Account of 
Dr Smith, 
136 HISTORY of th SOCIETY. 
clufions that we admire in his writings ; and he generally con- 
tented himfelf with a bold and matfterly fketch of the obje@, 
from the firft point of view in which his temper, or his fancy, 
prefented it. Something of the fame kind might be remarked, 
when he attempted, in the flow of his fpirits, to delineate thofe 
characters which, from long intimacy, he might have been fup- 
pofed to underftand thoroughly. The picture was always lively, 
and expreflive ; and commonly bore a {trong and amufing re- 
femblance to the original, when viewed under one particular 
afpect ; but feldom, perhaps, conveyed a juft and complete con- 
~ ception of it in all its dimenfions and proportions.—In a word, 
it was the fault of his unpremeditated judgments, to be too 
fyftematical, and too much in extremes. 
But, in whatever way thefe trifling peculiarities in his man- 
ners may be explained, there can be no doubt, that they were 
intimately connected with the genuine artleffaefs of his mind. 
In this amiable quality, he often recalled to his friends, the ac- 
counts that are given of good LA FonTAINE; a quality which 
in him derived a peculiar grace from the fingularity of its 
combination with thofe powers of reafon 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 un- 
common. When perfectly at eafe, and when warmed with 
converfation, his geftures were animated, and not ungraceful 3. 
and, in the fociety of thofe he loved, his features were often 
brightened with a fmile of inexpreffible benignity. In the 
company of ftrangers, his tendency to abfence, and perhaps ftill 
more his confcioufnefs of this tendency, rendered his manner 
fomewhat embarrafled ;—an_ effet which was probably not.a, 
little heightened by thofe fpeculative ideas of propriety, which 
his reclufe habits tended at once to perfect in his conception, 
and to diminifh his power of realizing. He, never fat for. his 
I picture 3. 
