02-04

4. Letter with on address.

London 3^d of May 1776

Dear Brother

I leave M^rs Mure's ¹⁴ Letter open that I may save myself the trouble of repeating the former part of it. The latter contains no Secret: You may seal it, and send it to her. I believe all my Friends are the more sanguine on my case, upon finding me in such high Spirits, a good Circumstance surely but which never left me. Send all my Letters still under M^r Strahan's Cover. S^ir John Pringle advises me to try Bath-Waters: If these do not agree with me and heat me, to go to Bristol; if I reap no Benefit from them, to write to him, who he says will probably advise me to some new Journey. I have drawn today on the Bank for 200 pounds, so that, I suppose, it will be proper to lodge in it one, if not both of Mansfield's ¹⁵ Notes. I gave Josey ¹⁶ a Credit for 80 pounds upon his Arrival in England. I forgot to ask Tommy Coutts ¹⁷, whether he pay'd the Fees of the Commission ¹⁸, and what they were; but as I had asked him that Question in a Letter, which he has answer'd, I shall, upon receiving his Letter, be able to satisfy you in that particular.

My love to Katy, and tell her, that my new Man, whose Name is Hugh Semple, must on his Arrival be sent off in a Leith Ship to London, directed to Miss Elliot, Brewer-Street, Golden Square. She will send him to me by the Bath Fly. Under Submission to your better Judgement and my Sisters, I think, he had better be sent off in the old Livery Coat, and that I take off new Cloaths for him at Bath, and keep his new Edinburgh Liveries for some future Occasion. Colin continues very warm in recommending him[.]

When you mention to any of my Friends any particulars of my health drawn from my Letter to M^rs Mure, please to say only in general, that they were contained in/ a Letter left unseal'd, without mentioning her Name.

Since I wrote the above, a most grievous and insufferable Calamity has fallen upon me. That worthy old Gentleman, Archy Stuart ¹⁹, hearing of my Intention to go to Bath, sets out with no other Intention than of keeping me Company there. Our Sister can tell you, that this must be a great Oppression to me. I am Dear Brother Yours sincerely

David Hume

14.	Katherine Graham (1735-1820), married in 1752 Hume's oldest friend, William Mure of Caldwell (1718-25th March 1776). Mure's house at Abbey hill, near Holyrood, was one of Hume's favourite resorts.

15.	Mansfield, Ramsay and Co., banker, Edinburgh.

16.	Joseph Home (1752-1832), eldest son of Hume's brother John. Hume bought him a Cornetcy, 14 December 1770, in the Second Regiment of Dragoon Guards for £1000 and a Lieutenancy, 28 March 1776, for £262 IOS. (Mossner, 574). Hume appears to have taken over the responsibility for Joseph's education (HL, 223, to Adam Ferguson, 9 Nov., 1763, &n.). While Joseph was at school in Edinburgh he lived with his uncle, who described him as “Clever, tho I am afraid a little giddy, ”(HL, 427, to Hugh Blair, 28 March 1769) and wrote “my Brother...thinks his Son rather inclines to be dissipated and idle.”(HL, 433, to Gilbert Elliot, 16 Oct., 1769) For Hume's concern, generosity and advice over “Josey's” misfortune, see letter no. 14, below.

17.	Thomas Coutts, banker.

18.	The fee of his nephew Joseph's commission as Lieutenant (see n.16, above).

19.	Archibald Stewart of Allanbank, formerly a wine merchant, elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh, 1745. In 1747 he was tried for neglect of duty and Hume wrote a pamphlet in his defence. He was honourably acquitted.