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not been employed in labours more profitable to the world, and more equal to his mind.

During the first years of his refidence in this city, his ftudies feemed to be entirely fufpended; and his paffion for letters feemed only to amufe his leifure, and to animate his converfation. The infirmities of age, of which he very early began to feel the approaches, reminded him at last, when it was too late, of what he owed to the public, and his own fame. The principal materials of the works which he had announced, had been long ago collected; and little pro bably was wanting, but a few years of health and retirement, to bestow on them that fyftematical arrangement in which he delighted; and the ornaments of that flowing, and apparently artlefs ftyle, which he had ftudiously cultivated, but which, after all his experience in compofition, he adjusted, with extreme difficulty, to his own taste *.

The death of his mother in 184, which was followed by that of Mifs Douglas in 1788, contributed, it is probable, to fruftrate thefe projects. They had been the objects of his affection for more than fixty years; and in their fociety he had enjoyed, from his infancy, all that he ever knew of the endear ments of a family. He was now alone, and helpless; and, though he bore his lofs with equanimity, and regained apparently his former cheerfulness, yet his

* Mr Smith_observed to me, (says his biographer,) not long before his death, that after all his practice in writing, he compofed as flowly, and with as great difficulty, as at firft. He added, at the fame time, that Mr Hume had acquired fo great a facility in this refpect, that the laft volumes of his Hiftory were printed from his original copy, with a few margin

al corections.

It may gratify the curiofity of fome read. ers to know, that when Mr Smith was employed in compofition, he generally walked up and down his apartment, dictating to a fe cretary. All Mr Hume's works (1 have been allared) were written with his own hand. A critical reader may, I think, perceive in the different ftyles of thefe two claffical writers, the effects of their different modes of ftudy.

health and strength gradually declined till the period of his death, which happened in 1790, about two years after that of his coufin, and fix after that of his mother. His laft illness, which arofe from a chronic obftruction in his bowels, was lingering and painful; but had every confolation to footh it which he could derive from the tenderest sympathy of his friends, and from the complete refignation of his own mind.

A few days before his death, finding his end approach rapidly, he gave orders to deftroy all his manufcripts, excepting fome detached effays, which he entrufted to the care of his executors; and they were accordingly committed to the flames. What were the particular contents of thefe papers, is not known even to his moft intimate friends; but there can be no doubt that they confifted, in part, of the lectures on rhetoric, which he read at Edinburgh in the year 1748, and of the lectures on Natural Religion and on Jurifprudence, which formed part of his courfe at Glafgow. That this irreparable injury to letters proceeded, in fome degree, from an exceffive folicitude in the author about his pofthumous reputation, may perhaps be true; but with refpect to fome of his manufcripts, may we not fuppofe, that he was influenced by higher motives: It is but feldom that a philofopher, who has been occupied from his youth with moral or with political enquiries, fucceeds completely to his wifh in ftating to others the grounds upon which his own opinions are founded; and hence it is, that the known principles of an individual, who has approved to the public his candour, his liberality, and his judgment, are entitled to a weight and an authority independent of the evidence which he is able, upon any particular occafion, to produce in their fupport. A fecret confcioufnefs of this circumftance, and an apprehenfion, that by not doing juftice to an important argument, the progrefs of truth may be rather retarded than advan, ced, have probably induced many authors to with-hold from the world the

unfinished

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work. The moral and ferious ftrain that prevails through thefe editions, when connected with the declining state of his health, adds a peculiar charm to his pathetic eloquence; and communicates a new intereft, if poffible, to those fublime truths, which, in the academical retirement of his youth, awakened the first ardour of his genius, and on which the last efforts of his mind repofed.

unfinished refults of their most valuable author lived to fee the publication of the labours; and to content themselves with giving the general fanction of their fuffrages to truths which they regarded as peculiarly intereftingto the human race. The additions to the Theory of Moral Sentiments, most of which were compofed under severe disease, had fortunately been fent to the prefs in the beginning of the preceding winter, and the Some time before his laft illness, when Mr Smith had occafion to go to London, he enjoined his friends, to whom he had entrusted the difpofal of his manufcripts, that in the event of his death, they should destroy all the volumes of his lectures, doing with the reft of his manufcripts what they pleased. When now he had become weak, and faw the

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proaching period of his life, he fpoke to his friends again upon the fame fubject. They entreated him to make his mind easy, as he might depend upon their fulfilling his defire. He was then fatisfied. But fome days afterwards, finding his anxiety not entirely removed, he begged one of them to deftroy the volumes immediately. This accordingly was done; and his mind was fo much relieved, that he was able to receive his friends in the evening with his ufual complacency.

They had been in ufe to fup with him every Sunday; and that evening there was a pretty numerous meeting of them : Mr Smith not finding himself able to fit up with them as ufual, retired to bed before fupper; and as he went away, took leave of his friends

by saying, "I believe we must adjourn this meeting to fome other place. He died a very few days afterwards.

Mr Riddell, an intimate friend of Mr Smith's, who was prefent at one of the converfations on the subject of the manuscripts, mentioned to me, in addition to Dr Hutton's note, that Mr Smith regretted," he had done fo little. But I meant," faid he, "to have done more; and there was materials in my papers, of which I could have made a great deal. But that is now out of the queftion.'

That the idea of deftroying fuch unfinished works as might be in his poffeffion at the time of his death, was not the effect of any fudden or hafty refolution, appears from the follow. ing letter to Mr Hume, written by Mr Smith in 1793, at a time when he was preparing himfelf for a journey to London, with the prospect of a pretty long absence from Scotland.

MY DEAR FRIEND, Edin. 16th April 1773. As I have left the care of all my literary papers to you, I must tell you, that except thofe which I carry along with me, there are VOL. LVIII.

In a letter addreffed, in the year 1787, to the Principal of the univerfity of Glasgow, in confequence of his being elected Rector of that learned body, a pleafing memorial remains of the fatisfaction with which he always recollected that period of his literary carcer, whieh had been more peculiarly confecrated to thofe important studies. "No preferment (fays he) could have given me fo much real fatisfaction. No man can owe greater obligations to a fociety than I do to the Univerfity of Glafgow. They educated me; they fent me to Oxford. Soon after my return to Scotland, they elected me one of their own members; and afterwards preferred me to another office, to which, the never to be forgotten, Dr Hutchefon, had given a fuperior degree of illustration. The penone worth the publication, but a fragment of a great work, which contains a hiftory of the aftronomical fyftems that were fucceffively in fashion down to the time of Des Cartes. Whether that might not be published as a fragment of an intended juvenile work, I leave entirely to your judgement, though I begin to fufpect myself that there is more refinement than folidity in some parts of it. This little work you will find in a thin folio paper book in my back room. All the other loofe papers which you will find in the desk, or within the glafs folding doors of a bureau which ftands in my bed-room, together with about eighteen thin paper folio books, which you will likewife find within the fame glaffolding doors, I defire may be deftroyed without any examination. Unless I die very fuddenly, I fhall take care that the papers I carry with me shall be carefully fent to you. I ever am, my dear friend, most faithfully your's, ADAM SMITH.

To David Hume, Efq. St Andrew's Square. M

riod

riod of thirteen years which I spent as a
member of that fociety, I remember as
by far the most useful, and therefore, as
by far the happiest and most honourable
period of
life ;.
my
and now,
after three
and twenty years abfence, to be remem-
bered in fo very agreeable a manner by
my old friends and protectors, gives me
a heart-felt joy which I cannot eafily
exprefs to you."

fition.

fitted for the general commerce of the world, or for the bufinefs of active life. The comprehenfive fpeculations with which he had been occupied from his youth, and the variety of materials which his own invention continually fupplied to his thoughts, rendered him habitually inattentive to familiar objects, and to common occurrences; and he frequently exhibited inftances of absence, which Of the intellectual gifts and attain- have fcarcely been furpaffed by the fanments, by which he was fo eminently cy of Bruyere. Even in company, he diftinguifhed-of the originality and was apt to be engroffed with his studies; comprehensiveness of his views; the ex- and appeared, at times, by the motion tent, the variety and the correctness of of his lips, as well as by his looks and his information; the inexhauftible fer- geftures, to be in the fervour of compotility of his invention; and the ornaments which his rich and beautiful imagination had borrowed from claffical culture; he has left behind him lasting monuments. To his private worth the moft certain of all testimonies may be found in that confidence, refpect, and attachment, which followed him through all the various relations of life. The ferenity and gravity he enjoyed, under the preffure of his growing infirmities, and the warm intereft he felt to the laft, in every thing connected with the welfare of his friends, will be long remem bered by a small circle, with whom, as his ftrength permitted, he regularly fpent an evening in the week; and to whom the recollection of his worth ftill forms a pleasing, though melancholy bond of

union.

The more delicate and characteriftical features of his mind, it is perhaps impoffible to trace. That there were peculiarities, both in his manners, and in his intellectual habits, was manifeft to the moft fuperficial observer; but altho' to thofe who knew him, thefe peculiarities detracted nothing from the refpect which his abilities commanded; and, although to his intimate friends, they added an inexpreffible charm to his converfation, while they difplayed, in the moft interesting light, the artlefs fimplicity of his heart: yet it would require a very fkilful pencil to prefent them to the public eye. He was certainly not

To the defect now mentioned, it was probably owing, in part, that he did not fall in eafily with the common dialogue of conversation, and that he was fomewhat apt to convey his own ideas in the form of a lecture. When he did fo, however, it never proceeded from a wish to engrofs the difcourfe, or to gratify his vanity. His own inclination difpofed him fo ftrongly to enjoy in filence the gaiety of thofe around him, that his friends were often led to concert little fchemes in order to bring him on the fubjects most likely to interest him. Nor do I think I fhall be accufed of going too far, when I fay, that he was fcarcely ever known to start a new topic himfelf, or to appear unprepared on those topics that were introduced by others. Indeed, his converfation was never more amufing than when he gave a loofe to his genius, upon the very few branches of knowledge of which he only poffeffed the outlines.

The opinions he formed of men, upon a flight acquaintance, were frequently erroneous; but the tendency of his nature inclined him much more to blind partiality, than to ill-founded prejudice. The enlarged views of human affairs, on which his mind habitually dwelt, left him neither time nor inclination to ftudy, in detail, the uninterefting peculiarities of ordinary characters; and accordingly, though intimately acquaint

ed

ed with the capacities of the intellect, premeditated judgments, to be too fyfand the workings of the heart, and tematical, and too much in extremes. accustomed, in his theories, to mark, with the most delicate hand, the niceft fhades, both of genius and of the paffions; yet, in judging of individuals, it fometimes happened, that his estimates were, in a furprising degree, wide of

the truth.

But, in whatever way these trifling peculiarities in his manners may be explained, there can be no doubt, that they were intimately connected with the genuine artleffnefs of his mind. In this amiable quality, he often recalled to his friends, the accounts that are given of good La Fontaine; a quality which in him derived a peculiar grace from the fingularity of its combination with thofe powers of reafon and of elequence, which, in his political and moral writings, have long engaged the admiration of Europe.

The opinions, too, which, in the thoughtleffnefs and confidence of his focial hours, he was accustomed to hazard on books, and on questions of fpeculation, were not uniformly fuch as might have been expected from the fuperiority of his understanding, and the fingular confiftency of his philofophical principles. They were liable to be influenced by accidental circumstances, and by the humour of the moment; and when retailed by those who only faw him occafionally, fuggefted false and contradictory ideas of his real fentiments. On thefe, however, as on most other occafions, there was always much truth, as well as ingenuity, in his remarks; and if the different opinions which, at different times, he pronounced upon the fame fubject, had been all combined together, fo as to modify and limit each other, they would probably have afforded materials for a decifion, equally comprehensive and just. But, in the fociety of his friends, he had no difpofition to form thofe qualified conclufions that we admire in his writings; and he generally contented himself with a bold and mafterly sketch of the object, from the first point of view in which his temper, or his fancy, prefented it. Something of the fame kind might be remarked, when he attempted, in the flow of his fpirits, to delineate thofe characters which, from long intimacy, he might have been fuppofed to understand thoroughly. The picture was always lively, and expreffive; and commonly bore ftrong and amafing refemblance of the original, when viewed under one particular afpect; but seldom, perhaps, con veyed a juft and complete conception of it in all its dimenfions and proportions. In a word, it was the fault of his un

In his external form and appearance, there was nothing uncommon. When perfectly at eafe, and when warmed with conversation, his geftures were animated, and not ungraceful; and, in the fociety of thofe he loved, his features were often brightened with a fmile of inexpreffible benignity. In the company of ftrangers, his tendency to abfence, and perhaps ftill more his concioufnefs of this tendency, rendered his manner fomewhat embarraffed ;an effect which was probably not a little heightened by thofe fpeculative ideas of propriety, which his reclufe habtis tended at once to perfect in his conception, and to diminish his power of realizing. He never fat for his picture; but the medallion of Taffie conveys an exact idea of his profile, and of the general expreffion of his countenance

*

The valuable library that he had collected he bequeathed, together with the rest of his property, to his coufin Mr David Douglas, Advocate. In the education of this young gentleman, he had employed much of his leifure; and it was only two years before his death, (at a time when he could ill fpare the pleafure of his fociety,) that he had. fent him to ftudy law at Glasgow, under the care of Mr Millar ;-the ftrongest proof he could give of his difinterelted zeal for the improvement of his friend, as well as of the esteem in which he * From this the engraving perfixed is taken. held

M 2

held the abilities of that eminent Pro- timate and cordial friendship; and who, feffor. to the many other inftances which they had given him of their affection, added the mournful office of witnefling his laft moments.

The executors of his will were Dr Black and Dr Hutton, with whom he had long lived in habits of the most in

SOME ACCOUNT OF ARTHUR YOUNG, ESQ.

SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

FEW writers have rendered fuch effential fervices to their country as the gentleman now under our confideration, whofe life has been devoted to the most useful pursuits; but whofe reward has not been equal to what might have been expected from the liberality of an opulent nation, and the advantages derived from his labours.

From an account published by himself, in a moment of depreffion, in a very ufeful work, entitled, "Annals of Agriculture," we learn, that he was born at Bradfield, and defcended from a good family, which had refided on that spot very near two hundred years, none of whom, except his father, had any thing to depend on but his land. He was a younger brother. About the year 1761 he began his farming purfuits upon the lands he at prefent occupies. "Young, eager, and totally ignorant," he fays, trufting to a bailiff, who, I conceive now, merited no confidence, either for honesty or kill, it was not furprising that I fquandered much money under golden dreams of improvements; efpecially as I contracted a thirst for experiment, without the knowledge of what an experiment demands, and which a feries of proofs alone can give. In a few years a declining purfe, with fome domeftic difputes, from the mixture of families, and the prudent caution of one of the best of mothers, to whose memory my heart would be dead were it not to beat with a more than grateful remembrance, all together induced me to remove from Bradfield."

He then hired Sampford Hall, in Effex; but before he had taken poffeffion, was obliged to relinquish his agreement, from a difappointment in the loan of fome money he had expected. Failing

in this plan, he travelled about in search of a proper farm, and in the course of his journies laid the foundations of fome of his Tours. He at length fixed in Hertfordshire, where he refided nine years, making a great number of experiments, which have fince been published.

Mr Young then returned to Bradfield, and his mother died foon after. By her death he came into poffeffion of the estate he at prefent holds; and his loss of fo excellent a parent he has regretted in very pathetic terms, fuch as do honour to his feelings as a man.

The writings of our author were at firft extremely fuccefsful, which induced him, as he candidly acknowledges, to write and print a great deal too much and too faft; being however in a good measure led to this by numerous applications from various perfons, requefting him to give that attention to certain fubjects, which ought to have been more coolly confidered. When we confider the manner and variety of Mr Young's works at the time he refers to, his obfervation will excite but little furprize. Many of thefe works, however, are intitled to praise in some respects, and he himfelf excepts from his own cenfure his Tours, which have stood, and he trusts will remain, on a founder foundation. " To them," he fays, "I may, with a, vanity perhaps fomewhat excufable, affert, that the agriculture of this kingdom owes much; and that many of the improvements now practifed with the greatest fuccefs, may be dated from the publication of thofe journies, fo often plundered rather than quoted, without a mark or atom of acknowledgement."

In the years 1776, 1777, 1778, and 1779, he went his journies to Ireland, and refided at one time more than a year

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