of London, of the circumstances attending his death, and a eulogium upon his
character. To those who are acquainted with Mr Hume's religious opinions,
some parts of this eulogium must certainly appear too high; and the author
was, accordingly, attacked on the subject by Dr Home, bishop of Norwich, who
rashly ascribed to him, without any evidence, the same sceptical opinions which
had been entertained by his illustrious friend.
Dr Smith resided chiefly in London for about two years after his great work had been given to the public, during which time his society was courted by the most distinguished persons in the metropolis. In 1778, he was appointed one of the commissioners of customs in Scotland, through the unsolicited application of his friend and former pupil, the duke of Buccleuch. Upon obtaining this appointment, he removed to Edinburgh, where he spent the remaining years of his life, enjoying comparative affluence, and the society of his earliest and most esteemed friends. His mother, who was then in extreme old age, accompanied him to town; and his cousin, Miss Jane Douglas, who had formerly been a member of his family in Glasgow, undertook the superintendence of his domestic arrangements.
The accession to his income which he had now obtained, enabled him to gratify, to a much greater extent than formerly, the natural generosity of his disposition. "The state of his funds at the time of his death," Mr Stewart remarks, "compared with his very moderate establishment, confirmed, beyond a doubt, what his intimate acquaintances had often suspected, that a large proportion of his savings was allotted to offices of secret charity."
In 1787, Dr Smith was elected lord rector of the university of Glasgow. A letter addressed to the principal of the university on the occasion, shows the high sense he felt of this honour. "No preferment," he writes, "could have given me so much real satisfaction. No man can owe greater obligations to a society, than I do to the university of Glasgow. They educated me: they sent 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 abilities and virtues of the never to be forgotten Dr Hutcheson, had given a superior degree of illustration. The period of thirteen years, which I spent as a member of that society, I remember as by far the most useful, and therefore as by far the happiest and most honourable period of my life : and now, after three and twenty years' absence, to be remembered in so very agreeable a manner by my old friends and protectors, gives me a heartfelt joy, which I cannot easily express to you."
During the last residence of Dr Smith in Edinburgh, his studies appear to have been almost entirely suspended. The petty routine duties of his office, though requiring little exertion of thought, were sufficient to occupy a considerable portion of his time and attention ; and it is deeply to be regretted, that, in all probability, these duties alone prevented him from giving that "Account of the general principles of Law and Government, and of the different Revolutions they have undergone in the different ages and periods of society," which he had stated in the concluding paragraph of the "Theory of Moral Sentiments," it was his intention to do.
In 1784, Dr Smith lost his mother, to whom he had been most tenderly attached; and her death was followed, four years afterwards, by that of Miss Douglas. These domestic afflictions contributed to hasten the decline of his health. His constitution had never been robust, and began early to give way. His last illness, which arose from a chronic obstruction of the bowels, was lingering and painful. He had the consolation, however, of receiving the ten-
