A letter from Mr. Hume

overpaid the labour of ten years, but I have never presumed to

accept a place in the triumvirate of British historians.

That curious and original letter will amuse the reader, and his

gratitude should shield my free communication from the reproach of

vanity.

"DEAR SIR, EDINBURGH, 18th March 1776.

"As I ran through your volume of history with great avidity and

impatience, I cannot forbear discovering somewhat of the same

impatience in returning you thanks for your agreeable present, and

expressing the satisfaction which the performance has given me.

Whether I consider the dignity of your style, the depth of your

matter, or the extensiveness of your learning, I must regard the

work as equally the object of esteem; and I own that if I had not

previously had the happiness of your personal acquaintance, such a

performance from an Englishman in our age would have given me some

surprise.  You may smile at this sentiment; but as it seems to me

that your countrymen, for almost a whole generation, have given

themselves up to barbarous and absurd faction, and have totally

neglected all polite letters, I no longer expected any valuable

production ever to come from them.  I know it will give you pleasure

(as it did me) to find that all the men of letters in this place

concur in the admiration of your work, and in their anxious desire

of your continuing it.

"When I heard of your undertaking, (which was some time ago,) I own

I was a little curious to see how you would extricate yourself from

the subject of your two last chapters.  I think you have observed a

very prudent temperament; but it was impossible to treat the subject

so as not to give grounds of suspicion against you, and you may

expect that a clamour will arise.  This, if anything, will retard

your success with the public; for in every other respect your work

is calculated to be popular.  But among many other marks of decline,

the prevalence of superstition in England prognosticates the fall of

philosophy and decay of taste; and though nobody be more capable

than you to revive them, you will probably find a struggle in your

first advances.

"I see you entertain a great doubt with regard to the authenticity

of the poems of Ossian.  You are certainly right in so doing.  It is

indeed strange that any men of sense could have imagined it

possible, that above twenty thousand verses, along with numberless

historical facts, could have been preserved by oral tradition during

fifty generations, by the rudest, perhaps, of all the European

nations, the most necessitous, the most turbulent, and the most

unsettled.  Where a supposition is so contrary to common sense, any

positive evidence of it ought never to be regarded.  Men run with

great avidity to give their evidence in favour of what flatters

their passions and their national prejudices.  You are therefore

over and above indulgent to us in speaking of the matter with

hesitation.

"I must inform you that we all are very anxious to hear that you

have fully collected the materials for your second volume, and that

you are even considerably advanced in the composition of it.  I

speak this more in the name of my friends than in my own; as I

cannot expect to live so long as to see the publication of it.  Your

ensuing volume will be more delicate than the preceding, but I trust

in your prudence for extricating you from the difficulties; and, in

all events, you have courage to despise the clamour of bigots.

I am, with great regard,

Dear Sir, &c.  DAVID HUME."

Some weeks afterwards I had the melancholy pleasure of seeing Mr.

Hume in his passage through London; his body feeble, his mind firm.

On Aug. 25 of the same year (1776) he died, at Edinburgh, the death

of a philosopher.

要談一字之翻譯



當我完成了一部辛苦撰寫、終獲成功的著作之後，如今在我的五十二歲上，我打算利用一部分閒暇時間，回顧一下個人文墨生活上的簡單事務。這篇個人生活的敘事文章，必須以真實作為它的唯一可以推許的特點，這就是嚴肅一點的歷史書所應具有的首要品質：赤裸裸的、不怕出醜的真實。文筆 應當是質樸而且平易的。不過文筆是性格的映像；而認真寫作的習慣，很可能不費甚麼經營或設計，就將技能和學問顯示出來了。

我的動機是自娛，能白娛就使我得到了報償。這批文稿倘使傳送到某幾位審慎而又寬容的朋友手裡，我希望在我未能逃脫世人的批評或譏笑之前， 暫時不要將它公開發表。

目前有一種了解並記錄先人的熱烈要求，流行得很廣泛，因此使人想見，這種要求必然是人們思想上某種共同原則的影響所致。我們彷彿依託在祖宗身上而生活著；是虛榮心理致力擴展了這種虛構的生命長度，從中得到滿足。我們的想像力永遠在積極擴大自然給我們限定的狹隘圈子。一個人可能活到五十歲或一百歲；但我們懷著宗教與哲學所能提供的那種希望，跨越到了死後的年代。同時我們又將自身與先人聯結起來，藉以填充我們出世以前那個沒有記載的空白。我們冷靜一點的判斷，對於因出身歷史悠久的高門華族而產生的驕傲心理，往往只是減輕它而不是壓制它的。諷刺家也許會譏笑，哲學家也許會勸誡；但是理智本身將尊重人類經驗歷來奉為神聖的那些成見和習慣。

在政府中，凡是出身高貴者可居於優越地位的地方，教育和實際事例總是在他們中間造成一種情操的莊嚴性和行為的合宜性，以後也將常常是這樣；而由於他們自身和社會公眾的尊重，又使他們的情操與行為不至於失去光彩。就我自己來說，要是我的家世可以追溯到一位將軍、一位政治家或者一位著作作家的話，我就將以苗裔愛祖之心勤奮地研究他們的生平事蹟。我們在考察歷史事件的時候，凡有直接或間接涉及我們自身的，都會引起我們的好奇心；但在榮譽的評價上，我們應當懂得重視天賦才能勝過於幸運的賜予；應當尊敬我們祖先的最能促進社會利益的品質；還應當明白地宣示，一個國王的後裔，並不真正比一名用其著作啟迪或悅樂現世的天才作家的子孫更為高貴。

據我看來，孔子的家族是世界上聲名最盛的家族。我們歐洲的貴族和諸侯，經過八個或十個世紀的艱苦攀登，都在中世紀的黑暗中沉沒了；可是在中國，孔子的後裔競保持其安靜的榮譽和永久的世襲地位達二千二百多年。

 這個家族的首腦，至今仍被視為聖賢的實在形象而受到君主和人民的崇仰。

 英國的斯賓塞家族，它的貴族地位一直是很出名的，更因馬爾巴勒公爵征伐所得的戰利品而提高了聲譽；不過我​​勸他們把《仙后》①看作他們冠飾上最珍貴的珠寶。不朽的菲爾丁②出自丹拜伯爵那個後起的支派，他們把世系追溯到屬於七世紀時阿爾薩斯公爵埃爾特里科的直系後裔的那些哈布斯堡伯爵。哈布斯堡家族的英格蘭和日耳曼兩個分支，氣運大不相同：前者當到萊斯特郡的郡選議員和行政司法長官，是緩慢地上升到貴族的崇高地位的；後者當了日耳曼皇帝和西班牙國王，曾經威脅了舊世界的自由，侵奪了新世界的財寶。查理五世的後繼者可能鄙夷他們的英格蘭兄弟，但《湯姆·瓊斯》的傳奇，書中關於人類風俗的精巧描寫，將比西班牙的埃斯科里亞爾宮殿和奧地利王室的帝國鷹徽留存得更為久遠。

我願意相信這種看法是合理的，或者至少是自然的，因為我自己對帝王事業不感興趣；因為我從我的祖先那裡所能承襲到的，既沒有榮耀，也沒有恥辱。不過簡單老實地敘述一下我的生活，可以使我自己閒中取樂；但這種敘述不免叫我遭受謀求虛名的非難，而且也許非難得很有道理。然而，我可以從過去和當代的經驗中作出判斷，認為公眾對於身後留有任何心靈圖像的人，向來都是熱切希望了解他們的：他們勤奮地蒐集有關這些人物的點滴記錄，如飢似渴地加以閱讀；任何一類讀者，都可以從與他們自身最相似的事蹟中獲得教訓，或者取得榜樣。

我的姓名日後也許會列入一部《英國名人傳記集》的上千篇文章裡，因此我必須想到，要介紹我的一系列思想和行動，沒有人能像我自己那樣完全合格了。我所崇奉的大師，如莊嚴的圖阿努斯①和冷靜的休謨，他們的權威性言論大概足以說明我這打算是充分有理的。我也不難就古往今來用各種方式描成自身畫像的人物開出一份長長的名單來。這類畫像往往是他們著作中最有趣的，有時還只有這一部分著作使人感到有興趣。而且，只要描述真摯，我們對於這類個人往事記錄的瑣細或噦唆之處，也不大覺得討厭。小普林尼、彼特拉克以及伊拉斯謨的生平事蹟，是從他們自己留與世人的許多書簡中表述出來的。蒙田和威廉·坦普爾爵士的小品文，使我們充分了解到這兩位作家的家庭和胸襟。我們讀到本佛奴多'切利尼的任性愛憎和科利·西伯的憨傻作樂，會莞爾而笑而無輕視之意。聖奧古斯丁和盧梭的懺悔錄，揭示了人類心靈的秘密。博學的於埃所寫的許多註解文字，比他的傳道活動留存得更長久。哥爾多尼的回憶錄，比他用意大利文所寫的戲劇具有更真實的戲劇性。在惠斯頓和紐頓主教的性格和運氣上，明顯地標示了不信國教與信仰國教者的差別。甚至米夏埃爾·德·馬羅勒和安東尼'伍德的遲鈍性格，也從他們為人處世的忠實描寫上獲得了若干價值。 ①謙虛或偽裝的一切效用， 都不能迫使我遮掩住我可以比得上或者勝過上述人物中的某幾位。pp. 3-6 ;