Nor need I dwell upon
Hume's short tenure of office in London, as Under-Secretary of State,
between 1767 and 1769. Success and wealth are rarely interesting, and
Hume's case is no exception to the rule.
According to his own description the cares of official life were not
overwhelming.
"My way of life here is very uniform and by no means disagreeable.
I have all the forenoon in the Secretary's house, from ten till
three, when there arrive from time to time messengers that bring me
all the secrets of the kingdom, and, indeed, of Europe, Asia,
Africa, and America. I am seldom hurried; but have leisure at
intervals to take up a book, or write a private letter, or converse
with a friend that may call for me; and from dinner to bed-time is
all my own. If you add to this that the person with whom I have the
chief, if not only, transactions, is the most reasonable,
equal-tempered, and gentleman-like man imaginable, and Lady
Aylesbury the same, you will certainly think I have no reason to
complain; and I am far from complaining. I only shall not regret
when my duty is over; because to me the situation can lead to
nothing, at least in all probability; and reading, and sauntering,
and lounging, and dozing, which I call thinking, is my supreme
happiness--I mean my full contentment."
Hume's duty was soon over, and he returned to Edinburgh in 1769, "very
opulent" in the possession of L1,000 a year, and determined to take what
remained to him of life pleasantly and easily.
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