Editing David Hume (section)

=== 1740s ===
After the publication of ''Essays Moral and Political'' in 1741{{mdash}}included in the later edition as ''[[Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary]]''{{mdash}}Hume applied for the Chair of Pneumatics and Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. However, the position was given to [[William Cleghorn]]<ref>Nobbs, Douglas. 1965. "The Political Ideas of William Cleghorn, Hume's Academic Rival." ''[[Journal of the History of Ideas]]'' 26(4):575–586. {{doi|10.2307/2708501}}. {{JSTOR|2708501}}. p. 575.</ref> after Edinburgh ministers petitioned the town council not to appoint Hume because he was seen as an atheist.<ref>Lorkowski, C. M. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20170517005711/http://www.iep.utm.edu/hume-rel/ David Hume: Religion]." ''[[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]''.</ref>
[[File:David Hume 1754.jpeg|thumb|left|An engraving of Hume from the first volume of his ''The History of England'', 1754]]
In 1745, during the [[Jacobite rising of 1745|Jacobite risings]], Hume tutored the [[George Vanden-Bempde, 3rd Marquess of Annandale|Marquess of Annandale]], an engagement that ended in disarray after about a year. The Marquess could not follow with Hume's lectures, his father saw little need for philosophy, and on a personal level, the Marquess found Hume's dietary tendencies to be bizarre.{{sfn|Mossner|1950|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=7HXJAqqNl4QC&dq=annandale+lunatic+hume&pg=PA378 p. 172]}} Hume then started his great historical work, ''The History of England'', which took fifteen years and ran to over a million words. During this time, he was also involved with the Canongate Theatre through his friend [[John Home]], a preacher.{{sfn|Fieser|2005|loc=[https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=canongate+theatre&gws_rd=ssl#hl=en&tbm=bks&q=canongate+theatre+hume+fieser p. xxii]}}

In this context, he associated with [[James Burnett, Lord Monboddo|Lord Monboddo]] and other thinkers of the [[Scottish Enlightenment]] in Edinburgh. From 1746, Hume served for three years as secretary to General [[James St Clair]], who was envoy to the courts of [[Turin]] and [[Vienna]]. At that time Hume wrote ''Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding'', later published as ''An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding''. Often called the ''First Enquiry'', it proved little more successful than the ''Treatise'', perhaps because of the publication of his short autobiography ''My Own Life'', which "made friends difficult for the first Enquiry".<ref name = buckle>Buckle, Stephen. 1999. "Hume's biography and Hume's philosophy."  ''[[Australasian Journal of Philosophy]]'' 77:1–25. {{doi|10.1080/00048409912348781}}.</ref> By the end of this period Hume had attained his well-known corpulent stature; "the good table of the General and the prolonged inactive life had done their work", leaving him "a man of tremendous bulk".{{sfn|Mossner|1980|p=[[iarchive:lifeofdavidhume0000moss/page/204|204]]}}

In 1749 he went to live with his brother in the countryside, although he continued to associate with the aforementioned Scottish Enlightenment figures.