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.