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86.: 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.


86.

To DAVID HUME

  • Address: A Monsieur, Monsieur Hume, chez L’Ambassadeur de L’Angleterre a Paris

MS., GUL Gen. 1035/129; Scott 262–3.

My Dear Friend

Nothing has alarmed us so much among all the late extraordinary changes, as Lord Hertford quitting Paris and Lord George Lenox1 being appointed secretary to the English Embassy. Let me beg to know immediately if you leave Paris likewise, and if any proper provision has been made for you. We propose being at Paris by the beginning of November and it will be the greatest disappointment to the Duke of Buccleugh not to find you there. He has read almost all your works several times over, and was it not for the more wholesome doctrine which I take care to instill into him, I am afraid he might be in danger of adopting some of your wicked Principles. You will find him very much improved.

I should be glad to know the causes of this astonishing change. It appears at present quite a riddle to me unless the Queen2 is supposed to take a little more upon her than usual. I beg to hear from you as soon as Possible.

I ever am, My Dearest Friend, Yours entirely

Adam Smith

[1 ]Lord George Henry Lennox (1737–1805) of West Stoke, Sussex; soldier, politician, and diplomat; Secretary to the British Embassy 1765–6, replacing Hume, as his brother, the Duke of Richmond, replaced Lord Hertford; M.P. 1761–90.

[2 ]George III married Princess Charlotte Sophia, 2nd dau. of the late Duke of Mecklenburg–Strelitz on 8 Sept. 1761.