ADAM SMITH. 191 



tnissioner of the Customs was wholly without his soli- 

 citation, or, indeed, knowledge, until the offer was 

 made. In 1762 the University of Glasgow had con- 

 ferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, and in 

 1788 he was chosen their Kector-^an office in the gift 

 of the students, voting by four divisions or nations. 

 His letter of thanks on this occurrence shows how ex- 

 tremely gratified he was with the honour. 



Upon his appointment to the Customs he settled in 

 Edinburgh, where his venerable parent lived with him 

 till her death in 1784, as well as his cousin, Miss 

 Douglas, who died in 1788. These two losses sorely 

 afflicted his gentle and affectionate heart, for he was 

 tenderly attached to both his relations, and had never 

 known domestic comforts but in their society. He 

 lived hospitably, and saw much of his friends the 

 great lights of Scottish society in those days : Dr. 

 Black, Dr. Hutton, Dr. Kobertson, Dr. Cullen, were 

 his chosen companions ; and he took much pleasure 

 in superintending the education of his kinsman, Mr. 

 Douglas, afterwards Lord Strathenry, to whom he left 

 his choice library (the only thing, as he used to say, 

 in which he was a fop), as well as that portion of his 

 papers which he did not destroy. 



But now, although his income exceeded his wants, 

 his far more precious time was no longer his own. 

 The trivial but incessant duties of his office exhausted 

 his spirits, and distracted, though they could not fix 

 his attention. For several years he ceased to cultivate 

 letters or science, or only gave his attention to them, 

 as matters of amusement, and as food for conversation. 

 He had, indeed, in the two portions of his lectures of 

 which nothing had been published, the rich materials 

 of works in the very highest degree interesting and 

 important. But when we reflect that ten years had 

 been required, and those years passed in seclusion, to 

 systematize, to arrange, and to compose the work 

 into which were moulded the economical part of his 



