In  the  seventh  Essay,  Hume  raises  a  very  inter
esting  discussion  as  to  the  probable  ultimate
result  of  the  forces  which  were  at  work  in  the
British  Constitution  in  the  first  part  of  the
eighteenth  century : —

' '  There  has  been  a  sudden  and  sensible  change  in  the
opinions  of  men,  within  these  last  fifty  years,  by  the  progress
of  learning  and  of  liberty. Most  people  in  this  island  have
divested  themselves  of  all  superstitious  reverence  to  names
and  authority  ;  the  clergy  have  much  lost  their  credit ;  their
pretensions,  and  doctrines  have  been  much  ridiculed  ;  and  even
religion  can  scarcely  support  itself  in  the  world. The  mere
name  of  king  commands  little  respect ;  and  to  talk  of  a  king
as  God's  vicegerent  on  earth,  or  to  give  him  any  of  those
magnificent  titles  which  formerly  dazzled  mankind,  would  but
excite  laughter  in  every  one." — (III. 54.)

In  fact,  at  the  present  day,  the  danger  to  mon
archy  in  Britain  would  appear  to  lie,  not  in
increasing  love  for  equality,  for  which,  except
as  regards  the  law,  Englishmen  have  never
cared,  but  rather  entertain  an  aversion;  nor  in
any  abstract  democratic  theories,  upon  which  the
mass  of  Englishmen  pour  the  contempt  with
which  they  view  theories  in  general ;  but  in  the
constantly  increasing  tendency  of  monarchy  to
become  slightly  absurd,  from  the  ever-widening


22  HUME  I

discrepancy  between  modern  political  ideas  and
the  theory  of  kingship. As  Hume  observes,
even  in  his  time,  people  had  left  off  making
believe  that  a  king  was  a  different  species  of  man
from  other  men ;  and,  since  his  day,  more  and
more  such  make-believes  have  become  impossible ;
until  the  maintenance  of  kingship  in  coming
generations  seems  likely  to  depend,  entirely,  upon
whether  it  is  the  general  opinion,  that  a  hereditary
president  of  our  virtual  republic  will  serve  the
general  interest  better  than  an  elective  one  or
not. The  tendency  of  public  feeling  in  this
direction  is  patent,  but  it  does  not  follow  that
a  republic  is  to  be  the  final  stage  of  our  govern
ment. In  fact,  Hume  thinks  not : —

"  It  is  well  known,  that  every  government  must  come  to  a
period,  and  that  death  is  unavoidable  to  the  political,  as  well
as  to  the  animal  body. 