ADAM SMITH. 223 



fragment of an intended juvenile work I leave entirely to 

 your judgment, though I begin to suspect myself, that there 

 is more refinement than solidity in some parts of it. This 

 little work you will find in a thin folio paper book, in my 

 writing-desk in my book-room : all the other loose papers, 

 which you will find either in that desk or within the glass 

 folding doors of a bureau, which stands in my bed-room, 

 together with about eighteen thin paper folio books, which 

 you will likewise find within the same glass folding doors, I 

 desire may be destroyed without any examination. Unless I 

 die very suddenly, I shall take care that the papers I carry 

 with me shall be carefully sent to you/ 5 



" I ever am, my dear friend, 



" Most faithfully yours, 



"ADAM SMITH/' 



" To DAVID HUME, Esq., 



of St. Andrew's Square, Edinburgh." 



"MY DEAREST FRIEND, Kirkaldy, August 22nd, 177G. 



"I have this moment received your letter of the 15th 

 instant. You had, in order to save me the sum of one penny 

 sterling, sent it by the carrier instead of the post ; and (if 

 you have not mistaken the date) it has lain at his quarters 

 these eight days, and was, I presume, very likely to lie there 

 for ever. 



" I shall be very happy to receive a copy of your Dialogues; 

 and, if I should happen to die before they are published, I 

 shall take care that my copy shall be as carefully preserved as 

 if I was to live a hundred years. With regard to leaving me 

 the property in case they are not published within five years 

 after your decease, you may do as you think proper. I think, 

 however, you should not menace Strahan with the loss of any 

 thing in case he does not publish your Work within a certain 

 time.* There is no probability of his delaying it, and if any 

 thing could make him delay it, it would be a clause of this 

 kind ; which would give him an honourable pretence for doing 



* This refers to the passage of Mr. Hume's will, imposing a penalty in 

 case of not printing one of his posthumous works. See ' Life of Hume,' 

 vol. i. 



