 1729.
The Section on "Philosophy,
" which I shall place second, provides direct
evidence through the citation of modern authors. Of a total of forty notes,
sixteen refer to Bayle,12 and several others (chiefly those following cited
Letters of David Hume, I, 16.
9 Ibid., I, 9; II, 337; I, 12.
0
lbid., I, 2.
11
It is perhaps worth remarking that in the following memoranda Greek quota-
tions begin to appear only with III, 223, a note to be dated, according to my notion
of the chronology, about 1738-1740. The very form of some of the notes where
references are given in Greek, rather than in the customary Latin or English, is an
indication that Hume was seeking practise in writing it. Other comments on his
handling of Greek will be found in n. 16, below; see also M. 17.
12 See below, antepenultimate paragraph, for evidence that some of the Bayle
notes may have been taken from an indirect source.
HUME S EARLY MEMORANDA, 1729-1740 495
notes but themselves uncited) may have come from the same source. As has
already been observed, there is reason to believe that Hume was reading
Bayle as early as 1732, yet precisely what he was studying in those stupen-
dous collections of Enlightenment is unspecified. In his New Method of a
Common-Place-Book, Locke had written:
Before I write anything, I put the Name of the Author in my Common-Place-
Book, and under that Name the Title of the Treatise, the size of the Volume,
the Time and Place of its Edition, and (what ought never to be omitted)
the number of Pages that the whole Book contains.'8
Unfortunately Hume did not follow any such elaborate system of bibliog-
raphy; but it seems clear enoulgh from internal evidence that his cryptic
"Baile" means that he was exploring, not only the Dictionnaire historique
et critique (1697), but also the Oeuvres diverses (1727-31), which contain
all the collected works except the Dictionnaire."4
Amongst citations in Section II,
none is of a work published later than
1731, a fact which, while not definitive, is certainly suggestive. Notes 2
and 3 from Abbe Dubos, furthermore, intimate that the annotator was a
sensitive young man whose self-education in the arts and sciences was still
in progress and who had olOt yet made his appearance before the learned
world. Finally, some Bayle references ultimately turn up in the Treatise,
itself. While it is conceded that Hume may have consulted and made nota-
tions from Bayle and other writers on more than one occasion, it neverthe-
less seems unwarranted without further evidence to relegate Section II to
the post-Treatise period. Taking all these facts into consideration, I would
conjecture that the memoranda on "Philosophy" belong to the years, 1730-
1734, before Hume set out for France, and consequently that they are part
of that "new Scene of Thought "'5 which opened up to him in 1729.
Section III consists of 269 notes of a miscellaneous nature rambling
through the fields of economics, government, history (both ancient and
modern), and sociology; the fact that this section is without title is presump-
tive that the first sheet has not survived. On those remaining, the latest
citations are to publications of 1738. And it is in this section that quotations
from the Greek are introduced. On the basis of these facts, I would ven-
ture to suggest that Section III be placed in the post-French period, say,
1737-1740. Some of its notes are reflected in the Essays of 1741. If this
reasoning is acceptable, then, this section is the latest of the three, and the
only one to be dated after the completion of the manuscript of the Treatise.
13 Locke, Posthumous Works
(London,
1706), p. 322.
14
For evidence that Hume was consulting both the Penisees diverses and the
Continuation des pensees diverses, both of which were re-printed
in the Oeuvres
diverses, see Kemp Smith, op. cit., 80-86. See also the same author's Philosophy
of
David Hume (London, 1941), 325-338 and 506-16, for fuller discussions of the
influence of Bayle on Hume.
15
Letters of David Hume, I, 13.
It is not within the present scope to make any elaborate analysis of
Hume's ideas as exhibited in these surviving early memoranda, but rather
to present them in a form where they may easily be av,ailable to the specialist.
Yet a few words of warning and a few comments of a general nature may
not, perhaps, be out of order. The warning is to recognize that the three
sections are not rigidly exclusive and that their titles are not entirely trust-
worthy. Particularly, the third or "General" section contains many items
on religion and ethics which might have been expected to appear under
"Philosophy." Note 257 of this section, for example, presents the very
epitome of Hume's ethical position: "The Moderns have not treated Morals
so well as the Antients merely from their Reasoning turn, which carry'd
them away from Sentiment."
As for general comments, it is apparent that, as a student of Moral
Philosophy before the day of specialization, Hume was reading omniv-
orously on all aspects of what he termed the "Science of Human Nature."
Frequently, indeed, he was reading several books at once and referring back
and forth among them. The notations were sometimes made as he went
along, and sometimes after he had completed the book at hand. The former
are more likely to be specific and provided with references, the latter to be
of a general critical nature. His scholarly frame of mind is indicated in the
cautious approach to statistics: those taken from Aristophanes (III, 166-68),
for instance, are immediately checked against a modern authority, Potter
(III, 169); a modern authority, Burmann, is contradicted by Tacitus (III,
4). A less scholarly habit is to be detected from a careful examination of
the references to King (II, 18, 22-25). Here it becomes apparent that Hume
was consulting the 1731 English translation of the De origine mali and,
moreover, that some of the intervening Bayle references are actually
"lifted" from the copious notes added to that translation by Edmund Law,
It is not unlikely, to be sure, that Law directed Hume's attention to some
important passages in Bayle. By and large, however, a citation by Hume
carries its own guarantee that he was actually reading the work named.
That the memoranda were frequently used by Hume, despite the lack
of organization, is evinced by the numerous corrections and additions made
after the original notes were taken. Here a highly critical spirit is to be
remarked, and sometimes entire notes are crossed out. Yet as several of
these crossed-out notes actually appear later in Hume's printed works, it is
clear that disapproval is not necessarily indicated thereby. In such cases
the crossing-out apparently was the means of Hume's indicating to himself
that an item had been used. As also behooved a young philosopher plan-
ning a career as man of letters, Hume was often practising style in the
revision of his notes. As always with him, the thinker, the scholar, and
the artist are inseparable. The spirit guiding the entire collection is best
expressed in the sentiment quoted from Epicharmus (n. 17, below), which
may be translated, Keep sober and remember to be sceptical.
HUME 'S EARILY MEMORANDA, 1729-1740 497
The present text of Hume 's memoranida does iiot aim at being diplo-
matic, yet idiosyneracies of the manuscript are presented when they seem
to reflect intellectual characteristics. Thus all significant revisions are
indicated: words crossed out appear between square brackets, additions
and
interpolations
betweer .
Many
common abbreviations
are silently expanded by the editor, but names and titles are expanded be-
tween square brackets. In order to disencumber the text still further and
to facilitate its use by the historian of ideas, the following two checklists
have been compiled, to which citations of books and authors may be re-
ferred for fuller information.
I. Ancient Authors Cited by Hume
Aeschines. [III, 233, 239-40, 249, 258.]
Aesop. [III, 260.]
Aristophanes. [III, 166-168.]
Aristotle. [III, 265.]
Asconius Pedianus. [III, 209.]
Boethius. [III, 218.]
Cicero. [II, 11, 17; III, 89-91, 111, 116, 123, 133, 209.]
Demosthenes. [III, 229-30, 232-35, 237-38, 241, 243, 249, 252, 258, 268.]
Diodorus Siculus. [III, 203-207, 213.]
Epicharmus. [quoted n. 17, below.]
Herodian. [III, 221-22, 261.]
Herodotus. [III, 172-77, 245-48, 251-56.]
Juvenal. [II, 1. See below under Dubos.]
Livy. [III, 5, 145-65.]
Lucian. [III, 208, 269.]
Plato. [II, 17; III, 260.]
Pliny. [III, 220.]
Plutarch. [III, 179-81, 183, 249.]
Polybius. [III, 230, III, 5, 262-64, 266.]
Strabo. [III, 214.]
Suetonius. [III, 117.]
Tacitus. [III, 4, 104.]
Thucydides. [III, 144, 236, 244, 249, 258, 266.]
Varro. [III, 215.]
Xenophon. [III, 140, 142, 223-28, 231, 249.]
In Section II, the following philosophers are mentioned in passing:
Anaxagoras [11, 40], Anaximander [13, 40], Anaximenes [13], Aristotle
[12], Democritus [40], Diagoras [12], Heraclitus [13], Pyrrho [40], Strato
[14-15, 40], Thales [11, 13], Theodorus [12].
II. Modern Authors or Works Cited by Hume
"Articles of Union." [III, 106. Presumably as found in an unspecified
periodical.]
Barnevelt. [III, 193. The reference to the great Dutch statesman is
probably taken from Le Clere (see below); certainly the interpo-
lated part of the note, by reason of chronology, could not be on the
authority of Barnevelt, himself.]
Bayle, Pierre. (1) Dictionnaire historique et critique, Rotterdam, 1697, 2
vols. (2) Oeuvres diverses, La Haye, 1727-31, 4 vols. [II, 4-8, 10, 14,
16, 19, 21, 28-30, 32-34. Comments on identification of some of these
notes are offered in the introduction above.]
Boulainvilliers, Henri, Comte de. Etat de la France, London, 1727-28,
3 vols. [III, 7-8, 11:]
Burmann, Pieter. De vectigalibuts pop uli Rornani dissertatio, Utrecht,
1694. [III, 4.]
Child, Sir Josiah. A New Discoturse of Trade, London, 1665. [III, 93-94.]
The Craftsman. Collected edition, London, 1731-37, 14 vols. [III, 28-34.
All references are to be found in the 1728 vol.]
Cudworth, Ralph. The True Intellectual System of the Universe, London,
1678. [II, 40; III, 215. These references afford no specific evidence
that Hume was also consulting the posthumous volume, A Treatise con-
cerning Eternal and Imrmutable Morality, London, 1731.]
Davenant, Charles. An Account of the Trade between Great-Britain,
France, Holland, Spain, London, 1715. [III, 143.]
De Witt, Johan de. The True Interest and Political Maxims of the Re-
publick of Holland and West-Priesland, London, 1702. [III, 77-79,
83-88.]
Dictioniaire de commerce. [See. below, Savary.]
Dobbs, Arthur. An Essay on the Trade and Improvement of Ireland,
Dublin, 1729-31, 2 vols. [III, 96-99.]
Dubos, Abbe Jean-Baptiste.
Reflexiones
critiques sur la poesie et sur la
peinture, Paris, 1917, 2 vols. [II, 2-3. The Juvenal reference above
is to be found in Vol. I, chap. 1, of Dubos.]
[Dutot, Charles de Ferrare].
Reflexions
politiques sur les finances, et le
commerce, La Haye, 1728, 2 vols. [III, 15, 68-74, 125-27.]
Fenelon,
Franqois
de Salignac de La Mothe. De5monstration de V'exis-
tence de Dieu, Amsterdam, 1713. [II, 35-37.]
Geddes, Michael. Miscellaneous Tracts, London, 1702-1706, 3 vols. [III,
100-102, 105.]
The Historical Register, London, 1717-39, 23 vols. [III, 15, 37. Refer-
ences are to vols. I and XVII, for the years 1716 and 1732.]
Hyde, Thomas. Historia religionis veterum Persarzum, Oxford, 1700. [III,
184-92.]
Janicon,
Franqois
Michel. Etat pre'sent de la RepuDblique des Provinces-
Unies et des pais qui en dependent, La Haye, 1729, 2 vols. [III, 198-
201.]
King, William. An Essay on the Origin of Evil, translated from the Latin
by Edmund Law and with an anonymous "Dissertation concerning
the fundamental principle of virtue" by John Gay, London, 1731.
[II, 18, 22-25. Some comments on these notes are made in the intro-
duction above.]
Law, John. Money and Trade Considered, with a Proposal for Supplying
the Nation with Money, Edinburgh, 1705. [III, 80-82.]
Le Clerc, Jean. Histoire des Provinces-Unies des Pays Bas, Amsterdam,
1723-28, 3 vols. [III, 194-96; see also Barnevelt, above.]
Machiavelli, Niccolo. Opere [many editions]; Works, London, 1675. [III,
92, 119.]
"Medal of Louis 14." [III, 130. As found in Savary's Dictionnaire uni-
verselle de commerce, cited in the preceding and following notes. See
III, 1000-1001, art. Medailles frappees sous le regne de Louis XIV.]
Potter, John. Archaeologia-Graeca, or, the Antiquities of Greece, 2nd ed.
augmented and improved, London, 1706, 2 vols. [III, 169-71.]
Pulteney, Sir William. [III, 24. Contributions to the Craftsman under
the signature "C" were generally recognized as Pulteney's, as were
many anonymous pamphlets.]
Re'flections
sur les finances. [See above, Dutot.]
R6flexions politiques. [See above, Dutot.]
Rollin, Charles. Histoire ancienne, Paris, 1730-38, 14 vols. [III, 52. "Of
the art military," Art. V, Sect. V, is entitled "Establishment of the
Royal Hospital of Invalides at Paris."]
"Sad-der." [III, 191, and mentioned in 192. It seems clear enough that
Hyde (see above) is the real source.]
Saint Didier, Limojon de. La Ville et la Republique de Venise, Paris,
1680. [III, 210-12.]
Saint Pierre, Abbe Charles Irenee Castel de. Oeuvres diverses, Paris,
1730, 2 vols. [III, 124. ]
Salmasius, Claudius (Claude de Saumaise). Observasiones ad ius Atticum
et Romanurm, Leyden, 1645. [III, 141.]
Savary des Bruslons, Jacques. Dictionnaire universelle de commerce, Paris,
1723-30, 3 vols. [III, 128-29, 131-32, 139. See also "Medal of Louis
14," above.]
Temple, Sir William. Observations upon the United Provinces of the
Netherlands, London, 1673. [III, 77.]
Vauban, Mareschal Sebastian Le Prestre. Projet d'une dixme royale,
[Paris?], 1708; English translation, A Project for a Royal Tythe: or,
General Tax, London, the same year. [III, 134-37.]
Vossius, Isaac. Variarum observationum liber, London, 1685. [III, 216-
17.]
HUME'S EARLY MEMORANDA16, 1729-1740
SECTION I
NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
1. A Ship sayls always swiftest when her Sides yield a little.
2. Two Pieces of Timber resting upon one another will bear as much as
both of them laid across at the Distance of their Opening.
3. Calcin'd Antimony more heavy than before.
4. A Proof that natural Philosophy has no Truth in it, is, that it has only
succeeded in things remote, as the heavenly Bodys, or minute as
Light.
16
The numbering of the sections and of the notes is by the editor. For advice
in the transcription of quotations from the Greek, I am? happy to acknowledge
indebtedness to Professor Oscar S. Powers, Department of Classical Languages,
The University of Texas. Hume's Greek quotations lack accents, which have here
been supplied. His occasional confusions between omicron and omega have been
corrected. Finally, his occasional use of Greek letters for numerals is to be remarked.
500 DAVID HUME
5. Tis probable that mineral Waters are not form'd by running over
beds of Minerals; but by imbibing the Vapours which form these Min-
erals; since we cannot make Mineral Waters with all the same Qual-
itys.
6. Hot Mineral Waters come not a boiling sooner than cold Water.
7. Hot Iron put into cold Water soon cools; but becomes hot again.
8. There falls usually at Paris in June July & August as much Rain as
in the other 9 Months.
9. This seems to be a strong Presumption against Medicines, that they
are mostly disagreeable, & out of the common Use of Life. For the
Weak & Uncertain Operations of the common Food &c is well known
by Experience. These others are the better Objects of Quackery.
SECTION II
PHILOSOPHY
1. Notwithstanding the Cruelty of the gladiatorian Spectacles, the Ro-
mans show many Signs of Humanity. 'Twas regarded as a Piece of
Cruelty to burn a Slave with a hot Iron for stealing Table Linneil.
Juv[enal]. Sat[ire] 14.
2. Too careful & elaborate an Education prejudicial; because it learns
-one to trust to others for [their crossed out] one's Judgement. L 'Abbe
de Bosse [Dubos].
3. For a young Man, who applys himself to the Arts & Sciences, the
Slowness with which he forms himself for the World is a good Sign.
Id.
4. Tho the Antients speak often of God in the singular Number, that
proves not they believd in his Unity, since Christians speak in the
same manner of [his Unity crossed out] the Devil. Baile.
5. The Testimony of Idolaters cannot be united to that of Christians
against the Atheists; since they never form'd one Proposition that
there is a God & afterwards that there is [no crossed out] more than
one. These two Propositions were always the same. Id.
6. Men love Pleasure more than they hate Pain. Id.
7. Men are vicious; but hate a Religion that authorizes Vice. Id.
8. The Center of Unity of all Men with Relation to Religion is, That
there is a first Cause. As you augment the Propositions you find
Non-conformists. Atheists, Epicureans, Idolaters, those who main-
tain the Extension Composition, Necessity of the first Cause &c. Id.
9. Those who deny the Peccatum philosophicum of the Jesuites maintain
that Men may deserve eternal Punishment for their Errors, tho they
never had sufficient Means of instructing themselves.
10. Atheists plainly make a Distinction betwixt good Reasoning & bad.
Why not betwixt Vice & Virtue I Baile.
11. The Accounts we have of the Sentiments of the Antient Philosophers
not very distinct nor consistent. Cicero contradicts himself in two
Sentences in saying that Thales allow'd the Ordering of the World
by
a Mind, & in saying that Anaxagoras was the first.
12. Three kinds of Atheists according to some. 1. Who deny the Exis-
tence of a God. Such as Diagoras, Theodorus. 2. Who deny a Provi-
dence, Such as the Epicureans & the Ionic Sect. 3. Who deny the
Freewill of the Deity, Such as Aristotle, the Stoics. &c.
13. The most probable account we have -of the Sentiments of the Ionic
Sect is that Thales maintain'd the Origin of every thing from Water.
Anaximander from the Infinity of Things: Anaximenes from
Air;
Anaxagoras from his Homaeomeries [sic]. Heraclitus of a different
Sect from Fire.
14. Strato's Atheism the most dangerous of the Antient, holding the Ori-
gin of the World from Nature, or a Matter endu'd with Activity.
Baile thinks there are none but the Cartesians can refute this Atheism.
15. A Stratonician cou'd retort the Arguments of all the Sects of Philo-
sophy. Of the Stoics, who maintain'd their G-od to be fiery & com-
pound & of the Platonicians who asserted the Ideas to be distinct
from the Deity. The same Question, Why the Parts or Ideas of God
had that particular Arrangement? is as difficult as why the World
had.
16. The Argument a priori. That no necessary existent Being can be
limited is only conclusive that there is an intelligent Being who
antecedently forms the Idea of infinite Perfection & resolves to work
up to his Model: Which implys a Contradiction. Baile.
17. Plato & Cicero maintain'd the Eternity of the Soul a parte ante as
well as a parte post; & ought also to have maintain'd that of Beasts.
18. Three kinds of Ill according to King. Ills of Privation, Pain & Vice.
The First no Blemish in the Creation; since there must be different
Ranks of Creatures.
19. Men might have been deternlin'd to avoid things harmful & seek the
useful by the Augmentation & Diminution of [Pain crossed out]
Pleasure as well as by Pain. In Heaven men are suppos'd to be
lyable to no Pain. Baile.
20. Those, who solve the Difficultys concerning the Origin of Ill by the
Apology of general Laws suppose another Motive beside Goodness in
the Creation of the World.
21. Matter indifferent to all kinds of Motion & Direction. The Soul a
carte blanche indifferent to all Perception. What Necessity then for
harmful Motions or disagreeable Perceptions'? Many Plans upon
which the Universe might be form'd. Strange that none shou'd be
better than the present. Baile.
502 DAVI HE1UME
22. King says that Liberty consists in a Power of rendering Things
agreeable or disagreeable as we please.
23. Liberty not a proper Solution of Moral Ill: Because it might have
been bound down by Motives like those of Saints & Angels. Id.
24. God cou'd not be pleas'd by the Actions of a Creature withotLt
Liberty. But can he be pleas'd with the Abuses of that Liberty. Id.
25. Did he give Liberty to please Men themselves. But Men are as well
pleas'd to be determin'd to Good. Id.
26. The Remedy of every Inconvenience wou'd become a new one. No
Solution. Comparison from a Work plan 'd with Genius, where
Chance strikes out Beautys.
27. It seems to be a kind of Objection against the Immortality of the
Soul to consider the trifling Accidents of Marriage, Copulation &c
that bring Men into Life.
28. Tis a stronger Objection to the Argument against Atheism drawn
from the universal Consent of Mankind to find barbarous & ignorant
Nations Atheists than learned & polite ones. Baile.
29. The first supreme Deity of the Romans was not Jupiter but Sum-
manus, to whom they attributed the Thunder by Night. The beauti-
ful Temple of Jupiter turn'd the Tables. Id.
30. Argument against Liberty deriv'd from this that Preservation is a
continual Creation, & consequently God must create the Soul with
every new Modification. Id.
31. Whether a Cause is Necessary? Whether necessary to an eternal Be-
ing? Whether necessary in every new Moment of a successive
Beingg?
Whether necessary in Motion?
32. God cou'd have prevented all Abuses of Liberty without taking away
Liberty. Therefore Liberty no Solution of Difficultys. Baile.
33. God does not Will Sin as Sin, but in some other View according to
Calvin. Id.
34. Contrary to Reason; above Reason. Human Reason: Divine Reason.
Id.
35. Some pretend that there can be no Necessity according to the System
of Atheism: Because even Matter cannot be determin'd without
something Superior to determine it. Fenelon.
36. Being, & Truth & Goodness the same. Id.
37. Three Proofs for the Existence of a God. 1. something necessarily
existent, & what is so is infinitely perfect. 2. The Idea of Infinite
must come from an infinite Being. 3. The Idea of infinite Perfec-
tion implys that of actual Existence. Id.
38. There is a remarkable Story to confirm the Cartesian Philosophy of
the Brain. A Man hurt by the fall of a Horse forgot about twenty
Years of his Life, & remember'd what went before in a much nmore
lively Manner than usual.
39. No Religion can maintain itself in Vigour without many Observances
to be practis'd on all Occasions. Hence the Priests are stricter upon
these than moral Dutys without knowing the Reason. There is a
secret Instinct of this kind.
40. Four kinds of Atheists according to
Cudworth,
the Democritic or
Atomical,
the Anaximandrian or Hylopathian, the Stratonic or Hylo-
zoic, the Stoic or Cosmo-plastic. To which he might have added the
Pyrrhonian or Sceptic. And the Spinozist or Metaphysical. One
might perhaps add the [Chymical crossed out] Anaxagorian or Chym-
ical.17
SECTION III
GENERAL
1. Perhaps the Custom of allowing Parents to murder their Infant Chil-
dren, tho barbarous,
tends to render a State Populous, as in China.
Many marry by that Inducement; & such is the Force of natural
Affection, that none make use of that Privilege but in extreme Neces-
sity. [This entire note is crossed ott.]
2. A Pound of Steel when manufactur'd may become of 10.000 ? Value.
3. No Hospitals in Holland have any Land or settl'd Revenue, & yet the
Poor are better provid'd for than any where else in the World.
4. The Romans had two Ways chiefly of levying their Taxes; by Pub-
lick Lands, which were all dissipated by popular Tribunes about the
End of the Republic; or by Customs upon Importation,
which were
different in different Places; in some the 40th Part of the Value, in
Sicily the. 20th.-They had also a kind of
Excise,
which began with
the Emperors, & was the 200 or 100th Part of the Value of all Goods
sold; the 50th of Slaves. -thcc3the
20th,
Tacitus.
:
z:..Besides
this
they had pretty early even in the Time of the Republic Dutys upon
Mines & Salt; & in order to levy the former more easily they forbid
all Mines in Italy. Their Mines near Carthagenia yielded them
25.000 Drachms a day. Burman. de Vect [igalibus populi] Rom [ani].
5. In the Time of the Monarchy the Kings had the sole Power of im-
posing Taxes: In the time of the Republic 'tis strange to see this
Power belonging sometimes to the Magistrates, sometimes to the Sen-
ate, or to the People. We learn from Livy in the 2d punic War that
the Senate could contract Debt alone. Polybius says that all Money
Matters belong'd to the Senate. The Censors levy'd all the Taxes,
17
On the reverse of the last sheet of this section is a sentence from Epicharmus,
which Hume might have found in either Cicero or Polybius. I would conjecture that
the sentence is a late addition to the philosophical notes. It is: Na4E Ka]
iu4lvaaof
a7rtaetv [Keep sober and remember to be sceptical].
504 DAVID HUME
& farm'd them out to the Roman Knights. The Romans cou'd be no
great Politicians; since the Senate cou'd not gain the Sovereignity
nor the Censors the Supreme Magistracy notwithstanding these Ad-
vantages.
6. The Romans under the Emperors [had crossed out] pay'd the 20th
of manumitted Slaves & 20th of Inheritances. Augustus brought them
to comply with the latter by threatening them with a Land Tax.
7. Boulainvilliers thinks that the King of France receives not a hun-
dredth Part of his Subjects Revenue, reckoning a 120 Millions a [day
crossed out] year to the King, & 10 sous a day to every Subject with
betwixt 23 & 30 Millions of People.
8. He thinks there were 200. Millions of Money entered into the Kingdom
in Louis 14ths time.
9. What costs 3 pence at Paris is sold [at crossed out] for half a crown
in Mexico.
10. Every French Seaman and Soldier costs 15 Sous a day upon an Aver-
rage; every [English crossed out] Soldier in English Pay costs a
Shilling. In King Williams War the French had 600.000 Men in
Pay by Sea & Land.
11. All French Projectors take it for granted that tis equally dangerous
to make the People too easy as to oppress them too much. Con-te de
Boulainvilliers.
12. By a Law of Queen Elizabeth to maintain by Words only the Juris-
diction of the Pope is a Praemunire for the first Act & high Treason
the second.
13. The Pension Bill fail'd passing along with the TIriennial in a Whig
Courtier Parliament only by some idle Disputes about the Expression
of the King & his Heirs & Successors.
14. The Charter Governments in America almost entirely independent of
England. Those North of Virginia interfere most with us in Manu-
factures which proceeds from the Resemblance of Soil & Climate.
15. In the Year 1713 France ow'd 300 Millions Sterling, beside the new
created Offices. His [torical] Register. ..:zzCO Only about 1 Year.
Reflexions politiques. =72z
16. Tis computed there are 50. Millions of Acres in England.
17. S. R. W. [Sir Robert Walpole] was more considerable before he was
Prime Minister than any private Man since. His Change in one
Night about the Mutiny Bill in 1717 augmented the [Mutiny Bill
crossed out] Majority by 80.
18. The East-India Trade brings about 300.000 a year into the Customs.
19. The Ballance of Exchange to Germany was always to our Advantage
except in 1720.
20. Italy of late only takes off many of our Manufactures.
21. Gustavus Vaza is perhaps the only Inistance of a Prince who humbld
the Clergy while he aspir'd to arbitrary Power. [This entire note
is crossed out.]
22. The Protests in the House of Lords 172918 say, that the French had a
much greater Share in the Galleons than the English.
23. From 1729 to 1730 imported of Corn into Ireland to the Value of
274.000 ascribd to the Want of a Drawback: by the Irish House of
Commons.
24. 100.000 ? sufficient to maintain 10.000 French or German Forces.
Pulteney.
25. A Regiment of Horse thrice the Expence of a Regiment of Foot.
26. In King William's Time the Press-Gang condemn'd for Murder for
killing a Man in impressing him.
27. The Shares in the African Companiy sold once at 480 per Cent now
at 2 ?.
28. The Exchange to Holland always against us. Craftsman.
Not True.
29. Our Exports no Rule to judge of our Trade. [Men crossed out] Mas-
ters enter more than they export to perswade others that their Ship is
near full. Id.
30. There is commonly coin'd in England 500.000 Pound in Gold; every
year; & brought into Europe three Millions. Id.
31. Tonnage of Shippinig encreas'd; but may arise from our Imports. Id.
32. Above 40. Millions of Pieces of Eight come into Europe every Year.
Id.
33. The Plantations employ about the half of our [Shipping crossed out]
Navigation. Id.
34. Every Englishman in the Plantatioiis employs three at home. Id.
35. About 18.000 Hogsheads of Sugar exported every Year from England.
36. Exports to our Southern Colonys above double those to our Northern.
37. Sir R[obert] W[alpole] computes all the Sailors in Enigland only
at
30.000 Meni. His [torical] Reg[ister].
38. In the Year 1711 the public gave from 5 to 30 per Cent for Money by
two Lotterys of about 4 Millions.
39. The East India Company have offer'd to pay all the Dutys upon Tea:
provid'd it may be sold Duty-Free. The Interest the Crown has in
Seizures thought to be the Cause why they were refus'd.
=ZZ
Never
askt; because afterwards they cannot expect the Execution of the
Laws against Foreign Tea.
Is
To be found e.g., in the Historical Register.
506 DAVID HUME
40. The Government of England perhaps the only one except Holland,
wherein the Legislature has not force enough to execute the Laws
without the Goodwill of the People. This is an irregular kind of
Check upon the Legislature.
41. Men have much oftener err'd from too great Respect to Government
than from too little. [This entire note is crossed out.]
42. The French Sugar Colonys supply'd entirely with Provisions from
our Northern Colonys.
43.
20.000-.c7:Z15.000Z::-
Hogsheads of [Sugar crossed out] To-
bacco exported to France at 20 ? a Hogshead; at 5 Pound.
44. The gross Produce of the English Customs 3 Millions a year; the neat
Produce 1800.000.
45. Eleven hundred tuns of French Wine imported into London yearly.
46. The Origin of Bills of Exchange from the Jews being banish 'd
France.
47. The Romans pay'd 12 per Cent Interest for money.
48. In all the British Leeward Islands the Muster-Roll exceeded not 2500
Men a few years ago, & yet there are 20.000 Blacks in Antigua alone.
49. The French fish on the Coasts of Newfoundland in the Winters which
gives them an advantage above us.
50. Our Bustle about the Ostend Company the cause of the great Prog-
ress of the French Company.
51. The East India Company have desird to have China raw Silk put
upon the same Footing as to Duty with the Italian, but have been re-
fus'd.
52. The late War cost the King of France 100 Millions a Year. For the
Hotel of Invalides receiv'd 1200.000 ? a Year at 3 deniers a Livre.
Rollin.
53. The Wine imported into Britain yearly 20.000 Tun.
54. The Reason why the Court has a greater Superiority among the Lords
than Commons; beside the Bishops, is that the Court gives places to
the Lords chiefly for their Interest among the Commons.
55. Money in Italy goes at 3 per Cent. Land at 30 years Purchase.
56. The Revenue of Naples 8 Millions of Italian Crowns or about 1600.-
000 ? Sterling.
57. Hearth Money pay'd at the Rate of 22 Shillings a Family.
58. The Expense of levying the Customs in England computed at 27 per
Cent.
59. The English Excises amount to 600.000 ? per Annum.
60. Most of the French Trade, their Sugar Trade particularly, carry'd
on by Dutch Stocks.
61. A ninth of the Children born in Paris sent to the Enfans Trouves.
62. Each Person in Hyde-park Corner Hospital costs 7 ? a year.
63. A Soldier cloath'd at 27 Shillings a year. The King allows 36 Shil-
lings.
64. 1800. Children [with the Enfans trouves (crossed out) ] put upon the
Parishes at Dublin in 5 Years. Of which upon Enquiry there re-
main'd only 28.
65. 95.000 Seaman computed to be in France: Only 60.000 in England.
66. The Empress of Russia lately rais'd a Militia of 50000 Men at one
in 105.
67. Ships formerly lasted 27 Years in the English Navy; now only 13.
68. 3 times more Silver given for Goods in Lewis 15 than in Lewis the
12ths time. Reflexions Politiques.
69. The French Navy in 1681 consisting of 40.000 Men & 10000 in the
Galleys cost only a Million Sterling. Id.
70. France had about 25. Millions Sterling of Gold & Silver in the Re-
gents time. Id.
71. There are now in France 60 Millions a Year more pay'd for Offices
than in 1500. Id.
72. The Interest of the public Debt above 45 Millions. Id.
73. In the Year 1709 the Revenues of the King of France 38 Millions;
his Expence above 220. Id.
74. Bills of Exchange in France dont pass like Money or bank Notes. Id.
75. Within the last 2000 Years c:= almost- all the Despotic
Governments of the World have been improving & the free ones de-
generating; so that now they are pretty near a Par.
76. There must be a Ballance in all Governments; & the Inconvenience of
allowing a single Person to have any Share is that what may be too
little for a Ballance in one hand will be too much in another.
77. In De Wit's Time the Dutch sent only 15 or 16 Ships to the East
Indies.
. In 1671 they sent 18 or 20. Sir W[illiam] Tem-
ple. =
78. There are 800.000 Acres of Land in the Province of Holland. De Wit.
79. That Province in De Wit's Time pay'd 18 Millions of Guilder a Year
in Taxes.
80. The Fiars of Wheat in 1400 were fixt at Edinburgh 6 Shillings'
7 pence Scots Money. 1
81. Land Sold in 1705 at 12 or 15 Years Purchase. Law
82. Banks first invented in Sweden on Account of their
Copper Money.
83. The Dutch formerly fishd for Herrings with above a 1000 Barkes,
which they put to Sea thrice a Year. De Wit.
84. The Dutch have twice as much Trade to the East as to the West. Id.
508 DAVID HUME
85. East & West India Companys very prejudicial to Trade. Id.
86. Greenland Fishery in Holland encreas'd 10 to 1, since it came to
private Hands. Id.
87. [MS blot]000 People maintain'd by Fishery in Holland; only 200.000
by Agriculture. Id.
88. Above 300 Bankrupts every Year in Amsterdam. Id.
89. Cicero speaks as if Money were not in such Plenty in Alexander's
Time as in his own; especially at Athens. Yet the common Soldiers
Pay from the Athenians was a Groat a day.
90. Omni Macedonum gaza quae fuit maxima, potitus est Paullus: tan-
turn in aerarium pecuniae invexit, ut unius imperatoris praeda finem
attulerit tributorum. Cic [ero]. de Off [iciis]. Lib. 2.
91. Phillippus asseruit, non esse in civitate duo millia homimum qui rem
haberent. Id.
92. There is not a Word of Trade in all Matchiavel, which is strange con-
sidering that Florence rose only by Trade.
93. About 20.000 Tun of Wine imported into England about the Time of
the first Dutch War. Sir Jos[iah] Child. A Tun of French Wine
6 or 7 ? prime Cost.
94. The Dutch at that time pay 'd for Labour 2 pence in the Pound
more than the English. Id.
95. One per Cent in Interest worse than 2 per cent in Customs; because
Ships pay the Interest, not the Customs.
96. 16 or 17.00.000 [sic] People computed to be in Ireland. Dobbs.
97. English Export 8 Millions. Id.
98. In 1726, three Millions of Yards of Linnen Cloth exported from Ire-
land. Id.
99. About 8 Millions of People in England. Id.
100. 800.000 Jews chas'd from Spain by Ferdinand the Catholic. Geddes.
101. About 100.000 Moors condemnd for Apostacy by the Inquisition in
40 Years, 4000 burnt. Id.
102. Near a Million of Moors expell'd Spain. Id.
103. The Commons of Castile in taking Arms against Charles the 5th
among other things petition, that no Sheep nor Wool shall be allow'd
to go out of the Kingdom.
104. The Interest in Rome reduc'd to 6 per Cent under Tiberius. Ta-
cit [us].
105. The Laws of Arragon requir'd a public Tryal for the Subjects: But
allow'd the King a kind of Despotic Power over his Servants & Min-
isters; in order to render the great Men less fond of Court Prefer-
ment. Geddes.
106. The English Customs at the Union computed at 1.341.559 ?. The
Excises at 9.476.000 ?. Articles of Union. The Debts of England
20 Millions.
107. Before the Union Scotland had sent 1828415 Ells of Linnen to Eng-
land per annum.
108. Twou 'd be more easy for the English Libertys to recover themselves
than the Romans because of the mixt Government. The Transition
is not so violent.
109. Five Millions of Debt pay'd betwixt the Peace of Ryswick & the late
War. Twenty Millions reduc'd to fifteen.
110. Ninety five Millions of People in the Roman Empire in the Reign of
Augustus.
111. The farms were large among the Antients. The Leontine Farms in
Sicily containd 130.000 Acres & were farm'd to eighty three Farm-
ers. Cicero in Verrem.
112. The Senate of Rome had a dispensing Power for particular Persons,
till-they were depriv'd of it by the Lex Cornelia.
113. After the Conquest of Aegypt by Augustus the Prices of every thing
doubl'd in Rome.
114. Gaul tax'd by Caesar at 3 Millions Sterling.
115. The Roman Colonys in the Time of Augustus voted in their Colonys
& sent their Votes to Rome.
116. The Romans very exact in their Book-keeping; in so much that a
Crime such as Bribery Poysoning cou'd be prov'd or refuted from
their Books. C ic[ero]. Pro Cluentio.
117. They also kept Commentarys or Ephemerides wherein every Action
or Word was wrote down. At least Augustus practie'd this with his
Daughters & Neices [sic]. Sueton.19
118. In Nero's time 30.000 bury'd in one Autumn, while there was a
Plague.
119. Matchiavel makes it a Question, whether absolute Power is best
founded on the Nobility or the People. In my Opinion a Subject
who usurps upon a free State, cannot trust the Nobles, & must caress
the People. This was the Case with the Romaan Emperors. But an
establish'd Monarchy is better founded on the Nobles.
120. By the Lex Fannias the Expences of a Roman Meal was confilid to
100 Assros.
121. When the Lex Licinia was promulgated, the Senate voted that it
shou'd be binding from that Moment, as if it had been voted by the
People.
122. The Senate abrogated [with crossed out] by one Vote all the Laws
of Drusus as faulty in the auspicii.
123. Partoriis Italia sublatis, agro Campano divino, quid superest domes-
tioum praeter vicissimum. Cic[ero].
19
The Scottish Sueton for the English Suetonius is included in Hume's list
of "Scotticisms" prefixed to Political Discourses, Edinburgh, 1752.
510 DAVID HTUME
124. The Foreign Trade of France equal to 150 Millions a year. L 'Abbe
de St Pierre.
125. Money of a nation about the 100 Part of the, Value of it. [Essai
crossed out] Reflections sur les Finances.
126. Rentes upon the Hotel de Ville amounting to 40 Millions a Year. Id.
127. France had 92 thousand Seamen in 1713. There [were] 5585 Mas-
ters. Id.
128. In 1721, The English & Dutch drew more Money from Spaill than
France did. Diet[ionnaire] de Com[merce].
129. There is computed to be 3000 Tun of Gold in the Bank of Amster-
dam at 100.000 Florins a Tun. Id.
130. In 1680 there were 60.000 Sailors registerd in France. Medal of
Louis 14.
131. The French Commerce sunk much about the Middle of the 17 Cen-
tury by reason of their Infidelity in their Goods. Diet[ionnaire] de
Coom [merce].
132. A Ship of 50 or 60 Tun has commonly 7 hands & encreases a man
every 10 tun. Diet[ionnaire] de Com[merce].
133. There seems to have been a very bad Police in Rome. For Cicero
says, that if Milo had waylayd Clodius he wou'd have waited for him
in the Neighbourhood, where his Death might have been attributed
to Robbers, [who very commonly crossed out] by reason of the com-
monness of the Accident, and yet Clodius had above 60 Servants
with him all arm'd.
134. The civil List of France, not computing the Expences of the Kings
Household, is esteem'd by the Mareschal de Vauban in 1698 at 40.
Millions of Livres. The Exchange then was about 15 Livres to a
pound Sterling. The Rents upon the Hotel de Ville were 20 Mil-
lions.
135. Thirty eight Holydays in the Year in France. Vauban. 180 Work-
ing days at a Medium. Id.
136. Five hundred & fifty Persons live in a Square League in France.
Id.
137. The Revenues of the French King in our first War amounted to 160
Millions. Id.
138. The People commonly live poorest in Countrys, which have the richest
natural Soil.
139. Antiently there were in Lyons 18000 Looms employ'd in the Silk
Manufacture: But in 1698 there were not 4000. This appears by a
public Enquiry: Also at Tours there were [MS blot]000 Mills em-
ploy'd in spinning Silk: 8000 Ltooms; 40.000 Persons of all kinds em-
ployd. [But] about 1720 there were only 70 Mills. 1200 Looms, &
4000 Persons employ'd. Dict[ionnaire] de Commerce.
HUME S EARLY MEMORANDA, 1729-1740 511
140. 600 Slaves working in the Silver Mines of Athens yielded a Mina a
day to their Master. Xenophon. He computes that 10.000 Slaves
wou'd produce a Revenue of 100 Talents a year.
141. The Holydays in Athens made two Months in the year. Salmasius.
142. The Public in Athens pay'd 20 per Cenat for Money. Xenophon.
143. In Holland the third of the Whole pay'd to the Publick. In France
the fifth. D'avenant.
144. The heavy arm'd in the Athenian Army had 2 Drachmas a day for
Master & Servant. Thuc[ydides]. Book 3.
145. The Romans were able to force Interest by Law. For they once
limited the Interest to 12 per Cent as an Ease to the People: And 4
or 5 Years after redue'd it to six. bivy. bib. 7.
146. Many of the Chief Officers of the Army were nam'd by the People
in
old Rome. bib. 9 & bib. 7. Do.
147. The Roman Senate were oblig'd by Law to give their Authority to
the Comitia Centuriata before the Suifrages were call'd. Do. bib. 8.
Cap. 12.
148. The Sentiment or Condemnation of the Law the only Penalty of the
Lex Valeria in antient Rome. Do. bib. 10. Cap. 9.
149. The Pontifices of old Rome suppress'd the Records of their Religion
on Purpose as well as those of new Rome. Do. bib. 6.
150. Every Part of the Office of the Senate cou'd be brought before the
People; even the Distribution of Provinces; an evident Part of the
Executive. Do. bib. 10. C. 24.
151. 60.000 Sterling amassd beforehand for building the Capitol. Do.
bib. 1.
152. Plays a part of religious Service for a Pestilence. Do. Lib. 7.
153. The Senate often alone made Treaties. Do. bib. 8. Chap. 2.
154. A Faction betwixt two Roman Tribes the Pollia & Papiria continu'd
for 300 Years. Do. bib. 8. Cap. 38.
155. bivy's Reasoning Lib. 21. Ch. 19. with regard to Asdrnbal's Treaty
with the Romans is somewhat loose.
156. The Senators were forbid Trade among the Romans. Do. Cap. 63.
157. The Romans never borrow'd but in the last degree of Necessity as
after the Battle of Cannae upon the new War with Macedon. Do.
bib. 23. Cap. 48.
158. It was a great Act of Authority in the Senate to give a Proconsul the
same Authority with a Consul: bib. 28. Cap. 9.
159. Even the Rhodians took the Romans Pretext of freeinlg Greece for
Current Pay. b. 33. C. 20.
160. In the Roman Government, there was a great Restraint on Liberty,
since a Man cou'd not leave his Colony or live where he pleas'd.
bib. 39. Cap. 3.
512 DAVID HUME
161. External Superstition punishd by the Romauts. Lib. 39. Cap. 16.
They were very jealous of the establish'd Religion. Lib. 40. Cap. 29.
162. Three thousand condemn'd for Poysoning for one Summer. Lib. 40.
Cap. 43.
163. Livy's View of the Inclination of Princes on the Macedonian War
with Perseus remarkable. Lib. 42. Cap. 29.
164. Perseus Ambassadors to the Rhodians spoke a Style like the Modern
with regard to the Ballance of Power but are condemn'd by Livy.
Lib. 42. Cap. 46.
165. Livy so thoughtless an Historian that he condemns all the Grecians
who favour'd Perseus. Lib. 42. Cap. 63.
166. The Revenues of Athens 2000 Talents a year. Aristophanes.
167. A Judge had 3 Oboles about 3 pence a day. Do.
168. The Athenian Citizens 14240. Strangers 4760. Do.
169. Citizens 20.000. Strangers 10.000. Slaves 400.000. Potter.
170. The Athenian Taxes levy'd by a kind of Taille by Aristides. The
first Sum 460 Talents. Pendlas rais 'd it to 600. Afterwards it
came to 1300 Talents. Do.
171. To live like an Athenian, was a Proverb for living frugally. Do.
172. Herodotus makes a Scruple of so much as delivering an Account of
the difference of Religions among Foreigners; lest he shou 'd give
Offence. Lib. 2.
173. Aegyptian Priests contrary to the popish; & are forbid Fish. Id.
174. The Aegyptians more careful of preserving their Cats than their
Houses in time of fire. Id.
175. Antient Aegypt the most healthy Part of the World; contrary to the
modern. Id.
176. The Greeks esteem'd the Sword above other Employments, except
the Corinthians. Id.
177. The Persian Revenue 14560 Euboan Talents. Id. Lib. 3.
178. The Canton of Berne employ'd Balloting to exclude Faction: But
in vain. Every Man's Vote was trac'd. They had then recourse to
Chance.
179. Plutarch says that the Effect of the Naval Power of Athens, estab-
lishd by Themistocles was to render their Government more popular;
& that Husbandmen & Labourers are more Friends to Nobility, than
Merchants & Seamen are. In vita Them[istocles].
180. Solon is the first Person mention'd in History to have rais'd the
Value of Money, which says Plutarch was a Benefit to the Poor in
paying their Debts & no loss to the Rich. In vita Solon.
181. Solon ordain'd that the Bride & Bride-groom sh,ou'd be shut up in a
Chamber, before Marriage, & eat a Quince together. Do.
182. Solon prohibited Dowries.
183. Every Man's Lot among the Lacedominans [sic] yielded about 80
Bushels beside Wine & Oil.
Plu[tarch].
vita
Lycur[gus].
184. Among the Persians, the Priests or Magi were so numerous, that in
the 3d Century a King call'd a Council consisting of 40.000, some
say 80.000 Bishops. Hyde.
185. The Magians have no Fast days, but many Feast days. Id.
186. The Priests have great Authority, are the only Judges, receive Con-
fession, &c. Id.
187. Tis a Rite of their Religion to extinguish all Fires once a Year, & to
lay a new [Kind crossed out] from the Temple. Id.
188. Baptism is a Persian Rite. Id.
189. Zoroasters Religion confin'd Salvation to itself. Id.
190. The Priests Authority excessive. No Good Works accepted by God,
unless first acceptable to the Priests. Id.
191. All those who maim [Children crossed out] a Son damn'd. Id.
Sad-der.
192. The 10th part of the Sad-der is not Morality but Ceremonies: Yet
Liberality or Beneficence most strongly recommended. Id.
193. The States of the united Provinces pay'd at first 14 per cent for
money.
h.=::z~They
payd only 4 per cent before the end of the
WarsV . Barnevelt.
194. The first mention of Toleration among Christians was in Holland
during the Disputes about Predestination. Le Clerc.
195. In 1645, The Province of Holland ow 'd 150 Millions of Livres. Le
Clerc.
196. In 1656, The French Privateers, in time of Peace, had taken in 9
Years 300 Dutch Ships computed at 30. Millions. Do.
197. The States General can decide Somethings without consulting their
Constituents; but not the most important. The Bounds are not fixt.
198. The Cnustomns in Holland diminisht from 5 Millions of
Florins to two.
Janiqon.
199. Iii 1606 the East Iindia
Company..=.c:z:in
Holland::..
divided
75 per Cent. They commonly divide 20 per Cent. Do.
200. The Dutch give no Toleration to Catholics in Batavia. Do.
201. The whale Fishing employs about 250 Vessels yearly. Do.
202. The sum of 252.467 ? given in Bribes to the Parliament in 3 years
during the Reign of Charles 2.
203. Diodorus Siculus, in enumerating all the Opinions concerning the
Origin of the World, never makes mention of Design or a Deity.
204. Robbers establish'd in legal Companies in Aegypt, & such Captains
as Jonathan Wild20 established. Id.
20
This famous English thief and thief-taker had been hanged at Tyburn in 1725.
514 DAVID HUME
205. Diodorus Siculus pleads seriously for the Authority of Mythology.
Lib. 4.
206. Whoever consecrated the tenth of their Goods to Hercules was es-
teem'd sure of Happyness by the Romans. Id. Lucullus did it. Id.
207. Jupiter according to the Cretan Tradition was a pious Worshiper
of the Gods; a clear Proof that those People had a preceding Religion.
Id. Lib. 5.
208. Lucian endeavours to turn the Doctrine of the Trinity into Ridicule
Three in one, And One in Three; A Proof of the Antiquity of that
Doctrine, if the Dialogue be Lucian S.21 And it [must be crossed
out] is probably very antient; because one of the Speakers says he
was baptiz'd by St Paul.
209. The Roman Senate exercis'd a dispensing Power. Asconius Pedianus
in Orat[io] M. T. C[icero] pro Cor[nelio].
210. Gradenigo's Change of the Venetian Republic was made in 1280. St
Didier.
211. The Clergy are chosen by a popular Call. Id.
212. Castelani & Nicolotti two mobbish Factions at Venice. Id.
213. The Athenians in Pericles time had 9600 Talents in their Treasury.
And Contributions from their Allies about 460 Talents. Their Land
Forces 30.000. Their Gallies 300. Diod [orus] Sic [ulus].
214. The Holydays in Tarentum exceeded the Working days. Strabo.
Lib. 6.
215. Altius Valens in Romulus' time prophesy'd that Rome shou'd last
1200 Years, says Varro. This Cudworth thinks to have been ful-
fill'd when Genseri[cu]s sackt & burnt Rome.
216. Vossius says he saw in Rome, that digging forty foot underground
they found the Tops of Columns bury'd.
217. Nero fixt the Houses of Rome to seventy foot high. Vossius.
218. Boethius asserts a Purgatory. Lib. 4.
219. Tis a presumption that the antient Practice of Servitude did not
favour Propagation, that such immense Numbers of Slaves were daily
brought to Rome from Asia & the East.
220. Pompey destroy'd above 800 pyratical Ships. Pliny.
221. Tis probable that the Romans Empire & even Italy was not so well
peopled as Europe at present, because Pertinax by an Edict gave the
waste Lands to the first Occupier, with Immunities. Herodian. Lib.
2. C. 15.
222. The Parthians were subject to Despotism with a Militia. Id. Lib. 3.
Cap. 1.
223. The Antient common Soldiers of much better Rank (being Freemen)
than the Moderns. In Xenophon
ava,lfactn. E,18
[Anabasis. 5.2.4?]
21
The Philopatris is now generally regarded as spurious.
The Captains got only double pay to the common Soldiers: The
Colonels 4 times.
224. The Lacedemonians converted the Democracy of Mantinea into an
Aristocracy by nothling but destroying the Town, & obliging the In-
habitants to live in the Country. They thought the Change very
happy. Xen[ophon]. Hist[oria, i.e., Hellenica]. L. 5.
225. Horses were very rare among the Antients (before the Romans) &
not employ'd in any thing but War. 1. In the Retreat of the 10.000,
'twou'd have been easy to have mounted the whole Army, if Horses
had been as common as at present. 2. They had about 50 Horses,
which instead of encreasing, diminish'd during the Road, tho very
useful. 3. In the Spoils of Villages, Xenophon frequently mentions
Sheep & Oxen, never Horses. 4. Cleombrotus Army, in Lib. 5. Hist-
[oria, i.e., Helle'nica] made use of Asses for the Carriages.
226. A thousand Spartans were killd in Leuctra, which Xenophon says
was the half of the whole State. Id. De Ages[ilaus].
227. In Barko Paederaesty was authoriz'd by the Laws, & a kind of legal
Matrimony established upon that Relation. Id. de Rep [ublica]
Lac [edaemoni,orum].
228. There was above 10.000 Houses in Athens. Xen [ophon]. Mem [ora-
bilia]. lib. 3.
229. Demosthenes tells the Athenians that a very honest Man of Mace-
donia who wou'd not lye, told him such & such things of Philip's
Situation: A kind of
Style, that marks but bad
Intelligence
& little
Communication among the different States. Olynth[iacs].
2.
230. The Census of the Athenians was 6000 Talents. lcp't av,u,uoptaq. [On
the Symmories]. Query: Whether was this annual or the whole
Stock. If the latter, their Forces must have been vastly high, since
the twelfth Part was sometimes exacted. Id. It was the
Whole Stock as Polybius says expressly. Lib. 2. C. 63.
231. A good Tradesman bought for a Mina. Xenoo[phon] Oec[onomicus].
232. The Notion of the Ballance of Power seems to be containd in Demos-
thenes Oration V7r&p MEyaAo7roA [For the Megalopolitans] more clearly
than in any antient Author.
233. Demosthenes got a Drahma a Month for a Mina; 12 per cent.
Ahrxtv7?
7rept
oref [Aeschines On the Crown].
234. The 30.Tyrants killd above 1500 Citizens untry'd. Id. Thrasybu-
lus restoring the People, & Caesar's Conquest the only Instances in
antient History of Revolutions without barbarous Cruelty.
235. It was a Custom among the Greeks, if a Person killd himself, to cut
off his hand, & bury it apart from the Body. Id.
236. The Antient Navigation very defective, as it prov'd by this remark-
able Instance. When the Lacedemonians fortify 'd Deceleia, the
516 DAVID HUME
Athenians were oblig'd to bring their Corn from Euboea by Sea, turn-
ing the Promontory of Sunium, instead of bringing it on Land by
Oropus. This they thought a great Inconveni,ence; tho the Sea Car-
riage was not above triple the Land, tho the Road was rough & the
Horses were then very scarce. Thuc [ydides]. Lib. 7. Cap. 28. P. 509.
237. The ypac-r, irapavoWwV [Inditement for proposing unconstitutional
measures] a singular and a seemingly an absurd Law among the
Athenians; by which a man cou'd be try'd & punishd for promul-
gating a bad Law to the People, the only Legislators. This shows a
remarkable Diffidence which the People had in their own Judgement.
Demosthenes was try'd & acquitted for his Law: 7rept
avpapta[].
IIepLt arTe. [On the Symmories; On the Crown].
238. Some Greek Cities, as the Byzantine, dated the Year from the Ihigh
Priest in Office. Perhaps a Proof of priestly Authority. Id.
239. Timarchus was said by Aeschines to have been [left?] in easy Cir-
cumstances by his Father, because he had ten Slaves who gain'd him
2 Oboles apiece a day. A Proof that every Citizen of Athens upon
an Averrage had not 20 Slaves.
240. At Athens the State granted a License for Sodomy upon a paying a
certain Sum. Id.
241. The ten Ambassadors sent by Athens to Philip had 1000 Drachmas of
Allowance for 6 Months, which Demosthenes calls a considerable Sum.
thpi 7rapa7rpeoj3Et'a' [On the False Embassy].
242. The Taxes of Athens mounted, sometimes to a 12 Part of the Riches
of every Citizen.
243. Demosthenes that the Phoceans were not acquainted with a Vote of
the Athenians till five days after, tho' the Distance was not above a
days Journey. Ilept 7rapa7r [On the False Embassy].
244. The Athenians gave 2 Drahmas a day to all their Soldiers at the Be-
ginning of the Peloponisian War. ?OYK: YJYr. r:
tC.
[Thucydides,
3. 17.]
245. Herodotus Reason very good why the Greeks borrow'd their Reli-
gion from the Aegyptians & not e contra. The Greek Sea Gods not
known to the Aegyptians. Lib. 2.
246. Why Mercury's Pudenda were always erect, a Secret deliver'd in the
Samothracian Mysteries. Id. Lib. 2. A Sign these Mysteries were
not very serious or moral.
247. otl LeV yap aXXot cTXcSoV \ravTEs JvOpwrot 7rXAjv AiyvrTT'V Kat 'EXX 'vwv
/lLOyOVTal
'evI opOZut [For most other men, except the Egyptians and Greeks, have
intercourse in temples]. Her[odotus]. Bib. 2.
248. The Greek Priests very zealous as we may learn from Herodotus
Precautions. Lib. 2.
249. That Athens was not so populous as we shou'd naturally conclude
from its Bulk describd by Thucidides, these Reasons prove. 1. There
were [but crossed out] about 10.000 Houses. Xen [ophon]. Mem [ora-
bilia]. L. 3. P. 774. 2. There were but 20.000 Citizens, each of which
upon an Averrage cou'd not have 20 Slaves. For. 1. No Rising or
Suspicion of a rising is ever mention'd by this Historian. 2. Timar-
chus is spoken of by Aeschines as a rich man for possessing 20
Slaves; Demosthenes Father had thirty. 3. Chios is said by Thucid-
ides to have had most Slaves except Sparta of any Greek City.
Lib. 8. Page 581. Now the Helots were not very numerous as we
learn from Plutarch. Besides Sparta had no Trade. 4. Xenophon
says there was much empty [space] within the Walls. VrEpt 7ropar; [On
Sources of Revenue].
250. The same thing has happen'd to the Greek Talent as to the Euro-
pean Pound.
251. The Standing Army of Aegypt 520.000. Id. Lib. 2.
252. What does Herodotus mean when he says that the Greeks learnt the
keeping of Standing Armies from the Aegyptians. Demosthenes
says the former had none. [This entire note is crossed out.]
253. Notwithstanding the Incompatibility of the Aegyptian Religions they
gave liberally to the building the Temple of Delphos. Id. Lib. 2.
254. Darius Revenues 14560 Talents. Id. Lib. 3.
255. The Immortal Getes Theists & Unitarians. Id. Lib. 4. Yet had such
erroneous Notions of Zamolxis [Zalmoxis] that they killd
[annually
five crossed out] every five years a Man whom they send as a Mes-
senger to him.
256. Herodotus says there were 30.000 Athenians before the Medean War.
Lib. 5.
257. The Moderns have not treated Morals so well as the Antients merely
from their Reasoning turn, which carry'd them away from Senti-
ment.
258. The Athenians stor'd up three Myriads of Silver Talents & 3000 of
unwrought Gold before the Peloponnesian War. Aesch[ines]. Epis-
[ulae]. Only
10000.
Dem[osthenes]
7repl avv[raceow.
On
Financial Organization]. 7> Only a thousand Aesche[ines]
7rept
7rapairpeal[/edas,
On the False Embassy], sub finem. 7000 afterwards.
Query: in whole 8000. They had 1200 talents a year. Id. They had
6000 Talents in bank, 600 a year says Thuc [ydides]. L. 2. P. 13. 4000
Talents were spent before. Page 108.
259. There seems to be a natural Course of Things, which brings on the
Destruction of great Empires. They push their Conquests till they
come to barbarous Nations, which stop their Progress, by the Diffi-
culty of subsisting great Armies. After that, the Nobility & consid-
erable Men of the conquering Nation & best Provinces withdraw grad-
ually from the frontier Army, by reason of its Distance from the
Capital & barbarity of the Country, in which they quarter: They
518 DAVID HUME
forget the Use of War. Their barbarous Soldiers become their Mas-
ters. These have no Law but their Sword, both from their bad
Education, & from their Distance from the Sovereign to whom they
bear no Affection. Hence Disorder, Violence, Anarchy, & Tyranny,
& Dissolution of Empire.
260. Plato in Alc[ibiades]. 1. says that Sparta was richer than all the
rest of Greece, & that one may say like Aesop's Fox to the Lion
Quia te vestigia retro &c. No Appearance of this in all the History
of Greece.
261. Herodian never once mentions the Christians tho he brings down
his History till within 60 years of their Establishment by Constantine.
They had no Interest in the Army or Senate. The People -were not
of Consequence.
262. The Carthaginians took the half of all the Produce in Africa, & im-
pos'd
Taxes beside. Polybius. Lib. 1.
263. Polybius Lib. 1. relating that Hiero, tho an Enemy, assisted the Car-
thaginians in the Mercenary War, in order to preserve a Ballance
against the Romans, adds tva /M7 7ravTa7raotv E$) to 7rporeyEV aKoVtTL
avvreMTa0at tots tcoXvOovctL 7ravv
OpovtAuWS
Kact
vovvExEs XoytCo,Levos.
OV8E7tOTE
yap xp T TOaVTav
7repopav [sic]
&c.
[that
the
stronger power
should
not be able to attain its ultimate object entirely without effort. In
this he reasoned very wisely and sensibly for such matters should
never be neglected]. Id. Chap. 83.
264. The common Reckoning in the [Italian crossed out] Inns in Lom-
bardy only [a Swiss crossed out] about a farthing. Id. bib. 2. C. 15.
They bargaind only for the head, not for particular Provisions as in
Greece, which Polybius reckons a great Proof of Plenty in [Italy
crossed out] that Country.
265. Aristotle speaking of a Medium in the Number of Friends compares
it to a City which cannot count of ten, nor yet of 100 thousand. NIK
[Nicomachean Ethics].
8t,8.
EVV: KIE. SEKa [Bk. 9. 10].
266. The Athenians in the greatest Distress, during the Siege of Syracuse,
imposd only their subject States a twentieth part of Goods imported
by them. OOVK [vASSr Thucydides]. Bib. 7. C. 28. Page [583?]
267. The first Law, on the Establishment of the Oligarchy in Athens was
the Abolishing of the yp4' 7rapavo4uwv [Indictment for proposing uncoln-
stitutional measures].
268. The Athenian Revenues before the Medean War 130 Talents yearly.
Afterwards they became 400. Demos[thenes]. Phill[ippies] 4.
How is this reconcilable with the Penult.
269. Cock fighting & Quail fighting was establisht by Law at Athens, &
every Citizen was oblig 'd to be present at them. Lucian:
pt
yv,uv [aotWv. Anacharsis, or Athletics].
University of Texas.

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Hume's Early Memoranda, 1729-1740: The Complete Text

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