*50] 
not have led him, in this instance, 
to generalize a little too much his 
conclusions, aud- to overlook. some 
peculiarities in the language and 
versification of that country, I shall 
‘not take upon me to determine, 
In October, 1766, the duke of 
Buccleugh returned to London. 
‘His grace, to whom I am indebted 
for several particulars in the fore- 
going narrative, will, I hope, forgive 
the liberty I take in transcribing one 
paragraph in his own words: ‘In 
October, 1766, we returned to Lon- 
don, after having spent near three 
years together, without the slightest 
disagreement or coolness; on my 
‘part, with every advantage that 
could be expected from the society 
of sucha man. We continued to 
Jive in friendship till the hour of his 
death ; and I sball always remain 
with the impression of having lost a 
friend whom I loved and respected, 
not only for his great talents, but 
for every private virtue.” 
The retirement in which Mr, 
Smith passed his next ten years, 
formed a striking contrast to the 
‘unsettled mode of life he had been 
or some time accustomed to, but 
was so congenial to bis natural dis- 
Position, and to his first habits, that 
it was with the utmost difficulty he 
“was ever persuaded to leave it. 
During the whole of this period, 
(with the exception of a few visits 
to Edinburgh and London) he re- 
mained with his mother at Kirkal- 
dy ; occupied habitually in intense 
study, but unbending his. mind, at 
times, in the company of some of his 
old school-feliows, whose ‘* sober 
wishes” had attached them to the 
place of their birth. In the society 
of such men, Mr. Smith delighted; 
and to them he was endeared, not 
enly by his simple and unassuming 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1795. 
manners, but by the perfect knows 
ledge they all possessed of those doe 
mestic virtues which had distinguish- 
ed him from his infancy. 
Mr. Hume, who (as he tells us 
’ himself) considered ‘* a town as the 
true scene for a man of letters,” 
made many attempts to seduce him 
from his retirement. “In a letter, 
dated in 1772, he urges him to pass J 
some time with him in Edinburgh. | 
“I shall not take any excuse from — 
your state of health, which I suppose 
only a subterfuge invented by indo~ } 
lence and love of solitude. Indeed, 
my dear Smith, if you continue to 
hearken to complaints of this na- 
ture, you will cut yourself out en- 
tirely from human society, to the 
great loss of both parties.” In an- } 
other letter, dated in 1769, from his 
house in James’s court, (whichcom- | 
manded a prospect: of the frith of | 
Forth, and of the opposite coast. of 
Fife) ‘* I am glad (says he) to have 
come within sight of you; but as 
I would also be within speaking- 
terms of-you, I wish we could con- 
cert measures for that purpose. I 
am mortally sick at sea, and regard 
with horror and a kind of hydro- 
phobia the great gulph that lies be- 
tween uss I amralso tired of tra- 
velling, as much as you ought ne- 
turally to be of staying at home. I 
therefore propose to you to come 
hither, and pass some days with me 
in this solitude. I want to know 
what you have been doing, and pro- 
pese to exact a rigorous account of 
the method in which you have em- 
ployed yourself during your retreat. 
I am positive you are in the wrong 
in many of your speculations, es- 
pecially where you have the mis- 
fortune to differ from me. All these 
are reasons for our meeting, and I 
wish you would make me some rea- 
sonable 
