Be so good as to inform Mr Strahan of
this Circumstance. [August 23, 1776]
A week after Hume's death, Strahan received the manuscript of
Hume's Dialogues. In a letter to Strahan, Smith continued voicing
his belief that the manuscript should remain unpublished:
The latter, tho' finely written, I could have wished had
remained in manuscript to be communicated only to a few
people. When you read the work, you will see my reasons
without my giving you the trouble of reading them in a
letter. But he [Hume] has ordered it otherwise. . . . I once
had perswaded him to leave it entirely to my discretion
either to publish them at what time I thought proper, or not
to publish them at all. Had he continued of this mind the
manuscript should have been most carefully preserved and
upon my decease restored to his family; but it never should
have been published in my lifetime. [September 5, 1776]
Smith continues in the above letter attempting to persuade
Strahan to at least publish the Dialogues in an edition separate
from Hume's forthcoming short autobiography. Strahan apparently
agreed, and the autobiography was published separately in 1777.
Smith wrote him the following note of thanks to Strahan,
explaining how sales of Hume's other works might be enhanced by
properly timing the release of the Dialogues:
I am much obliged to you for so readily agreeing to print
the life together with my additions separate from the
Dialogues.
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