ABSTRACT
In the summer of 1751 Wallace showed David Hume a discourse on population — either the ‘Draft’ or its revised version3 — and asked for his opinion on it. At that time Hume too was writing an essay on the subject, and likewise allowed Wallace to see his manuscript. Hume’s Political Discourses including ‘Of the populousness of antient nations’ (‘Antient nations’ hereafter ) was published in January 1752. In ‘Antient nations’ Hume maintained in opposition to Wallace that the modern world was much more populous than the ancient, and concluded with the following statement: ‘The humour of blaming the present, and admiring the past, is strongly rooted in human nature, and has an influence, even on persons, endu’d with the profoundest judgment and most extensive learning.’ (Hume 1752: 261) Stimulated by ‘Antient nations’ and encouraged by its author, Wallace endeavoured to complete the discourse that he had shown Hume the previous summer. The discourse was finally published as a book in February 1753. Its title was A Dissertation on the Numbers of Mankind in Antient and
Modern Times: in which the superior Populousness of Antiquity is maintained (Dissertation hereafter). The Dissertation had ‘An Appendix, containing Additional Observations on the same Subject, and some Remarks on Mr. Hume’s Political Discourse [sic], Of the Populousness of Antient Nations’. It is an appendix, but is eight pages longer than the main text of 160 pages. In the appendix Wallace made a counterattack against Hume, in identical language: ‘The humour of blaming the past, and admiring the present, is strongly rooted in human nature, and has an influence even on persons endued with the profoundest judgment and most extensive learning.’ (Wallace 1753: 266-67) Thus began the famous controversy between Hume and Wallace.4
