Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/299

This page needs to be proofread.
*
253
*

SMILLIE. 253 SMITH. SMILLIE, sml'li, George Henry (1840—). An American landscape painter. He was born in Xew York City and was a pupil of his father, James Smillie, an engraver, and of James Hart. In 1862 he opened a studio in Xew Yorl-c City, exhibiting at the National Academy of Design in 18li4. His principal worivs in oil include the "Merrimac River" ( 1882) , Boston Art Club; "Light and Sliadow Along Sliore," Union League Club, Phihidelphia ; and a ".'Gray Day." In water-colors are "Under the Pines of the Yosemite" and '"September on the New England Coast." SMILLIE, James D. ( 1833— ) . An American erfgraver. etclier, and landscape painter, born in New Y'ork City. He was the pupil of his father, James Smillie, an engraver. Until 1862 he worked chiefly at bank-note vignettes, but at times devoted himself also to general design and illustration, studying at the schools of the Na- tional Academy of Design. From 1862 to 1864 he studied in Europe, and upon his return to his native city exhibited at the National Academy of Design, of which he was made member in 1876. Paintings in oil include "Evening Among the Sierras of California" and "Lifting of the Clouds in the Adirondacks ;" in water-colors are the "Scrub Race on Western Prairies" and '"Track of the Torrent." As an engraver Smillie produced original plates in illustration of the various styles of engraving, for the department of graphic arts at the Pratt Institute. Brooklyn, and the Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D. C. His work shows artistic skill and deftness in handling color. SMIRKE, Sir Robert (1781-1867). An Eng- lish architect, born in London. He studied under Sir .lohu Soane and in the schools of the Roj'al Academy, winning the gold medal for design in 1799. After visiting Greece and Sicily he began to practice his profession as an architect in London in 1805. Among his works in the classic style are the College of Physicians, the Post- OtEce, the Mint, and the British iluseum, the main facade of which is his best known work. In the Gothic style are his extension of the Inner Temple and restoration of Y'ork ilinster. He published Specimens of Continental Architecture (1806). His brother, Sidney Smirke (1799- 1877), also an architect, designed the great cir- cular reading room of the British jMuseum. SMITH, Adam (1723-90). An eminent politi- cal economist. He is regarded as the founder of political economy as a separate branch of human knowledge. He was born at Kirkcaldy, in Fife- shire, Scotland. He studied at the University of Glasgow and won there an exhibition on the Snell foundation, which took him to Balliol College, Oxford, where he remained seven years, after which he retired for a time to his old home at Kirkcaldy. In 1748 he was in Edin- burgh, where, at the suggestion of Lord Kames, he delivered a course of lectures upon rhetoric and belles-lettres. These seem to have given him a reputation as a scholar and to have introduced him to a circle of learned and accomplished men, of whom the most famous was David Hume. The friendship thus begun was an important one for Smith, who remained on terms of friendly inti- macy with Hume during his life. In 17.51 Smith was appointed professor of logic at the Univer- sity of Glasgow, and a year afterwards was trans- fored to the chair of moral philosophy. In n.")!) he published his first work. The The- ory/ of ilonil Sentiments, which still holds an honorable place in the history of ethics. In 1763 he became tutor to the young Duke of Buccleuch and accompanied the latter upon his travels in France. He spent a year or more in Paris, and became acquainted with the more important men of letters of France. He was particularly at- tracted by the group who termed themselves Economistes and who are better kiiown as Physio- crats. Qviesnay, the leader of the school, and several of his more noted followers, were in the circle of Smith's acquaintance. Through them he became thoroughly familiar with the theories of the Physiocrats, which exercised a great in- fluence upon him. In 1766 he returned to Kirk- caldy. He was now engaged in the preparation of his great work. An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealtii of yations, which first appeared in 1776. The work made a great im- ])ression. Five editions were printed during the life-time of the author, and before the close of the century it had been translated into the prin- cipal European languages. (For its place in economic thought, see Political Economy. ) In 1778 Smith was appointed a Commissioner of Customs for Scotland, and he took up his official residence in Edinburgh. In 1787 he was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow. He died in Edinburgh. July 17, 1790. Consult MacCiillocb, "Sketch of the Life and Writings of Adam Smith." in Treatises and Es- sai/s on Honey (Edinburgh, 18.59). A scholarly and exhaustive biography, TJie Life of Adam Smith (London, 1895), was published by .lohn Rae. See also Haldane, Life of Smith (London, 1887) : Pria, Economic Science and Practice (London. 1806). SMITH, Alexanuer (1830-67). A Scottish poet, born at Kilmarnock. His father was a lace-pattern designer. After the usual education of a .Scotch boy. Smith took up the trade of his father at Paisley and Glasgow, whither the fam- ily in turn had gone. His Life Drama (1853) created a sensation. It was both defended and ridiculed-. The faults of the book were obvious ; every page showed immaturity and extravagance; a rather narrow reading had made him passion- ately fond of a few modern poets, as Keats and Tennyson, and their peculiar turns of expres- sion, reappearing in his verse, gave color to the charge of plagiarism, which was pushed to an absurd length. The richness and originality of imagery in his verse atone for its many sins against taste and knowledge. In 1854 Smith was appointed secretary to the University of Edinburgh : and in the following year, along with Sydney Dobell, he published a volume of Sonnets on the Crimean War. He also wrote City Poems (1857), Edtrin of Deira (1861), and several de- lightful prose works, as Dreamthorp (1863), A Summer in Skye (1865), and Alfred Hagart's Household, a story of Scotch life (1866), and a sequel. Miss Dona M'Quarric. After his death appeai-ed Last Leaves (London. 1868), edited with a memoir by P. P. Alexander. Smith's verse and prose, though often admirable, just pass the bounds of sanity. He was classed with Philip .Tames Bailey (q.v.), Sydney Dobell (q.v.), and Gerald ^lassey (q.v.), as a member of the