his last illness.  I must, however, beg that his life and those Dialogues may not be published together, as I am resolved for many reasons to have no concern in the publication of the Dialogues.  His life, I think, ought to be prefixed to the next edition of his former works, upon which he has made many very proper corrections, chiefly in what concerns the language.  If this edition is published while I am at London, I shall revise the sheets and authenticate its being according to his last corrections.  I promised him that I would do so.

If my mother’s health will permit me to leave her, I shall be in London by the beginning of November.  I shall write to Mr. Home to take my lodgings as soon as I return to Fife, which will be on Monday or Tuesday next.  The Duke of Buccleugh leaves this on Sunday.  Direct for me at Kirkaldy, Fifeshire, where I shall remain all the rest of the season.—­I remain, my dear Strahan, most faithfully yours,

     ADAM SMITH.

     DALKEITH HOUSE, 5th September 1776.

     Let me hear from you soon.[266]

To this Strahan replied on the 16th of September, and then towards the end of October Smith wrote the following answer, of which the first draft, in Smith’s own handwriting, unsigned and undated and containing considerable erasures, exists in the R.S.E.  Library.  It shows that Smith submitted his account of Hume’s illness to the whole circle of Hume’s intimate friends, and that at the moment of writing he was waiting for the arrival of John Home, the poet, in Edinburgh, to obtain his remarks upon it.

DEAR SIR—­When I received your last letter I had not begun the small addition I proposed to make to the life of our late friend.  It is now more than three weeks since I finished it, and sent one copy to his brother and another to Dr. Black.  That which I sent to his brother is returned with remarks, all of which I approve of and shall adopt.  Dr. Black waits for John Home, the Poet, who is expected every day in Edinburgh, whose remarks he proposes to send along with those of all our common friends.  The work consists only of two sheets, in the form of a letter to you, but without one word of flattery or compliment.  It will not cost my servant a forenoon to transcribe it, so that you will receive it by the first post after it is returned to me.

I am much obliged to you for so readily agreeing to print the life together with my additions separate from the Dialogues.  I even flatter myself that this arrangement will contribute not only to my quiet but to your interest.  The clamour against the Dialogues, if published first, might hurt for some time the sale of the new edition of his works, and when the clamour has a little subsided the Dialogues may hereafter occasion a quicker sale of another edition.

I do not propose being with you till