of what Mr. Hume calls firm and unalterable experience; and that if, in certain circiunstances, we did not give an implicit faith to testimonj^, our knowledge of events would be confined to those which had fallen under the immediate observation of our own senses. Hume main- tained that a miracle is contrary to experience ; but, in reality, it is only different from ordinaiy experience. That diseases should generally be cured by the applica- tion of medicine, and sometimes at the mere word of a prophet, are facts not inconsistent with each other in the nature of things themselves, nor irreconcilable ac- cording to our ideas. Each fact may arise from its own proper cause ; each may exist independently of the oth- er ; and each is known by its own proper proof, whether of sense or testimony. To pronomice, therefore, a mir- acle to be false, because it is different from ordinary ex- perience, is only to conclude against its existence from the very circumstance which constitutes its specific character ; for if it were not different from ordmary ex- perience, where would be its singularity ? or what proof could be drawn from it in attestation of a divine mes- sage? See Miracles.
The importance and value of Hume's political essays have rarely been appreciated. They are the best of all his productions, but they have been almost disregarded in the estimation of his genius. They exercised a con- siderable but unacknowledged influence on the age near- est his own. It is impossible to ignore the obligations of the Constitution of the United States to the essay on the Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth. Lord Brougham does no more than justice to the author when he de- clares that " ]Mr. Hume is, beyond doubt, the author of the modern doctrines which now rule the world of sci- ence, which are to a great extent the guide of practical statesmen ; ... for no one deserving the name of leg- islator pretends to doubt the soundness of the theory." Many of the intellectual vices, as aU the excellences of Hume — his speculative audacity, his regard for material comfort and independence, his want of enthusiasm, the restriction of his view to observation and experience, his acceptance of expediency as a principle, his acquaint- ance with courts and with affairs of state, his knowl- edge of history, his philosophic habits, his slow progress from pinched to easj' circumstances, all favored profi- ciency in this branch of inquiry. ]Many of these char- acteristics were, however, adverse to bis career as an historian. True, in Hume's History of England, the vig- orous, easy, and unaffected style, the vivacity of the de- lineations, the arrangement of the topics, the disposition of the personages, the variety and penetration of the re- flections, are all admirable. The narrative is always fascinating, if the expression is rarely idiomatic, some- times ungrammatical, and often provincial. But to the highest merits of history it possesses no claim. It is hastily, carelessh', and inaccurately composed ; it is in- curious of truth ; it disregards authentic sources of in- formation from indolence and indifference ; it is equally partial and prejudiced. In form, it is a model of histor- ical art, but not of the art in its highest conception; in substance and in spirit it displays nearly every sin and corruption which a historian should abhor. His writ- ings called forth many antagonists, and, in fact, may be said to have given rise to the Scotch metaphysical school of Common Sense, so called, of which the best exposi- tion, and, at the same time, the best answer to Hume's scepticism, is to be proved by Eeid's Comjjlete Works, with N'otes by Sir William Hamilton (Edinburgh, 1846, 8vo). Beattie's Essay on Truth, and Oswald's Appeal to Common Sense (Edanb. 1772, 2 vols.), were also writ- ten in reply to Hume.
See The Philosophical Works of David Hume, in- cluding all the Essays, ami exhibiting the more impoi-tant Alterations and Corrections in the successive Editions published by the Author (Edinburgh and Boston, 1854, 4 vols. 8vo) ; Biurton, Life and Letters of David Hume (Edinb. 1847, 2 vols. 8vo) ; Letters of eminent Persons addressed to David Hume (Edinb. and Lond. 1820, 4to) ;
HUMERALE
403
HUMILITY
Brougham, Lii-es of ^ fen of Letters and nf Science (Lon- don, 184,'), 8vo) ; Tenneniaun, J/««"«^ I/istor// o/J'/iilos. § o76; Enfjlish Cyclop, s. v.; Morell, ///*■/. of Mod. Phi- losnphij, j)t. i, ch. iii ; Sir Wm. Hamilton, Led. on Meta- p/>>/slcs ; jMackintosh, J/ist. of Ethical Pkilos. p. 14G sq. ; Aliibone, Diet, of A ut/iors, i, 914 sq. ; Lewes, History of Pkilos. ii, 305 sq. ; Tenncraann, Gesch. d. Pkilos. xi, 425 sq. ; Ritter, Ckristl. Pkilos. viii, 6, 7, ch. ii ; Cousin, Hist, de la Pkilos. moderne, Le(;on xi ; Farrar, Crit. JJist. of L'ree Thouyfif, p. 148 sq. ; Edinb. Ber. Jan. 1847 ; Quart. Jleriew, Ixxiii, 292 ,• Ixxvii, 40 ; 1844, \\ 315 Stj. ; Macl:- wood's Magazine (on the argument against miracles), xlvi, 91 sq. ; June, 1869 ; Brit. Review, Aug. 1847, p. 288 ; 18G8, p. 77 sq.; New Enylander, i, 109,172; ii, 212; iv, 405; xviii, 108; North American Review^hiKis^bM sq.; Christ. Remembrancer, Oct. 1868, p. 272; Brit, and For. Evany. Rev. Oct. 1805, p. 820 sq. ; Contemp. Review, May, 1809, art. vi, reprinted in the Amer. Presbyt. Rev. July, 1809. art. viii. (G. F. H.)