Lord Charlemont, who met him at Turin, says he was
"disguised in scarlet," and that he wore his uniform "like a grocer of
the train-bands." Hume, always ready for a joke at his own expense,
tells of the considerate kindness with which, at a reception at Vienna,
the Empress-dowager released him and his friends from the necessity of
walking backwards. "We esteemed ourselves very much obliged to her for
this attention, especially my companions, who were desperately afraid of
my falling on them and crushing them."
Notwithstanding the many attractions of this appointment, Hume writes
that he leaves home "with infinite regret, where I had treasured up
stores of study and plans of thinking for many years;" and his only
consolation is that the opportunity of becoming conversant with state
affairs may be profitable:--
"I shall have an opportunity of seeing courts and camps: and if I
can afterward be so happy as to attain leisure and other
opportunities, this knowledge may even turn to account to me as a
man of letters, which I confess has always been the sole object of
my ambition. I have long had an intention, in my riper years, of
composing some history; and I question not but some greater
experience in the operations of the field and the intrigues of the
cabinet will be requisite, in order to enable me to speak with
judgment on these subjects."
Hume returned to London in 1749, and, during his stay there, his mother
died, to his heartfelt sorrow.
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