(1711 - 76), philosopher and historian, 2nd s. of Joseph Hume of Ninewells, advocate; Edinburgh U. 1722.
1748 [left England 16 Feb.] Trento (8 May), Mantua (11 May), Cremona (12 May), Milan (13 May), Turin (May - 29 Nov.) [Lyons]
Hume, James Grant of Ballindalloch and Harry [Sir Henry] Erskine, went to Italy as aides to the special envoy in Turin, General James St Clair. He had been sent on a military embassy to the courts of both Vienna and Turin in an attempt to stiffen the resolve of Austria and Sardinia in the war of the Austrian Succession, and to bolster the faltering alliance against France. Hume's role was that of secretary and, as he put it, he 'wore the Uniform of an Officer'; he was introduced at the European courts as the General's Aide-de-Camp.1
An account of Hume's travels in northern Italy is preserved in a long letter which he wrote in journal form to his brother John.2 Hume was not over-impressed by what he saw. At Trento he recalled the famous Council of 1545 - 63; in Mantua he wrote 'We are now in Classic Ground; & I have kist the Earth that produc'd Virgil', but he was unimpressed by its architecture; 'nothing can be more singularly beautiful than the Plains of Lombardy, nor more beggarly & miserable than this Town [Turin]'; he pitied the poor and over-taxed inhabitants of what seemed like a land of plenty on which nature smiled. St Clair noted that the journey to Turin was vastly delayed 'by breaking of Wheels & bad Roads'. Turin, seat of the Court of the King of Sardinia, was the object of the embassy's Italian campaign; but Hume hoped and believed that he and his companions would nevertheless make 'the Tour of Italy' before their return to Britain. This was not to be, and his Italian sojourn was confined to Piedmont.
Lord Charlemont, a student in Turin at the time of Hume's visit, left an amusing record of Hume's appearance and of his activities in the city. In his incongruous scarlet uniform the corpulent philosopher resembled 'a grocer of the Trained Bands' or a 'Turtle-eating Alderman'. Hume fell hopelessly in love with the beautiful young Countess of Duvernan [?], and his infatuation was mocked by both the lady and Lord Charlemont. When sick with a high fever Hume was said to have received extreme unction from Catholic priests, a perhaps apocryphal episode which caused great amusement to those familiar with Hume's religious scepticism.
In after years Hume sometimes talked of going to Italy again, with d'Alembert in the 1760s or with Mme de Boufflers, but he did not return.
1. See E.C. Mossner, Life of David Hume, [1980 ed.], 212 - 18, 505. 2. J.Y.T. Greig ed., Letters of David Hume, 1:131 - 3.
I.G. B.