have read it you will perhaps think it not unreasonable to
consult some prudent friend about what you ought to do.

I propose to add to his Life a very well authenticated
account of his behaviour during his last illness. I must,
however, beg that his life and those _Dialogues_ may not be
published together, as I am resolved for many reasons to
have no concern in the publication of the _Dialogues_. His
life, I think, ought to be prefixed to the next edition of
his former works, upon which he has made many very proper
corrections, chiefly in what concerns the language. If this
edition is published while I am at London, I shall revise
the sheets and authenticate its being according to his last
corrections. I promised him that I would do so.

If my mother's health will permit me to leave her, I shall
be in London by the beginning of November. I shall write to
Mr. Home to take my lodgings as soon as I return to Fife,
which will be on Monday or Tuesday next. The Duke of
Buccleugh leaves this on Sunday. Direct for me at Kirkaldy,
Fifeshire, where I shall remain all the rest of the
season.--I remain, my dear Strahan, most faithfully yours,

ADAM SMITH.

DALKEITH HOUSE, _5th September 1776_.

Let me hear from you soon.[266]

To this Strahan replied on the 16th of September, and then towards the
end of October Smith wrote the following answer, of which the first
draft, in Smith's own handwriting, unsigned and undated and containing
considerable erasures, exists in the R.S.E. Library. It shows that
Smith submitted his account of Hume's illness to the whole circle of
Hume's intimate friends, and that at the moment of writing he was
waiting for the arrival of John Home, the poet, in Edinburgh, to
obtain his remarks upon it.

DEAR SIR--When I received your last letter I had not begun
the small addition I proposed to make to the life of our
late friend. It is now more than three weeks since I
finished it, and sent one copy to his brother and another
to Dr. Black. That which I sent to his brother is returned
with remarks, all of which I approve of and shall adopt. Dr.
Black waits for John Home, the Poet, who is expected every
day in Edinburgh, whose remarks he proposes to send along
with those of all our common friends. The work consists only
of two sheets, in the fo