Note 35:1 — Chapter X

Warburton writes as follows to Hurd:—"As to Hume, I had laid it aside ever since you was here; I will now, however, finish my skeleton. It will be hardly that. If, then, you think any thing can be made of it, and will give yourself the trouble, we may, perhaps, between us, do a little good, which, I dare say, we shall both think worth a little pains. If I have any force in the first rude beating out of the mass, you are best able to give it the elegance of form and splendour of polish. This will answer my purpose; to labour together in a joint work to do a little good. I will tell you fairly, it is no more the thing it should be, and will be, if you undertake it, than the Dantzic iron at the forge is the gilt and painted ware at Birmingham. It will make no more than a pamphlet; but you shall take your own time, and make it your summer's amusement, if you will. I propose it to bear something like this title:—'Remarks on Mr. Hume's late Essay, called The Natural History of Religion; by a Gentleman of Cambridge, in a Letter to the Rev. Dr. W. ' I propose the address should be with the dryness and reserve of a stranger, who likes the method of the letters on Bolingbroke's Philosophy, and follows it here against the same sort of writer, inculcating the same impiety, naturalism, and employing the same kind of arguments. The address will remove it from me; the author, a gentleman of Cambridge, from you; and the secrecy in printing from us both."—Letters from a late Eminent Prelate to one of his Friends , p. 240. In the immediately preceding letter, we find him saying, "I will trim the rogue's jacket, at least sit upon his skirts, as you will see when you come hither, and find his margins scribbled over."

Thus were concocted the "Remarks on Mr. David Hume's Essay on the Natural History of Religion, addressed to the Rev. Dr. Warburton," (1757) wherein the candid author, in pursuance of his instructions, says, "Of my person, indeed, I must have leave to make no discovery; and to tell you the truth, I have taken such effectual precautions, as to that particular, that I will venture to say you will never know more of me than you do at present." The original notes are to be found in the quarto edition of Warburton's works. Hume says, in his "own life," of the Natural History of Religion, "Its public entry was rather obscure, except only that Dr. Hurd wrote a pamphlet against it, with all the illiberal petulance, arrogance, and scurrility which distinguish the Warburtonian school. This pamphlet gave me some consolation for the otherwise indifferent reception of my performance."