The History of England, Volume I | Page 2

retreat; and I there laid that plan of
life which I have steadily and successfully pursued. I resolved to make
a very rigid frugality supply my deficiency of fortune, to maintain
unimpaired my independency, and to regard every object as
contemptible, except the improvement of my talents in literature.
During my retreat in France, first at Rheims but chiefly at La Fleche, in
Anjou, I composed my Treatise of Human Nature. After passing three
years very agreeably in that country, I came over to London in 1737. In
the end of 1738 I published my Treatise, and immediately went down
to my mother and my brother, who lived at his country-house, and
employed himself very judiciously and successfully in the
improvement of his fortune.
Never literary attempt was more unfortunate than my Treatise of
Human Nature. It fell DEAD-BORN FROM THE PRESS, without
reaching such distinction as even to excite a murmur among the zealots.
But being naturally of a cheerful and sanguine temper, I very soon
recovered the blow, and prosecuted with great ardour my studies in the
country. In 1742 I printed at Edinburgh the first part of my Essays: the

work was favourably received, and soon made me entirely forget my
former disappointment. I continued with my mother and brother in the
country, and in that time recovered the knowledge of the Greek
language, which I had too much neglected in my early youth.
In 1745 I received a letter from the Marquis of Annandale, inviting me
to come and live with him in England; I found, also, that the friends
and family of that young nobleman were desirous of putting him under
my care and direction, for the state of his mind and health required it.--I
lived with him a twelve-month. My appointments during that time
made a considerable accession to my small fortune. I then received an
invitation from General St. Clair to attend him as a secretary to his
expedition, which was at first meant against Canada, but ended in an
incursion on the coast of France. Next year, to wit, 1747, I received an
invitation from the general to attend him in the same station in his
military embassy to the courts of Vienna and Turin. I then wore the
uniform of an officer, and was introduced at these courts as
aide-de-camp to the general, along with Sir Harry Erskine and Captain
Grant, now General Grant. These two years were almost the only
interruptions which my studies have received during the course of my
life: I passed them agreeably and in good company; and my
appointments, with my frugality, had made me reach a fortune which I
called independent, though most of my friends were inclined to smile
when I said so: in short, I was now master of near a thousand pounds.
I had always entertained a notion, that my want of success in
publishing the Treatise of Human Nature, had proceeded more from the
manner than the matter, and that I had been guilty of a very usual
indiscretion, in going to the press too early. I therefore cast the first part
of that work anew in the Enquiry concerning Human Understanding,
which was published while I was at Turin. But this piece was at first
little more successful than the Treatise of Human Nature. On my return
from Italy, I had the mortification to find all England in a ferment, on
account of Dr. Middleton's Free Enquiry, while my performance was
entirely over-looked and neglected. A new edition which had been
published in London, of my Essays, moral and political, met not with a
much better reception.
Such is the force of natural temper, that these disappointments made
little or no impression on me. I went down in 1749, and lived two years

with my brother at his country-house, for my mother was now dead. I
there composed the second part of my Essay, which I called Political
Discourses, and also my Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals,
which is another part of my treatise that I cast anew. Meanwhile my
bookseller, A. Miller, informed me that my former publications (all but
the unfortunate Treatise) were beginning to be the subject of
conversation; that the sale of them was gradually increasing; and that
new editions were demanded. Answers by Reverends and Right
Reverends came out two or three in a year; and I found, by Dr.
Warburton's railing, that the books were beginning to be esteemed in
good company. However, I had a fixed resolution, which I inflexibly
maintained, never to reply to any body; and not being very irascible in
my temper, I have easily kept myself clear of all literary squabbles.
These symptoms of a rising reputation gave me encouragement, as I
was ever more disposed to see the favourable