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 requisites of life.
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