‘ ; i 
Rae CHARACTERS. 
sonable proposal for that purpose. 
There is no-habitation on the island 
of Inchkeith, otherwise I ‘should 
challenge you to meet me on that 
‘spot; and neither of -us ever to 
leave the place, till we were fully 
agreed on all points of controversy. 
J expect general Conway here to+ 
morrow, whom I shall attend to 
Roseneath, and I shall remain there 
afew days. On my return, I hope 
to find a letter from you, containing 
a bold acceptance of this defiance.” 
» At length (if the beginning of 
the year 1776) Mr. Smith accounted 
to the world. for his long retreat, 
‘by the publication of his Inquiry 
into the Nature and Causes of 
‘the Wealth of Nations.” <A letter 
of congratulation, on this event, 
from Mr. Hume, is now before me. 
At is dated ist April, 1776,, (about 
six months before Mr. Hume’s 
.death) ; and discovers an amia- 
-ble solicitude about his friend’s lite- 
rary fame. ‘* Euge! Belle! dear 
-Mr. Smith: I am much pleased 
with your performance, and the pe- 
rusal of it has taken me from a state 
of great anxiety, It was a work of 
so much expectation, by yourself, 
by your friends, and by the public, 
that I trembled for its appearance ; 
but am now much relieved. Not 
but that the reading of it necessarily 
requires so much attention, and the 
public is disposed to give so httle, 
-that I shall still doubt for some 
time of its being at first very popu- 
lar. Butit has depth, and solidity, 
and acuteness, and is so inuch illus- 
trated by curious facts, that it must 
at last take the public attention. It 
is probably much improved by 
-your last abode in London. If you 
were here, at my fire-side, | should 
aispute some of your principles, 
-+. But these, and a hundred other 
[*s1 
points, 4re fit only to be Aicuniéas in 
conversation. I hope it will be soon; 
for lamina very bad state of health, 
and cannot afford a long delay.” 
About two years after the publi- 
cation of * the Wealth of Nations,” 
Mr. Smith was appointed one of 
the commissioners of his»majesty’s 
customs in Scotland ; a preferment 
which, in bis estimation, der ved an 
additional value from its being be 
stowed on him at the request of the 
duke of Buccleugh. The greater 
part of these two years he passed at 
London, ina society too extensive 
and vaned to afford him any oppor- 
tunity of indulging, his taste for 
study, His time, however, was not 
lost to himself; for much of it was 
spent with some of the first names in 
English hterature. » Of these no un- 
favourable specimen is preserved by 
Dr. Barnard, in his well known 
“¢ Verses addressed to sir Joshua 
Reynolds and his friends :” 
If have thoughts, and can’t express em, 
Gibbon shall teach ine how to dress ” em 
In words select and terse: : 
Jones teach me modesty and Greek, 
‘Smith how to think, Burke how to speek, 
And Beauclerc to converse. 
In consequence of Mr. Smith’s 
appointment to the board of cus- 
toms, be removed, in -1778, to 
Edinburgh, -where he spent the last 
twelve years of his lite; enjoying 
an affluence which was more ‘than 
equal’ to all hs wants: and, what 
was'to him of still greater ‘value, 
the prospect of passing the remains 
der of his days among the’ compa* 
nions of his youth. 
His mother, who, though now 
in extreme old age, still possessed a 
considerable degree of health, and 
retained all her faculties unimpaired, 
accompanied him to town; and his 
[*D 2} cousin 
