there on the
22nd of August the following letter which Hume had written on the
15th, and which, having gone, through some mistake, by the carrier
instead of the post, had lain for a week at the carrier's house
without being delivered. The delay occasioned by this accident was the
more unfortunate on account of the earnest appeal for an early answer
with which the letter closes, and which seems to contain a
recollection of many past transgressions, for Smith was always a
dilatory and backward correspondent, the act of writing, as he
repeatedly mentions, being a real pain to him.

EDINBURGH, _15th August 1776_.

MY DEAR SMITH--I have ordered a new copy of my _Dialogues_
to be made besides that wh. will be sent to Mr. Strahan,
and to be kept by my nephew. If you will permit me, I shall
order a third copy to be made and consigned to you. It will
bind you to nothing, but will serve as a security. On
revising them (which I have not done these five years) I
find that nothing can be more cautiously and more artfully
written. You had certainly forgotten them. Will you permit
me to leave you the property of the copy, in case they
should not be published in five years after my decease? Be
so good as write me an answer soon. My state of health does
not permit me to wait months for it.--Yours affectionately,

DAVID HUME.[259]

To this letter Smith, immediately on receiving it, sent the following
reply:--

KIRKALDY, _22nd August 1776_.

MY DEAREST FRIEND--I have this moment received yr. letter of
the 15th inst. 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 yr. decease, you may do as you think proper. I
think, however, you should not menace Strahan with the loss
of anything, in case he does not publish yr. work within a
certain time. There is no probability of his delaying