ADAM SMITH. 99 



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 edu- 

 cation devolved upon his mother, and was most carefully 

 and affectionately 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 Saltoun describes as having in his day be- 

 come so numerous as to form 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 remained at Glasgow for three 

 years, when he obtained an exhibition to Baliol College. 



At Oxford he remained for seven years, and applied 



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