286 ADAM SMITH. 



knowledge only within these few days. If you can be of 

 any service to him, you could not possibly do a more obliging 

 thing to me. The Duke and Duchess of Buccleugh have 

 been here now for almost a fortnight ; they begin to open 

 their house on Monday next, and I flatter myself will both 

 be very agreeable to the people of this country. I am not 

 sure that I have ever seen a more agreeable woman than 

 the Duchess. I am sorry that you are not here, because 

 I am sure you would be perfectly in love with her. I shall 

 probably be here some weeks ; I would wish, however, that 

 both you and the Count de Sarsfield would direct for me as 

 usual at Kirkaldy. I should be glad to know the true 

 history of Eousseau before and since he left England. 

 You may perfectly depend upon my never quoting you to 

 any living soul upon that subject. 



" I ever am, dear Sir, 



" Most faithfully yours, 



"ADAM SMITH." 



The following letter relates to his unhappy determination 

 of having all his papers destroyed. 



" MY DEAB FRIEND, EDINBURGH, April 16th, 1773. 



" As I have left the care of all my literary papers to 

 you, I must tell you that, except those which I carry along 

 with me, there are none worth the publishing but a frag- 

 ment of a great work, which contains a history of the As- 

 tronomical Systems that were successively in fashion down 

 to the time of Des Cartes. Whether that might not be 

 published as a fragment of an intended juvenile work I leave 

 entirely to your judgment, though I begin to suspect myself, 

 that there is more refinement than solidity in some parts of 

 it. This little work you will find in a thin folio paper 

 book, in my writing-desk in my book-room ; all the other 

 loose papers, which you will find either in that desk or 

 within the glass folding doors of a bureau, which stands in 

 my bed-room, together with about eighteen thin paper folio 

 books, which you will likewise find within the same glass 

 folding doors, I desire may be destroyed without any exa- 

 mination. Unless I die very suddenly, I shall take care 



