letter written to him by David Hume, on the 18th of July following,
shews that either the state of his health, or the narrowness of his
means, or perhaps both these causes together, made him desirous of
obtaining the consulship of Nice or Leghorn. But neither the
solicitations of Hume, nor those of the Duchess of Hamilton, could
prevail on the Minister, Lord Shelburne, to confer on him either of
these appointments. In the next year, September 21, 1768, the following
paragraph in a letter from Hume convinced him that he had nothing to
expect from any consideration for his necessities in that quarter. "What
is this you tell me of your perpetual exile and of your never returning
to this country? I hope that, as this idea arose from the bad state of
your health, it will vanish on your recovery, which, from your past
experience, you may expect from those happier climates to which you are
retiring; after which, the desire of revisiting your native country will
probably return upon you, unless the superior cheapness of foreign
countries prove an obstacle, and detain you there. I could wish that
means had been fallen on to remove this objection, and that at least it
might be equal to you to live anywhere, except when the consideration of
your health gave the preference to one climate above another. But the
indifference of ministers towards literature, which has been long, and
indeed almost always is the case in England, gives little prospect of
any alteration in this particular."

If ministers would in no other way conduce to his support, he was
determined to levy on them at least an involuntary contribution, and
accordingly (in 1769,) he published the Adventures of an Atom, in which
he laid about him to right and left, and with a random humour, somewhat
resembling that of Rabelais and Swift, made those whom he had defended
and those whom he had attacked, alike the subject of very gross
merriment.