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83.: To DAVID HUME - Adam Smith, Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence Vol. 6 Correspondence of Adam Smith [1740]

Edition used:

Correspondence of Adam Smith, ed. E. C. Mossner and I. S. Ross, vol. VI of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1987).

Part of: The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, 7 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


83.

To DAVID HUME

MS., RSE vii. 33; Rae 181–2.

Toulouse, 21 Oct. 1764

My Dear Hume

I take this opportunity of Mr Cooks1 going to Paris to return to you, and thro’ you, to the Ambassador,2 my very sincere and hearty thanks for the very honourable manner in which he was so good as to mention me to the Duke of Richelieu in the letter of recommendation which you sent us. There was indeed one small mistake in it. He called me Robinson instead of Smith. I took upon me to correct this mistake myself before the Duke delivered the letter. We were all treated by the Marechal with the utmost Politeness and attention, particularly the Duke whom he distinguished in a very proper manner. The intendant3 was not at Bordeaux, but we shall soon have an opportunity of delivering his letter as we propose to return that Place in order to meet my Lords Brother.4

Mr Cook goes to Caen to wait upon Mr Scot, and to attend him from that place to Toulouse. He will pass by Paris, and I must beg the favour of you that as soon as you understand he is in town you will be so good as to call upon him and carry him to the Ambassadours as well as to any other Place where he would chuse to go. I must beg the same favour of Sir James.5 Mr Cook will let you know when he comes to town. I have great reason to entertain a most favorable opinion of Mr Scot, [and] I flatter myself, his company will be both useful and agreable to his Brother. Our expedition to Bordeaux, and another we have made since to Bagneres,6 has made a great change upon the Duke. He begins now to familiarize himself to French company and I flatter myself I shall spend the rest of the Time we are to live together, not only in Peace and contentment but in gayety and amusement.

When Mr Scot joins us we propose to go to see the meeting of the States of Languedoc, at Montpelier. Could you procure us recommendations to the Comte d’Eu7 to the Archbishop of Narbonne8 and to the Intendant?9 These expeditions, I find, are of the greatest service to My Lord. I ever am my Dear friend most Faithfully yours

Adam Smith

[1 ]Servant to the Duke of Buccleuch; see letter 92.

[2 ]Lord Hertford.

[3 ]Not identified.

[4 ]Hon. Hew Campbell Scott (1747–66), younger bro. of the Duke of Buccleuch.

[5 ]Sir James Macdonald of Sleat.

[6 ]Bagnères–de–Bigorre, watering place in the Pyrénées, visited by Montaigne and Mme de Maintenon.

[7 ]Louis–Charles de Bourbon, comte d’Eu, Lt.–General of Languedoc.

[8 ]Arthur Dillon, successively Bishop of Evreux, Archbishop of Toulouse, and (from 1762) Archbishop of Narbonne; President of the Estates of Languedoc.

[9 ]Jean Emmanuel de Guignard de Saint–Priest, Intendant in Languedoc (1751–85); his son, Marie Joseph Emmanuel, was Intendant–adjoint (1764–85), and then Intendant until the Revolution.