ABSTRACT:
David Hume's death on 25 August 1776 seems to have been carefully planned. His correspondence and conversations with Adam Smith and the proto-journalist James Boswell ensured that an account of the precise manner of his death would reach the wider public, including Dr Johnson.
I argue that Hume tried to control the public interpretation and context of his death by spreading the word of his atheistic composure during the last weeks of his life. His communications with the outside world - largely by means of the proxy Boswell - later establish the narrative of Hume's death as text, thus authorising their author's ars moriendi.
