Texts Four Dissertations 1. FOURDISSERTATIONS. I. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. II. OF THE PASSIONS. III. OF TRAGEDY. IV. OF THE STANDARD OF TASTE. BYDAVID HUME, Esq. LONDON,Printed for A. Millar, in the Strand. N. B. The copytext for the following works is the 1. Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects. The dissertations first appeared together in this 1. For more details, see the Read Me page, especially section 6. TOThe Reverend Mr. Hume,Author of Douglas, a Tragedy. Ded 1. My Dear Sir. It was the practice of the antients to address their compositions only to friends and equals, and to render their dedications monuments of regard and affection, not of servility and flattery. In those days of ingenious and candid liberty, a dedication did honour to the person to whom it was addressed, without degrading the author. Stretching Bob Anderson Rapidshare Premium. If any particular appeared towards the patron, it was at least the partiality of friendship and affection. Ded 2. Another instance of true liberty, of which antient times can alone afford us an example, is the liberty of thought, which engaged men of letters, however different in their abstract opinions, to maintain a mutual friendship and regard and never to quarrel about principles, while they agreed in inclinations and manners. Science was often the subject of disputation, never of animosity. Cicero, an academic, addressed his philosophical treatises, sometimes to Brutus, a stoic sometimes to Atticus, an epicurean. Ded 3. I have been seized with a strong desire of renewing these laudable practices of antiquity, by addressing the following dissertations to you, my good friend For such I will ever call and esteem you, notwithstanding the opposition, which prevails between us, with regard to many of our speculative tenets. These differences of opinion I have only found to enliven our conversation while our common passion for science and letters served as a cement to our friendship. I still admired your genius, even when I imagined, that you lay under the influence of prejudice and you sometimes told me, that you excused my errors, on account of the candor and sincerity, which, you thought, accompanied them. Ded 4. But to tell truth, it is less my admiration of your fine genius, which has engaged me to make this address to you, than my esteem of your character and my affection to your person. That generosity of mind which ever accompanies you that cordiality of friendship, that spirited honour and integrity, have long interested me strongly in your behalf, and have made me desirous, that a monument of our mutual amity should be publicly erected, and, if possible, be preserved to posterity. Ded 5. I own too, that I have the ambition to be the first who shall in public express his admiration of your noble tragedy of Douglas one of the most interesting and pathetic pieces, that was ever exhibited on any theatre. Should I give it preference to the Merope of Maffei, and to that of Voltaire, which it resembles in its subject should I affirm, that it contained more fire and spirit than the former, more tenderness and simplicity than the latter I might be accused of partiality And how could I entirely acquit myself, after the professions of friendship, which I have made youBut the unfeigned tears which flowed from every eye, in the numerous representations which were made of it on this theatre the unparalleled command, which you appeared to have over every affection of the human breast These are incontestible proofs, that you possess the true theatric genius of Shakespear and Otway, refined from the unhappy barbarism of the one, and licentiousness of the other. Ded 6. My enemies, you know, and, I own, even sometimes my friends, have reproached me with the love of paradoxes and singular opinions and I expect to be exposed to the same imputation, on account of the character, which I have here given of your Douglas. I shall be told, no doubt, that I had artfully chosen the only time, when this high esteem of that piece could be regarded as a paradox, to wit, before its publication and that not being able to contradict in this particular the sentiments of the public, I have, at least, resolved to go before them. But I shall be amply compensated for all these pleasantries, if you accept this testimony of my regard, and believe me to be, with the greatest sincerity, Dear Sir,Your most affectionate Friend,and humble servant,Edinburgh, 3, Jan. David Hume. Bea 3. THENATURAL HISTORYOFRELIGION. Bea 3. 3INTRODUCTION. N Intro. 1. As every enquiry, which regards religion, is of the utmost importance, there are two questions in particular, which challenge our attention, to wit, that concerning its foundation in reason, and that concerning its origin in human nature. Happily, the first question, which is the most important, admits of the most obvious, at least, the clearest solution. The whole frame of nature bespeaks an intelligent author and no rational enquirer can, after serious reflection, suspend his belief a moment with regard to the primary principles of genuine Theism and Religion. But the other question, concerning the origin of religion in human nature, is exposed to some more difficulty. The belief of invisible, intelligent power has been very generally diffused over the human race, in all places and in all ages but it has neither perhaps been so universal as to admit of no exception, nor has it been, in any degree, uniform in the ideas, which it has suggested. Some nations have been discovered, who entertained no sentiments of Religion, if travellers and historians may be credited and no two nations, and scarce any two men, have ever agreed precisely in the same sentiments. It would appear, therefore, that this preconception springs not from an original instinct or primary impression of nature, such as gives rise to self love, affection between the sexes, love of progeny, gratitude, resentment since every instinct of this kind has been found absolutely universal in all nations and ages, and has always a precise determinate object, which it inflexibly pursues. The first religious principles must be secondary such as may easily be perverted by various accidents and causes, and whose operation too, in some cases, may, by an extraordinary concurrence of circumstances, be altogether prevented. What those principles are, which give rise to the original belief, and what those accidents and causes are, which direct its operation, is the subject of our present enquiry. Bea 3. 4Sect. I. That Polytheism was the primary Religion of Men. N 1. 1. It appears to me, that, if we consider the improvement of human society, from rude beginnings to a state of greater perfection, polytheism or idolatry was, and necessarily must have been, the first and most ancient religion of mankind. This opinion I shall endeavour to confirm by the following arguments. N 1. 2. It is a matter of fact incontestable, that about 1. The doubtful and sceptical principles of a few philosophers, or the theism, and that too not entirely pure, of one or two nations, form no objection worth regarding. Behold then the clear testimony of history. The farther we mount up into antiquity, the more do we find mankind plunged into polytheism. No marks, no symptoms of any more perfect religion. The most ancient records of human race still present us with that system as the popular and established creed. The north, the south, the east, the west, give their unanimous testimony to the same fact. What can be opposed to so full an evidence N 1. As far as writing or history reaches, mankind, in ancient times, appear universally to have been polytheists. Shall we assert, that, in more ancient times, before the knowledge of letters, or the discovery of any art or science, men entertained the principles of pure theismThat is, while they were ignorant and barbarous, they discovered truth But fell into error, as soon as they acquired learning and politeness.