Edinburgh - a Hume from Hume
Not many serviced apartment companies in the world can claim to have had one of the foremost philosophers in Western Philosophy as a previous resident, but visitors to Edinburgh can now spend a night in one of the apartments in which David Hume used to live, in the very centre of Edinburgh on the Royal Mile.The David Hume Society of America recently confirmed that the Castle Apartments on the Royal Mile were once the residence of the famous philosopher. The ‘life-rent’ of the apartment was bequeathed to his sister in his will and he mentioned the view from the apartment in his letters.
“To my sister, Catherine Home, the sum of twelve hundred pounds sterling, payable the first term of Whitsunday or Martinmas after my decease, together with all my English books, and the life rent of my house in James Court”
He wrote his most celebrated work, A treatise of Human Nature, at the age of 26 and he began his academic career with Edinburgh University at the tender age of 12. The young scholar was primed for a career in law, however he preferred ‘Cicero and Vergil’ to his law texts and decided to take the less lucrative career path of putting his ideas to paper. His life began in Edinburgh and he spent a comfortable old age in the city, but he travelled much across Europe in between, both with the British Embassy and independently.
His ideas were revolutionary for their time and, as with many revolutionary schools of thought, they were by no means universally acclaimed or accepted. However, by the end of his life David Hume had achieved a level of celebrity and success which allowed him to live comfortably in Edinburgh in one of the apartments which are currently managed by ScottishApartment.com.
He was a politician, philosopher, historian, and man of the world, with whom ScottishApartment.com is proud to claim a link. At this year’s Visit Scotland Expo David Hume will be coming back to life and will be walking the floor of the exhibition inviting people to come and learn more about his old home.