He was through life an able, clear-headed, man of business, and I have seen several legal documents, written in his own hand and evidently drawn by himself.

They stand the test of general professional observation; and their writer, by preparing documents of facts of such a character on his own responsibility, showed that he had considerable confidence in his ability to adhere to the forms adequate for the occasion.

He talked of it as 'an ancient prejudice industriously propagated by the dunces in all countries, that _a man of genius is unfit for business_,' and he showed, in his general conduct through life, that he did not choose to come voluntarily under this proscription." Six years longer Hume remained at Ninewells before he made another attempt to embark in a practical career--this time commerce--and with a like result.

For a few months' trial proved that kind of life, also, to be hopelessly against the grain.
It was while in London, on his way to Bristol, where he proposed to commence his mercantile life, that Hume addressed to some eminent London physician (probably, as Mr.Burton suggests, Dr.George Cheyne) a remarkable letter.

Whether it was ever sent seems doubtful; but it shows that philosophers as well as poets have their Werterian crises, and it presents an interesting parallel to John Stuart Mill's record of the corresponding period of his youth.