Account of 
Dr Smith. 
134 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. 
refpect which his abilities commanded ; and, although to his in- 
timate friends, they added aninexpreflible charm to his conver- 
fation, while they difplayed, in the moft interefting light, the 
artlefs fimplicity of his heart; yet it would require a very {kil- 
ful pencil to prefent them to the public eye. He was certainly 
not fitted for the general commerce of the world, or for the bu- 
finefs of adtive life. ‘The comprehenfive fpeculations with 
which he had been occupied from his youth, and the variety of 
materials which his own invention continually fupplied to his 
thoughts, rendered him habitually inattentive to familiar objects, 
and to common occurrences; and he frequently exhibited in- 
{tances of abfence, which have fcarcely been furpafled by the 
fancy of BRuyERE. Even in company, he was apt to be in- 
groffed with his ftudies ; and appeared, at times, by the motion 
of his lips, as well as by his looks and geftures, to be in the fer- 
vour of compofition. I have often, however, been ftruck, at 
the diftance of years, with his accurate memory of the moft 
trifling particulars ; and am inclined to believe, from this and 
fome other circumftances, that he poffeffed a power, not perhaps 
uncommon among abfent men, of recollecting, in confequence 
of fubfequent efforts of reflection, many occurrences which, at 
the time when they happened, did not feem to have fenfibly at- 
tracted his notice. 
To the defect now mentioned, it was sbabky owing, in 
part, that he did not fall in eafily with the common dialogue of 
converfation, and that he was fomewhat apt to convey his own 
ideas in the form of a lecture. When he did fo, however, it 
never proceeded from a wifh to ingrofs the difcourfe, or to gra- 
tify his vanity. His own inclination difpofed him fo ftrongly 
to enjoy in filence the gaiety of thofe around him, that his 
friends were often led to concert little {chemes, in order to 
bring him on the fubjeéts moft likely to intereft him. Nor do 
I think I fhall be accufed of going too far, when I fay, that he 
was 
