tells Michael
Ramsay in 1751:--

"While interest remains as at present, I have L50 a year, a hundred
pounds worth of books, great store of linens and fine clothes, and
near L100 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.

In 1751, Hume removed to Edinburgh and took up his abode on a flat in
one of those prodigious houses in the Lawnmarket, which still excite the
admiration of tourists; afterwards moving to a house in the Canongate.
His sister joined him, adding L30 a year to the common stock; and, in
one of his charmingly playful letters to Dr. Clephane, he thus describes
his establishment, in 1753.

"I shall exult and triumph to you a little that I have now at
last--being turned of forty, to my own honour, to that of learning,
and to that of the present age--arrived at the dignity of being a
householder.

"About seven months ago, I got a house of my own, and completed a
regular family, consisting of a head, viz., myself, and two
inferior members, a maid and a cat. My sister has since joined me,
and keeps me company. With frugality, I can reach, I find,
cleanliness, warmth, light, plenty, and contentment. What would you
have more? Independence? I have it in a supreme degree. Honour?
That is not altogether wanting. Grace? That will come in time. A
wife? That is none of the indispensable req