t of men cannot judge of reasoning, and
are impressed by character; so that, if you allow your adversary a
respectable character, they will think, that though you differ from him,
you may be in the wrong. Sir, treating your adversary with respect, is
striking soft in a battle. And as to Hume,--a man who has so much
conceit as to tell all mankind that they have been bubbled[72] for ages,
and he is the wise man who sees better than they,--a man who has so
little scrupulosity as to venture to oppose those principles which have
been thought necessary to human happiness,--is he to be surprized if
another man comes and laughs at him? If he is the great man he thinks
himself, all this cannot hurt him: it is like throwing peas against a
rock.' He added '_something much too rough_' both as to Mr. Hume's head
and heart, which I suppress. Violence is, in my opinion, not suitable to
the Christian cause. Besides, I always lived on good terms with Mr.
Hume, though I have frankly told him, I was not clear that it was right
in me to keep company with him. 'But, (said I) how much better are you
than your books!' He was cheerful, obliging, and instructive; he was
charitable to the poor; and many an agreeable hour have I passed with
him[73]: I have preserved some entertaining and interesting memoirs of
him, particularly when he knew himself to be dying, which I may some
time or other communicate to the world[74]. I shall not, however, extol
him so very highly as Dr. Adam Smith does, who says, in a letter to Mr.
Strahan the Printer (not a confidential letter to his friend, but a
letter which is published[75] with all formality:) 'Upon the whole, I
have always considered him, both in his life time and since his death,
as approaching as nearly to the idea of a perfectly wise and virtuous
man as perhaps the nature of human frailty will permit.' Let Dr. Smith
consider: Was not Mr. Hume blest with good health, good spirits, good
friends, a competent and increasing fortune? And had he not also a
perpetual feast of fame[76]? But, as a learned friend has observed to
me, 'What trials did he undergo to prove the perfection of his virtue?
Did he ever experience any great instance of adversity?'--When I read
this sentence delivered by my old _Professor of Moral Philosophy_, I
could not help exclaiming with the _Psalmist_, 'Surely I have now more
understanding than my teachers[77]!'

While we were talking, there came a note to me from Dr. William
Rober