David Hume and the Jacobites

Abstract

This article examines the connections between the Scottish Enlightenment thinker David Hume (1711–76) and the Jacobites. Many of his friendships with Jacobites are known, but they have rarely been explored in detail, perhaps because they sit uneasily with the now dominant interpretation of Hume as a whig. While he was frequently accused of Jacobitism in his lifetime, this article does not seek to revive the myth that he was committed to the cause of the Stuarts at any stage of his life. However, his balanced treatment of Jacobitism indicates that we should dismiss entrenched dichotomies between enlightenment and progressive whiggism on the one hand, and nostalgic and conservative Jacobitism on the other. Despite his own lack of Jacobite commitments, the case of Hume shows that Jacobitism needs to be better integrated into Scottish enlightenment studies.