PHILIPPERAYNAUD
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although the arts may be transplanted into almost any state, "a republic is
most favourable to the growth of the sciences, a civilized monarchy to
that of the polite arts." This insight is of capital importance, for it shows
that Hume understands the peculiar virtue of the English constitution,
which manages to keep an equilibrium between the monarchic, aristo–
cratic spirits and the democratic spirits. He was not insensitive to civilized
virtues of those continental monarchies of which France was the classic
example:
Where power rises upwards from the people to the great, as in all re–
publics, such refinements of civility are apt to be little practiced; since
the whole state is by that means brought near to a level, and every
member of it is rendered, in a great measure, independent of another.
The people have the advantage, by the authority of their suffrages: the
great by the superiority of their station. But in a civilized monarchy,
there is a long train of dependence from the prince to the peasant,
which is not great enough to render property precarious, or depress
the minds of the people; but is sufficient to beget in every one an in–
clination to please his superiors, and to form himself upon these
models, which are most acceptable to people of condition and edu–
cation. Politeness of manners, therefore, arise most naturally in
monarchies and courts; and where that flourishes, none of the liberal
arts will be altogether neglected or despised
This modern "politeness," whose advantages and disadvantages are
now the inverse of those arising from "ancient simplicity," produces two
distinctive notions found in "courts and monarchies": they are
"gallantry" and "honor." If one holds honor to be above the common
understanding of honesty it simply serves to cover vices; but if one comes
to understand it as a demand for loyalty, it then becomes, Hume writes,
"an essential part of morality." Gallantry, on the other hand, is a virtue
because it compensates for the inequality between the sexes with
"politeness, respect, and generosity." Hume was obviously defending the
natural superiority of men, though he adds that, "among a polite people,
the male sex discover their authority in a more generous, though not a
less evident manner" than among the barbarians. Still, like Burke, Hume
was trying to explain the fact that, through the development of manners,
courtly society developed a particular form of sexual equality. And for
Hume it is certainly true that such artificial and imaginative effects of
civilization are far more important than any supposedly "natural" sexual
differences.
If Hume managed to paint the most seductive portrait of gallantry's
beneficial effects, it was undoubtedly Rousseau who denounced most
