The Essays of Adam Smith — Adam Smith
Adam Smith’s Essays on Philosophical Subjects: MORAL SENTIMENTS; ASTRONOMICAL INQUIRIES; FORMATION OF LANGUAGES; HISTORY OF ANCIENT PHYSICS; ANCIENT LOGIC AND METAPHYSICS; THE IMITATIVE ARTS; MUSIC, DANCING, POETRY; THE EXTERNAL SENSES; ENGLISH AND ITALIAN VERSES—A Project Gutenberg eBook You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : The Essays of Adam Smith Author : Adam Smith Editor : Joseph Black James Hutton Release date : December 28, 2018 [eBook #58559] Most recently updated: February 21, 2019 Language : English Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58559 Credits : Produced by Ed Brandon from material at the Internet Archive *** START OF The main resource can be found here . Footnotes Most footnotes in the text are indicated by an asterisk. Here they are numbered within each work and placed at the end of paragraph in which they occur. One footnote in the first essay is numbered; it is here given as 1*. Corrections Corrections (or queries) are flagged by dotted red underline, on mouse-over revealing the original. Other matters Greek text is marked by orange underlining, on mouse-over revealing a transliteration. Page numbers have been rendered in-text in red. Other original printing conventions have been followed, except for left quotation marks at the start of every line of quoted text. Some links have been inserted to provide for cross-references within the text. Infelicities and mistakes here are the transcriber’s fault. ESSAYS ON Ⅰ. MORAL SENTIMENTS; Ⅱ. ASTRONOMICAL INQUIRIES; Ⅲ. FORMATION OF LANGUAGES; Ⅳ. HISTORY OF ANCIENT PHYSICS; Ⅴ. ANCIENT LOGIC AND METAPHYSICS; Ⅵ. THE IMITATIVE ARTS; Ⅶ. MUSIC, DANCING, POETRY; Ⅷ. THE EXTERNAL SENSES; Ⅸ. ENGLISH AND ITALIAN VERSES. BY ADAM SMITH, LL.D. F.R.S., Author of the ‘Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.’ LONDON: ALEX. MURRAY & CO., 30, QUEEN SQUARE, W.C. 1872. LONDON: BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. A DAM S MITH , the author of these Essays and of the ‘Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,’ was born at Kirkaldy, June 5, 1723, a few months after the death of his father. He was a sickly child, and indulged by his mother, who was the object of his filial gratitude for sixty years. When about three years old, and at the house of Douglass of Strathenry, his mother’s brother, he was carried off by tinkers or gipsies, but soon recovered from them. At the burgh school of his native town he made rapid progress, and soon attracted notice by his passion for books, and by the extraordinary powers of his memory. His weakness of body prevented him joining in athletic sports, but his generous and friendly temperament made him a favourite with his schoolmates; and he was noted then, as through after life, for absence in company and a habit of speaking to himself when alone. From the grammar school of Kirkaldy, he was sent, in 1737, to the University of Glasgow, whence, in 1740, he went to Baliol College, Oxford, enjoying an exhibition on the Snell foundation. When at Glasgow College, his favourite studies were mathematics and natural philosophy, but that did not long divert his mind from pursuits more congenial to him, more particularly the political history of mankind, which gave scope to the power of his comprehensive genius, and gratified his ruling passion of contributing to the happiness and the improvement of society. To his early taste for Greek generally, may be due the clearness and fulness with which he states his political reasonings. At Oxford he employed himself frequently in the practice of translation, with a view to the improvement of his own style, and used to commend such exercises to all who cultivate the art of composition. He also cultivated with the greatest care the study of languages; and his knowledge of them led him to a peculiar experience in everything that could illustrate the institutions, the manners, and the ideas of different ages and nations. After a residence at Oxford of seven years, he returned to Kirkaldy, and lived two years with his mother, engaged in studies, but without any fixed plan for his future life. He had been originally destined for the Church of England; but not finding the ecclesiastical profession suitable to his taste, he took chance of obtaining some of those moderate preferments, to which literary attainments lead in Scotland. Removing to Edinburgh in 1748, he read lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres, under the patronage of Lord Kames; and when in Edinburgh became intimate with David Hume. In 1751 he was elected Professor of Logic in the University of Glasgow; and, the year following, he became Professor of Moral Philosophy there; a situation he held for thirteen years, and used to look back on as the most useful and happy of his life; and, though but a narrow scene for his ambition, may have led to the future eminence of his literary character. In delivering his lectures, Mr. Smith trusted 2 almost entirely to extemporary elocution. His manner, though not graceful, was plain and unaffected, and he never failed to interest his hearers. Each discourse consisted commonly of several distinct propositions, which he successively endeavoured to prove and illustrate. At first he often appeared to speak with hesitation; but, as he advanced, the matter seemed to crowd upon him, his manner became warm and animated, and his expression easy and fluent. His reputation as a philosopher attracted a multitude of students from a great distance to the University; and those branches of science which he taught became fashionable, and his opinions were the chief topics of discussion in the clubs and literary societies of Glasgow. While Adam Smith became thus emi