Abstract
HUME, in his essay, ‘Of the Middle Station of Life’, remarks, ‘A certain Pope, whose Name I have forgot, us’d to say, Let us divert ourselves, my Friends, the World governs itself’.1 The most likely source for Hume’s quotation is John Selden’s Table-Talk where, in the section simply entitled ‘Pope’, Selden says: He was a wise Pope, that when one that used to be merry with him, before he was advanc’d to the Popedom, refrain’d afterwards to come at him, (presuming he was busie in governing the Christian World) the Pope sends for him, bids him come again, and (says he) we will be merry as we were before, for thou little thinkest what a little Foolery governs the whole World.2
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