APPENDIX. 57 
the fcanty materials, which form the firft part of this narra- 
tive. 
Amonc thefe companions of his earlieft years, ‘Mr Smiru 
foon attracted notice, by his paflion for books, and by the 
extraordinary powers of his memory. The weaknefs of -his 
bodily conftitution prevented him from partaking in their more 
active amufements ; but he was much beloved by them on ac- 
count of his temper, which, though warm, was to an uncom- 
mon degree friendly and generous. -Even then he was re- 
markable for thofe habits which remained with him through 
life, of fpeaking to himfelf when alone, and of ab/ence in 
company. - 
From the grammar-fchool of Kirkaldy, he was fent, in 
1737, to the Univerfity of Glafgow, where he remained till 
1740, when he went to Balliol College, Oxford, as an exhibi- 
tioner on SNELL’s foundation. 
Dr Mactaine of the Hague, who was a fellow-ftudent of 
Mr Smitn’s at Glafgow, told me fome years ago, that his fa- 
vourite purfuits while at that Univerfity were Mathematics and 
Natural Philofophy ; and | remember to have heard my father 
remind him of a geometrical problem of confiderable difficulty, - 
about which he was occupied at the time when their acquaint- 
ance commenced, and which had been propofed to him as an 
exercife by the celebrated Dr Simpson. 
THESE, however, were certainly not the fciences in which 
he was formed to excel; nor did they long divert him from 
purfuits more congenial to his mind. What Lord Bacon fays 
of PLATO may be juftly applied to him: “ Illum, licet ad 
“ rempublicam non accefliffet, tamen natura et inclinatione 
omnino ad res civiles propenfum, vires eo prxcipue intendifle ;x 
neque de Philofophia Naturali admodum follicitum efle ; nifi 
quatenus ad Philofophi nomen et celebritatem tuendam, et 
ad majeftatem quandam moralibus et civilibus dotrinis ad- 
dendam et afpergendam fufficeret*.” The ftudy of human 
Vot. III. (H) nature 
* Redargutio Philofophiarum. 
‘e 
se 
6é 
Account of 
Dr Smith, 
