House of Wedderburn, written by a Son of the Family, in the year 1611.’ Beginning with David, the first laird of Wedderburn, about the end of the fourteenth century, this work closes with an account of Hume's own early career in connection with that of his elder brother, to whom, along with the Earl of Home, it is dedicated. It is a curious and ingenious eulogy. It remained in manuscript till 1839, when it was printed by the Abbotsford Club. A more imposing family history is Hume's ‘History of the House and Race of Douglas and Angus,’ printed at Edinburgh in 1644 by Evan Tyler, the king's printer. The title-pages of the earlier copies vary, some having no date, others being dated 1648, while others still have the title, ‘A Generall History of Scotland, together with a particular History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus.’ The confusion is due to the difficulties of Hume's daughter, Anna Hume [q.v.], in getting the work published, owing to the opposition of William Douglas, eleventh earl of Angus, who resented the use which Hume had made of some of the materials supplied him from the family archives. Hume is thought to have finished the history between 1625 and 1630, the year (it is conjectured) of his death. In the preface to the edition of T. W. and T. Ruddimans, 1743, it is pointed out that ‘the first editor’ had been very inefficient, leaving to the new editor the task of recovering the text by scrupulous examination of the author's manuscript. The work begins with Sholto Douglas, conqueror of Donald Bane, and concludes with Archibald Douglas, eighth earl of Angus (1555–1588) [q.v.], who is eulogised in a Latin ode and numerous elegiacs. Another manuscript history of the family, now at Hamilton Palace, brings the record close to the death of William Douglas, tenth earl [q.v.], in 1611, and is ascribed to that earl. The tenth earl's son, William Douglas, eleventh earl, afterwards first marquis of Douglas [q.v.], is said to have threatened its publication in order that Hume's work might be superseded, but owing to the good offices of Drummond of Hawthornden the threat came to nothing.
Hume's other prose writings of importance are his unpublished attack on Camden for his depreciatory view of Scotland, written in 1617—‘Cambdenia; id est, Examen nonnullorum a Gulielmo Cambreno in “Britannia,”’ &c.—and a work dedicated to Charles I (Paris, 1626), entitled ‘Apologia Basilica; seu Machiavelli Ingenium Examinatum, in libro quem inscripsit Princeps.’ A notice in the ‘Biographie Universelle’ likewise credits him with an attempt, suggested by James I, to reconcile Dumoulin and Tilenus on the subject of justification, and also with ‘Le contr' Assassin; ou Reponse à l'Apologie des Jesuites’ (1612), and ‘L'Assassinat du Roi; ou Maximes du Vieil de la Montagne pratiquées en la personne de défunt Henri le Grand’ (1617).
Hume wrote Latin poems when very young, and received the commendation of George Buchanan. His ‘Daphn-Amaryllis’ was produced at the age of fourteen. His ‘Lusus Poetici’ (1605) were ultimately incorporated in Arthur Johnston's ‘Deliciæ Poetarum Scotorum.’ When Prince Henry died Hume wrote a memorial tribute entitled ‘Henrici Principis Justa,’ and in 1617 he welcomed the king back to Scotland in his ‘Regi suo Gratulatio.’ As a poet Hume is fresh and vigorous, displaying intimate knowledge of the best Latin models. His Latin poems were twice issued in Paris, in 1632 and 1639 (Michel, Les Écossais en France, ii. 290), the second time with additions under the care of his son James, and with the title: ‘Davidis Humii Wedderburnensis Poemata Omnia. Accessere ad finem Unio Britannica et Prœlium ad Lipsiam soluta oratione.’
His daughter Anna and son James (fl. 1639) are separately noticed.
[Works mentioned in text, especially Introd. to the Abbotsford Club vol.; Register of the Scottish Privy Council; Irving's Scotish Poetry; Chambers's Eminent Scotsmen; Sir William Fraser's Douglas Book.]
HUME or HOME, Sir DAVID, of Crossrig, Lord Crossrig (1643–1707), second son of Sir James Hume or Home of Blackadder, Berwickshire, created a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1674, by his wife Mary, daughter of Sir James Dundas of Arniston, was born 23 May 1643. He entered the university of Edinburgh in 1657, but having, in accordance with a custom kept up by the students in opposition to the regulations of the university, gone on 11 March of the following year to a football match on the Borough Muir, and having declined to submit to the consequent punishment of whipping in the class, he was expelled from the university. Through the interposition of his relative Sir David Dundas he was again admitted in November 1659, and graduated M.A. in 1662. After travelling in France in the autumn of 1664 he settled in Paris, where he studied law till the outbreak of hostilities with England compelled him to leave in April 1666. Abandoning his intention of adopting the legal profession, he entered into the wine trade in 1672, and was for a year (1673) also partner in a brewery. On 13 April 1681 he met with an accident
