Note 905 — Chapter VI
Reading edition
Mr. Burton, in his interesting work, Life and Correspondence of Hume, vol. ii. p. 129, says it was ‘first published in 1756;’ and the same date is given by Quérard (France Littéraire, vol. x. p. 359), who is a very accurate bibliographer; so that Condorcet (Vie de Voltaire, p. 199) and Lord Brougham (Men of Letters, vol. i. p. 98) are probably in error in assigning it to 1757. In regard to its title, I translate ‘Mœurs’ as ‘morals and manners;’ for M. Tocqueville uses ‘mœurs’ as equivalent to the Latin word ‘mores.’ Tocqueville, Démocratie en Amérique, vol. iii. pp. 50, 84.