Abstract
This article assesses the impact made by the Scottish Enlightenment on eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century readers, focusing especially on their responses to the controversial works of David Hume. Although Hume's History of England and collected Essays and Treatises could be found on most contemporary library shelves, it finds that many readers were alienated by Hume's scepticism and turned to Scottish Common Sense philosophers such as Thomas Reid, James Beattie and George Campbell to disprove some of his more ‘obnoxious’ pronouncements. In the process, it highlights the potentialities and pitfalls inherent in a range of complementary approaches to the history of reading.
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