Full reference will be made to the two former in the exposition of Hume's philosophical views.

The last has been well said to be the "cradle of political economy: and much as that science has been investigated and expounded in later times, these earliest, shortest, and simplest developments of its principles are still read with delight even by those who are masters of all the literature of this great subject."[9] The _Wealth of Nations_, the masterpiece of Hume's close friend, Adam Smith, it must be remembered, did not appear before 1776, so that, in political economy, no less than in philosophy, Hume was an original, a daring, and a fertile innovator.
The _Political Essays_ had a great and rapid success; translated into French in 1753, and again in 1754, they conferred a European reputation upon their author; and, what was more to the purpose, influenced the later French school of economists of the eighteenth century.
By this time, Hume had not only attained a high reputation in the world of letters, but he considered himself a man of independent fortune.

His frugal habits had enabled him to accumulate L1,000, and he 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.