An Article “Somewhat Abusive”: William Warburton and The First Review of Hume’s "Treatise"

In this paper, we examine the authorship of the first review of Hume’s "Treatise of Human Nature" (1739–40), published anonymously in the "History of the Works of the Learned" in late 1739. We believe that William Warburton is the author of the review, as attested by various clues, partly dependent on the testimony of the editor of the "History of the Works of the Learned", Jacob Robinson. Robinson states in 1742 that the author of Hume’s review is the same as the one who sent him the review of Morgan’s Physico-Theology, and he describes this author in words similar to those he had already used to describe another anonymous writing by Warburton. Many other pieces of evidence, philosophical, phraseological, literary, and stylistic, amply support the attribution.