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(1711-1776)
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Editor/Trans.
Eugene F. Miller, ed.
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First Pub. Date
1742
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Publisher/Edition
Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, Inc.Liberty Fund, Inc. 
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Pub. Date
1987
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Comments
Includes Political Discourses (1752), "My Own Life," by David Hume, and a letter by Adam Smith.
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GLOSSARY
G.1
Page 4
Good offices: acts of good, voluntarily tendered.
Touched with contempt: affected by another's undervaluing or scorn.
Pungent: piercing, sharp.
Sensibility: quickness of perception; a disposition to being easily or strongly affected; delicacy.
G.2
Page 6
Nobler arts: the liberal arts or sciences. "Arts that respect the mind were ever reputed nobler than those that serve the body"—Ben Jonson (quoted in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, under "Art").
Relish: taste; delight in; power of perceiving excellence.
Incommodious: inconvenient; vexatious.
G.3
Page 7
Melancholy: pensiveness; quietly serious thoughtfulness, sadness, or longing.
Nice: accurate in judgment to minute exactness; superfluously exact.
Vacancy: emptiness; sense of longing.
Want: need; deficiency.
Sensibly: quickly; keenly.
G.4
Page 8
Bottle companion: drinking friend.
G.5
Page 9
Mean: lacking dignity; spiritless; low in worth or power.
Pusillanimous: mean-spirited; cowardly.
G.6
Page 10
Entertain jealousy: regard with suspicious fear, vigilance, or caution.
G.7
Page 11
Want: absence.
G.8
Page 12
Licentiousness: boundless liberty; contempt of just restraint.
Rouzed: aroused; excited to thought or action.
Animated: encouraged; incited.
G.9
Page 15
Levity: inconstancy or changeableness; unsteadiness; trifling gaiety.
Artifice: trickery; fraud; stratagem.
Faction: tumult, discord, or dissention, especially as arising from disputes among civil or religious parties.
G.10
Page 16
Humours: general turn or temper of mind; present disposition.
Affected popularity: tried to please the crowd.
Licentious: unrestrained by law or morality.
G.11
Page 17
Fiefs: estates.
Doge: title of the chief magistrate of the republic of Venice.
G.12
Page 18
Factions: contending parties in a state.
Elevation: exaltation; dignity.
G.13
Page 20
Proscription: a sentence of death and confiscation of one's property.
G.14
Page 21
Païs conquis: conquered lands.
G.15
Page 26
Meanness: want of dignity; low rank.
Desert: degree of merit or demerit.
G.16
Page 27
Enow: the plural of enough.
G.17
Page 28
Panegyric: a eulogy or encomium; high praise.
Religious: exact; strict.
Fain: to wish; to desire fondly.
G.18
Page 30
A woman from the stews: a prostitute.
G.19
Page 31
Pro aris & focis: in defense of our altars and our fires.
G.20
Page 32
Soldan: sultan; the supreme ruler of one or another of the great Mohammedan powers or countries of the Middle Ages.
G.21
Page 33
Mamalukes: members of the military body, originally composed of Caucasian slaves, that seized the throne of Egypt in 1254 and continued to form the ruling class in that country during the eighteenth century.
Prætorian bands: the bodyguards of the emperors of ancient Rome.
Prodigal: lavish; wasteful.
G.22
Page 34
In no stead: to no advantage.
G.23
Page 38
Palliate: to cover with excuse; to extenuate or soften by favorable representations.
Appellation: name or title.
Peculiar: appropriate; belonging to any one with exclusion of others.
Tyes: ties; bonds or obligations.
Factitious: made by art, in opposition to what is made by nature.
G.24
Page 39
Exclaims: cries out.
Probity: honesty; sincerity; veracity.
Ascendant: superiority; elevation.
G.25
Page 40
Refractory: obstinate; stubborn; perverse; unmanageable; rebellious.
Intestine: internal; domestic.
G.26
Page 41
Owned: acknowledged.
G.27
Page 43
Courts: jurisdictions; authorities.
G.28
Page 47
Violent: forceful.
G.29
Page 48
Temerity: great boldness; rashness.
G.30
Page 49
Ecclesiastical preferments: places of honor or profit in the church.
G.31
Page 50
Byass: bias; propensity or inclination.
Specious: plausible; beautiful.
G.32
Page 51
God's vicegerent: God's lieutenant; someone entrusted with power by God.
Risque: risk.
Durst I: If I dared.
Period: end or conclusion.
G.33
Page 52
In his closet: in privacy or retirement.
G.34
Page 53
Euthanasia: easy death.
G.35
Page 55
Extirpating: rooting out; eradicating.
G.36
Page 58
Aliment: nourishment; food.
G.37
Page 60
Contrariety: opposition; inconsistency; a quality or position destructive of its opposites.
G.38
Page 61
Discover: show; exhibit.
G.39
Page 62
Christendom: the collective body of Christianity; the regions in which the inhabitants profess the Christian religion.
G.40
Page 64
Generous: daring; vigorous; liberal.
G.41
Page 70
Counterpoise: counterweight; equivalence of force in the opposite side.
G.42
Page 73
Pernicious: mischievous in the highest degree; destructive.
G.43
Page 74
Unaccountable: not explicable; not to be solved by reason; not reducible to rule.
Credulity: easiness of belief; a readiness to credit.
Sublunary: earthly; of this world.
Raptures: violent seizures; violence of any pleasing passion; uncommon heat of imagination.
Transports: raptures; ecstasy.
Illapses: sudden attacks; emissions or entrances of one thing into another.
G.44
Page 75
Addresses: petitions.
Incensed: angry; enraged.
Diffident: lacking in confidence.
Egregious: eminent; remarkable; extraordinary.
G.45
Page 76
Votaries: those devoted, as by a vow, to any particular service, worship, study, or state of life.
G.46
Page 77
Remissness: carelessness; negligence; lack of ardor; inattention.
G.47
Page 78
The Romish church: the Roman Catholic church.
Sectaries: persons who divide from public establishment and join with those distinguished by some particular whims; followers of a particular sect.
Regular: methodical; strict; orderly.
Infirmity: weakness; failing; disease or malady.
Abject: mean; worthless; base; groveling.
G.48
Page 79
Prerogative: exclusive or peculiar privilege or right; preeminence; superiority.
G.49
Page 80
Divines: ministers or priests; theologians.
G.50
Page 81
Splenetic: fretful; peevish.
Odious: hateful; detestable.
G.51
Page 85
Subjoin: to add afterward.
G.52
Page 86
Tincture: color or taste superadded by something.
G.53
Page 92
Just: exact; accurate; orderly.
G.54
Page 93
Head: topic of discourse.
Internal police: the regulation and government of a city or country, so far as regards the inhabitants.
G.55
Page 95
Beggars: impoverishes.
G.56
Page 103
Canvassed: examined; debated or discussed.
G.57
Page 104
The pathetic: that which moves the passions.
Sublime: grand or lofty in style.
G.58
Page 105
Chaste: pure; uncorrupt.
G.59
Page 107
Adulterate: corrupted with some foreign mixture.
G.60
Page 108
Taper: a candle.
Meridian sun: the noonday sun.
Resolution: settled thought; determination of a cause.
G.61
Page 109
Give a propriety to: to justify.
G.62
Page 111
Nicety: minute accuracy of thought; exact discrimination; subtlety.
G.63
Page 115
Chimæra: a vain and wild fancy, as remote from reality as the existence of the poetical Chimera, a monster feigned to have the head of a lion, the belly of a goat, and the tail of a dragon.
G.64
Page 116
Bashaws: form of the Turkish title Pasha, meaning head or chief.
Cadis: town or village judges among the Turks or other peoples.
G.65
Page 119
Stop: obstruction; hindrance; check.
G.66
Page 124
Ere: before.
G.67
Page 125
Rant: high-sounding language unsupported by dignity of thought.
G.68
Page 130
Foppery: foolish ostentation; idle affectation; impertinence.
G.69
Page 133
Muscovites: Russians.
G.70
Page 134
Garniture: ornament.
G.71
Page 138
Mortification: humiliation; subjection of the passions.
Under-workman: an inferior or subordinate laborer.
Drapery: the dress of the figures in a painting.
G.72
Page 139
Enthusiasm: heat of imagination; elevation of fancy.
G.73
Page 140
Impetuosity: force.
G.74
Page 141
Odoriferous: fragrant; sweetly scented.
G.75
Page 142
Bowers: a sheltered place covered with green trees, twined and bent.
Chearful: cheerful.
The schools: systems of doctrine as delivered by particular teachers.
G.76
Page 143
Debauch: fit of intemperance; excess.
Wanton: frolicsome; gay; sportive; airy.
Calumny: slander; false charges; groundless accusations.
Ravished: enraptured; ecstatic; overcome by a pleasing violence.
G.77
Page 144
Transported: put in ecstasy; ravished with pleasure.
G.78
Page 145
Fabulous: feigned; the product of fables or invented tales.
Loose: liberty; freedom from restraint.
Jollity: in a disposition to noisy mirth.
G.79
Page 146
Emergence: an emergency; any sudden occasion or pressing necessity.
G.80
Page 147
Timorous: fearful.
Sloth: laziness; sluggishness; idleness.
G.81
Page 149
Aurora: The goddess who opens the gates of the day; poetically, the morning.
G.82
Page 151
Lassitude: weariness; fatigue.
G.83
Page 157
Pile: an edifice; a building.
G.84
At adventures: by chance; without any rational scheme.
G.85
Page 161
Scholastic: adherent of a school; one who is needlessly subtle.
G.86
Page 163
Palpable: perceptible by the touch; plain; easily perceptible.
G.87
Page 170
Mortify: to subdue.
G.88
Page 173
Nerves: the organs of sensation passing from the brain to all parts of the body.
G.89
Page 175
Dropsy: a collection of water in the body, from too lax a tone in the solids, whereby digestion is weakened and all the parts stuffed.
Puerile: childish; boyish.
G.90
Page 176
Voluptuous: given to excess of pleasure.
G.91
Page 178
Phthisis: a consumption, or wasting of the body, arising from any one of several causes, such as an ulcerated state of the lungs.
G.92
Page 180
Imbecility: weakness; feebleness.
Phlegm: sluggishness; dullness.
G.93
Page 183
Municipal laws: the civil or positive laws of a state, as distinguished from laws of nature and laws of nations.
G.94
Page 185
Condition: superior rank.
Seraglio: a palace or residence of a sultan; a harem; a house or part of a house allotted to women in a Muslim household and designed for maximum seclusion.
G.95
Page 187
Humour: temper of mind; disposition.
G.96
Page 188
Doom: destruction.
G.97
Page 189
Establishment: standing; income.
G.98
Page 191
Waterman: a ferryman; a boatman.
G.99
Page 192
La belle nature: nature as beautified or adorned by art.
Epistolary: suitable to letters.
G.100
Page 193
Copious: not confined; diffuse.
G.101
Page 194
Toilettes: the receptions of visitors by a lady during the concluding stages of her process of dressing; very fashionable in the eighteenth century.
Arcadia: a mountainous district in the southern peninsula of Greece, taken in literature as an ideal region of rural contentment.
G.102
Page 196
Conceit: pleasant fancy; gaity of imagination; acuteness; pleasant thought.
G.103
Page 197
Vulgar: those with common or untrained minds, as distinguished here from "men of sense."
G.104
Page 198
Complexion: quality or character.
Ingenious: noble or liberal.
G.105
Page 202
Similitude: likeness; resemblance.
Knot: any bond of association or union; a confederacy; a small band.
G.106
Page 204
Rusticity: qualities of one who lives in the country; simplicity; artlessness; rudeness; savageness.
Phlegmatic: dull; cold; frigid.
G.107
Page 206
The Franks: from the third century &ad; onward, a generic name for the Germanic tribes that established themselves in western Europe; a western European.
G.108
Page 209
Muscovite: Russian.
Effeminate: soft; voluptuous; feminine.
G.109
Page 213
Vulgar: commonplace.
G.110
Page 215
Coxcomb: a superficial pretender to knowledge or accomplishments; a fop.
Subtilize: to make less gross or coarse; to refine.
G.111
Page 220
Numbers: verses; poetry.
G.112
Page 222
Dolce peccante: sweet sinning.
G.113
Page 224
Wrought: produced; worked.
G.114
Page 226
Remark: to observe; to distinguish; to point out.
G.115
Page 227
Scruples: doubts; hesitates.
Fustian: a high swelling kind of writing made up of heterogeneous parts, or of words and ideas ill associated; bombast.
G.116
Page 231
Habitudes: states with regard to something else; relations.
G.117
Page 238
Florid: embellished; brilliant with decorations.
Palls: makes insipid or vapid.
G.118
Page 240
Specious: pleasing to the view; plausible.
G.119
Page 244
Pathetic: affecting the passions; moving.
G.120
Page 245
Victuals: provision of food; stores for the support of life.
G.121
Page 246
Ruffs: puckered linen ornaments, formerly worn about the neck.
Fardingales: farthingales; hoops or padded rolls once worn about the hips to spread the petticoat to a wide circumference.
G.122
Page 247
Complaisance: the act of yielding to the desire or demand of another; submission.
G.123
Page 257
Entrench on: encroach or trespass upon.
G.124
Page 259
Circumstantial: detailed.
Burthens: burdens.
Amor patriæ: love of country.
G.125
Page 261
On a sudden: sooner than was expected; without the natural or commonly accustomed preparations.
Retrench: to cut off; to live with less magnificence or expense.
G.126
Page 262
Abatement: lessening; diminution.
Wonted: accustomed; usual.
G.127
Page 265
Engrossed: seized; appropriated.
G.128
Page 266
Sorry: worthless.
Fallow: unplowed; uncultivated.
G.129
Page 267
Grasiers: those who feed cattle.
Police: order; regulation; administration.
G.130
Page 269
Porter: a kind of beer, dark brown in color and bitter in taste, which originally was drunk chiefly by porters and the lower class of laborers.
Subject: that which can be drawn upon or utilized; means of doing something.
Expense: expenditures.
Libertine: licentious.
G.131
Page 270
Recruits: resupplies; replenishes.
G.132
Page 271
Fund: stock that can be drawn upon; supply.
Apace: speedily.
G.133
Page 272
Billet-doux: a love letter.
Discovered: revealed; divulged.
G.134
Page 273
Bias: regular course; inclination.
G.135
Page 274
Inveterate: obstinate by long continuance.
Tragical: calamitous; dreadful.
Undaunted: unsubdued by fear; bold; intrepid.
G.136
Page 276
Ortolans: small birds accounted very delicious.
G.137
Page 284
Dearness: high price.
G.138
Page 287
Specie: coined money.
G.139
Page 290
Overplus: surplus.
G.140
Page 292
Numerary: of or pertaining to a number or numbers.
G.141
Page 297
Tell out: count out.
G.142
Page 298
For futurity: for time to come.
Occupation: employment; business.
Somewhat: something.
G.143
Page 308
Offer: price bid.
G.144
Page 311
Repletion: the state of being over full.
G.145
Page 313
Recruits: new supplies.
G.146
Page 314
Absentees: proprietors who live elsewhere.
G.147
Page 317
Plate: silverware.
G.148
Page 319
Finds surety: gives a pledge, bond, guarantee, or security for the fulfillment of an undertaking.
G.149
Page 329
Repine: to be vexed or discontented by something.
G.150
Page 330
Factors: agents for another; those who transact business for another in mercantile affairs.
G.151
Page 332
Romance: a fable or tale, as distinguished from an authentic history.
G.152
Page 335
Jealousy of: zeal in guarding.
G.153
Page 337
Barred: Hume's meaning is "would have barred."
G.154
Page 340
Funding: converting into a more or less permanent debt bearing regular interest.
Supine: negligent; thoughtless; inattentive.
G.155
Page 341
Downfal: downfall.
G.156
Page 353
Scritoire: a type of large cabinet with drawers and the convenience of a table to write upon; a bureau.
G.157
Page 357
Boxes: a box under the driver's seat on a coach; hence, in general, the seat on which the driver sits.
G.158
Page 358
Adieu: farewell.
G.159
Page 360
Projectors: those who form visionary or impracticable schemes or designs.
G.160
Page 362
Cudgel-playing: a fighting or sporting contest with short heavy sticks or clubs.
Faith: trust in the nation's credit-worthiness.
G.161
Page 363
Exchequer: the court to which are brought all the revenues belonging to the crown.
Trepan: to catch; to ensnare.
Bugbear: a frightful object; a walking specter, imagined to be seen—generally used in the eighteenth century for a false terror to frighten babes.
G.162
Page 367
Irrefragable: not to be refuted; superior to argumental opposition.
G.163
Page 369
Pupillage: state of being still like a pupil.
G.164
Page 381
Straitened: reduced to hardship or privation.
G.165
Page 412
Raree-shows: (formed in imitation of the foreign way of pronouncing rare shows): shows carried in boxes.
G.166
Page 463
Paralogism: a false argument.
G.167
Page 474
They had: they would have.
G.168
Page 494
Repine: fret; vex oneself; be discontented.
G.169
Page 500
Event: the consequence of an action; the conclusion; the upshot.
G.170
Page 503
Prepossessions: preoccupations; preconceived opinions or prejudices.
G.171
Page 505
Wrested: distorted.
G.172
Page 506
Bottom: foundation; groundwork.
Of a piece: consistent; in harmony or agreement.
G.173
Page 507
Poise: weight.
Essay: attempt; endeavor; trial.
G.174
Page 508
Antiquated: obsolete; out of date.
G.175
Page 510
Sacerdotal: priestly; here, the papal office.
G.176
Page 517
Casting: deciding; decisive.
G.177
Page 519
Session: the right to sit or occupy a seat.
G.178
Page 521
Break: to dismiss; to deprive of a commission or rank.
G.179
Page 522
Aphorisms: principles or precepts expressed in a few words.
G.180
Page 534
Belles Lettres: polite, refined, or elegant literature.
G.181
Page 537
Affect: to be fond of or pleased with.
G.182
Page 543
Parterre: the part of the floor of a theater behind the orchestra.
Phisiognomy: physiognomy; the face or countenance, especially viewed as an index to the mind and character.
Put a Violence upon: to apply severe or undue constraint to some natural process or habit so as to prevent its free development or exercise.
G.183
Page 544
Subscribing: attesting by writing one's name.
G.184
Page 554
Arrant: bad in a high degree; notorious; complete; manifest.
G.185
Page 557
Satyr: satire.
Backwardness: reluctance; disinclination; unwillingness.
G.186
Page 565
Complexion: bodily constitution.
Essays: the first tentative efforts in learning or practice.
G.187
Page 567
Brings: leads by degrees; makes liable to anything.
G.188
Page 572
Fairly: completely; plainly; suitably.
G.189
Page 579
Sophisticated: adulterated; corrupted with something spurious; not genuine.
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The cuneiform inscription in the Liberty Fund logo is the earliest-known written appearance of the word "freedom" (amagi), or "liberty." It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash.