ADAM SMITH. 177 



prevent us from supposing, as men are always prone 

 to do, that he whose merit as a great improver can 

 hardly be estimated too highly, was also the creator of 

 the system which he so largely 'contributed to extend 

 and to consolidate. We may now proceed to the his- 

 tory of his life. 



Adam Smith was born at Kirkaldy, in the Scotch 

 county of Fife, on the 5th of June, 1723, and was 

 a posthumous child, his father having died a few 

 months before. That gentleman was ^Controller of 

 the Customs at the port, having been originally bred 

 to the law, and afterwards held the office of Private 

 Secretary to Lord Loudon, Secretary of State, and 

 keeper of the Great Seal. His wife was a daughter 

 of Mr. Douglas, of Strathenry. They had no other 

 child but the philosopher, whose education devolved 

 upon his mother, and was most carefully and affection- 

 ately conducted. 



When a child of only three years old, he was stolen 

 by a gang of the vagrants, called in Scotland, tinkers, and 

 resembling gipsies in their habits the same race which 

 Fletcher of JSaltoun describes as having in his day 

 become so numerous that they formed a considerable 

 proportion of the Scottish people. It was a fortunate 

 circumstance, that being soon missed, his uncle, at 

 whose house he was residing, pursued the wretches, 

 and restored him to his affrighted parent. 



He received the first rudiments of his education at 

 the school of David Miller, an eminent teacher, several 

 of whose pupils filled important public stations in after 

 life. Being of weak constitution in his early years, 

 books formed his only amusement, and his companions 

 retained all their lives a lively recollection of his 

 devotion to reading and of the great tenacity of his 

 memory. He was also remarkable even in those early 

 days for that absence which so distinguished him in 

 company ever after. At the age of fourteen, as is 

 usual in Scotland, he was sent to the University, and 



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