23-1 HUME. 



room the greater part of the day, and at last alto- 

 gether. But his intellect and his calmness continued 

 to the last. A letter to Madame de Boufflers remains, 

 written only five days before his death, and occasioned 

 by the decease of the Prince de Conti, her great friend. 

 " I am," he says, " certainly within a few weeks, and 

 perhaps a few days, of my own death ; yet I cannot 

 help being struck with the Prince's, as a great loss in 

 every particular."- -"I see death," he adds, "approach- 

 ing gradually, without anxiety or regret. I salute you 

 with great affection and regard, for the last time." 

 This was written on the 20th of August ; on the 25th 

 he was no more. On that day he gently expired, with- 

 out a struggle, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. He 

 was buried in the cemetery on the Calton Hill, where 

 a conspicuous monument is erected to his memory. 



He had shown a feverish anxiety for the publication 

 of one work, his ' Dialogues on Natural Religion ;' 

 and he left this with his other manuscripts to Dr. 

 Smith ; but giving positive injunctions to publish this 

 work, and allowing no discretion whatever upon the 

 subject. Nay, he left a legacy of two hundred pounds, 

 to be paid on the publication, though all the other 

 legacies were made payable at the first term after his 

 death : that is, Whitsuntide or Martinmas, according 

 to the prevailing habit of the Scotch in their money 

 arrangements. Smith refused to publish them ; and 

 there exists a curious correspondence between him and 

 Mr. Hume of Ninewells, the philosopher's brother, on 

 the subject. Smith, about the same time, stopped a 

 publication of all the ' Essays,' which included one on 

 the ' Immortality of the Soul,' and another, both be- 



