ABSTRACT
Yet the unfolding of Peters’ personal conflict with the confident exponents of natural religion was in fact far from straightforward. For an important part of it seems to have been a curious encounter, shortly before Christmas 1735, with just one text of Scottish provenance, Blackwell’s Enquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer. The result was that the Enquiry was transformed by Sharp, who appreciated its capacity for buttressing those interests which he shared with Blackwell, into something far different from the cynical attempt to bend natural religion. Constable was clearly seduced by Hume’s deliciously ironic remarks on avaricious royal policy and the intrinsic attractions of the old faith. Thus where Hume praised England’s constitutional traditions (presumably massaging the egos of his paying public), Constable recited the remarks with no obvious discomfort. Hume’s History, however, also received entirely the opposite treatment from certain readers. Such a response was especially likely among those who lacked William Constable’s peculiar affiliations and outlook.
