APPENDIX, i6$ 



s * in fpeakine - terms of you, I wifli we could concert meafures Account of 



r i r ^' Smith. 



" for that purpofe. 1 am mortally uck at lea, and regard with 

 " horror and a kind of hydrophobia the great gulph that lies 

 " between us. I am alfo tired of travelling, as much as you 

 " ouo-ht naturally to be of flaying at home. I therefore pro- 

 *' pofe to you to come hither, and pafs fome days with me in 

 " this folitude. 1 want to know what you have been doing, 

 " and propofe to exact a rigorous account of the method in 

 " which you have employed yourfelf during your retreat. I 

 u am pofitive you are in the wrong in many of your fpecula- 

 " tions, efpecially where you have the misfortune to differ from 

 u me. All thefe are reafons for our meeting, and I with you 

 " would make me fome reafonable propofal for that purpofe. 

 " There is no habitation on the ifland of Inchkeith, otherwife 

 <f I fhould challenge you to meet me on that fpot, and neither 

 " of us ever to leave the place, till we were fully agreed on all 

 " points of controverfy. I expect General Conway here to- 

 " morrow, whom I fhall attend to Rofeneath, and I fhall re- 

 " main there a few days. On my return, I hope to find a 

 " letter from you, containing a bold acceptance of this de- 

 " fiance." 



At length (in the beginning of the year 1776) Mr Smith 

 accounted to the world for his long retreat, by the publication 

 of his " Inquiry into the Nature and Caufes of the Wealth of 

 Nations." A letter of congratulation on this event, from Mr 

 Hume, is now before me. It is dated ift April 1776, (about 

 fix months before Mr Hume's death) ; and difcovers an ami- 

 able folicitude about his friend's literary fame. " Euge! Belle.' 

 " Dear Mr Smith : I am much pleafed with your perform- 

 " ance, and the perufal of it has taken me from a ftate of 

 " great anxiety. It was a work of fo much expectation, by 

 " yourfelf, by your friends, and by the public, that I trembled 

 " for its appearance ; but am now much relieved. Not but 

 " that the reading of it necefTarily requires fo much attention, 



Vol. III. (O) " and 



