Account of 
Dr Smith. 
106 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. 
“and the public is difpofed to give fo little, that I fhall ftill 
“ doubt for fome time of its being at firft very popular. But 
it has depth and folidity and acutenefs, and is fo much illu- 
{trated by curious fads, that it mult at laft take the public 
attention. It is probably much improved by your laft abode 
in London. If you were here at my fire-fide, 1 fhould dif- 
pute tome of your priticiplésy i P21 WI i COP. But 
thefe, and a hundred other points, are fit only to be difcuf- 
fed in converfation. I hope it will be foon; for I am in 
a very bad {tate of health, and cannot afford a long de- 
lay.” 
Or a book which is now fo univerfally known as “ The 
Wealth of Nations,’’ it might be confidered perhaps as fuper- 
fluous to give a particular analyfis ; and at any rate, the limits 
of this effay make it impoflible for me to attempt it at pre- 
fent. A few remarks, however, on the object and tendency 
of the work may, I hope, be introduced without impropriety. 
The hiftory of a Philofopher’s life can contain little more 
- than the hiftory of his fpeculations ; and in the cafe of fuch 
an author as Mr Smitu, whofe ftudies were fyftematically di- 
rected from his youth to fubjects of the laft importance to 
human happinefs, a review of his writings, while it ferves to 
illuftrate the peculiarities of his genius, affords the molt faith- 
ful picture of his character as a man. 
SECTION 
