Account of 
Dr Smith, 
84 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. 
in collateral enquiries, which, upon every hypothefis that can 
be formed concerning the foundation of morals, are of equal 
importance. Of this kind is the fpeculation formerly men- 
tioned, with refpect to the influence of fortune on our moral 
fentiments, and another fpeculation, no lefs valuable, with re- 
{pect to the influence of cuftom-and fafhion on the fame part 
of our conftitution. 
Tue ftyle in which Mr Situ has conveyed the fundamental 
principles on which his theory refts, does not feem to me to be 
fo perfectly fuited to the fubject as that which he employs on 
moft other occafions. In communicating ideas which are ex- 
tremely abftract and fubtile, and about which it is hardly poffi- 
ble to reafon correctly, without the {crupulous ufe of appro- 
priated terms, he fometimes prefents to us a choice of words, 
by no means ftrictly fynonymous, fo as to divert the attention 
from a precife and fteady conception of his propofition ; and a 
fimilar effect is, in other inftances, produced by that diverfity 
of forms which, in the courfe of his copious and feducing 
compofition, the fame truth infenfibly affumes. When the fub- 
ject of his work leads him to addrefs the imagination and the 
heart; the variety and felicity of his illuftrations; the rich- 
nefs and fluency of his eloquence; and the {kill with which he 
wins the attention and commands the paffions of his readers, 
leave him, among our Englifh moralifts, without a rival. 
Tue Differtation on the Origin of Languages, which now 
forms a part of the fame volume with the Theory of Moral 
Sentiments, was, I believe, firft annexed to the fecond edition 
of that work. It is an eflay of great ingenuity, and on which 
the author himfelf fet a high value; but, in a general review 
of 
