82 HISTORY of the SOCIETT. 



Account of Mr Smith's opinion concerning the nature of Virtue, is in- 



volved in his Theory concerning the principle ot moral appro- 

 bation. The idea of virtue, he thinks, always implies the idea 

 of propriety, or of the fuitablenefs of the affection to the object 

 which excites it ; which fuitablenefs, according to him, can be 

 determined in no other way than by the fympathy of impartial 

 fpeclators with the motives of the agent. But ftill he appre- 

 hends, that this defcription of virtue is incomplete; for al- 

 though in every virtuous action propriety is an effential ingre- 

 dient, it is not always the fole ingredient. Beneficent actions 

 have in them another quality, by which they appear, not only 

 to deferve approbation, but recompenfe, and excite a fuperior 

 degree of efteem, arifing from a double fympathy with the mo- 

 tives of the agent, and the gratitude of thofe who are the objects 

 of his affection. In this refpect, beneficence appears to him to 

 be diftinguifhed from the inferior virtues of prudence, vigilance, 

 circumfpection, temperance, conftancy, firmnefs, which are al- 

 , ways regarded with approbation, but which confer no merit. 



This diftinction, he apprehends, has not been fufficiently at- 

 tended to by moralifts ; the principles of fome affording no ex- 

 planation of the approbation we beftow on the inferior virtues ; 

 and thofe of others accounting as imperfectly for the peculiar 

 excellency which the fupreme virtue of beneficence is acknow- 

 ledged to poffefs. 



Such are the outlines of Mr Smith's Theory of Moral Sen- 

 timents ; a work which, whatever opinion we may entertain of 

 the juftnefs of its conclusions, muft be allowed by all to be a 

 lingular -effort of invention, ingenuity and fubtilty. For my own 

 part, I muft confefs, that it does not coincide with my notions 

 concerning the foundation of Morals j but I am convinced, at 

 the fame time, that it contains a large mixture of important 

 truth, and that, although the author has fometimes been mifled 

 by too great a defire of generalizing his principles, he has had 

 3 the 



