84 HISTORr of the SOCIETY. 



Drs° u "h° f * n co ^ atera ^ enquiries, which, upon every hypothefis that can 

 be formed concerning the foundation of morals, are of equal 

 importance. Of this kind is the fpeculation formerly men- 

 tioned, with refpect to the influence of fortune on our moral 

 fentiments, and another fpeculation, no lefs valuable, with re- 

 fpecl to the influence of cuftom and fafhion on the fame part 

 of our conftitution. 



The ftyle in which Mr Smith has conveyed the fundamental 

 principles on which his theory refts, does not feem to me to be 

 fo perfectly fuited to the fubjecl as that which he employs on 

 moft other occafions. In communicating ideas which are ex- 

 tremely abftract and fubtile, and about which it is hardly pofll- 

 ble to reafon correctly, without the fcrupulous ufe of appro- 

 priated terms, he fometimes prefents to us a choice of words, 

 by no means ftriclly fynonymous, fo as to divert the attention 

 from a precife and fleady conception of his proportion ; and a 

 fimilar effect is, in other inftances, produced by that diverfity 

 of forms which, in the courfe of his copious and feducing 

 compofltion, the fame truth infenfibly aflumes. When the fub- 

 jecl of his work leads him to addrefs the imagination and the 

 heart ; the variety and felicity of his illuftrations ; the rich- 

 nefs and fluency of his eloquence ; and the (kill with which he 

 wins the attention and commands the pamons of his readers, 

 leave him, among our Englifh moralifts, without a rival. 



The Diflertation on the Origin of Languages, which now 

 forms a part of the fame volume with the Theory of Moral 

 Sentiments, was, I believe, firfi: annexed to the fecond edition 

 of that work. It is an effay of great ingenuity, and on which 

 the author himfelf fet a high value j but, in a general review 



of 



