SOURCE: “Pen in Hand,” in Practicing Enlightenment: Hume and the Formation of a Literary Career, The University of Wisconsin Press, 1987, pp. 45-65.

In the following essay, Christensen discusses how Hume characterizes his writing in the autobiographical “My Own Life,” focusing on Hume's use of illness metaphors to explore the writing process.

But where is the reward of virtue? And what recompense has Nature provided for such important sacrifices as those of life and fortune, which we must often make?

“The Stoic”

While I, miserable Wretch that I am, have put my chief Confidence in thee; & relinquishing the Sword, the Gown, the Cassock, & the Toilette, have trusted to thee alone for my Fortune & my Fame.

HL, 1:52

I

Chronologically, “My Own Life” is Hume's last essay. It is also, in a more general sense, his final composition, the one that pulls everything together, both narratively and practically: Hume's various employments...