taking notice of the manly and dignified freedom with which the author uniformly delivers his opinions, and of the superiority which he discovers throughout, to all the little passions connected with the factions of the times in which he wrote. Whoever takes the trouble to compare the general tone of his composition with the period of its first publication, cannot fail to feel and acknowledge the force of this remark. It is not often that a disinterested zeal for truth has so soon met with its just reward. Philosophers (to use an expression of Lord Bacon's) are the servants of posterity;" and most of those who have devoted their talents to the best interests of mankind, have been obliged, like Bacon, to "bequeath their fame" to a race yet unborn, and to console themselves with the idea of sowing what another generation was to reap: 66 Insere Daphni pyros, carpent tua poma nepotes. Mr. Smith was more fortunate; or rather, in this respect, his fortune was singular. He survived the publication of his work only fifteen years; and yet, during that short period, he had not only the satisfaction of seeing the opposition it at first excited, gradually subside, but witnessing the practical influence of his writings on the commercial policy of his country. CONCLUSION OF THE NARRATIVE. ABOUT two years after the publication of "The Wealth of Nations," Mr. Smith was appointed one of the Commissioners of his Majesty's Customs in Scotland; a preferment which, in his estilong interval that has elapsed since the date of its publication), I do not know that any answer has yet been attempted; and which a late writer (Sir Francis Baring, in his Pamphlet on the Bank of England), eminently acquainted with the operations of commerce, has pronounced (and, in my opinion, with great truth) to be "perfectly unanswerable." It is a remarkable circumstance, that Mr. Smith should, in this solitary instance, have adopted, on such slight grounds, a conclusion so strikingly contrasted with the general spirit of his political discussions, and so manifestly at variance with the fundamental principles which, on other occasions, he has so boldly followed out, through all their practical applications. This is the more surprising, as the French Economists had, a few years before, obviated the most plausible objections which are apt to present themselves against this extension of the doctrine of commercial freedom. See, in particular, some observations in Mr. Turgot's Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Riches; and a separate Essay, by the same author, entitled, "Mémoire sur le prêt à intérêt, et sur le Commerce des' Fers."" mation, derived an additional value from its being him at the request of the Duke of Buccleuch. The of these two years he passed in London, enjoying a so tensive and varied to afford him any opportunity of i taste for study. His time, however, was not lost to much of it was spent with some of the first names in rature. Of these no unfavourable specimen is prese Barnard, in his well-known "Verses addressed to Reynolds and his friends." If I have thoughts, and can't express 'em, Jones teach me modesty and Greek, In consequence of Mr. Smith's appointment to th Customs, he removed, in 1778, to Edinburgh, where h last twelve years of his life; enjoying an affluence whic than equal to all his wants; and, what was to him of value, the prospect of passing the remainder of his the companions of his youth. His mother, who, though now in extreme old age sessed a considerable degree of health, and retain faculties unimpaired, accompanied him to town; and Miss Jane Douglas (who had formerly been a member o at Glasgow, and for whom he had always felt the aff brother) while she divided with him those tender which her aunt's infirmities required, relieved him of a which he was peculiarly ill qualified, by her friendly su ence of his domestic economy. The accession to his income which his new office br enabled him to gratify, to a much greater extent than circumstances admitted of, the natural generosity of tion; and the state of his funds at the time of his d pared with his very moderate establishment, confirmed doubt, what his intimate acquaintances had often suspe a large proportion of his annual savings was allotted to secret charity. A small, but excellent library, which he dually formed with great judgment in the selectio simple, though hospitable table, where, without the form invitation, he was always happy to receive his friends, only expenses that could be considered as his own.t *See Annual Register for the year 1776. Some very affecting instances of Mr. Smith's beneficen where he found it impossible to conceal entirely his good o The change in his habits which his removal to Edinburgh produced, was not equally favourable to his literary pursuits. The duties of his office, though they required but little exertion of thought, were yet sufficient to waste his spirits and to dissipate his attention; and now that his career is closed, it is impossible to reflect on the time they consumed, without lamenting, that it had not been employed in labours more profitable to the world, and more equal to his mind. During the first years of his residence in this city, his studies seemed to be entirely suspended; and his passion for letters served only to amuse his leisure, and to animate his conversation. The infirmities of age, of which he very early began to feel the approaches, reminded him at last, when it was too late, of what he yet owed to the public, and to his own fame. The principal materials of the works which he had announced, had been long collected; and little probably was wanting, but a few years of health and retirement, to bestow on them that systematical arrangement in which he delighted; and the ornaments of that flowing, and apparently artless style, which he had studiously cultivated, but which, after all his experience in composition, he adjusted, with extreme difficulty, to his own taste.* The death of his mother in 1784, which was followed by that of Miss Douglas, in 1788, contributed, it is probable, to frustrate these projects. They had been the objects of his affection for more than sixty years; and in their society he had enjoyed, from his infancy, all that he ever knew of the endearments of a family.† been mentioned to me by a near relation of his, and one of his most confidential friends, Miss Ross, daughter of the late Patrick Ross, Esq., of Innernethy. They were all on a scale much beyond what might have been expected from his fortune; and were accompanied with circumstances equally honourable to the delicacy of his feelings and the liberality of his heart. * Mr. Smith observed to me, not long before his death, that after all his practice in writing, he composed as slowly and with as great difficulty as at first. He added, at the same time, that Mr. Hume had acquired so great a facility in this respect, that the last volumes of his History were printed from his original copy, with a few marginal corrections. It may gratify the curiosity of some readers to know, that when Mr. Smith was employed in composition, he generally walked up and down his apartment, dictating to a secretary. All Mr. Hume's works (I have been assured) were written with his own hand. A critical reader may, I think, perceive in the different styles of these two classical writers, the effects of their different modes of study. + In the early part of Mr. Smith's life it is well known to his friends, that he was for several years attached to a young lady of great beauty He was now alone, and helpless; and, though he with equanimity, and regained apparently his former yet his health and strength gradually declined till his death, which happened in July, 1790, about tw that of his cousin, and six after that of his moth illness, which arose from a chronic obstruction in hi lingering and painful; but had every consolation which he could derive from the tenderest sympathy o and from the complete resignation of his own mind. A few days before his death, finding his end appr he gave orders to destroy all his manuscripts, except tached essays, which he intrusted to the care of hi and they were accordingly committed to the flames. W particular contents of these papers is not known eve intimate friends; but there can be no doubt that th in part, of the letters on rhetoric, which he read at I the year 1748, and of the lectures on natural religion prudence, which formed part of his course at Glasgow irreparable injury to letters proceeded, in some deg excessive solicitude in the author about his posthu tion, may, perhaps, be true; but with respect to some scripts, may we not suppose, that he was influence motives? It is but seldom that a philosopher, wh occupied from his youth with moral or with politic succeeds completely to his wish in stating to others, upon which his own opinions are founded; and hen the known principles of an individual, who has app public his candour, his liberality, and his judgment, to a weight and an authority, independent of the evi he is able, upon any particular occasion, to produce port. A secret consciousness of this circumstance, a hension that, by not doing justice to an important ar progress of truth may be rather retarded than adv probably induced many authors to withhold from t unfinished results of their most valuable labours; an and accomplishment. How far his addresses were favoura or what the circumstances were which prevented their uniq been able to learn; but I believe it is pretty certain that, appointment, he laid aside all thoughts of marriage. whom I allude died also unmarried. She survived Mr. Sm siderable number of years, and was alive long after the p the first edition of this Memoir. I had the pleasure of see she was turned of eighty, and she still retained evid her former beauty. The powers of her understanding an of her temper seemed to have suffered nothing from time. themselves with giving the general sanction of their suffrages to truths which they regarded as peculiarly interesting to the human race.* The additions to the Theory of Moral Sentiments, most of which were composed under severe disease, had fortunately been sent to the press in the beginning of the preceding winter; and the author lived to see the publication of the work. The moral and serious strain that prevails through these additions, when connected with the circumstance of his declining health, adds a peculiar charm to his pathetic eloquence, and communicates a new interest, if possible, to those sublime truths, which in the academical retirement of his youth, awakened the first ardours of his genius, and on which the last efforts of his mind reposed. In a letter addressed, in the year 1787, to the Principal of the University of Glasgow, in consequence of being elected Rector of that learned body, a pleasing memorial remains of the satisfaction with which he always recollected that period of his literary career, which had been more peculiarly consecrated to these important studies. "No preferment," says he, "could have given me so *Since writing the above, I have been favoured by Dr. Hutton with the following particulars. "Some time before his last illness, when Mr. Smith had occasion to go to London, he enjoined his friends, to whom he had intrusted the disposal of his manuscripts, that, in the event of his death, they should destroy all the volumes of his lectures, doing with the rest of his manuscripts what they pleased. When now he had become weak, and saw the approaching period of his life, he spoke to his friends again upon the same subject. They entreated him to make his mind easy, as he might depend upon their fulfilling his desire. He was then satisfied. But some days afterwards, finding his anxiety not entirely removed, he begged one of them to destroy the volumes immediately. This accordingly was done; and his mind was so much relieved, that he was able to receive his friends in the evening with his usual complacency. "They had been in use to sup with him every Sunday; and that evening there was a pretty numerous meeting of them. Mr. Smith, not finding himself able to sit up with them as usual, retired to bed before supper; and, as he went away, took leave of his friends by saying, 'I believe we must adjourn this meeting to some other place.' He died a very few days afterwards." Mr. Riddell, an intimate friend of Mr. Smith's, who was present at one of the conversations on the subject of the manuscripts, mentioned to me, in addition to Dr. Hutton's note, that Mr. Smith regretted "he had done so little." "But I meant," said he, "to have done more ; and there are materials in my papers, of which I could have made a great deal. But that is now out of the question." That the idea of destroying such unfinished works as might be in his possession at the time of his death, was not the effect of any sudden or |