ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF ADAM SMITH, LL. D. From the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Read by Mr STEWART, January 21, and March 18, 1793.] A ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF ADAM SMITH, LL. D. SECTION I. From Mr Smith's Birth till the publication of the Theory of Moral Sentiments. ADAM SMITH, author of the Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, was the son of Adam Smith, comptroller of the customs at Kirkaldy*, and of * Mr Smith, the father, was a native of Aberdeenshire, and, in the earlier part of his life, practised at Edinburgh as a writer to the signet. He was afterwards private secretary to the Earl of Loudoun (during the time he held the offices of principal secretary of state for Scotland, and of keeper of the great seal), and continued in this situation till 1713 or 1714, when he was appointed comptroller of the customs at Kirkaldy. He was also clerk to the courts martial and councils of war for Scotland; an office which he held from 1707 till his death. As it is now seventy years since he died, the accounts I have received of him are very imperfect; but, from the particulars already mentioned, it may be presumed, that he was a man of more than common abilities. |