ject, he never failed to interest his hearers. Each discourse consisted commonly
of several distinct propositions, which he successively endeavoured to prove and
illustrate. These propositions, when announced in general terms, had, from
their extent, not unfrequently something of the air of a paradox. In his attempts to explain them, he often appeared at first not to be sufficiently possessed of the subject, and spoke with some hesitation. As he advanced, however, the
matter seemed to crowd upon him; his manner became warm and animated, and his expression easy and fluent In points susceptible of controversy, you
could easily discern, that he secretly conceived an opposition to his opinions, and that he was led upon this account to support them with greater energy and vehemence. By the fulness and variety of his illustrations, the subject gradually swelled in his hands, and acquired a dimension, which, without a tedious repetition of the same views, was calculated to seize the attention of his audience, and to allord them pleasure as well as instruction, in following the same subject through all the diversity of shades and aspects in which it was presented, and afterwards in tracing it backwards to that original proposition, or
general truth, from which this beautiful train of speculation had proceeded.
"His reputation as a professor was accordingly raised very high; and a multitude of students from a great distance resorted to the university merely upon his account. Those branches of science which he taught became fashionable at this piaoe, and his opinions were the chief topics of discussion in clubs and literary societies. Even the small peculiarities in his pronunciation or manner of speaking became frequently the objects of imitation."
The first publications of Mr Smith, it is understood, were two articles which he contributed anonymously to a work called the "Edinburgh Review," begun in 1755, by some literary gentlemen, but of which only two numbers ever appeared. The first of these articles was a Review of Dr Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, which displays considerable acuteness, and the other contained some general observations on the state of literature in the different countries of Europe.
In 1759, his great ethical work, entitled, "Theory of Moral Sentiments, or an Essay towards an analysis of the Principles by which men naturally judge concerning the Conduct and Character, first of their Neighbour, and afterwards of Themselves," made its appearance. This work contributed greatly to extend the fame and reputation of the author; and is unquestionably entitled to a place in the very first rank in the science of morals. Dr Brown, in his eighteenth lecture, thus speaks of it: "Profound in thought, it exhibits, even when it is most profound, an example of the graces with which a sage imagination knows how to adorn the simple and majestic form of science; that it is severe and cold only to those who are themselves cold and severe, as in these very graces it exhibits in like manner an example of the reciprocal embellishment which imagination receives from the sober dignity of truth. In its minor details and illustrations, indeed, it may be considered as presenting a model of philosophic beauty of which all must acknowledge the power, who are not disqualified by their very nature for the admiration and enjoyment of intellectual excellence; so dull of understanding as to shrink with a painful consciousness of incapacity at the very appearance of refined analysis, or so dull and cold of heart, as to feel no charm in the delightful varieties of an eloquence, that, in the illustration and embellishment of the noblest truths, seems itself to live and harmonize with those noble sentiments which it adorns." But it is chiefly in its minor analyses that the work of Dr Smith possesses such excellence. Its leading doctrine has been often shown to be erroneous, and by none with
