S M I 
To kill; to destroy.—The servants of David had smitten 
of Benjamin’s men, so that three hundred and threescore 
died. 2 Sam. —To afflict; to chasten. A scriptural ex¬ 
pression. —Let us not mistake God’s goodness, nor imagine, 
because he smites us, that we are forsaken by him. Wake. 
_To blast. Also scriptural. —And the flax and the bar¬ 
ley was smitten, but the wheat and the rye not. Exod .— 
To affect with any passion. This is almost the only mo¬ 
dern use of the word. 
I wander where the Muses haunt, 
Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill, 
Smit with the love of sacred song. Milton. 
To SMITE, v. n. To strike; to collide.—The heart 
melteth, and the knees smite together. Nahum. 
SMITE, s. A blow. Used in the midland counties. 
SMI'TER, s. One who smites_I gave my back to 
the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the 
hair. Isaiah. 
SMITH, s. jjmiS, Saxon; pmitan, to beat, to striked] 
One who forges with his hammer; one who works in metals. 
He doth nothing but talk of his horse, and can shoe him : 
I am afraid his mother played false with a smith. 
Shakspeare. 
He that makes or effects any thing. 
The doves repented, though too late. 
Become the smiths of their own foolish fate. Dryden. 
To SMITH, v. a. [j-miSian, Sax.] To beat into shape, 
as a smith. See Smithing. 
A smith, men callen dan Gerveis, 
That in his forge smithed plow-harneis. Chaucer. 
SMITH (Adam), a distinguished writer in moral and 
political philosophy, was born in the year 1723, at Kirkaldy, 
in Fifeshire, where his father held the comptrollership of 
the customs. He received his early education under the 
care of his mother, then a widow, at the school of Kirkaldy, 
where he was noticed for an extraordinary passion for 
reading. At the age of fourteen he was removed to the 
university of Glasgow, in which he spent three years, attend¬ 
ing, among the other lectures, those of the celebrated pro¬ 
fessor Hutcheson. In 1740 he was sent as a pensioner to Ba- 
liol college, Oxford. Here he spent seven years, and it is 
thought that during this period he employed himself chiefly 
in acquiring an exact knowledge of the languages, ancient 
and modern, and in cultivating an English style, by the 
practice of translating works of high reputation into his own 
language. Upon quitting the university he abandoned all 
thoughts of entering into the English church, for which 
purpose he had been sent thither, and went to Edinburgh, 
and found a friend and patron in Lord Kaimes. In 1751 he 
was elected professor of logic at Glasgow, from which he 
was removed, in the following year, to that of moral philo¬ 
sophy. He now felt that he was in a situation accommo¬ 
dated to his talents and disposition, and in later life he was 
accustomed to speak of his residence and employment at 
Glasgow as the most useful and happiest portion of his 
life. His lectures, both logical and moral, were extremely 
popular; and his manner of delivering them, if not graceful, 
was said to be highly impressive. In those on moral phi ■ 
losophy were contained the rudiments of his two most 
celebrated works as an author. Of these, the first is entitled 
« The Theory of Moral Sentiments,” and appeared in the 
year 1759. The fundamental principle is sympathy, which 
the author makes the source of our feelings concerning the 
propriety or impropriety of actions, and their good or ill 
desert. To this work he afterwards subjoined “ A Disserta¬ 
tion on the Origin of Languages.” These works were 
extremely well received, and gave him a place among the 
best writers of the time. They also made him known to 
several eminent characters; and it was in consequence of the 
reputation thus acquired, that he was engaged to accompany 
the Duke of Buccleugh in his travels. He of course resigned 
his office as professor, and in the beginning of the year 
SMI 303 
1764, he set out for the continent. He had now an oppor¬ 
tunity of comparing the ideas which he had already formed 
respecting political economy, with those of the ablest men 
in foreign countries, and also with facts that presented them¬ 
selves to his observation in the course of his travels. A long 
residence in France introduced him to the acquaintance of 
Turgot, Quesnai, Necker, D’Alembert, Helvetius, Marmontel, 
and others, to whose particular notice he was recommended 
by his countryman David Hume, with whom he had long 
been in habits of friendship. He returned to his own 
country in the autumn of 1766, and the following ten years 
he passed in retirement with his mother at the obscure town 
of Kirkaldy. Here he was habitually employed in reading, 
the fruits of which were at length given to the world in his 
celebrated “ Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the 
Wealth of Nations.” This work has long been a standard 
work, not only in our own country, but throughout Europe. 
It has been studied and referred to by all who pay attention 
to the important political topics on which it treats. After 
the publication of this “ Inquiry,” he spent a great part of 
two years in London, where his society was courted by 
persons of the highest rank in the philosophical and literary 
world. In the year 1778 he obtained, through the interest 
of the Duke of Buccleugh, the lucrative place of a commis¬ 
sioner of the customs of Scotland, in consequence of which 
he removed to Edinburgh, which was thenceforth the place 
of his residence. His mother, who lived to a great age, 
spent her last days with him here. After the death of his 
friend, Mr. Hume, he published that philosopher’s memoirs 
of his own life, with some additions, in which he expressed 
himself so favourably with regard to the character and 
opinions of the deceased, that it was readily inferred his own 
sentiments with respect to revealed religion could not be very 
different from those of his friend, which drew upon him an 
attack in an anonymous letter, since known to have been 
from the pen of the late Dr. Horne, afterwards bishop of 
Norwich. In 1787 he was appointed rector of the university 
of Glasgow, and in 1790 he died, at the age of sixty- 
seven. A few days before his death he caused all his papers 
to be burnt, except a few Essays, which have since been 
published. 
Dr. Smith was a man of great simplicity of character, 
subject to absence of mind in society, and fitter for specu¬ 
lative than active life. He was much beloved by his friends, 
and possessed a calm and benignant disposition. Of the ori¬ 
ginality and comprehensiveness of his views, the extent, 
variety, and the correctness of his information, and the inex¬ 
haustible fertility of his invention, he has left lasting monu¬ 
ments behind him. To his private worth, the most certain 
of all testimonies may be found in that confidence, respect, 
and attachment, which followed him through all the various 
relations of life. When perfectly at ease, and when warmed 
with conversation, his gestures were animated and not un¬ 
graceful ; and in the society of those whom he loved, his 
features were often brightened by a smile of inexpressible 
benignity. 
SMITH (Sir Thomas), an eminent scholar and statesman 
of the 15t’n century, was born at Saffron-Walden, in Essex, 
in 1524. He was educated for, and sent early to. Queen’s 
college, Cambridge, and by his proficiency in learning ob¬ 
tained a pension as king’s scholar. He was sent on various 
embassies to the court of France, and- during one of his 
residences in that country he composed his work “ On the 
Commonwealth of England,” by which he is chiefly 
known. 
SMITH, a township of the United States, in Washington 
county, Pennsylvania. Population 1646. 
SMITH, a county of the United States, on the north side 
of West Tennessee. Population 11,649, including 2201 
slaves. Chief town, Dixon’s Springs. 
SMITH’S ISLAND, an island of the United States, in 
North Carolina, at the mouth of Cape Fear river. Cape Fear 
is the south-east point of it. 
SMITH, Cape, a cape on the east coast of Hudson’s Bay. 
Lat. 61. N. long. 79. 40. W. 
SMITH'S 
