fee my paper end, and that I am obliged to S E C T. conclude with II. Your humble fervant, DAVID HUME." SECT. III. From the Publication of The Theory of Moral III. FTER the publication of the Theory of s E c T. Moral Sentiments, Mr. Smith remained. four years at Glafgow, difcharging his official duties with unabated vigour, and with increafing reputation. During that time, the plan of his lectures underwent a confiderable change. His ethical doctrines, of which he had now published fo valuable a part, occupied a much smaller portion of the courfe than formerly and accordingly, his attention was naturally directed to a more complete illuftration of the principles of jurifprudence and of political economy. To this laft fubject, his thoughts appear to have been occafionally turned from a very early period of life. It is probable, that the uninterrupted friendship he had always maintained with his old companion Mr. Ofwald, had III. S E C T. had some tendency to encourage him in profecuting this branch of his ftudies; and the publication of Mr. Hume's political difcourfes, in the year 1752, could not fail to confirm him in thofe liberal views of commercial policy which had already opened to him in the courfe of his own inquiries. His long refidence in one of the moft enlightened mercantile towns in this island, and the habits of intimacy in which he lived with the most refpectable of its inhabitants, afforded him an opportunity of deriving what commercial information he ftood in need of, from the beft fources; and it is a circumftance no lefs honourable to their liberality than to his talents, that notwithstanding the reluctance fo common among men of business to listen to the conclufions of mere fpeculation, and the direct oppofition of his leading principles to all the old maxims of trade, he was able, before he quitted his fituation in the university, to rank fome very eminent merchants in the number of his profelytes*. Among the ftudents who attended his lectures, and whofe minds were not previously warped by prejudice, the progrefs of his opinions, it may be reasonably fuppofed, was much more rapid. It was this clafs of his friends accordingly that first adopted his fyf. * I mention this fact on the refpectable authority of James Ritchie, Efq. of Glasgow. tem III. tem with eagerness, and diffused a knowledge S ECT. of its fundamental principles over this part of the kingdom. Towards the end of 1763, Mr. Smith received an invitation from Mr. Charles Town fend to accompany the Duke of Buccleuch on his travels; and the liberal terms in which the propofal was made to him, added to the ftrong defire he had felt of vifiting the Conti nent of Europe, induced him to refign his office at Glafgow. With the connection which he was led to form in confequence of this change in his fituation, he had reafon to be fatisfied in an uncommon degree, and he always spoke of it with pleasure and gratitude. To the public, it was not perhaps a change equally fortunate; as it interrupted that ftudious leifure for which nature feems to have destined him, and in which alone he could have hoped to accomplish thofe literary projects which had flattered the ambition of his youthful genius. The alteration, however, which, from this period, took place in his habits, was not without its advantages. He had hitherto lived chiefly within the walls of an university; and although to a mind like his, the observation of human nature on the fmalleft fcale is fuf ficient to convey a tolerably just conception of what paffes on the great theatre of the world, yet it is not to be doubted, that the variety III. SEC T. variety of fcenes through which he afterwards paffed, must have enriched his mind with many new ideas, and corrected many of thofe mifapprehenfions of life and manners which the best descriptions of them can scarcely fail to convey. But whatever were the lights that his travels afforded to him as a student of human nature, they were probably useful in a ftill greater degree, in enabling him to perfect that fyftem of political economy, of which he had already delivered the principles in his lectures at Glasgow, and which it was now the leading object of his ftudies to prepare for the public. The coincidence between fome of thefe principles and the distinguishing tenets of the French economifts, who were at that very time in the height of their reputation, and the intimacy in which he lived with fome of the leaders of that sect, could not fail to affift him in methodizing and digefting his fpeculations; while the valuable collection of facts, accumulated by the zealous industry of their numerous adherents, furnished him with ample materials for illuftrating and confirming his theoretical conclufions. After leaving Glasgow, Mr. Smith joined the Duke of Buccleuch at London early in the year 1764, and fet out with him for the Continent in the month of March following. At Dover they were met by Sir James Macdonald, who accompanied them to Paris, and with whom III. whom Mr. Smith laid the foundation of a SECT. friendship, which he always mentioned with great fenfibility, and of which he often lamented the fhort duration. The panegyrics with which the memory of this accomplished and amiable perfon has been honoured by fo many distinguished characters in the different countries of Europe, are a proof how well fitted his talents were to command general admiration. The efteem in which his abilities and learning were held by Mr. Smith, is a testimony to his extraordinary merit of ftill fuperior value. Mr. Hume, too, feems, in this inftance, to have partaken of his friend's enthufiafin. "Were you and I together "(fays he in a letter to Mr. Smith), we should "fhed tears at prefent for the death of poor "Sir James Macdonald. We could not pof"fibly have fuffered a greater lofs than in "that valuable young man." In this firft vifit to Paris, the Duke of Buccleuch and Mr. Smith employed only ten or twelve days*, after which they proceeded to Thouloufe, The day after his arrival at Paris, Mr. Smith fent a formal refignation of his Profefforfhip to the Rector of the University of Glasgow. "I never was more anxious (fays he in the conclufion ❝of this letter) for the good of the College, than at this moment ; ❝and I fincerely wish, that whoever is my fucceffor may not only do credit to the office by his abilities, but be a comfort to the "very excellent men with whom he is likely to spend his life, by "the probity of his heart, and the goodness of his temper." The following extract from the records of the University, which follows immediately after Mr. Smith's letter of refignation, is at VOL. V. HH once |