CHARA 
his bowels, was lingering and pain- 
ful ; but had every consolation to 
sooth it which he could derive from 
the tenderest sympathy of his friends, 
and from the complete resignation of 
his own mind. 
A few days before his death, 
finding his end approach rapidly, 
he gave orders to destroy all his ma- 
nuscripts, excepting some detached 
essays, which he entrusted to the 
care of his executors; and they 
were accordingly committed to the 
flames. What were the particular 
contents of these papers is not 
known, even to his most intimate 
friends; but there can be no doubt 
that they consisted, in part, of the 
lectures on rhetoric, which he read 
at Edinburgh in the year 1748, and 
of the lectures on natural religion 
and on jurisprudence, which form- 
ed part of his course at Glasgow. 
That this irreparable injury to letters 
proceeded, in some degree, from 
an excessive solicitude in the, au- 
thor about his posthumous repute- 
tion, may perhaps be true: but 
with respect to some of his manu- 
scripts, may we not suppose, that 
he was influenced by byghé?, mo- 
tives? It is but seldom that a phi- 
losopher, who has been occupied 
from his youth with moral or with 
political enquiries, succeeds com- 
pletely to his wish in stating to 
others, the grounds upon which his 
own opinions are founded; and 
hence it is, that the known princi- 
ples of an individual, who has ap- 
proved to the public his candour, 
his liberality, and his judgment, 
are entitled to a weight and an au- 
thority, independent of the evidence 
which he is able, upon any par« 
Scular occasion, to produce in their 
support. 
this circumstance, and an: appre- 
A secret consciousness of 
CTERS. (#53 
hension, that by not doing justice 
to an important argument, the pro- 
gress of truth may be rather retard« 
ed than advanced, have probably 
induced many authors-to with-hold 
from the world the unfinished re- 
sults of their most valuable labours ; 
and to content themselves with giv- 
ing the general sanction of their 
~sufirages to truths which they re- 
garded as peculiarly interesting to 
the human race. 
The additions to the Theory of 
Moral Sentiments; most of which 
were composed under severe dis 
ease, had fortunately been sent to 
the press in the beginning of the 
preceding winter; and the author 
lived to see the publication of the 
work, The moral and serious strain 
that prevails through these additions, 
when connected with the circums 
stance of his declining health, ‘adds 
a peculiar charm to his pathetic elo= 
quence; and communicates a new 
interest, if possible, to those sub- 
lime truths, which, in the acades 
mical retirement of his youth, a- 
wakened the first ardours of his ge- 
nius, and on which the last efforts of 
his mind reposed. 
In a letter addressed, in the year 
1787, to the principal of the uni« 
versity, of Glasgow, in consequence 
of his being elected rector of that 
learned body, a pleasing memorial 
remains of the satisfaction with 
which he always recollected that 
period of his literary career, which 
had been more peculiarly conse+ 
crated to these important studies. 
‘* No preferment (says he) could 
have given me so much real satis- 
faction. No man can owe greater 
obligations to a society than I do to 
the university of Glasgow. They 
educated me; they sent me to Ox- - 
ford. Soon after my return” to 
[*D 3] Scotland, 
