ADAM SMITH. 225 



To JOHN HOME, OF NINEWELLS. 



" DEAR SIB, Dalkeith House, August 31st, 1776. 



"As the Duke proposes to stay here till Thursday 

 next, I may not have an opportunity of seeing you before 

 you return to Ninewells ; I, therefore, take this opportunity 

 of discharging you, and all others concerned, of the legacy 

 which you was so good as to think might, upon a certain 

 event, become due to me by your brother's will, but which, I 

 think, would upon no event become so, viz., the legacy of 

 two hundred pounds sterling. I hereby therefore discharge 

 it for ever ; and least this discharge should be lost, I shall be 

 careful to mention it in a note at the bottom of my will. I 

 shall be glad to hear that you have received this letter, and 

 hope you will believe me to be, both on your brother's 

 account and your own, with great truth, most affectionately, 



Yours, 



"ADAM SMITH. 



" P. S. I do not hereby mean to discharge the other 

 legacy, viz., that of a copy of his works." 



"DEAR SlB, "Edinburgh, September 2nd, 1776. 



" I was favoured with youi-'s of Saturday, and I 

 assure you that, on perusing the destinations, I was more of 

 opinion than when I saw you, that the pecuniary part of it 

 was not altered by the codicil, and that it was intended for 

 you at all events ; that my brother knowing your liberal way 

 of thinking, laid on you something as an equivalent, not 

 imagining you would refuse a small gratuity from the funds 

 it was to come from, as a testimony of his friendship; and 

 though I must highly esteem the motives and manner, I can- 

 not agree to accept of your renunciation, but leave you full 

 master to dispose of it which way is most agreeable to you. 



" The copys of the Dialogues are finished and of the Life, 

 and will be sent to Mr. Strahan to-morrow ; and I will men- 

 tion to him your intention of adding to the last something 

 to finish so valuable a life, and will leave you at Liberty to 

 look into the correction of the first, as it either answers your 



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