ever in ftudy, and the fame gaiety in company. I confider, befides, that a man of fixty-five, by dying, cuts off only a few years of infirmities; and though I fee many fymptoms of my literary reputation's breaking out at laft with additional luftre, I knew that I could have but few years to enjoy it. It is difficult to be more detached from life than I am at prefent. To conclude hiftorically with my own character. I am, or rather was, (for that is the ftyle I muft now use in speaking of myfelf, which emboldens me the more to fpeak my fentiments); I was, I fay, a man of mild difpofitions, of command of temper, of an open, focial, and cheerful humour, capable of attachment, but little fufceptible of enmity, and of great moderation in all my paffions. Even my love of literary fame, my ruling paffion, never foured my temper, notwithftanding my frequent difappointments. My company was not unacceptable to the young and careless, as well as to the ftudious and literary; and as I took a particular pleasure in the company of modeft women, I had no reason to be difpleafed with the reception I met with from them. In a word, though moft men any wife eminent have found reafon to complain of Calumny, I never was touched, or even attacked by her baleful tooth; and though I wantonly expofed myfelf to the rage of both civil and religious factions, they feemed to be difarmed in my behalf of their wonted fury. My friends never had occafion to vindicate any one circumftance of my character and conduct: not but that the zealots, we may well suppose, would have been glad to invent and propagate any story to my disadvantage; but they could never find any which they thought would wear the face of probability. I cannot fay there is no vanity in making this funeral oration of myfeif, but I hope it is not a mifplaced one; and this is a matter of fact which is easily cleared and afcertained. IT is with a real, though a very melancholly pleasure, that I fit down to give you fome account of the behaviour of our late excellent friend Mr Hume, during his last illness. Though, in his own judgement, his difeafe was mortal and incurable, yet he allowed himself to be prevailed upon, by the intreaty of his friends, to try what might be the effects of a long journey. A few days before he fet out, he wrote that account of his own life, which, together with his other papers, he has left to your care. My account, therefore, fhall begin where his ends. He fet out for London towards the end of April; and at Morpeth met with Mr John Home and myself, who had both come down from London on purpose to fee him, expecting to have found him at Edinburgh. Mr Home returned with him, and attended him during the whole of his ftay in England, with that care and attention which might be expected from a temper fo perfectly friendly and affectionate. As I had written to my mother, that the might expect me in Scotland, I was under the neceffity of continuing my journey. His difeafe feemed to yield to exercise, and change of air; and, when he arrived in London, he was apparently in much better health than when he left Edinburgh. He was advised to go to Bath to drink the waters; which appeared for fome time to have fo good an effect upon him, that even he himself began to entertain, what he was not apt to do, a better opinion of his own health. His fymptoms, however, foon returned with their usual violence; and from that moment he gave up all thoughts of recovery, but fubmitted with the utmoft chearfulness, and the moft perfect complacency and refignation. Upon his return to Edinburgh, though he found himself much weaker, yet his chearfulness never abated; and he continued to divert himself, as ufual, with correcting his own works for a new edition, with reading books of amufement, with the converfation of his friends; and, fometimes in the evening, with a party at his favourite game of Whift. His chearfulness was fo great, and his converfation and amusements run fo much in their usual strain, that, notwithstanding all bad fymptoms, many people could not believe he was dying. "I fhall tell your friend Col. Edmonstone," said Dr Dundas to him one day, "that I left you much better, and in a fair way of recovery."-" Doctor," faid he, as I believe you would not chufe to tell any thing but the truth, you had better tell him that I am dying as faft as my enemies (if I have any) could with, and as 6 An account of the death of David Hume, Efq; cafily and chearfully as my best friends Col. Edmonstone foon could defire." afterwards came to fee him, and take leave of him; and, on his way home, he could not forbear writing him a letter, bidding him once more an eternal adieu, and applying to him, as to a dying man, the beautiful French verses, in which the Abbé Chaulieu, in expectation of his own death, laments his approaching feparation from his friend the Marquis de la Farre. Mr Hume's magnanimity and firmnefs were fuch, that his most affectionate friends knew that they hazarded nothing in talking or writing to him as to a dying man; and that, fo far from being hurt by this franknefs, he was rather pleafed and flattered by it. I happened to come into his room while he was reading this letter, which he had juft received, and which he immediately fhewed me. I told him, that, though I was fenfible how very much he was weakened, and that appearances were in many refpects very bad, yet his chearfulness was still fo great, the spirit of life feemed ftill to be fo very ftrong in him, that I could not help entertaining fome faint hopes. He answered, "Your An habitual hopes are groundless. diarrhea, of more than a year's ftanding, would be a very bad disease at any age: When I at my age it is a mortal 'one. lie down in the evening, I feel myself weaker than when I rofe in the morning; aud when I rise in the morning, weaker than when I lay down in the evening. I am fenfible, befides, that fome of my vital parts are affected, fo that I muft foon die."-" Well, (faid I), if it must be fo, you have at leaft the fatisfaction of leaving all your friends, your brother's family in particular, in great profperity." He said, that he felt that fatisfaction so sensibly, that when he was reading, a few days before, Lucian's Dialogues of the Dead, among all the excufes which are alledged to Charon for not entering readily into his boat, he could not find one that fitted him: He had no houfe to finish, he had no daughter to provide for, he had no enemies upon whom he wished to revenge himfelf. "I could not well imagine (faid he) what excufe I could make to Charon, in order to obtain a little delay. I have done every thing of confequence which I ever meant to do; and I could at no time expect to leave my relations and friends in a better fituation than that in Vol. xxxia which I am now likely to leave them: 1 therefore have all reafon to die contented." He then diverted himself with inventing several jocular excufes, which he fuppofed he might make to Charon, and with imagining the very furly anfwers which it might fuit the character of ChaUpon further ron to return to them. confideration (faid he), I thought I might say to him, “Good Charon, I have been correcting my works for a new edition. Allow me a little time, that I may fee how the public receives the alterations." But Charon would answer, "When you have feen the effect of thefe, you will be for making other alterations. There will be no end of fuch excuses; so, honeft friend, please ftep into the boat."-But I might ftill urge, Have a little patience, good Charon; I have been endeavouring to open the eyes of the public. If I live a few years longer, I may have the fatisfaction of feeing the downfall of fome of the prevailing fyftems of fuperftition.”— But Charon would then lofe all temper and decency:-" You loitering rogue! that will not happen thefe many hundred years. Do you fancy I will grant you a leafe for fo long a term? Get into the boat this inftant, you lazy loitering rogue !" But though Mr Hume always talked of his approaching diffolution with great chearfulness, he never affected to make any parade of his magnanimity. He never mentioned the subject but when the converfation naturally led to it; and never dwelt longer upon it than the course of the converfation happened to require. It was a fubject, indeed, which occurred pretty frequently, in confequence of the inquiries which his friends who came to fee him, naturally made concerning the The converfation ftate of his health. which I mentioned above, and which paffed on Thurfday the 8th of August, was the laft except one that I ever had with him. He had now become so very weak, that the company of his moft intimate friends fatigued him; for his chearfulness was ftill so great, his complaifance and focial difpofition were ftill fo entire, that, when any friend was with him, he could not help talking more, and with greater exertion, than fuited the weaknefs of his body. At his own defire, therefore, I agreed to leave Edinburgh, where I was staying partly upon his account, and returned to my mother's houfe here at Kirkaldy, upon con dition dition that he would fend for me when ever he wished to fee me; the phyfician who faw him moft frequently, Dr Black, undertaking, in the mean time, to write me occafionally an account of the state of his health. On the 22d of Auguft the Doctor wrote me the following letter. "Since my laft, Mr Hume has paffed his time pretty eafily, but is much weak er. He fits up, goes down ftairs once a-day, and amufes himself with reading; but feldom fees any body. He finds that even the converfation of his moft intimate friends fatigues and opprefies him; and it is happy that he does not need it, for he is quite free from anxiety, impatience, or low fpirits, and paffes his time very well with the affiftance of amufing books." I received the day after a letter from Mr Hume himself, of which the following is an extract. "Edinburgh, August 23. 1776. MY DEAREST FRIEND, I am obliged to make use of my nephew's hand in writing to you, as I do not rife to-day. * * I go very faft to decline, and last night had a small fever, which I hoped might put a quicker period to this tedious ill. nefs; but unluckily it has in a great measure gone off. I cannot fubmit to your coming over here on my account, as it is poffible for me to fee you fo fmall a part of the day; but Dr Black can better inform you concerning the degree of ftrength which may from time to time remain with me. Adieu, &c. Three days after I received the follow. ing letter from Dr Black. "Edinburgh, Monday, Aug. 26.1776. DEAR SIR, Yefterday, about four o'clock after noon, Mr Hume expired. The near approach of his death became evident in the night between Thursday and Friday, when bis difeafe became exceffive, and foon weakened him fo much, that he could no longer rife out of his bed. He continued to the laft perfectly fenfible, and free from much pain or feelings of diftrefs. He never dropped the smalleft expreffion of impatience; but, when he had occafion to fpeak to the people about him, always did it with affection and tenderness. I thought it improper to write to bring you over, especially as I heard that he had dictated a letter to you, defiring you not to come. When he became very weak, it coft him an effort to fpeak; and he died in fuch a happy compofure of mind, that nothing could exceed it." Thus died our moft excellent and never-to-be-forgotten friend; concerning whofe philofophical opinions men will, no doubt, judge variously, every one approving or condemning them, according as they happen to coincide or difagree with his own; but concerning whofe character and conduct there can scarce be a difference of opinion. [xxxviii. 455. 508, 78.]. His temper, indeed, seemed to be more happily balanced (if I may be allowed fuch an expreffion) than that perhaps of any other man I have ever known. Even in the lowest state of his fortune, his great and neceffary frugality never hindered him from exercifing, upon proper occafions, acts both of charity and generofity. It was a frugality founded, not upon avarice, but upon the love of independency. The extreme gentlenefs of his nature never weakened either the firmness of his mind, or the steadinefs of his refolutions. His conftant pleafantry was the genuine effusion of good-nature and good-humour, tempered with delicacy and modefty, and without even the flightest tincture of malignity, fo frequently the difagreeable fource of what is called wit in other men. It never was the meaning of his raillery to mortify; and therefore, far from offending, it feldom failed to please and delight even those who were the objects of it. To his friends, who were frequently the objects of it, there was not, perhaps, any one of all his great and amiable qualities which contributed more to endear his converfation; and that gaiety of temper, fo agreeable in fociety, but which is fo often accompanied with frivolous and fuperficial qualities, was in him certainly attended with the moft fevere application, the moft extenfive learning, the greatest depth of thought, and a capacity in every refpect the most comprehenfive. Upon the whole, I have always confidered him, both in his lifetime and fince his death, as approaching as nearly to the idea of a perfectly wife and virtuous man, as perhaps the nature of human frailty will permit. I ever am, dear Sir, Most affectionately yours, SIR, SIR, London, Jan. 13. 1777. When we hear of a House of Lords, and a House of Commons, in Ireland, and that the bills receive the royal affent by delegation, we immediately conceive the conftitution of the Parliament there fimilar to our own. The cafe is quite other wife; for both the legiflation itself, and the parliamentary mode of proceeding, is different, as will appear by the follow ing account. After Henry VII. had conceded a parliament in Ireland, he thought the power thereby created of too much importance to a people whom he determined to keep in a state of humiliation and dependence, and therefore employed one Poynings, a man of great ingenuity and court-craft, to be his delegate. This man, by a trick, impofed upon the reprefentatives of the people; obtained a law, (from himself called Poyning's law) "That before any Parliament fhould be holden, the reafons for holding the fame, and the nature of the laws intended to be propofed, fhould be laid before the King, by the Chief Governor and Privy Council of Ireland, with full negation in the King and Privy Council of England;" granting thereby a power to the crown of originating every act which could poffibly pafs in the Irish fenate, and leaving with the people a power only of refufing upon recognition. After repeated inftances of difguft and defection, it was found neceffary to abridge this law; and the alteration made it neceflary to fpecify the intended bill at the firft calling of the Parliament. But ftill are the heads of bills (fo called in Ireland) certified by the Lieutenant and Privy Council, under the great feal. Hence is the great immunity of the noble and equitable equilibrium deftroyed. The King knows in which House they originate, and before they are communicated to the other Houfe, or prefented to the throne in due parliamentary form. Under the authority of Poyning's law, the Privy Council infift upon the right of originating all money-bills; but the Commons ftrenuoufly decrying the conftitution, conftantly exercife their negative power, and thofe bills drop upon the return a new bill then originates in the lower affembly; which, if returned from the crown without alteration, paffes into a law. By this abfurd diftinction, much time is ufually mil-ipent. As every bill must be certified by the Chief Governor and Privy Council, the parliamentary mode of proceeding varies materially from that ufed in England. Any member may move for leave to bring in heads of a bill; and on leave being given, a committee is appointed to prepare, and bring in the fame; and the member who makes the motion is nominated to the chair of the faid committee. After the report, here, the Speaker puts the queftion, "Is it your pleasure these heads of a bill be now received?" The queftion being carried in the affirmative, they are prefented, read twice over,and then configned to a committee of the whole Houfe; in which they are inveftigated more minutely, and by which great alterations are generally made. After this, the chairman of the committee reports to the Houfe if any alterations are made, and a question is put for each alteration. The heads of a bill are read a third time, and the propofer is ordered to wait on his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, and the Privy Coun cil therewith, and defire that they may be tranfmitted to the King in due form, certified under the great feal by the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council. Without this form, the heads of a bill cannot be tranfmitted at all; and hence arifes a diftinct branch of legislation. After all this tedious procraftination, when the heads of a bill are sent over, they are laid before the King and Coun cil, and two men are ordered to examine the result of a nation's folemn deliberation. If, through ignorance, capricioufnefs, wickedness, or error, the Attorney or Solicitor General should report them contrary to the trade or dignity of England, they are usually detained. When the crown-lawyers have made fuch alterations as they then think fit, (that is, when they think the heads admiffible in any degree), they are returned under the great feal; commanding the Lord Lieutenant to give the royal affent to fuch bill, in the exact form in which it ftands: for the Irish House cannot alter a fingle tittle, but either accede to the alterations which have been made, or ufe their negative power, and reject the whole. The Lord Lieutenant is not empowered to affent to any bill, but in the very form which it appears under the great feal, and cannot therefore concur with any other propofition. M AME AMERICA. [xxxviii. 718] WE E concluded the American affairs in our preceeding volume, with accounts of the actions at Pelham Manor, and in paffing the Bruncks river in the attack when the lines and redoubts near Fort Washington were stormed, accounts of the furrender of Forts Washington and Lee, and of the fubmiffion of near a thousand of the inhabitants of New York. We fhall continue to give particular attention to those affairs. From the New York Gazette, Nov. 11. The following voluntary declarations from the late committee of the county of Suffolk, and from all the town-committees in that county, were delivered to Gov. Tryon on Thursday laft, by Major Richard Floyd and Mr Thomas Fanning, who were deputed by the inhabitants of the county to present the same to his Excellency. and difannul all former orders and refolutions of this committee; and we do hereby further renounce and disavow the orders and refolutions of all committees and congreffes whatfoever, as being undutiful to our lawful fovereign, repugnant to the principles of the British constitution, and ruinous in the extreme to the happinefs and profperity of this country." The declaration from Smithtowntownfhip is dated the 19th of October, and in the fame words. The declaration from the township of Southold is dated the 25th October 1776, and is in the fame words as the former two. The declaration from Southampton township is also the fame as the former three, dated 21ft October 1776. The declaration from Eafthampton is dated the 21st October 1776, and expreffed in the fame words as the four laft." "Brook Haven, Oct. 24. 1776. WE the committee of the county of Suffolk, being affembled by permiffion" of his Excellency the Hon. William Tryon, Efq; Governor of New York, and the territories depending thereon in America, do hereby diffolve ourselves, and do disclaim and reject the orders of congrefs and committees; and totally refufing obedience to them, revoking all our proceedings under the congrefs, and being defirous to obey the legal authority of government, rely upon your Excellency's clemency, hoping that you will pafs by our former conduct, and be graciously pleased to protect us, agreeable to the laws of this province. Signed by order of the committee. JOHN BRUSH, Chairman." The declaration from Brook-haven township, of the 23d October, is expreffed in the fame form of words as the above. The declaration from the township of Iflip is also very fimilar to the former. The declaration from the townthip of Huntington is dated the 21st of October 1776, and is as follows, viz. "WE the committee of Huntington in the county of Suffolk, being thorough ly convinced of the injurious and criminal tendency of our former meetings and refolutions, and willing to manifeft our hearty disapprobation of all fuch illegal meafures, do hereby diffolve this committee, and, as far as in us lies, revoke VOL.XXXIX. From the New-York Gazette, Dec. 2. By Richard Viscount Howe, of the kingdom of Ireland, and William Howe, Efq; General of his Majesty's forces in America, the King's Commiffioners for restoring peace to his Majefty's Colonies and Plantations in North America, &c. PROCLAMATION. Whereas Hereas by our declarations of July 14. and Sept. 19. laft [xxxviii. 437. 37, 585.], in pursuance of his Majefty's moft gracious intentions towards his fubjects in the colonies or provinces of New Hampshire, Maffachufet's-bay, Rhode ifland, Connecticut, New York, New Jerfey, Pennsylvania, the three lower counties on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, all perfons speedily returning to their juft allegiance were promifed a free and general pardon, and were invited to accept, not only the bleffings of peace, but a fecure enjoyment of their liberty and properties, upon the true principles of the conftitution: And whereas, notwithftanding the faid declarations, and the example of many who have availed them.. felves of the affurances therein made, feveral bodies of armed men, in open contempt of his Majefty's proffered clemency, do ftill continue their oppofition to the establishment of legal government and peace; and divers other ill-difpofed B perfons, |