*46] 
talents, that, notwithstanding the 
reluctance, 80 common among men 
of business, to listen to the conclu- 
sions of mere speculation, and the 
direct opposition of his leading 
principles to all the old maxims of 
trade, he was able, before he quit- 
ted his situation in the university, 
to rank some very eminent mers 
chants in the number of his pro- 
selytes. 
Among the students who at- 
tended his lectures, and whose minds 
were not previously warped by pre- 
judice, the progress of his opinions, 
it may be reasonably supposed, was 
much more rapid. It was this class 
of his friends, accordingly, that first 
adopted his system with eagerness, 
and diffused a knowledge of its 
fundamental principles over this part 
of the kingdom. 
Towards the end of 1763, Mr. 
Smith received an invitation from 
Mr. Charles Townsend, to accom- 
pany the duke of Buccleugh on his 
travels; and the liberal terms in 
which the proposal was made to 
him, added to the strong desire he 
had felt of visiting the continent of 
Europe, induced him to resign his 
office at Glasgow. With the con- 
nection which he was led to form, 
in consequence of this change in his 
situation, he had reason to be satis. 
fied in an uncommon degree, and 
he always spoke of it with pleasure 
and gratitude. To the public, it 
was not perhaps a change equally 
fortunate; as it interrupted that 
studious leisure for which nature 
seems to have destined him, and in 
which alone he could have hoped 
to accomplish those literary projects 
which had flattered the ambition of 
his youthful genius. 
The alteration, however, which 
. 
! 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1795. 
from this period took place in his 
habits, was not without its advane 
tages. He had hitherto lived chiefly 4 
within the walls of an university ; 
and although, to a mind like his, the 
observation of human nature on the . 
smallest scale is sufficient to convey 
a tolerably just conception of what 
passes on the great theatre of the 
world, yet it is not to be doubted, 
that the variety of scenes, through 
which he afterwards passed, must 
have enriched his mind with many 
new ideas, and corrected many of 
those misapprehensions of life and 
manners which the best descriptions 
of them can scarcely fail to convey 
—But whatever were the lights that 
his travels afforded to him, as a stu- 
dent of human nature, they were 
probably useful in a still greater 
degree, in enabling him to perfect 
that system of political economy, 
of which he had already delivered 
the principles in» his lectures at 
Glasgow, and which it was now 
the leading object of his studies to 
prepare for the public. - The co- 
incidence between some of these 
principles and the distinguishing 
tenets of the French ceconomists, who 
were at that very time in the height 
of their reputation, and the inti- 
macy in which he lived with some 
of the leaders of that sect, could not 
fail to assist him in methodizing and 
digesting his speculations ; while the 
valuable collection of facts, accu-~ 
mulated by the zealous industry of 
their numerous adherents, furnished 
him with ample materials for illus=, 
trating and confirming his theoreti- 
cal conclusions. 
After leaving Glasgow, Mr. Smith 
joined the duke of Buccleugh, at 
London, early in the year 1764, 
and set out with him for the con- 
tinent, 
