ADAM, author of the Theory of Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations, and the most distinguished political economist of modern times, was born at Kirkcaldy, on the 5th of June 1723. His father, who held the situation of comptroller of customs in that town, died a few months before his birth; so that the charge of his early education devolved wholly on his mother, the daughter of Mr Douglas of Strathenry, in the county of Fife.

His constitution during infancy is said to have been extremely infirm and delicate, and required all the anxious attention of his mother, who treated him with greatest indulgence. This, however, had no unfavourable influence over his temper or dispositions; and he repaid the fond solicitude of his parent by every attention that filial gratitude and affection could dictate, during the long period of sixty years.

He received the rudiments of his education in the grammar school of Kirkcaldy. The weakness of his constitution prevented him from indulging in the amusements common to boys of his age. But Dugald Stewart states, that he was even then distinguished by his passion for books, and by the extraordinary powers of his memory; that he was much beloved by his schoolfellows, many of whom subsequently attained to great eminence; and that he was thus early remarkable for those habits which remained with him through life, of speaking to himself when alone, and of absence in company.

He continued at Kirkcaldy until 1737, when he was sent to the University of Glasgow, where he remained for three years. He then entered Balliol College, Oxford, as an exhibitioner on Snell's foundation; and continued for seven years to prosecute his studies at that celebrated seminary.

Mathematics and natural philosophy formed his favourite pursuits while at Glasgow. But, subsequently to his removal to Oxford, he seems to have principally devoted the time not consumed in the routine duty of the university to the study of the belles lettres, and of those moral and political sciences of which he was destined to become so great a master.

Smith does not seem to have felt any very peculiar respect for his English alma mater. The severe remarks in the Wealth of Nations on the system of education followed in Oxford and Cambridge were suggested by his own observations. He shows that it is reasonable to expect that the plan of appointing professors with handsome salaries, who are not permitted to receive fees from their pupils, should, in all ordinary cases, make them either wholly neglect the important duties of their office, or discharge them in a slovenly manner; and he refers to the example of Oxford, to prove the accuracy of this conclusion: "the greater part of the public professors of that seminary having, for these many years, given up altogether even the pretence of teaching."

While at Oxford, Smith frequently employed himself in translating, particularly from the French, in the view of improving his style; and he used often to express a favourable opinion of this sort of exercise. But he might have practised it with nearly equal advantage anywhere else. No doubt, however, he must have reaped considerable advantage from his residence at Oxford, by its contributing to improve and perfect his acquaintance with the niceties of the English language, and rendering him a greater proficient in classical learning, of which his knowledge was both extensive and accurate. But it is not, perhaps, very easy to discover what other obligations he could owe to it. What advantage could he derive in prosecuting his inquiries respecting the history of society, and into "those principles which ought to run through and be the foundation of the laws of all nations," from living among those who were satisfied with what had been known on these subjects two thousand years ago? and who compelled the noble and aspiring youth of the country committed to their charge to draw the principal part of their information with respect to politics and philosophy from the politics and the logic of Aristotle?

Something had occurred, while Smith was at Oxford, to excite the suspicions of his superiors with respect to the nature of his private pursuits; and the heads of his college, having entered his apartment without his being aware, unluckily found him engaged reading Hume's *Treatise of Human Nature*. The objectionable work was, of course, seized; the young philosopher being at the same time reprimanded.

He continued, subsequently to his return from Oxford in 1747, for nearly two years at Kirkcaldy, with his mother. He had been sent to Oxford that he might qualify himself for entering the Church of England. The ecclesiastical profession was not, however, agreeable to his taste. And, in opposition to the advice of his friends, he resolved to devote himself exclusively to literary pursuits.

In the latter part of the year 1748, Smith fixed his residence in Edinburgh, where he was prevailed upon by Lord Kames, and some of his other friends, to deliver, during that and the two following sessions, courses of lectures on rhetoric and *belles lettres*. These were well attended by an audience composed chiefly of students of law and theology. Among his pupils were Mr Wedderburn, afterwards Lord Loughborough; Mr William Johnstone, afterwards Sir William Pulteney Johnstone, Bart.; Dr Blair, &c.; with all of whom he subsequently continued on the most intimate terms. It was at this period also that he laid the foundation of that friendship with David Hume which lasted, without the slightest interruption, till the death of the latter.

No part of these lectures has been published; but it would appear from the statement of Blair, who commenced his lectures on rhetoric and *belles lettres* in 1758, ten years after Smith's first course, that they had been reduced into a systematic shape. In a note to his eighteenth lecture, Blair mentions that he had borrowed several of the ideas respecting the general characters of style, particularly the plain and simple, and the characters of those English authors by whom they have been most successfully cultivated, from a manuscript treatise of Smith on rhetoric, of which the author had shown him a part.

It may be worthy of notice that Smith's was the first course of lectures on polite literature given in Scotland. It was followed by lectures on the same subject by Dr Watson, author of the *History of Philip II*. And a taste for such prelections being introduced, a chair of rhetoric was established by the crown in the University of Edinburgh in 1760, and endowed with a salary of £70 a-year, to which Dr Blair was appointed as first professor. We may further add, in illustration of the progress of this interesting study, that Lord Kames' *Elements of Criticism* was originally published in 1762; Dr Campbell's excellent work on the *Philosophy of Rhetoric* in 1776; and Dr Blair's useful and admirable lectures in 1783. Such were the followers of Smith in this peculiar department of literature; and it is but seldom that an impulse given by one individual is so vigorously and successfully followed up.

Smith's increasing celebrity, and the strong recommendations of Lord Kames and other distinguished persons, procured for him, in 1751, the honour of being elected professor of logic in the University of Glasgow; and in the following year he was elevated to the chair of moral philosophy in the same university, vacant by the death of Mr Craigie, the immediate successor of the celebrated Dr Hutcheson, under whom Smith had formerly studied, and for whom he justly entertained the highest regard. Of the offices to which he might have been appointed, this was probably the most suitable to his peculiar talents, and afforded the best opportunity for employing them to the greatest advantage. It is not, therefore, surprising that he considered the thirteen years during which he continued in Glasgow as the happiest portion of his life. At the same time, it seems reasonable to conclude that his professional pursuits must have materially contributed to mature his speculations in morals and politics, and, consequently, to determine him to undertake the great works which have immortalised his name.

Mr Millar, author of the *Historical View of the English Government*, and professor of law in the University of Glasgow, had the advantage of hearing Smith's course of lectures on moral philosophy, of which he has given the following account:

"His course of lectures was divided into four parts. The first contained natural theology, in which he considered the proofs of the being and attributes of God, and those principles of the human mind upon which religion is founded. The second comprehended ethics, strictly so called, and consisted chiefly of the doctrines which he afterwards published in his *Theory of Moral Sentiments*. In the third part, he treated at more length of that branch of morality which relates to justice, and which, being susceptible of precise and accurate rules, is for that reason capable of a full and particular explanation.

"Upon this subject he followed the plan that seems to be suggested by Montesquieu; endeavouring to trace the gradual progress of jurisprudence, both public and private, from the rudest to the most refined ages, and to point out the effects of those arts which contribute to subsistence, and to the accumulation of property, in producing corresponding improvements or alterations in law and government. This important branch of his labours he also intended to give to the public; but his intention, which is mentioned in the conclusion of the *Theory of Moral Sentiments*, he did not live to fulfil.

"In the last part of his lectures he examined those political regulations which are founded, not upon the principle of justice, but that of expediency, and which are calculated to increase the riches, the power, and the prosperity of a state. Under this view, he considered the political institutions relating to commerce, to finances, to ecclesiastical and military establishments. What he delivered on these subjects contained the substance of the work he afterwards published under the title of *An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations*.

"There was no situation in which the abilities of Dr Smith appeared to greater advantage than as a professor. In delivering his lectures, he trusted almost entirely to extemporary elocution. His manner, though not graceful, was plain and unaffected; and, as he seemed to be always interested in the subject, he never failed to interest his hearers. Each discourse consisted commonly of several..." distinct propositions, which he successfully endeavoured to prove and illustrate. These propositions, when announced in general terms, had, from their extent, not unfrequently something of the air of a paradox. In his attempts to explain them, he often appeared, at first, not to be sufficiently possessed of the subject, and spoke with some hesitation. As he advanced, however, the matter seemed to crowd upon him, his manner became warm and animated, and his expression easy and fluent. In points susceptible of controversy, you could easily discern that he secretly conceived an opposition to his opinions, and that he was led upon this account to support them with greater energy and vehemence. By the fulness and variety of his illustrations, the subject gradually swelled in his hands, and acquired a dimension which, without a tedious repetition of the same views, was calculated to seize the attention of his audience, and to afford them pleasure, as well as instruction, in following the same object through all the diversity of shades and aspects in which it was presented, and afterwards in tracing it backwards to that original proposition or general truth from which this beautiful train of speculation had proceeded.

"His reputation as a professor was accordingly raised very high, and a multitude of students from a great distance resorted to the university merely upon his account. Those branches of science which he taught became fashionable at this place, and his opinions were the chief topics of discussion in clubs and literary societies. Even the small peculiarities in his pronunciation or manner of speaking became frequently the objects of imitation."

Smith made his debut as an author, by contributing, anonymously, two articles to the Edinburgh Review, commenced in 1755, of which two numbers only were published. The first of these articles is a review of Johnson's Dictionary, and the second a letter to the editor, containing some observations on the literature of the different European countries. The latter is worth notice as evincing the attention paid by Smith to continental literature at a period when it was comparatively neglected in Scotland.

In 1759 Smith published his Theory of Moral Sentiments. He had been engaged for a very considerable period in the composition of this work, which is finished throughout with the greatest care. It is bottomed on the principle that sympathy forms the real foundation of morals; that we do not immediately approve or disapprove of an action on becoming acquainted with the intention of the agent and the consequences of what he has done, but that we previously enter, by means of that sympathetic affection which is natural to us, into the feelings of the agent and those to whom the action relates; that, having considered all the motives and passions by which the agent was actuated, we pronounce with respect to the propriety or impropriety of the action, according as we sympathise or not with him; while we pronounce, with respect to the merit or demerit of the action, according as we sympathise with the gratitude or resentment of those who were its objects, and that we necessarily judge of our own conduct by comparing it with such maxims and rules as we have deduced from observations previously made on the conduct of others.

"Whatever judgment," says Smith, "we form with respect to our own motives and actions, must always bear some secret reference either to what are, or to what, upon a certain condition, would be, or to what we imagine ought to be, the judgment of others. We endeavour to examine our own conduct as we imagine any other fair and impartial spectator would examine it. If, upon placing ourselves in his situation, we thoroughly enter into all the passions and motives which influenced it, we approve of it by sympathy with the approbation of this supposed equitable judge. If otherwise, we enter into his disapprobation, and condemn it."

Several, and, as it is now generally admitted, some unanswerable objections have been urged against this very ingenious theory. But whatever opinion may be entertained with regard to the truth of the leading principle which it involves, the Theory of Moral Sentiments is incomparably the best, or rather it is the only great ethical work in the English language. It everywhere evinces great ingenuity, subtlety, and depth of thought. These, however, are the least of its excellences. Its conclusions are all practical, just, and true. The different passions, affections, and characters of the different classes of men, are delineated with singular fidelity. What is proper and praiseworthy in them is carefully discriminated from what is improper and blameworthy. The disturbing influences of fortune and of custom over our estimates of merit and demerit are skilfully appreciated; and the soundest maxims for the regulation of our conduct under every variety of circumstances are everywhere met with, and set in so clear a light that they are impressed even on the most careless readers. The style unaffected, copious, and, though sometimes redundant, always eloquent, is worthy of the subject. The richness of its colouring relieves the dryness of some of the more abstract discussions, while it gives additional force and embellishment to the powerful recommendations of generous upright, and virtuous conduct, which are profusely scattered throughout the work, and are obviously the author's favourite topics.

The accounts which Smith has given in his last volume of the principal systems of moral philosophy are infinitely superior to anything of the kind that had previously appeared; and are said by an excellent judge, M. Cousin, to be imbued with the true spirit of philosophical history. The account of the Stoical Philosophy deserves especial notice. It is a beautiful exposition of a difficult subject, and is as correct in its statements as it is felicitous in its language.

It may be worth while, perhaps, to observe, that Dr Gillies has affirmed, in a note to his translation of Aristotle's ethics and politics, that Smith was indebted for the principle of his theory to a statement of Polybius, in his General History (Book vi., ex. 1). But though the passage referred to be a remarkable one, it is doubtful whether it ever attracted the notice of Smith; and though it had, there is an immeasurable difference between a brief statement, or hint, like that in question; and the well digested system expounded in the Theory of Moral Sentiments. The principle of sympathy had, indeed, been always well known, not to Polybius only, but to everybody. It was remarked nearly two thousand years ago:

"Ut ridentibus arsident, ut fleantibus adficient, Humani vultus: Si vis me fere, dolendum est, Primum ipse tibi; tune tua me infortunia iudet." Hor. Ars Poetica, l. 101.

Smith's peculiar merit does not lie in his having made sympathy the keystone of his system, for that is its cardinal defect, but it lies, as Stewart has justly stated, in his having availed himself of that principle to give a systematical view of all the principal doctrines and discussions embraced in the science of ethics, and in the beauty of his illustrations.

---

1 Theory of Moral Sentiments, part iii., chap. 1. 2 Brown's Lectures, iv., pp. 77-116, edit. 1824; Stewart's Active and Moral Powers, i., pp. 308-316, and note C; Macintosh On the Progress of Ethical Philosophy, by Whewell, pp. 232-242; Cousin Cousin de l'Histoire de la Philosophie Moderne, iv., pp. 192-278, ed. 1846; Dictionnaire des Sciences Philosophiques, vi., p. 661, art. "Smith," &c. 3 Cousin de l'Histoire de la Philosophie Moderne, iv., 249, ed. 1846. 4 Third edition, i., 302. And considered in this point of view, the Theory of Moral Sentiments is a highly original work.

Having published the substance of so important a part of his lectures, Smith was enabled to make considerable retrenchments from the ethical part of his course, and to give a proportional extension to the disquisitions on jurisprudence and political economy. He had long been in the habit of embodying the results of his studies and investigations with respect to both these departments of political science, but particularly the latter, in his lectures. And it appears from a statement which he drew up in 1755, to vindicate his claims to certain political and literary opinions, that he had been in the habit of teaching from the time he obtained a chair in the University of Glasgow, and even when at Edinburgh, the same enlarged and liberal doctrines with respect to the freedom of industry, and the injurious influence of restraints and regulations, which he afterwards so fully established in the Wealth of Nations. His residence in a large commercial and manufacturing city, like Glasgow, gave him a considerable advantage in the prosecution of his favourite studies, by affording means of easily obtaining that correct practical information on many points, which cannot be found in books, and by enabling him to compare his theoretical doctrines with the experimental conclusions of his mercantile friends. Notwithstanding the alleged disinclination of men of business to listen to speculative opinions, and the opposition of his leading principles to the old maxims of trade, he was able, before leaving the university, to rank some eminent merchants among his proselytes.

The publication of the Theory of Moral Sentiments brought a vast accession of reputation to Smith; and placed him, in the estimation of all who were qualified to form an opinion on such a subject, in the first rank of moralists and of able and eloquent writers.

In 1762 the Senatus Academicus of the University of Glasgow unanimously conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, in testimony, as it is expressed in the minutes of the meeting, of their respect for his universally acknowledged talents, and of the advantage that had resulted to the university from the ability with which he had for many years expounded the principles of jurisprudence. But the most important effect of his increasing celebrity, in so far at least as respected himself, was his receiving in 1763 an invitation from Mr Charles Townshend, who had married the widow of the Earl of Dalkeith, to attend her ladyship's son; the young Duke of Buccleuch, on his travels; and the advantageous terms that were offered, combined with his strong desire to visit the Continent, induced him to accept the offer, and to resign his chair at Glasgow. "With the connection which he was led to form in consequence of this change in his situation," says Stewart, "he had reason to be satisfied 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 studious leisure for which nature seems to have destined him, and in which alone he could have hoped to accomplish those literary projects which had flattered the ambition of his youthful genius."

Smith set out for France in company with his noble pupil in March 1764. They remained only a few days at Paris on their first visit to that capital, but proceeded to Toulouse, where they continued for about eighteen months. This being a considerable city, and at that time the seat of a parliament, the society in it may be presumed to have been a good deal superior to that of most country towns; and Smith no doubt availed himself of it, and of the leisure he then enjoyed, to perfect and extend his knowledge of the literature, internal policy, and state of France. He has told us that he was not disposed to place much confidence in the facts and reasonings of political arithmeticians; and it is evident from his rarely making statements on the authority of others, and from his occasionally referring to circumstances connected with Toulouse, Geneva, and other places which he visited, that he was chiefly indebted to his own observation and inquiries for his extensive information in regard to the institutions, habits, and condition of the French people.

After leaving Toulouse, Smith and his noble pupil proceeded to Geneva, where they resided two months. They returned to Paris at Christmas, 1765, and remained there for nearly a year. During the whole of this period, Smith lived on an intimate footing with the best society in that city, to which his friendship with Hume greatly facilitated his introduction. Turgot, afterwards comptroller-general of finance, D'Alambert, Helvetius, Marmontel, the Abbé Morellet, the Duke of la Rochefoucauld, Count Sarsfield, Buffon, the Baron D'Holbach, Madame Riccoboni, Mademoiselle de L'Espinasse, &c., were of the number of his acquaintances; and some of them he continued ever after to reckon among his friends. He was also on familiar terms with Quesnay, the author of the economical theory; and there is every reason to think that he derived considerable advantage from his intercourse with that able and excellent person, than whom none was better qualified to strike out original and ingenious views. So sensible, indeed, was Smith of his merits as a man and a philosopher, that he intended, had he not been prevented by Quesnay's death, to have left a lasting testimony of the high place which he held in his estimation by dedicating to him the Wealth of Nations.

In October 1766, the Duke of Buccleuch, accompanied by Smith, returned to London. The latter soon after removed to his old residence at Kirkcaldy, where he remained, with little interruption, for about ten years, habitually occupied in study, and in the elaboration of his great work. This, however, was not a task but a labour of love, labor ipsa voluptas. In a letter to Hume, written in 1767, he says, "My business here is study, in which I have been deeply engaged for about a month past. My amusements are, long and solitary walks by the sea-side. You may judge how I spend my time. I feel myself, however, extremely happy, comfortable, and contented. I never was, perhaps, more so in my life. You will give me great comfort by

---

1 Smith did not assume this distinction in private life, but contented himself with printing it on the titles of his works. He had, in truth, little or no respect for academical honours, which he has characterised in very depreciatory terms.

2 It always appeared to us as a singular and not easily explained fact, that notwithstanding their familiar acquaintance with the state of France, we do not find either in Hume or Smith any anticipation, how faint soever, of the tremendous conviction of which that country was at so distant period, and which still is. And yet it has been given numerous, and those not obscure, indications of its approach. It is curious, that at this juncture the observation of the two most eminent philosophers of this age should have been clearly discerned and pointed out by Smollett.

3 The paragraph which follows is extracted from the Mémoires de l'Abbé Morellet, published in 1821. "J'avais connu Smith dans un voyage qu'il avait fait en France, vers 1762; il parlait fort mal notre langue; mais sa Théorie des Sentiments Moraux, publiée en 1759, m'avait donné une grande idée de sa sagacité et de sa profondeur. Et véritablement je le regarde encore aujourd'hui comme un des hommes qui a fait les observations et les analyses les plus complètes dans toutes les questions qu'il a traitées. M. Turgot, qui aimait ainsi que moi la métaphysique, estimait beaucoup son talent. Nous le vimes plusieurs fois; il fut présenté chez Helvétius; nous parlâmes théorie commerciale, banque, crédit public, et de plusieurs points du grand ouvrage qu'il méditait. Il me fit présent d'un fort joli portefeuille anglais de poche, qui émit à son usage, et dont je me suis servi vingt ans." (Tome I., p. 237.) writing to me now and then, and letting me know what is passing among my friends in London." And so, with a few short intervals, he went on, till in 1776, an era that will be for ever memorable in the history of political philosophy, the Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations was given to the world. We have elsewhere examined most part of the leading theories and conclusions advanced in this famous work. (See Introduction to Article Political Economy.) At present, it is enough to observe, that despite its imperfections in a scientific point of view, the objections that have been made, and not without justice, to its arrangement, and the many changes that have taken place since its publication in the policy and condition of nations, its celebrity is in no degree diminished. It is not in truth a book for one country or one age, but for all countries and all ages; and will always be regarded as a noble monument of profound thinking, various learning, and persevering research, applied to purposes of the highest interest and importance.

Little needs be said in regard to the originality of the theories advanced by Smith. We have shown, in the article referred to, that some of the most important doctrines embodied in the Wealth of Nations, had been distinctly announced, and that traces, more or less faint, of the remainder may be found in various works published previously to its appearance. But this has little or nothing to do with the peculiar merits of Smith; and in no respect invalidates his claim to be considered as the real founder of the science of political economy. Some of its disjecta membra had, indeed, been discovered, with indications of the others. But their importance, whether in a practical or scientific point of view, and their dependence on each other, were all but wholly unknown. They formed an undigested mass, without order or any sort of rational connection; what was sound and true being frequently (as in the theory of the economists) closely linked to what was false and contradictory. Smith was the enchanter who educed order out of this chaos—

"E temebris tantis tam clarum extollere lumina Qui primum potuit, inlustrans commodis vitae."

And in such complicated and difficult subjects, a higher degree of merit belongs to the party who first establishes the truth of a new doctrine, and traces its consequences and limitations, than to him who may previously have stumbled upon it by accident, and dismissed it as if it were valueless. He did not, like the greater number of his predecessors, build his conclusions on metaphysical abstractions, or on the partial and distorted statements of interested or prejudiced parties, but on a careful review and analysis of the more prominent circumstances connected with the progress of society from antiquity down to his own times. And none will be surprised that, in taking, for the first time, so wide a survey, he sometimes overlooked a principle, or was deceived in regard to its influence or operation, and that, in consequence, some parts of his book are defective or erroneous. This, however, is but rarely the case. He had none of that impetuous rashness which, while it satisfies itself with hasty and superficial investigations, pushes with unhesitating confidence every theory, however narrow or ill-founded, to an extreme. On the contrary, he was slow and circumspect. And without seeking to establish new doctrines, was influenced by a sincere desire to trace and discover the natural and sound principles of public economy, however obscured by sophistry or encumbered by error, and to exhibit what he believed would be found to be their practical working, if allowed to come into free operation. In pursuing his laborious inquiries, his caution and his unequalled sagacity never forsook him. And the real wonder is, that a work involving so many abstruse researches and conflicting considerations as that of Smith, should have so few blemishes, and be so nearly perfect as we find it to be. It contains a greater number of useful and readily available truths than are to be found in any other publication; and it pointed out and smoothed the path by following which subsequent inquirers have been able to perfect much which its author left incomplete, to rectify the mistakes into which he fell, and to make many new and important discoveries. Whether, indeed, we refer to the soundness of its leading doctrines, the liberality and universal applicability of its practical conclusions, or the powerful and beneficial influence it has had on the progress of economical science, and on the policy and conduct of nations, the Wealth of Nations must be placed in the foremost rank of those works which have helped to liberalise, enlighten, and enrich mankind.

By showing that the real and lasting interests of nations are always best promoted by cultivating a fair and friendly intercourse with their neighbours, and that the jealousies and fears that were formerly entertained of the advance of others in wealth and civilisation, are as unfounded as they are malevolent and base, the Wealth of Nations has contributed, in no ordinary degree, to weaken national antipathies, and to lessen the chances of war. Its influence in this respect has been well illustrated by Mr Buckle, who does not hesitate to affirm, that "Adam Smith contributed more, by the publication of this single work, towards the happiness of man, than has been effected by the united abilities of all the statesmen and legislators of whom history has preserved an authentic account."

Hume, who was then labouring under his last illness, addressed a congratulatory letter to Smith on the publication of the Wealth of Nations. And it is a curious fact, that he pointed out in that letter what is the principal defect of the work, viz., the erroneous view which it gives of the nature and causes of rent. He says, "I cannot think that the rent of farms makes any part of the price of produce." It is not known whether Hume had directly arrived at this conclusion, or had derived it at second hand, from the writings or conversation of Dr Anderson, by whom it had been already established. But it is singular, seeing that his attention had been directed to the subject by one lie so greatly esteemed, that Smith did not submit his statements in regard to rent to a more searching and careful analysis. Had he done this, he would most probably have adopted the views of Anderson and Hume, and materially improved his work.

Smith survived the publication of the Wealth of Nations fifteen years. He had the satisfaction to see it translated into all the languages of Europe; to hear his opinions quoted in the House of Commons; to be consulted by the minister; and to observe that the principles he had expounded

---

1 History of Civilization, vol. I., p. 197, 2d ed. The following characteristic eulogy of Smith proceeds from a very high quarter, but one whence, perhaps, it would hardly be expected. "By the bye, the excuse instructions you mentioned were not in the bundle, but 'tis no matter. Marshall in his Yorkshire and particularly that extraordinary man, Smith, in his Wealth of Nations, find my leisure employment enough. I could not have given any mere man credit for half the intelligence Mr Smith discovers in his book. I would covet much to have his ideas respecting the present state of some quarters of the world that are, or have been, the scenes of considerable revolutions since his book was written." (Letter of Robert Burns to Mr Graham of Fintry, 13th May 1788, in the Supplement to the 4th volume (p. 329) of Chambers' Life of Burns.)

2 See a notice of Anderson, and of his Exposition of the Theory of Rent, in the art. POLITICAL ECONOMY.

3 In the copy of the letter now referred to, given by Stewart in his Life of Smith, the important paragraph relating to rent is omitted. Another paragraph is also omitted, in which Hume expressed his belief that the statement in regard to the seigniorage charged on coins in France was not well founded. And in that case too he was quite right. were beginning to produce a material change in the public opinion, and in the councils of this and other countries. And he must have enjoyed the full conviction that the progress of events would ensure their ultimate triumph, by showing that they were productive of signal advantage, not only to the general mass of mankind, but to the inhabitants of every country which should have good sense enough to adopt them.

Hume died soon after the *Wealth of Nations* made its appearance. Smith, with whom he had lived on the most intimate terms, was most solicitous in his attentions to his illustrious friend during his illness; and gave an interesting account of the circumstances connected with his death, and a sketch of his character, in a letter addressed to Mr. Strahan, of London, which was soon after published as a supplement to Hume's autobiography. In it he says that he considered that his deceased friend "had approached as nearly to the idea of a perfectly wise and virtuous man, as, perhaps, the nature of human frailty will permit." This unqualified eulogium having given offence to many who dissented from Hume's opinions in regard to religion, was much found fault with. Dr Horne, bishop of Norwich, the most distinguished of those by whom it was censured, attacked Smith, in an anonymous pamphlet, with considerable asperity; and unwarrantably ascribed to him, for he had no sure grounds to go upon, the same sceptical tenets that had been entertained by Hume. But he took no notice of this effusion; and wisely declined entering upon a controversy which could have no useful result.

Smith resided principally in London during the two years immediately subsequent to the publication of the *Wealth of Nations*, enjoying the society of some of the most distinguished persons in the metropolis. In his conversation, though never in his writings, his judgments of men and things were often precipitate, dogmatical, and erroneous. But he was always ready, on being better informed, to review and amend his inconsiderate decisions. And his friends, while they not unfrequently dissented from his opinions, were pleased with his straightforwardness, want of pretension, and intellectual ability.

In 1778 he was appointed, through the spontaneous application of his old pupil and friend, the Duke of Buccleuch, a commissioner of customs for Scotland. In consequence, he removed to Edinburgh, where he continued afterwards to reside, possessed of an income more than equal to his wants, and in the society of his most esteemed friends. He was accompanied to his new residence by his mother, then in extreme old age, and by his cousin, Miss Douglas, who superintended the domestic arrangements and economy of his family.

But though highly creditable to the nobleman by whose intervention it was procured, his appointment to the customs was little in harmony with the tastes of Smith, while it seriously interrupted or terminated those pursuits in which he might have continued to render invaluable services. The philosopher who had, for the first time, fully explored and laid open the true sources of national wealth and prosperity, deserved a different if not a higher reward. There were thousands of persons who could have performed the duties of a commissioner of customs quite as well as Smith, or perhaps better; but there was not one, besides himself, who could give that "account of the general principles of law and government, and of the different revolutions they have undergone in the different ages and periods of society," which it was his intention to give. And he would most probably have fulfilled this intention had not the well-earned bounty of the public been clogged by the performance of petty routine duties which engrossed the greater part of his time, and left him little or no leisure for study.

Smith paid several visits to London after his appointment to the customs. And we are told by Mr Paterson that on the last of these occasions he dined at Wimbledon with Mr Dundas, afterwards Lord Melville, and that Mr Pitt, Lord Grenville, and Mr Addington were of the party. Smith happening to come late, the company had already sat down to dinner. On his entering the room, they stood up; and when he begged of them to be seated, they answered, "No, we must stand till you are seated, for we are your scholars!" This was a flattering compliment; and in so far true, that the distinguished guests, Mr Pitt and Lord Grenville, were really what they professed to be, pupils of Smith.

We may, perhaps, be permitted farther to observe, that in the matter now referred to, or in his general, though not very intimate acquaintance with economical subjects, Mr Pitt had a material advantage over his great rival, Mr Fox. The latter admitted that he had never read the *Wealth of Nations*, and that "there was something in those subjects which passed his comprehension." But, however well-founded it might be, no parliamentary leader would now venture to make such a confession. To his ignorance of the sound principles of national intercourse, we may, perhaps, mainly ascribe the determined opposition made by Fox to Pitt's proposals for modifying and in part rescinding the restrictions, which a jealous and short-sighted policy

---

3 Had the bishop looked even so cursorily into the *Theory of Moral Sentiments*, he would have seen that there was a material difference between Smith's theological opinions and those of Hume.

4 It has been stated again and over again, and among other places, in an article in the *Quarterly Review*, written by Sir Walter Scott, and in the *Edinburgh Review*. In an article by Jeffrey (vol. ix., p. 51.) that having met in Glasgow, Dr Johnson addressed Smith in the most outrageous manner for having written this satire of Hume, and that Smith retorted in terms no less rude and offensive. But though apparently well vouched, it is certain that no such unhistorical encounter did or in fact could take place; and for this plain reason, that Johnson visited Glasgow in 1773, and that Hume did not die till 1776. Johnson and Smith did meet in London, and did not, to use Johnson's phrase, "take to each other;" but there is not a vestige of ground for supposing that any scene similar to that referred to above ever took place between them. See further Boswell's *Life of Johnson*, by Croker, vol. i., p. 392, &c.

5 Robertson calls them "prompt and vigorous." See Gibbon's *Miscellaneous Works*, vol. ii., p. 255, 8vo ed.

6 On receiving this appointment, Smith expressed his wish to resign the annuity of £300 a year which had been settled upon him by the Duke's trustees at the time when he resigned his professorship to accompany his grace on his travels. But it is hardly necessary to add that this offer was at once declined, and that Smith continued to enjoy the annuity till his death. We are indebted for this fact and for others to the notice of Smith in Kay's *Collection of Portraits*, edited by Mr James Paterson. It is, like the rest of the work, carefully compiled, and contains authentic information not to be elsewhere met with.

7 Butler's *Reminiscences*, vol. i., p. 173. had imposed on the trade with Ireland, and to the comparatively liberal commercial treaty negotiated with France in 1786. But there can be no doubt that party considerations had also a good deal to do with these discreditable displays. The reader will not be surprised to learn that this conduct on the part of Fox greatly lessened the high estimation in which he had been previously held by Smith.

In 1787 Smith was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow. On this occasion he addressed a letter to that learned body, which strikingly evinces the high sense he felt of this honour, and his regard for those from whom it emanated. "No perferment," says he, "could have given me so much real satisfaction. No man can owe greater obligations to a society than I do to the University of Glasgow. They educated me; they sent me to Oxford. Soon after my return to Scotland, they elected me one of their own members; and afterwards preferred me to another office, to which the abilities and virtues of the never-to-be-forgotten Dr Hutcheson had given a superior degree of illustration. The period of thirteen years, which I spent as a member of that society, I remember as by far the most useful, and therefore as by far the happiest and most honourable period of my life; and now, after three-and-twenty years' absence, to be remembered in so very agreeable a manner by my old friends and protectors, gives me a heart-felt joy which I cannot easily express to you."

His constitution, which had at no time been robust, began early to give way; and his decline was accelerated by the grief which he felt on account of the death of his mother, in 1784, and of Miss Douglas, in 1788. He survived the latter only about two years, having died on the 17th July 1790. His last illness, which was occasioned by a chronic obstruction of the bowels, was both tedious and painful. He bore it with the greatest fortitude; and had all the consolation that could be derived from the attention of his friends, and from their sympathy and that of his fellow-citizens.

In a letter written by Mr Smellie, to a friend in London, about three weeks before Smith's death, we find the following statement:—"Poor Smith! We must soon lose him; and the moment in which he departs will give a heartfelt pang to thousands. His spirits are flat, and I am afraid the exertions he sometimes makes to please his friends do him no good. His intellects, as well as his senses, are clear and distinct. He wishes to be cheerful, but Nature is omnipotent. His body is extremely emaciated, because his stomach cannot admit of sufficient nourishment; but, like a man, he is perfectly patient and resigned."

Smith was no speculative moralist, no pseudo-liberal, no eulogist of virtues which he failed to practise. He had the utmost contempt, which he never hesitated to express in the most decided manner, for whatever was insincere, mean, or malignant. His integrity and truthfulness were unimpeached and unimpeachable. Unsuspecting and warm in his affections, he was most anxious, on all occasions, to promote the interests of his friends; and his generosity was limited only by his means. He was in the habit of allotting a considerable part of his income to offices of secret charity. Stewart mentions that he had been made acquainted with some very affecting instances of his benevolence. "They were all," he observes, "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." This was no doubt the cause that the property which he left at his death was not such as might have been expected from his income, and the moderate, though gentlemanlike, scale of his household expenditure.

Smith was deeply versed in the history and philosophy of antiquity. His acquaintance with English, French, and Italian literature was, also, intimate and critical; and it might be said of him, as it was said of his countryman Buchanan, that he was omni liberali eruditione non leviter tinctus, sed penitus imbutus. He had a strong relish for the beauties of poetry, Homer, Virgil, Tasso, and Ariosto, being among his chief favourites. But his studies and speculations were directed more to what was useful and important, than to what was elegant and entertaining. And he looked with a scrutinising eye into the history of the rise, progress, and decline of nations, and of the revolutions of art, science, and taste, that he might thence deduce the principles and practical results embodied in his works. He never separated the honestum from the utile. And his principles and theories were valuable only in his estimation as they contributed to promote the freedom, the virtue, and the wellbeing of mankind.

He acquired an extensive, well-selected, and valuable collection of books, which he prized very highly, in most departments of philosophy, literature, and science. It was bequeathed, along with his other property, to his cousin, David Douglas, Esq., who eventually became a judge of the Court of Session in Scotland, under the courtesy title of Lord Reston. At the death of the latter, the library was equally divided between his two daughters and co-heiresses, and is still in their possession.

Notwithstanding the apparent flow and artlessness of his style, and his great experience in composition, Smith stated, not long before his death, that he continued to compose as slowly, and with as great difficulty, as at first. He did not write with his own hand, but generally walked up and down his apartment, dictating to an amanuensis, a habit which may in part, perhaps, account for that repetition and diffuseness of style which is so observable in both his works, but especially in the Wealth of Nations. He regarded the works of Middleton as affording the best specimens of English composition; and he was accustomed to recommend the careful study of his Life of Cicero to all who wished to write easily, perspicuously, and in correct English.

The want of notes, and the fewness of references to authorities, may be mentioned as a peculiarity of Smith's writings; and one in which they differ very widely from those of his contemporaries, Hume and Robertson, especially the latter. Stewart says, that "Smith considered every species of note as a blemish or imperfection, indicating either an idle accumulation of superfluous particulars, or a want of skill and comprehension in the general design." Although, however, it must be admitted that Robertson in his Histories of Charles V. and America, has embodied in notes a large amount of interesting matter which might have been advantageously incorporated with the text, Smith has cer-

---

1 Letter, 27th June 1790; Kerr's Life of Smellie, p. 205. 2 Smellie, in his account of Smith, says, "The first time I happened to be in his library, observing me looking at the books with some degree of curiosity, and perhaps surprise, for most of the volumes were elegantly, and some of them superbly bound, 'You must have remarked,' said he, 'that I am a beau in nothing but my books.'" (Smellie's Lives, p. 295.) We have seen the books, and we doubt whether their condition warrants any statement as to the state of them by Smellie. They seem to have been neatly, and in some instances elegantly bound; but we saw few or none of which the binding could, with much propriety, be said to have been superb. But, independently of their condition, they are a most interesting collection; and it were much to be wished that they were preserved entire in some public institution. 3 Stewart states that all Hume's works were written with his own hand; and that the last volumes of his History were printed from the original copy, with only a few marginal corrections. 4 Account of the Life and Writings of Robertson, p. 142. tainly carried the opposite practice to an extreme. It is impossible, indeed, to lay down any precise rules on a subject of this sort, or to say positively when notes or references had better be made or omitted. But their total or nearly total omission seems to be quite as objectionable as their excess. At all events, there does not appear to be much room for doubting that the arrangement of the *Wealth of Nations* would have gained materially in clearness and simplicity, had the author adopted, in part at least, the plan of Robertson, and thrown some of the numerous digressions by which the thread of the investigation is interrupted into the form of notes or supplementary chapters. And there are many occasions when a reference to the facts or authorities on which an argument is founded would have given it additional strength, and been satisfactory to the reader.

Smith had early resolved that such only of his manuscripts as were, in his own estimation, fit for publication should ever see the light. And the resolution to which he had thus unfortunately come was carried into effect a few days before his death, when all his papers were committed to the flames, excepting parts of essays, intended to illustrate the principles that lead and direct philosophical inquiries, which he left to his friends to publish or not as they thought proper. The contents of the manuscripts that were destroyed are not exactly known; but they certainly comprised the course of lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres delivered at Edinburgh in 1748, and the lectures on jurisprudence and natural religion, which formed a most important part of the course of moral philosophy delivered at Glasgow. The loss of the latter must ever be a subject of deep regret, and is, in truth, one of the most serious which philosophy has to deplore. We are ignorant of the motives which determined Smith to enforce their destruction. Stewart surmises that it was not so much on account of any apprehended injury to his literary reputation from the publication of such unfinished works, as from an anxiety lest the progress of truth should be retarded by the statement of doctrines of which the proofs were not fully developed; but this is doubtful.

The following observations on the private character and habits of Smith proceed from the pen of Dugald Stewart, who knew him well, and who was the last survivor of that galaxy of illustrious men who shed, during the latter portion of last century, so imperishable a glory over the literature of Scotland. "The more delicate and characteristic features of his mind," Stewart observes, "it is perhaps impossible to trace. That there were many peculiarities, both in his manners and in his intellectual habits, was manifest to the most superficial observer; but although, to those who knew him, these peculiarities detracted nothing from the respect which his abilities commanded; and, although to his intimate friends they added an inexpressible charm to his conversation, while they displayed, in the most interesting light, the artless simplicity of his heart, yet it would require a very skilful pencil to present them to the public eye. He was certainly not fitted for the general commerce of the world, or for the business of active life. The comprehensive speculations with which he had been occupied from his youth, and the variety of materials which his own invention continually supplied to his thoughts, rendered him habitually inattentive to familiar objects, and to common occurrences; and he frequently exhibited instances of absence, which had scarcely been surpassed by the fancy of La Bruyère. Even in company he was apt to be engrossed with his studies; and appeared at times, by the motion of his lips, as well as by his looks and gestures, to be in the fervour of composition. I have often, however, been struck, at the distance of years, with his accurate memory of the most trifling particulars; and am inclined to believe, from this and some other circumstances, that he possessed a power, not perhaps uncommon among absent men, of recollecting, in consequence of subsequent efforts of reflection, many occurrences which, at the time when they happened, did not seem to have sensibly attracted his notice.

"To the defect now mentioned it was probably owing, in part, that he did not fall in easily with the common dialogue of conversation, and that he was somewhat apt to convey his own ideas in the form of a lecture. When he did so, however, it never proceeded from a wish to engross the discourse, or to gratify his vanity. His own inclination disposed him so strongly to enjoy in silence the gaiety of those around him, that his friends were often led to concert little schemes, in order to engage him in the discussions most likely to interest him. Nor do I think I shall be accused of going too far when I say, that he was scarcely ever known to start a new topic himself, or to appear unprepared upon those topics that were introduced by others. Indeed, his conversation was never more amusing than when he gave a loose to his genius upon the very few branches of knowledge of which he only possessed the outlines."

"The opinions he formed of men, upon slight acquaintance, were frequently erroneous; but the tendency of his nature inclined him much more to blind partiality than to ill-founded prejudice. The enlarged views of human affairs, on which his mind habitually dwelt, left him neither time nor inclination to study, in detail, the uninteresting peculiarities of ordinary characters; and accordingly, though intimately acquainted with the capacities of the intellect and the workings of the heart, and accustomed in his theories to mark, with the most delicate hand, the nicest shades, both of genius and of the passions, yet, in judging of individuals, it sometimes happened that his estimates were, in a surprising degree, wide of the truth.

"The opinions, too, which in the thoughtlessness and confidence of his social hours he was accustomed to hazard on books, and on questions of speculation, were not uniformly such as might have been expected from the superiority of his understanding, and the singular consistency of his philosophical principles. They were liable to be influenced by accidental circumstances, and by the humour of the moment; and, when retailed by those who only saw him occasionally, suggested false and contradictory ideas of his real sentiments. On these, however, as on most other occasions, there was always much truth, as well as ingenuity in his remarks; and if the different opinions which, at different times, he pronounced upon the same subject had been all combined together, so as to modify and limit..." each other, they would probably have afforded materials for a decision, equally comprehensive and just. But, in the society of his friends, he had no disposition to form those qualified conclusions that we admire in his writings; and he generally contented himself with a bold and masterly sketch of the object, from the first point of view in which his temper or his fancy presented it. Something of the same kind might be remarked when he attempted, in the flow of his spirits, to delineate those characters which, from long intimacy, he might have been supposed to understand thoroughly. The picture was always lively and expressive, and commonly bore a strong and amusing resemblance to the original, when viewed under one particular aspect; but seldom, perhaps, conveyed a just and complete conception of it in all its dimensions and proportions. In a word, it was the fault of his unpremeditated judgment to be too systematical and too much in extremes.

"But, in whatever way these trifling peculiarities in his manners may be explained, there can be no doubt that they were intimately connected with the genuine artlessness of his mind. In this amiable quality he often recalled to his friends the accounts that were given of good La Fontaine; a quality which in him derived a peculiar grace from the singularity of its combination with those powers of reason and of eloquence, which, in his political and moral writings, have long engaged the admiration of Europe.

"In his external form and appearance there was nothing uncommon. When perfectly at ease, and when warmed with conversation, his gestures were animated, and not ungraceful; and, in the society of those he loved, his features were often brightened with a smile of inexpressible benignity. In the company of strangers his tendency to absence, and perhaps still more his consciousness of this tendency, rendered his manner somewhat embarrassed—an effect which was probably not a little heightened by those speculative ideas of propriety which his recluse habits tended at once to perfect in his conception, and to diminish his power of realising. He never sat for his picture; but the medallion of Tassie conveys an exact idea of his profile, and of the general expression of his countenance."

Thus far Stewart. Smellie says, "In his deportment, when walking, there were some singularities. His head had a gentle motion from side to side; and his body, at every step, had a kind of rolling or vermicular motion, as if he meant to alter his direction, or even to turn back. In the street, or elsewhere, he always carried his cane on his shoulder as a soldier does his musket. These may be considered as slight shades, but, in a picture, slight shades are often highly characteristic." (Lives, p. 296.)

We may further add, that Smith was about the middle size, well made, and stout, though not fat or corpulent. His countenance, which was manly and agreeable, inclined more to the Saxon than the Celtic caste, and was well lighted up by his large, expressive, grey eyes. His disposition was social in the extreme, especially in his own house, and in the company of his early friends. His Sunday suppers were long celebrated in Edinburgh circles.

The following is a list of the published works of Smith:

1. Two articles in the Edinburgh Review for 1755, being (1) a Review of "Johnson's English Dictionary;" and (2) "A Letter to the Editors."

2. Theory of Moral Sentiments. The first edition of this work was published in 8vo, early in 1759. The sixth edition was published a short time before the author's death. It contains several additions, most of which were executed during his last illness.

3. Considerations concerning the first Formation of Languages, and the different Genius of Original and Compounded Languages.

This essay was originally subjoined to the first edition of the Moral Sentiments. It is an ingenious and pretty successful attempt to explain the formation and progress of language, by means of that species of investigation to which Dugald Stewart has given the appropriate name of Theoretical or Conjectural History; and which consists in endeavouring to trace the progress and vicissitudes of any art or science, partly from such historical facts as have reference to it, and, where facts are wanting, from inferences derived from considering what would be the most natural and probable conduct of mankind under the circumstances supposed.

4. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. The first edition was published at London in 1776, in two volumes 4to. The fourth edition, which was the last published by the author, appeared, in three vols. 8vo, in 1786.

5. His posthumous works, or those which he exempted from the general destruction of his manuscripts, and which were published by his friends, Doctors Black and Hutton. These gentlemen, in an advertisement prefixed to the publication, state that, when the papers which Dr Smith had left in their hands were examined, "the greater number appeared to be parts of a plan he had once formed for giving a connected history of the liberal sciences and elegant arts." "It is long," they add, "since he found it necessary to abandon that plan, as far too extensive; and these parts of it lay beside him neglected until his death. The reader will find in them that happy connection, that full and accurate expression, and that clear illustration, which are conspicuous in the rest of his works; and though it is difficult to add much to the great fame he so justly acquired by his other writings, these will be read with satisfaction and pleasure." The papers in question comprise— I. Fragments of a great work "On the Principles which lead and direct Philosophical Inquiries, illustrated—(1) by the History of Astronomy; (2) by the History of the Ancient Physics; and (3) by the History of the Ancient Logics and Metaphysics." II. An essay entitled, "Of the Nature of that Imitation which takes place in what are called the Imitative Arts." III. A short tract, "Of the Affinity between certain English and Italian Verses." IV. A disquisition, "Of the External Senses."

Of the historical dissertations, the first only, on the History of Astronomy, seems to be nearly complete. They are all written on the plan of the dissertation on the Formation of Languages, being partly theoretical, and partly founded on fact. In the essay on the History of Astronomy, after premising some speculations with respect to the effects of unexpectedness and surprise, and of wonder and novelty, the author proceeds to give a brief outline of the different astronomical systems, from the earliest ages down to that of Newton.

The fragments that remain of the other two historical essays are much less complete, and do not possess the interest of the latter.

Smith contends, in the essay on the Imitative Arts, that the pleasure derived from them depends principally upon the difficulty of the imitation, or, as he has expressed it, "upon our wonder at seeing an object of one kind represented so well an object of a very different kind, and upon our admiration of the art which surmounts so happily that disparity which nature had established between them." On this principle he explained the preference so generally

---

1 Along with the medallion referred to, Tassie executed for Smith medallions of his friends—Dr Black, the chemist, Dr Hutton, the geologist, Dr Reid of Glasgow, and Mr Lumisden, probably the author of the valuable work on the Antiquities of Rome. These interesting relics are now in the possession of Dr Bannerman. given in tragedy to blank verse over prose; and Stewart mentions that, for the same reason, he was inclined to prefer rhyme in tragedy to blank verse, and that he extended the same principle to comedy; and even went so far as to regret that the graphic delineations of real life and manners, exhibited on the English stage, had not been subjected to the fetters of rhyme, and executed in the manner of the French. But these conclusions were entirely consistent with his general views as to taste in composition. He was a firm adherent of the classical school. The principal tragedies of Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire, the comedies of Molière, and the verses of Boileau, Pope, and Gray, had, in his estimation, reached the highest degree of excellence.

The short essay, *Of the Affinity between certain English and Italian Verses*, is curious rather than valuable. It however, illustrates the variety of the author's literary pursuits.

The disquisition with respect to the *External Senses* is of considerable extent; and is a valuable contribution to the science of which it treats.

(Sir James Edward Smith, the purchaser of the collections and library of Linnaeus, and the founder of the Linnaean Society, was born at Norwich, on the 2d December 1759. His father was a man of cultivated mind, and being in prosperous circumstances was capable of affording his son an excellent education. Young Smith early inherited the taste for flowers peculiar to natives of Norwich, supposed to have been introduced into the place by the Flemish weavers who took refuge in England from the tyranny of the Spaniards. He proceeded to Edinburgh in 1781, where he obtained the gold medal for the best botanical collection. Accidentally hearing that Linnaeus's collection was to be disposed of, he prevailed upon his father to advance the sum of L.1088, 6s., which made him the possessor of that splendid museum. Smith settled in London, with the intention of practising his profession. He subsequently made a tour on the continent, obtained an M.D. at Leyden, and published the result of his travels on his return to London. In 1788 he founded the Linnaean Society, and was chosen its first president. In 1792 he was employed to teach botany to Queen Charlotte and the Princesses; in 1796 he removed to Norwich; and in 1814 he was knighted as institutor and president of the Linnaean Society. The most popular of his works are his *English Botany*, in 36 vols., 1792-1807; *Biographical Memoirs of several Norwich Botanists*, 1803; *Flora Britannica*, 3 vols., 1800-1804; the *English Flora*, 4 vols.; *Flora Graeca*, from Dr Sibthorpe's Materials, 1808; and *Flora Graeca Prodromus*, 1808. He was likewise author of the botanical articles and of the botanical biography in Rees's *Cyclopaedia*, from the letter C. (See his *Memoir* by his widow, 2 vols., 1833.)

Smith, James and Horace, the authors of the *Rejected Addresses*, were the sons of Robert Smith, Solicitor to the Board of Ordnance. James was born in London, on the 10th of February 1775, and Horace was born in the same place, on the 31st December 1779. James Smith was educated under the Rev. Mr Burford, at Chigwell in Essex, was articled to his father on completing his education, was subsequently taken into partnership with him, and ultimately succeeded to his father's business. Horace, after receiving a similar education, became a stockbroker, acquired a fortune, and retired to Brighton. James, who lived and died single, was the author of several pieces in prose and verse, entirely of a comical description, which were collected after his death by his brother, and published under the title of *Memoirs, Letters, and Comic Miscellanies*, 2 vols., 1840. Besides contributing to various periodicals, he likewise wrote many of the amusing trifles for the "At Home" of the elder Mathews, and that comedian used to say of him, that he was the only man in London who could write good nonsense. After spending much of his time in society, for which both the Smiths were well suited, being men of fine appearance and possessing good conversational powers, he was ultimately confined to his house with gout. He died on the 24th December 1839, in the sixty-fifth year of his age.

Horace Smith contributed short pieces to various periodicals, among which may be mentioned his papers in the *New Monthly Magazine*, then edited by Campbell the poet. He was likewise author of some twenty-three-volume novels,

---

1 Boswell mentions, that having told Johnson how much Smith preferred rhyme to blank verse, Johnson said, "Sir, I was once in company with Smith, and we did not take to each other; but had I known that he loved rhyme as much as you tell me he does, I should have hugged him." (Boswell's *Johnson*, by Croker, p. 146.) which were little known beyond the circulating libraries, if we except his *Brambletye House*, which was better received by the public. He died on the 12th of July 1849.

The work by which the brothers Smith are now best known, and by which they will long be remembered, is the *Rejected Addresses, or the New Theatrum Poetarum*, first published in 1812, and which has gone through upwards of twenty editions. The idea having been suggested by Mr Ward, secretary to the Drury Lane theatre, six weeks before the address was to be spoken, the brothers Smith eagerly set to work, and completed their delightful little volume within the required time. James supplied the imitations of Wordsworth, Southey, Coleridge, Crabbe, and Cobbett, and numbers 14, 16, 18, 19, and 20. The Byron was a joint effusion, James writing the first stanza, and Horace the remainder. Horace Smith supplied the rest of the volume. The copyright was purchased by Mr Murray, after the book had run through sixteen editions, for L131, although he originally declined giving L20 for it.

Smith, John Pye, an eminent dissenting divine, was born at Sheffield on the 25th day of May 1774. His father, John Smith, was a bookseller of some note in that town; and there is every reason to believe that young Smith was chiefly indebted for his early education to the books in his father's shop. At an early age he manifested great fondness for reading, and frequently when sent on errands he would be seen poring over a book by the roadside, sometimes even forgetting what he was sent to do. Some notebooks, written between his twelfth and sixteenth year, show his reading at that early age to have been of an extensive and miscellaneous character. However objectionable this mode of education may be in general, we believe that in Smith's case it was not without its advantages. It not only gave him a taste for extensive and varied reading, but it also fostered that freedom of thought, and fearlessness in the search of truth, that afterwards specially characterised him.

It was in his sixteenth year that the doctrines of Christianity took hold on his heart, and gave that direction to his thoughts and studies that eventually led to his devoting himself to the ministry. In the first place, however, he was in 1790 apprenticed to his father, and served for five years. During this period his readings partook more of a theological character, and his writings manifest a high and growing spirit of Christianity. In 1796, while Mr James Montgomery, the proprietor and editor of the *Sheffield Iris*, was undergoing imprisonment for his alleged libel, the editorial duties of that paper were entrusted to Mr Smith, and were satisfactorily discharged by him from February to August. In September of the same year he entered the Independent Academy at Rotherham, with a view to the ministry; and at that time he is said to have been not only a superior linguist, but to have been also skilled in natural history, anatomy, and several branches of medicine. During the four years that he remained there, his active mind was not content with mastering the regular studies of the place, but likewise carried him into other departments of learning; so that among his fellow-students he was distinguished as well by the variety of his attainments as by the comparative ease with which he imbibed all kinds of useful knowledge. Such was his scholarship that, on completing his curriculum at Rotherham, he was chosen Resident Classical Tutor at Homerton College, and then was formed a connection which existed for the long period of fifty years, till Homerton was merged in New College. In 1801 he married a lady, who unfortunately was a very unsuitable companion for one of his character and circumstances, but with whose weaknesses he uncomplainingly bore for more than thirty years. It is the more necessary to mention this, as it interfered in many ways with his usefulness, depriving him of his times for study, and shutting him up from social intercourse with his students and others. It also led to his resigning his resident tutorship in 1807. In 1808 he opened the hall of the academy for public worship, and next year some of his stated bearers formed themselves into a church, and invited him to become their pastor. He was accordingly ordained on the 11th of April 1804, and retained the pastoral oversight of this congregation for almost forty-six years. Towards the close of 1810 his hearers had so increased that it became necessary to provide a larger place of worship, and accordingly they removed to the Old Gravel Pit Meeting House, and from this time Dr Smith had two regular services on Sunday, and two on week days, till the appointment of his colleague in 1846.

In 1804 appeared his "Letters to the Rev. Thomas Belsham (a Unitarian), on some important subjects of Theological Discussion," the first work that established his reputation, and led to his receiving, in 1807, the degree of D.D. from Yale College, Newhaven, Connecticut. On the commencement of the *Eclectic Review* Mr Smith became a contributor, and continued to furnish it with occasional articles for forty years. In 1806, a vacancy having occurred in the theological tutorship, Mr Smith was requested to occupy that chair, and a new classical tutor was appointed. In 1818 appeared the first volume of his largest work, *The Scripture Testimony to the Messiah*, the second and concluding volume of which was published in 1821. A second edition, in 3 volumes, appeared in 1829; a third in 1837; and a fourth, in 2 volumes, in 1847. The second edition was much improved and enlarged, especially by the fruits of his greatly extended researches in German literature, and each succeeding edition was enriched by the results of his continued labours. Such was the high character of this work, that though by a Dissenter, it received the high honour of being admitted as an authority in the English universities. In 1835 he received the diploma of LL.D. from Marischal College, Aberdeen. Dr Smith's other great work, *On the Relation between the Holy Scriptures and some parts of Geological Science*, appeared in 1839, being eight lectures delivered for the congregational library in that year. This work was also, by the author, carried through four editions, each greatly improved and extended, and led to his being admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1840. Dr Smith was the author of a number of other works, which we have not enumerated,—as a list of them will be found appended to his *Memoirs* by Medway. In 1843, after more than ten years of widowhood, Dr Smith again married, and this time his choice fell upon one well suited to comfort and solace him in his declining years. He was now requested to again accept the office of resident tutor, which he cheerfully did, and continued to fill till the breaking up of the establishment in 1850. On retiring from active duty in last mentioned year, his friends and admirers testified their esteem for him by raising a sum of L2600, the interest to provide an annuity for him while he lived, and afterwards to form divinity scholarships in connection with New College, which were to bear his name. The testimonial was presented to him at a public breakfast of the 8th of January 1851, and on the 5th of the succeeding month his spirit quietly left its mortal tenement, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. For nearly the whole of his public life Dr Smith was afflicted with deafness, which increased so much that at length it was only with difficulty that he could be made to receive any communications by the ear.

Dr Smith's was an active and vigorous, rather than a high cast of intellect. Its power lay more in the arranging and systematising of facts, than in the discovering or exploring of them. It had little of what is called originality, but was marked by great power of imbibing and assimilating all kinds of knowledge. This, coupled with his great industry and singular perseverance, which continued undiminished down to near the close of his life, earned the encomium passed upon him by his colleague, Dr William Smith, that "there are few men in the present day who have embraced a greater sphere of knowledge, or mastered a greater number of subjects."

But it is in his moral and religious nature that we meet with the most distinguishing features of his character. He was eminently a sincere and true man—sincere in his beliefs, true to his convictions. However much one may be inclined to differ from him on certain points, yet no one can doubt the sincerity with which he held them. His sincerity made him ever ready to do battle for what he believed to be the truth, and not the less ready to yield whenever he saw that his opinions were untenable—never maintaining a controversy merely for the sake of argument. His sanguine nature led him to throw himself heart and soul into whatever was before him, so that what many are content to hold loosely as matters of opinion, became to him matters of belief and principles of action. His whole powers seemed to be actuated and regulated by a high moral sense of duty, so that acts seemingly the most trifling were to him matters of conscience; and even a verbal error appeared to offend his moral feelings. High as was his standard of duty, he acted up to it to a degree that is rarely to be met with. "He lived," says his biographer, "in strict conformity, both as to letter and spirit, with his rules for others," to an extent that "was often matter of surprise and admiration while he was with us." Such was the strength of this principle within him, that towards his death, when his other powers are declining, it comes into painful prominence. He had for many years abstained from spirituous liquors, holding it to be "a duty which we owe to God and to our fellow-creatures, to bear a practical testimony against this usage;" and when, a few weeks before his death, a medical friend recommended his taking a little brandy, he emphatically said "Never;" and turning to his wife, added, "My dear, I charge you, if such remedy be proposed when I am incompetent to refuse, let me die rather than swallow the liquid." His piety was an eminently active and living principle, stimulating and directing his ardent desire in the pursuit of knowledge, as well as sanctifying his whole life and conduct. He took a lively interest in politics, especially in such questions as were more immediately connected with the social interests of the nation; and he was an active supporter of the peace society. His Memoirs, by Mr John Medway, appeared in 1853.

Smith, John Thomas, keeper of the prints and drawings in the British Museum, was the son of Nathaniel Smith, formerly a sculptor, and afterwards a printseller, who had been an early friend of the artist Nollekens, was born on the 23rd of June 1766. The younger Smith was engaged in his youth in the studio of Nollekens, and afterwards became a pupil of the eminent engraver, John Keyse Sherwin. He commenced the publication of his Antiquities of London and its Environs, illustrated by 96 plates, in 1791, and completed it in 1800. His next work was Remarks on Rural Scenery, 1797, and which was illustrated by 20 etchings. His Antiquities of Westminster was illustrated by 246 engravings, many of them consisting of representations of objects and of curious paintings, no longer in existence. Sixty-two additional plates were published in 1809, without any letterpress, forming volume second of the Antiquities. In 1815 appeared his best work, the Ancient Topography of London. It was illustrated by 32 boldly etched plates, accompanied by descriptions of the buildings represented. Smith received his appointment at the British Museum in 1816, and next year appeared his Vagabondiana, or Anecdotes of Mendicant Wanderers through the Streets of London, illustrated with 30 portraits, and an introduction by Francis Douce. The last literary production of Smith was more amusing than honourable. This was a book on Nollekens and his Times, which was published in 1828, and though it attained to a considerable popularity, it was obviously the production of a disappointed man. Smith had been appointed an executor to Nollekens, and was mortified at not being made a legatee. He unfortunately wrote under the excitement of feeling occasioned by this circumstance, and took advantage of his intimate acquaintance with Nollekens and his affairs in dragging before the public much that was never intended for publicity. Smith had a considerable share of humour in his composition, as a small paragraph written by him in the album of his friend Upcott still testifies. "I can boast," he says, "of seven events, some of which great men would be proud of. I received a kiss, when a boy, from the beautiful Mrs Robinson; was patted on the head by Dr Johnson; have frequently held Sir Joshua Reynolds's spectacles; partook of a pot of porter with an elephant; saved Lady Hamilton from falling when the melancholy news arrived of Lord Nelson's death; three times conversed with King George III.; and was shut up in a room with Mr Kean's lion." Smith died in his sixty-seventh year, on the 8th of March 1833. (See Gentleman's Magazine for 1833.)

Smith, Joseph. See Mormonism.

Smith, Sydney, one of the wittiest and wisest churchmen which England has known during the present century, was born at Woodford, in Essex, in 1771. His father, who was a clever, sagacious man, with very odd ways, after wandering all over the world, at last settled down at Bishop's Lydiard, in Somerset. His mother was of French extraction, and Smith was accustomed to attribute not a little of his constitutional gaiety to this infusion of foreign blood. In after years, Sydney was fond of representing, in his peculiar way, that the "Smiths never had any arms, and have invariably sealed their letters with their thumbs;" and was fond of repeating the answer of Junot to the old noblesse when boasting of their ancestry, "Ah, ma foi! je n'en sais rien; moi je suis mon ancêtre." Sydney was the second of four boisterous, overbearing, intellectual young athletes, as old Smith calls them, who, according to an original view of their father's, were sent to different schools, to weed out of them the strong personal rivalry which existed at home. Robert, or "Bobus," as he was called, had the good fortune to be sent to Eton, where he established for himself that character for learning and intellectual power which so greatly distinguished him in after years; while Sydney was admitted to the foundation at Winchester. In spite of "hunger and neglect," he soon rose to be captain of the school, and to be foremost in every frolic. The Winchester boys were glad when it became the captain's turn to set out for Oxford; for "one could never get any prizes where those Smiths were." A touch of sorrow mingled with their joy, however, as they looked on that bright manly face for the last time. To have been still possessed of his gay leadership in all their mad pranks, they would gladly have foregone all the prizes. After a visit of six months to Normandy, he entered New College, Oxford, in 1780, and was chosen a fellow ten years afterwards. He had to contend with the sharp pinchings of poverty during his university career, which was perhaps better for his head than it was for his heart. At all events, he, who afterwards became one of the most social spirits in all England, lived in those days much out of society. His own inclination led him to the bar, but his father's finances had been so much drained by equipping his other sons for the world, that Sydney was prevailed upon to enter the church. With a shrug he complied with his father's wishes, although, with such shining talents as he possessed, he would doubtless have attained a much greater pre-eminence in connection with the legal profession, than a man of his liberality would be able to gain in connection with the English Church. Smith accordingly became a curate of the Church of England, in a small village in the midst of Salisbury Plain. Of all places in the world, this was the very last for a man who, like Sydney Smith, possessed such powers of wit and conversation. Yet he contrived to show to his people, that "in the midst of worldly misery, he had the heart of a gentleman, the spirit of a Christian, and the kindness of a pastor." The squire was the only person he could speak to in the place, and he stormed his affections so completely, that in two years he appointed him tutor to his son. He accordingly bade good-bye to Nether-Avon, and, in 1797, started for Edinburgh with his young charge. The political state of the continent of Europe at that time compelled the annual tourists and others to find out some more fitting place for their sojourn, and Edinburgh was selected as the most fashionable and the most cultivated city open to Englishmen in the later years of the eighteenth century. The northern metropolis at that day presented one of the brightest galaxies of talent of any city in the world. There were Jeffrey, Horner, Playfair, Walter Scott, Dugald Stewart, Brougham, Allen, Thomas Brown, Murray, Leyden, Lord Webb Seymour, Lord Woodhouselee, Alison, Sir James Hall, and many others, whose lights are now well-nigh all gone out. Society, besides, was on the easiest and most agreeable footing in Edinburgh at the time; its inhabitants were simple, and its hospitality was of the most generous kind. Sydney Smith could hardly have happened better had he made a personal selection, than to be thrown upon the generosity and talent of Edinburgh half a century ago. The peculiarities and foibles of the Scotch struck his English eye as exceedingly ludicrous. He says, in his exaggerating way, that "it requires a surgical operation to get a joke well into a Scotch understanding." Smith must have been well skilled in that delicate art by the time he left Edinburgh, for he practised it daily, and took lessons likewise in the theory of medicine as then taught in the university. Edinburgh was at that day so much given over to metaphysics, that he says its fair citizens were accustomed to make love metaphysically. During his residence in Edinburgh he married an English lady, and set a-going with Jeffrey and Brougham the Edinburgh Review. "Towards the end of my residence in Edinburgh," says Smith, "Brougham, Jeffrey, and myself happened to meet in the eighth or ninth storey or flat in Buccleuch Place, the then elevated residence of Mr Jeffrey. I proposed that we should set up a Review. This was acceded to with acclamation; I was appointed editor, and remained long enough in Edinburgh to edit the first number of the Review. The motto I proposed for the Review was, *Tenuimus meditamus arena* (we cultivate literature on a little oatmeal); but this was too near the truth to be admitted, so we took our present grave motto from Publius Syrus, of whom none of us had, I am sure, read a single line; and so began what has since turned out to be a very important and able journal. When I left Edinburgh it fell into the stronger hands of Lord Jeffrey and Brougham, and reached the highest point of popularity and success." It is impossible here to exhibit even in the briefest manner the enormous influence of that journal in letting in the light upon crazy institutions, in sweeping away those barriers to progress which ignorance and bigotry had raised, and in promoting the general cause of toleration and philanthropy, both in literature and in politics. It is not saying too much to assert that a large share of the success which attended the early life of that adventurous publication was due to the Rev. Sydney Smith. He was always proud of his connection with it, and in those days, to be an Edinburgh Reviewer and a Churchman was judged nearly as incompatible as to be a justice of the peace and a pickpocket in one person. Common justice and common sense were the two poles, so to speak, between which all his faculties moved. His flashing wit, his sturdy understanding, his airy fancy, his kindly benevolence, and the exuberant luxury of his talk, all found play between the springs of sense and rectitude. In his writings he seems to have had no youth. He was much too great a wit to fall into the blundering extravagance peculiar to young writers. While his articles gained in sinfulness and in wisdom, they lost not a spark of that brilliance which wit and sense had originally lent them. Leaving Edinburgh in 1804, he carried south with him to London perhaps the largest stock of animal spirits then possessed by any individual in England. He became an earnest and rousing preacher at the Foundling Hospital; delivered clever, witty lectures, on what he chose to call "Moral Philosophy," at the Royal Institution; became famous as a "diner out;" and more famous still as a contributor to the savage northern Review.

On the triumph of the Whigs in 1806, Lord Erskine presented Smith with the living of Foston-le-Clay in Yorkshire. In the summer of 1807 appeared the celebrated Letters of Peter Plymley on the subject of the Roman Catholics, which burst over England like a thunder-cloud. They lay on every table; they were discussed by every coterie which design or chance had brought together; their periodical publication was eagerly anticipated; the curiosity of the public had become irrepressible; but the secret of their authorship could not be cleared up. There were doubtless cultivated individuals who knew Sydney Smith who harboured secret suspicions, assured as they were that no man in England could convey so much sound sense and unanswerable argument on the vehicle of irresistible wit and pleasantry, except the obscure preacher at the Foundling Hospital. But such men were content to hold their tongues until the correspondent of "my dear Abraham" was disposed to disclose himself.

Smith having removed his family to Yorkshire, began the work of his pastorate in right earnest. The prospect of the place on his arrival was of the most forbidding character; yet the gaiety of his disposition had life and heat in it capable of warming a county. In the first place, the parsonage-house was the meanest hovel, in which there had not been a resident clergyman for 150 years, and the church bore the nearest resemblance to a barn. Add to this, that the ground was so impassable that any ordinary foot sunk in it beyond reach of recovery, and Mrs Smith actually lost her shoe on her first attempting to walk on Yorkshire soil. In the second place, his rustic flock were so unaccustomed to the sights of civilised life, that the half of the parish would turn out to witness a four-wheeled carriage, or a gentleman in a superfine coat. If such was the outside of these Yorkshire folks, one may faintly guess what sort of furniture adorned the interior of them. His attention to medicine here stood him in good stead. He preached, doctored, lectured, talked, and joked to the Yorkshiremen, till they would have laid down their lives for him. He designed, built, and completed one of the ugliest parsonage-houses that ever eye had looked on; but it had the rare advantage of being one of the most commodious houses one could choose to live in. Nothing could be plainer than his table. He never affected to be what he was not. He strove to inculcate upon his family throughout life his favourite motto, "Avoid shame, but do not seek glory; nothing so expensive as glory." He studied literally in the midst of his family; and the talking and music, that would have distracted another mind, only seemed to lend him renewed stimulus. Through love of his society the learned and the wealthy made pilgrimages to Foston-le-Clay. Among these were Sir Samuel Romilly, Sir James Mackintosh, Lord Jeffrey, the Earl of Carlisle, Mr Horner, Lord and Lady Holland, Dr Marcet, and his distinguished brother Bobus.

In 1828 Smith was promoted, by Lord Lyndhurst's patronage, to be canon of Bristol, and rector of Combe-Florey, a lovely little spot near Taunton. Amid the joy of this sudden change of prospect and of scene he had the unspeakable sorrow to lose his eldest son, Douglas, by death. He had to begin his old trade of architect over again at Combe-Florey; but with his increased experience and means, he succeeded much better in pleasing the taste of his friends than he had done before on his parsonage-house in Yorkshire. He now resigned his connection with the Edinburgh Review, esteeming it more becoming a dignitary of the church to attach his name to whatever he might write. Ten years afterwards he collected and published the greater part of his contributions to that periodical. His fame greatly increased after his removal to Bristol; and in 1832 he was appointed canon of St Paul's, the last preferment he was destined to receive. Writing to Lord Holland, he says, "I have entirely lost all wish to be a bishop," and dissuades him from making any friendly attempts in his favour. He would assuredly have been the wisest bishop on record, and not one of the least wise, but a man whom his friend, Lord Macaulay, could characterize as "the greatest master of ridicule who has appeared among us since Swift," was a dangerous subject to bear the ermine of the church. He was not the approved, "grave, elderly man, full of Greek," &c., whom his lively fancy was accustomed to depict as the "real bishop."

In 1834 Lord Holland received the hand of Smith's daughter, who, in the character of Lady Holland, has, in 1855, furnished the public with so interesting a biography of her father. He now removed his residence to London, where he purchased a house in Green Street, Mayfair. There is a fine glimpse into the generous and pathetic side of Smith's nature afforded by his employment of the living of Edmonton, which he might in justice have appropriated, or given over to a relation or a friend. He writes to his wife, "I went over yesterday to the Tates at Edmonton. The family consists of three delicate daughters, an aunt, the old lady, and her son, then curate of Edmonton; the old lady was in bed. I found there a physician, an old friend of Tate's, attending them from friendship, who had come from London for that purpose. They were in daily expectation of being turned out from house and curacy. I began by inquiring the character of their servant; then turned the conversation upon their affairs, and expressed a hope the chapter might ultimately do something for them. I then said, 'It is my duty to state to you (they were all assembled) that I have given away the living of Edmonton, and have written to our chapter clerk this morning to mention the person to whom I have given it; and I must also tell you, that I am sure he will appoint his curate (a general silence and dejection). It is a very odd coincidence,' I added, 'that the gentleman I have selected is a namesake of this family; his name is Tate. Have you any relations?' 'No, we have not.' 'And, by a more singular coincidence, his name is Thomas Tate; in short, there is no use in mincing the matter, you are vicar of Edmonton.' They all burst into tears. It flung me also into a great agitation of tears, and I wept and groaned for a long time. Then I rose, and said, I thought it was very likely to end in their keeping a buggy; at which we all laughed as violently. The poor old lady, who was sleeping in a garret, because she could not bear to enter into the room lately inhabited by her husband, sent for me, and kissed me, sobbing with a thousand emotions. The charitable physician wept too. I never passed so remarkable a morning, nor was so deeply impressed with the sufferings of human life, and never felt more thoroughly the happiness of doing good" (Life, by Lady Holland, vol. i., p. 290). What can a man do after a king? One need not be ashamed to laugh and weep in such company. This must suffice for Smith's wisdom. Another illustration of his wit, which was as multifarious as the forms of an evening cloud, and we have done. "Some one mentioned that a young Scotchman, who had been lately in the neighbourhood, was about to marry an Irish widow, double his age, and of considerable dimensions. 'Going to marry her!' he exclaimed, bursting out laughing; 'going to marry her! impossible! you mean a part of her; he could not marry her all himself. It would be a case, not of bigamy, but trigamy; the neighbourhood or the magistrates should interfere. There is enough of her to furnish wives for a whole parish. One man marry her! it is monstrous. You might people a colony with her; or, perhaps, take your morning's walk round her, always provided there were frequent resting-places, and you were in rude health. I once was rash enough to try walking round her before breakfast, but only got half-way, and gave it up exhausted. Or you might read the riot act and disperse her; in short, you might do anything with her but marry her." This affords a good specimen of the spirit of subtle, fanciful exaggeration which ran through many of Smith's jokes. One may fancy what sort of an opponent he would have made had he been inclined to controversy. It is singular, however, how very few enemies his wit and sarcasm, of which he was so eminent a master, ever were the means of making him. It must be clear to every one, that nothing but the unflinching kindness of his disposition, his generosity, his pathos, his sympathy with his fellow-men under every phase of suffering, and under every aspect of enjoyment, could have kept him so far out of the way of error. He was subjected to no ordinary temptation in being endowed with a faculty of such singular brilliancy, and of such equivocal consequences to its possessor. Sydney Smith laid claim to no more than practical common sense; and his intellect, while very acute, was not of the most searching kind. He possessed, however, an unflailing stock of the richest and choicest language, which would flow out from the fountain of his mind as spontaneously as water from a spring. He was always intrepid in his inquiry into alleged abuses, and fearless in his exposure of all kinds of clerical misrule. His letters to the States of North America regarding the payment of old debts contracted by them, written a short time before his death, is as full of pungent satire, of gay humour, and of strong sense, as anything he wrote in his more vigorous years. He died of water in the chest, consequent upon disease of the heart, on the 22d February 1845. He was buried in the family cemetery of Kensall Green. His widow and his son inherited the greater portion of his property. His works, consisting of sermons, lectures, essays, and pamphlets, were published in 3 vols. in 1839. His Sketches of Moral Philosophy were republished in 1850; and there has been since published a small edition of the Letters of Peter Plymley, with selections from his Essays and Speeches, but without a date. (See Memoirs of Rev. Sydney Smith, by his daughter, Lady Holland, and Mrs Austin, 2 vols. 8vo, 1845.)

Smith, Sir Thomas, was born at Walden, in Essex, in the year 1512. At fourteen he was sent to Queen's College, Cambridge, where he distinguished himself so much that he was made Henry the Eighth's scholar, together with John Cheke. He was chosen a fellow of his college in 1531, and appointed two years afterwards to read the public Greek lecture. The common mode of reading

---

1 We observe, from a statement in Rogers' Table Talk, lately published, that Rogers was accustomed to regard Bobus Smith and Sir James Mackintosh as the most accomplished metaphysicians then in England. Greek at that time was very faulty, the same sound being given to the letters and diphthongs, η, ρ, η, α, οι, υ. Smith and Cheke had been for some time sensible that this pronunciation was wrong; and after a good deal of consultation and research, they agreed to introduce that mode of reading which prevails at present. Smith was lecturing on Aristotle De Republica, in Greek. At first he dropped a word or two at intervals in the new pronunciation; and sometimes he would stop as if he had committed a mistake, and correct himself. No notice was taken of this for two or three days; but as he repeated it more frequently, his audience began to wonder at the unusual sounds, and at last some of his friends mentioned to him what they had remarked. He owned that something was in agitation, but that it was not yet sufficiently digested to be made public. They entreated him earnestly to discover his project. He did so, and in a short time great numbers resorted to him for information. The new pronunciation was adopted with enthusiasm, and soon became universal at Cambridge. It was afterwards opposed by Bishop Gardiner, the Chancellor; but its superiority to the old mode was so visible that in a few years it spread over all England.

In 1589 he travelled into foreign countries, and studied for some time in the universities of France and Italy. At Padua he took the degree of LL.D. On his return, he was admitted ad eundem at Cambridge, and was appointed regius professor of the civil law. He was useful in promoting the reformation of religion as well as of learning. Having gone into the family of the Duke of Somerset the protector, during the minority of Edward the Sixth, he was employed by that nobleman in public affairs; and in 1548 he was made secretary of state, and received the honour of knighthood. While Somerset continued in office, he was sent as ambassador, first to Brussels, and afterwards to France. Upon the accession of Mary he lost all his places, but was fortunate enough to preserve the friendship of Gardiner and Bonner. He was exempted from persecution, and was allowed, probably by their influence, a pension of L.100. During Elizabeth's reign he was employed in public affairs, and was thrice sent to France in the capacity of an ambassador. He died in the year 1577.

Sir Thomas Smith was a man of excellent talents, united with solid and variegated learning. He obtained a respectable place among the scholars of the age by the publication of his epistle to the bishop of Winchester, De recta et emendata Lingua Graeca Pronunciatione, Lutetiae, 1568, 4to. The same volume includes his dialogue, De recta et emendata Lingua Anglicanae Scriptio. But the work by which he is best known, in modern times, is entitled De Republica Anglorum: the Maner of Government or policie of the Realme of England, Lond, 1583, 4to. Of this treatise, which was translated into Latin, there are many editions.

Smith, William, was known amongst geologists by the designation of "The Father of English Geology;" and familiarly amongst his acquaintances, in order to distinguish him from others of the same name, as "Stratum Smith." He will be more generally remembered as the founder and author of the first complete geological map of England and Wales, and as the discoverer of the principle of the identification of strata by their included organic remains, which has now passed into the elements of the science. He was born at Churchill, in Oxfordshire, on March 23, 1769,—the same year in which Cuvier saw the light. Deprived of his father, who was an ingenious mechanic, before he was eight years old, he depended upon his father's eldest brother, who was but little pleased with his nephew's love of collecting "pundrills" (terebatinus), and "pound-stones" or "quaint-stones" (large echinites, frequently employed as a pound-weight by dairywomen); and had no sympathy with his propensity to carve sun-dials on the soft brown "oven-stone" of his neighbourhood. Circumstances led to his becoming a mineral surveyor and civil engineer. In the former capacity he traversed the oolitic lands of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, the lias clays and red marls of Warwickshire, and other districts of geological interest; in all of which he noticed the varieties of strata and soils. In 1791 he surveyed an estate in Somersetshire, and walked to it, and far round it, to observe the strata. In 1793 he executed the surveys and completed the levellings for the line of a proposed canal, in the course of which he confirmed a previous supposition, that the strata lying above the coal were not horizontal, but inclined in one direction—to the eastward—so as to terminate successively at the surface, and to resemble, on a large scale, the ordinary disposition of the slices of bread and butter on a breakfast plate—an illustration to which he was frequently accustomed to resort in all societies and on all occasions.

On being appointed engineer to the Somerset Coal Canal in 1794, he was deputed to make a tour of observation with relation to inland navigation. During this tour, which occupied nearly two months, and extended over 900 miles, he carefully examined the geological structure of the country passed over, and corroborated his preconceived generalization of a settled order of succession in the several strata, a continuity of range at the surface, and a general declination eastward. Five years subsequently he prepared a tabular view of the "Order of the Strata, and their imbedded Organic Remains, in the neighbourhood of Bath, examined and proved prior to 1799." From this period up to 1812, he was engaged in completing and arranging the data for his large Geological Map of England and Wales, with part of Scotland, and he now commenced this publication. In 1815 the entire map was published, and was contained in fifteen large sheets, engraved on a scale of 5 miles to 1 inch. Its size was 8 feet 9 inches high, by 6 feet 2 inches wide. When this map is regarded as the result of the nearly unassisted labours of one man, not favoured by education or special tuition, it must ever remain as a signal proof of what genius and perseverance can accomplish, even although it may now be in a great measure superseded. The large map was reduced to one of an elementary form and size in 1819; and from this date to 1822 separate county geological maps were prepared by Mr Smith, and published in successive years; the whole constituting "A New Geological Atlas of England and Wales; on which are delineated by colours the Courses and Width of the Strata, which occasions the varieties of soil; calculated to elucidate the Agriculture of each County, and to shew the situation of the best materials for Building, making of Roads, the constructing of Canals, and pointing out those places where Coal and other valuable materials are likely to be found." This series included an excellent four-sheet map of Yorkshire.

It was in January 1831 that the Geological Society of London, by their Council, resolved unanimously to confer on Mr Smith the first Wollaston Medal. At the meeting of the British Association, held in Oxford, June 1832, the above medal was put into Mr Smith's possession; and the writer well remembers the simple and almost boyish glee with which the receiver exhibited his medal to every one with whom he came into contact, exclaiming many times in a morning, "Have you seen my medal?" and then producing it. A fuller and more substantial honour was conferred upon him by the Government, at the united request of English geologists, in the shape of a life-pension of L.100 per annum. The last public distinction with which he was honoured was the unexpected diploma of LL.D., conferred upon him by Trinity College, Dublin, at the meeting of the British Association in that city in 1835. At such meetings he was always, if possible, present, and always heartily welcomed and honoured. To see him in an arm- chair near the president of the geological section was to see him in his glory. He was now in his 67th year.

In 1838 he was appointed one of the Government Commissioners engaged to examine various building-stones, and to select the best for the new Houses of Parliament. Dr Smith's previous knowledge was here of signal benefit. The last years of his life were spent at Hackness (of which he made a good geological map), near Scarborough, and in the latter town. In these places the writer frequently visited him, and was impressed with his originality, devotion to geology, simplicity of character, and self-satisfied industry in observing minute phenomena. Dr Smith accumulated great numbers of geological memoranda in loose papers, which were never published. His usually robust health failed him in 1839, and on August 28th of that year he died. He once said he was born on the oolite, and should wish to be buried on it; and so he was, at Northampton. His nephew, Professor John Phillips, has penned an interesting memoir of his uncle. Of Dr Smith we may finally remark, that he laid deep and broad the foundations upon which others are now erecting an elegant and richly-sculptured temple of science.

(J. E. L.)