BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. c13
of his lordship is somewhat similar to that of the drunk man, who, having fallen,
was observed most anxiously attempting to grasp the floor; and when asked what
he meant by so doing, angrily answered, ‘‘ Why, you fool I to prevent tumbling
upwards, to be sure 1 ”
The centre figure represents ADAM SMITH, LLD., who was born at Kirkcaldy,
on the 5th of June 1723, a few months after the death of his father,
who was Comptroller of the Customs of that town. His mother was Margaret
Douglas, daughter of Mr. Douglas of Strathenry. His constitution was very
delicate, and required all the care and attention which a kind parent could
bestow. She is reported to have treated him with unlimited indulgence;
but this produced no injurious effects upon his disposition, and during the
long period of sixty years he was enabled to repay her kindness by every
token which filial gratitude could inspire. A singular incident happened to
him when about three years old. Whilst with his mother at Strathenry,
where she was on a visit, he was one day amusing himself at the door of the
house, when he was stolen by a party of vagrants, known in Scotland by the
name of tinkers-AngZicd, Egyptians or Muggers Fortunately he was immediately
missed, and his uncle pursuing them, found them located in Leslie Wood,
where he was rescued from their hands.
At a proper age young Smith was sent to the parish school of Kirkcaldy,
then taught by Mr. David Miller, a teacher, in his day, of considerable repute.
In 1737, he repaired to the University of Glasgow, where he remained
hill 1740. Being elected as an exhibitioner on Snell’s foundation, he went to
Baliol College, Oxford, and resided there for seven years. Mr. Snell’s foundation
is perhaps one of the largest and most liberal in Britain. In the year
1688, he bequeathed an estate in Warwickshire for the support of Scottish
students at Baliol College, Oxford, who had studied for some years at the University
of Glasgow, in which the patronage is vested. They now amount to
ten, and may remain at .Oxford for ten years.
Dr.’Smith had been originally destined for the Church of England, but not
finding the ecclesiastical profession suitable to his taste, he abandoned the path
that had been chalked out for him, returned to Kirkcaldy, and lived two years
with his mother. He fixed his residence in Edinburgh in 1748, and during
that and following years, under the patronage of Lord Kames, he read Lectures
on Rhetoric and the Belles Lettres. In 1751 he was elected Professor of
Logic in the University of Glasgow, and in the subsequent year was removed
to the Professorship of Moral Philosophy in the same seminary. He remained
in this position thirteen years, and frequently was wont to look back to this
period as the most useful and happy of his life.
In 1755, “The Edinburgh Review” was projected, and to this workwhich
only reached two numbers, and is now remarkable for its scarcity-he
contributed a review of Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary, and a letter addressed to
the editors, containing observations on the state of literature in the different
L
