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
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
countries of Europe. The “Theory of Moral Sentiments” appeared in 1’759,
and the same volume contained a dissertation on the origin of languages, and
on the different genius 6f those which are original and compounded. Towards
the end of 1763, he received an invitation from the Right Hon. Charles Townshend,
to accompany Henry Duke of Buccleuch on his travels, and the
liberal terms of the proposal made, added to the strong desire he had felt of
visiting the Continent of Europe, induced him to resign his Professorship at
Glasgow. Before he left that city, he requested all his pupils to attend him,
and as each name was called over he returned the several sums he had received
as fees, saying, that as he had not completely fulfilled his enga,ment, he was
resolved his class should be instructed that year gratis, and the remainder of
his lectures should be read by one of the senior students.
After leaving Glasgow, be joined the Duke at London early in 1764, and
set out for Paris in the month of March. In this first visit to Paris they only
spent ten or twelve days, and then proceeded to Toulouse, where they k e d
their residence : they next undertook a pretty extensive tour through the south
of France, to Geneva, and about Christmas 1765, revisited Paris, where they
resided till October 1766, when the Duke returned to London.
For the next ten years Dr. Smith lived chiefly with his mother in Kirkcaldy,
and his time was entirely occupied by his studies. In the beginning of 1’1’16,
he gave to the world the result of his labour, by the publication of his “ Inquiry
into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.” About two years
after the appearance of this work, he was appointed one of the Commissioners
of his Majesty’s Customs in Scotland, a preferment bestowed upon him
through the interest of the Duke of Buccleuch. When he obtained this appointment
he‘offered to resign the annuity of $300 per annum, which had beeli
granted him for superintending the Duke’s education and travels, an offer which
was immediately declined. The greater part of the two years preceding his
appointment he lived in London in a society too extensive and varied to afford
him any opportunity of indulging his taste for study, although much of it was
spent with some of the most distinguished literary characters, as may be seen by
the following verses by Dr. k n a r d , addressed to Sir Joshua Reynolds and his
friends :- ‘‘ If I have thoughts and can’t express ’em,
Gibbon shall teach me how to dress ’em,
In words select and terse ;
Jones teach me modesty and Greek,
Smith how to think, Burke how to speak,
And Eendire to converse.”
In 1778, Dr. Smith removed to Edinburgh, with the view of attending to
the duties of his new office, where he passed the last twelve years of his life, enjoying
an affluence more than equal to all his wants. He now and then revisited
London, The last time he was there, he had engaged to dine with Lord Melville,
then Mr. Dundas, at Wimbledon ; Mr. Pitt, Mr. Grenville, Mr. Addington,
afterwards Lord Sidmouth, and some other of his lordship’s friends were there.
