36 HUME 



II 



the purpose, influenced the later French school of 

 economists of the eighteenth century. 



By this time, Hume had not only attained a 

 high reputation in the world of letters, but he 

 considered himself a man of independent fortune. 

 His frugal habits had enabled him to accumulate 

 1,000, and he tells Michael Ramsay in 1751 : 



"While interest remains as at present, I have 50 a year, a 

 hundred pounds worth of books, great store of linens and fine 

 clothes, and near 100 in my pocket ; along with order, 

 frugality, a strong spirit of independency, good health, a 

 contented humour, and an unabated love of study. In these 

 circumstances I must esteem myself one of the happy and 

 fortunate ; and so far from being willing to draw my ticket 

 over again in the lottery of life, there are very few prizes with 

 which I would make an exchange. After some deliberation, 

 I am resolved to settle in Edinburgh, and hope I shall be able 

 with these revenues to say with Horace : 



' Est bona librorum et provisae frugis in annum 

 Copia.' " 



It would be difficult to find a better example of 

 the honourable independence and cheerful self- 

 reliance which should distinguish a man of letters, 

 and which characterised Hume throughout his 

 career. By honourable effort, the boy's noble 

 ideal of life, became the man's reality; and, at 

 forty, Hume had the happiness of finding that he 

 had not wasted his youth in the pursuit of 

 illusions, but that " the solid certainty of waking 

 bliss " lay before him in the free play of his powers 

 in their appropriate sphere. 



