Quiz: Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary

All 50 questions. A perfect score earns the gold medal; 80% earns silver.

1. 1. In Hume’s story in “Of Love and Marriage”, what did the women of Scythia do after overpowering the men?

   Killed all the men Banished them across the sea Sold the men as slaves Put out the eyes of all the men
2. 2. Which of these is not one of Hume’s three causes of high interest?

   A scarcity of gold and silver Little riches to supply that demand A great demand for borrowing Great profits arising from commerce
3. 3. Why, according to Hume, must every government rest on opinion?

   Because rulers control the press Because force is always on the side of the governed Because God commands all subjects to obey their rulers Because all lawful governments began in an original contract
4. 4. How does Hume explain the slow progress of the sciences in China?

   Its climate makes the people indolent and averse to sustained study Its written characters are too many to master in a single lifetime Its emperors burned the books and forbade all inquiry into philosophy It is one vast empire where an authority like Confucius goes unchallenged
5. 5. Which poets does Hume place nearest the centre between simplicity and refinement?

   Virgil and Racine Corneille and Congreve Pope and Lucretius Sophocles and Terence
6. 6. In “The Epicurean”, what reward does the speaker say the severe philosophers never claimed?

   The gold the Athenians voted to Epicurus The prize Augustus offered to the best poet The crown Alexander offered to the wisest Greek philosopher The reward Xerxes promised to whoever invented a new pleasure
7. 7. Why, according to the Sceptic, does Euclid say nothing about the beauty of the circle?

   Because mathematics forbids any discussion of feelings Because beauty can be proved only by geometry Because beauty is not in the circle but is its effect on a mind Because the circle is not in fact beautiful
8. 8. What maxim does Hume call true in politics though false in fact?

   That power always follows property That every man must be supposed a knave That kings rule by divine and hereditary right That the people are always right
9. 9. How does Hume describe the Revolution of 1688 in “Of the Original Contract”?

   Only the succession changed, decided by some seven hundred for nearly ten million It abolished the monarchy for a decade It was a true popular contract, voted on by the assembled freeholders of the whole nation It was a conquest by a Dutch army, without any sanction from the Convention Parliament
10. 10. What does Hume pronounce the best forms of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy?

    A prince bound by instructions, a hereditary senate, and tribunes A hereditary prince, a nobility without vassals, and a representative people A prince chosen by lot, a nobility of merit, and yearly assemblies An elective prince, a feudal nobility, and a people assembled in person
11. 11. What advantage of the Hanoverian succession does Hume stress?

    The Hanoverians were the nearest heirs by blood, so the hereditary line stayed unbroken A king with a parliamentary title owes all to the constitution and so favours liberty Hanover brought Britain allies on the Continent and a share of its trade and wealth It reconciled the Tories and Jacobites, ending all dispute over the right to the crown
12. 12. What image does Hume use for money at the start of “Of Money”?

    The ballast that steadies the ship of state A highway that carries goods to market The blood that circulates through the body politic The oil that makes the wheels of trade move smoothly
13. 13. In the royalist case Hume constructs, who had held the medieval check on English kings?

    The barons, not the commons The Pope and the English bishops The knights of the shire in the Commons The city of London
14. 14. Which two men does Hume rank alone as great philosophers in “Of the Middle Station of Life”?

    Bacon and Locke Descartes and Newton Galileo and Newton Plato and Aristotle
15. 15. According to “Of Refinement in the Arts,” which group is “the best and firmest basis of public liberty”?

    The clergy The ancient barons The middling rank of tradesmen and merchants The landless peasants
16. 16. Which ancient prohibition does Hume give as an example of ignorance about commerce?

    The ancient Athenian law against exporting figs The Roman law against lending at interest The Spartan ban on gold and silver coin The Egyptian monopoly of corn
17. 17. What example does the Stoic use to show that labour itself gives pleasure?

    Farmers who rejoice at harvest Merchants who prefer risky voyages to safe and steady trade at home Soldiers who come to relish the hardships of a long winter siege Hunters who leave tame animals behind to chase wild prey
18. 18. To what does Hume ascribe the great military power of ancient states such as Sparta and early Rome in “Of Commerce”?

    The plunder of conquered provinces, which paid for their standing armies Their larger populations than any modern state Their superior weapons and siege engines Their lack of commerce and luxury, so the land fed more soldiers
19. 19. Why, according to Hume, would slaveholders in rich and populous districts discourage their slaves from having children?

    Slave children born in the cities were freed by law when they came of age, so were a loss Masters feared that slaves with wives and families would combine and rise against them It was cheaper to buy grown slaves from poor provinces than to rear them Roman law forbade slaves to marry, so any children they bore could not be legally owned
20. 20. What trivial difference does Hume say split the Greek (Byzantine) empire into two factions?

    The rival claims of two imperial families The colours of liveries in horse races The choice of language for the law courts A dispute over the date of Easter
21. 21. What did Hume send the young lady who asked him for novels and romances?

    Plutarch’s Lives, telling her they contained no truth A volume of the Spectator Machiavelli’s History of Florence, as a lesson in politics Livy’s history of Rome
22. 22. What does Hume conclude about Athenaeus’ figure of 400,000 slaves in Athens?

    It should be doubled to include women and children It counts only the slaves in the silver mines It has one zero too many: at most 40,000 It is accurate and proves Athens more populous than modern London
23. 23. What London comparison does Hume use against the climate theory of national character?

    Southwark is warmer than Hampstead and its people more hot-tempered No one ascribes Wapping’s and St. James’s manners to climate Londoners and Parisians share almost the same weather but not the same manners The City and Westminster differ in religion though they share one air
24. 24. Whose pastime does the Sceptic say may be preferable to conquering kingdoms, if it gives more pleasure?

    Commodus’s gladiatorial combats The emperor Domitian’s catching of flies Caligula’s horse racing Nero’s playing of the lyre
25. 25. Why does Cicero’s speech against Verres show that Fontenelle’s explanation of tragic pleasure is incomplete?

    The audience took pleasure only in seeing Verres punished, not in the sorrow itself The audience knew the events were real, so no fiction softened the sorrow The speech was a fiction the audience mistook for fact, so their pleasure proves nothing The audience felt no sorrow at all, since Verres’s victims were Sicilian strangers
26. 26. What alternative does Hume pose about Britain’s public debts in “Of Public Credit”?

    Either Britain must make peace with France, or lose its colonies Either the debt will be repaid within a generation, or the Bank of England will fail Either taxes on land must be abolished, or trade will decline Either the nation destroys public credit, or public credit destroys the nation
27. 27. Which taxes does Hume consider the best?

    Arbitrary taxes fixed by the sovereign each year Taxes on possessions such as land and houses, fixed by survey Taxes on consumption, especially of luxuries Poll-taxes
28. 28. In the letter from Paris in “Of Moral Prejudices”, what does the young man do when the lady dismisses him?

    Accepts the annuity she offers and joins the army Challenges her brother to a duel in the Bois de Boulogne Publishes her letters to shame her Sues her before the Parlement of Paris to claim their son
29. 29. In Hume’s allegory, what does Diffidence become after living with Wisdom and Virtue?

    Confidence Modesty Humility Prudence
30. 30. What does Hume’s postscript call the only great error of Walpole’s administration?

    Neglect of the navy The excise scheme Corrupting Parliament with places and pensions Not paying off more of the public debt
31. 31. Which period does Hume name as the one in which Europe might possibly have held more people than in his own day?

    Trajan and the Antonines The reign of Charlemagne in Europe The early Roman Republic before the Punic wars The age of Pericles in Greece
32. 32. In “Of Passive Obedience”, why does Hume allow resistance in extraordinary cases?

    Because Scripture commands rebellion against unjust rulers Because the king is elected and may be recalled at will Because obedience rests only on public utility Because every subject has made an express promise to obey only so long as government is good
33. 33. In La Motte’s fable, what punishment does Minos give the miser who swam the Styx?

    He is chained to the rock beside Prometheus, with a vulture at his side He is sent back to earth to watch his heirs spend his riches He is made to pay Charon’s fare forever He must roll Sisyphus’s stone
34. 34. Which sect does Hume call the most egregious, but most innocent, enthusiasts?

    The Covenanters The Molinists The Quakers The Jesuits
35. 35. In “Of Essay Writing”, what role does Hume claim for himself?

    A tutor appointed to instruct the ladies of Edinburgh in philosophy and history A judge presiding over the republic of letters A merchant importing the latest French books and fashions into Edinburgh An ambassador from the dominions of learning to those of conversation
36. 36. What does Hume name as almost the only way to sink money below its natural level in a kingdom?

    War with France Heavy taxes on foreign wines Institutions of banks, funds and paper-credit Prohibitions on exporting gold and silver
37. 37. How does Hume end “Of the Jealousy of Trade”?

    He prays for the commerce of Germany, Spain, Italy and even France He calls for a navigation act against the Dutch He proposes a customs union with Ireland He urges Britain to seize Spain’s American silver trade
38. 38. According to Hume, what is the best cure for delicacy of passion?

    Pursuing wealth and public honours Strict religious discipline and fasting Cultivating a refined taste Withdrawing from society into a life of quiet solitude
39. 39. How does the Platonist picture the relation of human minds to the divinity?

    As sparks struck from a divine fire that long to rejoin the flame As reflections of the sun in water, real only while it shines on them As streams that arise from an ocean of bliss and seek to return to it As seeds scattered by a sower, each growing according to its soil
40. 40. Which earlier model commonwealth does Hume call the only valuable one, while criticising its defects?

    Plato’s ideal Republic More’s Utopia Harrington’s Oceana Bacon’s New Atlantis
41. 41. In “Of the Immortality of the Soul”, which kind of argument does Hume treat as the only properly philosophical one on the question?

    Arguments from universal consent Moral arguments from the justice of God Metaphysical arguments from the immateriality of the soul Physical arguments from the analogy of nature
42. 42. What “singular kind of marriage” does Hume ascribe to the ancient Britons?

    Ten or twelve men shared an equal number of wives in common Marriage forbidden to men until they had served the tribe in war One woman with several husbands, chosen by lot from among the tribe Marriages lasting only one season
43. 43. To what does Hume attribute Britain’s unusual liberty of the press?

    The influence of Dutch printers The Protestant religion and wide literacy of its people Its mixed form of government The absence of any law of libel
44. 44. Which evidence does Hume use to argue that Ossian’s hunting peoples could not have raised large armies?

    Irish annals of the Fenian wars The records of the Roman army in Britain The population of Lapland The experience of America
45. 45. In Sancho’s story, what vindicated his two kinsmen who tasted leather and iron in the wine?

    A letter from the vintner admitting he had stored the wine badly The wine turning sour within a week of their verdict A third taster from the family who agreed with them both An old key on a leather thong in the hogshead
46. 46. Which end of the British constitution does Hume say he would prefer?

    A republic governed by the House of Commons A federation with the Dutch Republic Absolute monarchy, as its “easiest death” Government by the House of Lords
47. 47. When, according to Hume, does an increasing quantity of gold and silver favour industry?

    Permanently, since more money always means more trade Only in the interval before prices have risen in proportion Never, since money is entirely neutral Only when the money is lent out by a public bank
48. 48. What does Hume conclude about republics and the size of states?

    Size makes no difference at all: a republic’s stability depends on the virtue and the education of its citizens alone Though harder to found, a republic in a large state is easier to keep steady and free from tumult and faction Large states must in the end become absolute monarchies, however free the form in which they are first founded Republics can survive only in cities or small territories, where all the citizens know one another
49. 49. What does Hume call the ultimate purpose of “all the vast apparatus of our government”?

    The promotion of trade and manufactures The maintenance of the established church The defence of the realm and its colonies against foreign enemies The distribution of justice, “the support of the twelve judges”
50. 50. With what image does Hume answer the claim that staying in one’s country amounts to tacit consent?

    A child who inherits his father’s debts and must pay them before leaving the estate A traveller who pays a toll at a turnpike and so accepts the rules of the road A man carried aboard a ship asleep, who can leave only by leaping into the ocean A tenant who signs a lease without reading it, and is bound by its terms ever after