118 ADAM SMITH. 



every Sunday, and that evening there was a pretty numer- 

 ous society of them. Dr. Smith not being able to sit up 

 with them as usual, retired to bed before supper, and as 

 he went away, took leave of his friends by saying, *I 

 believe we must adjourn this meeting to some other 

 place !' " He died a very few days afterwards. Mr. Rid- 

 del, an intimate friend of Dr. Smith's, who was present at 

 one of the conversations on the subject of the manuscripts, 

 mentioned to Mr. Stewart, in addition to Dr. Button's 

 note, that he " regretted he had done so little, adding, ' I 

 meant to have done more, and there are materials in my 

 papers of which I could have made a great deal, but that 

 is now out of the question/ " 



In the latter period of his life, and while suffering 

 under the illness which proved fatal, he made some 

 important additions to his ' Theory of Moral Sentiments.' 

 Of these, some of the most eloquent passages of his whole 

 writings, Mr. Stewart has beautifully said, " that the moral 

 and serious strain which prevails through those additions, 

 when connected with the circumstances of his declining 

 health, adds a peculiar charm to his pathetic eloquence, 

 and communicates a new interest, if possible, to those 

 sublime truths, which in the academical retreat of his 

 youth awakened the first ardours of his genius, and on 

 which the last efforts of his mind reposed/' 



In 1795, a volume of posthumous works was published, 

 consisting of four Essays. The first is a portion of the 

 extensive work which he had begun, on the principles 

 which lead to and direct philosophical inquiries ; these 

 he illustrates from the history of astronomy, of ancient 

 physics, and ancient logic and metaphysics. His second 

 is an Essay upon the imitative arts ; the third on certain 



