APPENDIX. 61 



Of Mr Smith's lectures while a ProfefTor at Glafgow, no Account of 



Dr Smith. 



part has been preferved, excepting what he himfelf publifhed 

 in the Theory of Moral Sentiments and in the Wealth of Na- 

 tions. The Society therefore, I am perfuaded, will liften with 

 pleafure to the following fhort account of them, for which I 

 am indebted to a gentleman who was formerly one of Mr , 

 Smith's pupils, and who continued till his death to be one of 

 his moft intimate and valued friends. 



" In the ProfefTorfhip of Logic, to which Mr Smith was 

 appointed on his firft introduction into this Univerfity, he foon 

 faw the neceflity of departing widely from the plan that had 

 been followed by his predeceflbrs, and of directing the atten- 

 tion of his pupils to ftudies of a more interefting and ufeful 

 nature than the logic and metaphyfics of the fchools. Accord- 

 ingly, after exhibiting a general view "of the powers of the 

 mind, and explaining fo much of the ancient logic as was re- 

 quisite to gratify curiofity with refpect to an artificial method 

 of reafoning, which had once occupied the univerfal attention 

 of the learned, he dedicated all the reft of his time to the de- 

 livery of a fyftem of rhetoric and belles lettres. The befl me- 

 thod of explaining and illuftrating the various powers of the 

 human mind, the moft ufeful part of metaphyfics, arifes from. 

 an examination of the feveral ways of communicating our 

 thoughts by fpeech, and from an attention to the principles of 

 thofe literary compositions, which contribute to perfuafion or en- 

 tertainment. By thefe arts, every thing that we perceive or feel, 

 every operation of our minds, is exprefTed and delineated in 

 fuch a manner, that it may be clearly diftinguilhed and remem- 

 bered. There is, at the fame time, no branch of literature 

 more fuited to youth at their firft entrance upon philofophy 

 than this, which lays hold of their tafte and their feelings. 



' It is much to be regretted, that the manufcript contain- 

 ing Mr Smith's ledures on this fubjed was deftroyed before 

 his death. The firft part, in point of compofition, was highly 



flnifhed ; 



