In 1752 he was appointed librarian to the Faculty of Advocates, not for
the emolument, but with the real purpose of having entire control of the
books and material in the library; and then he determined to write the
_History of England_.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND.--He began with the accession of the Stuarts, in 1603,
the period when the popular element, so long kept tranquil by the power
and sex of Queen Elizabeth, was ready first to break out into open
assertion. Hume's self-deception must have been rudely discovered to him;
for he tells us, in an autobiography fortunately preserved, that he
expected so dispassionately to steer clear of all existent parties, or,
rather, to be so just to all, that he should gain universal approbation.
"Miserable," he adds, "was my disappointment. I was assailed by one cry of
reproach, disapprobation, and even detestation. English, Scotch, Irish,
Whig and Tory, churchman and sectary, free-thinker and religionist,
patriot and courtier, united, in their rage, against the man who had
presumed to shed a generous tear for the fate of Charles I.
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