Produced by Ed Brandon from material at the Internet Archive
THE
ESSAYS
OF
ADAM SMITH
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.'_
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LONDON:
ALEX. MURRAY & CO., 30, QUEEN SQUARE, W.C.
1872.
LONDON:
BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.
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ADAM SMITH, 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 eminent as a public lecturer, he was gradually
laying the foundation of a more extensive reputation by preparing for
the press his System of Morals; and the first edition of his Essays
appeared in **1759, under the title of THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS.
Of this essay, Dugald Stewart remarks, 'that whatever opinion we may
entertain of the justness of its conclusions, it must be allowed to be
a singular effort of invention, ingenuity, and subtilty; that it
contains a large mixture of important truth, and has had the merit of
directing the attention of philosophers to a view of human nature,
which had formerly in a great measure escaped their notice; and no
work, undoubtedly, can be mentioned, ancient or modern, which exhibits
so complete a view of those facts with respect to our moral
perceptions, which it is one great object of this branch of science to
refer to their general laws; and well deserves the careful study of
all whose taste leads them to prosecute similar enquiries. These facts
are presented in the most happy and beautiful lights; and when the
subject leads him to address the imagination and the heart, the
variety and felicity of his illustrations, the richness and fluency of
his eloquence; and the skill with which he wins the attention and
commands the passions of his readers, leave him, among our English
moralists, without a rival. Towards the close of 1763, Mr. Smith
arranged to visit the continent with the Duke of Buccleugh, returning
to London in 1766. For the next ten years he lived quietly with his
mother at Kirkaldy; and in 1776, accounted to the world for his long
retreat, by the publication of his 'INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND CAUSES
OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONS.' In 1778, Mr. Smith was appointed a
Commissioner of Customs in Scotland, the pecuniary emoluments of which
were considerable. In 1784, he lost his mother. In 1788, his cousin,
Miss Douglass, died, to whom he had been strongly attached; and in
July, 1790, he died, having, a short while before, in conversation
with his friend Riddell, regretted that 'HE HAD DONE SO LITTLE.'
[Above biographic notes and literary opinions have been abridged from
a paper on 'The Life and Writings of Adam Smith,' by Professor Dugald
Stewart, of Edinburgh, 1793--A. M.]
ADVERTISEMENT
TO THE SIXTH EDITION.
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SINCE the first publication of the THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS, which
was in the beginning of the year 1759, several corrections, and a good
many illustrations of the doctrines contained in it, have occurred to
me. But the various occupations in which the different accidents of my
life necessarily involved me, have till now prevented me from
revising this work with the care and attention which I always
intended. The reader will find the principal alterations which I have
made in this New Edition, in the last Chapter of the third Section of
Part First; and in the four first Chapters of Part Third. Part Sixth,
as it stands in this New Edition, is altogether new. In Part Seventh,
I have brought together the greater part of the different passages
concerning the Stoical Philosophy, which, in the former Editions, had
been scattered about in different parts of the work. I have likewise
endeavoured to explain more fully, and examine more distinctly, some
of the doctrines of that famous sect. In the fourth and last Section
of the same Part, I have thrown together a few additional observations
concerning the duty and the principle of veracity. There are, besides,
in other parts of the work, a few other alterations and corrections of
no great moment.
In the last paragraph of the first Edition of the present work, I said
that I should in another discourse endeavour to give an account of the
general principles of law and government, and of the different
revolutions which they had undergone in the different ages and periods
of society; not only in what concerns justice, but in what concerns
police, revenue, and arms, and whatever else is the object of law. In
the _Inquiry concerning the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of
Nations_, I have partly executed this promise; at least so far as
concerns police, revenue, and arms. What remains, the theory of
jurisprudence, which I have long projected, I have hitherto been
hindered from executing, by the same occupations which had till now
prevented me from revising the present work. Though my very advanced
age leaves me, I acknowledge, very little expectation of ever being
able to execute this great work to my own satisfaction; yet, as I have
not altogether abandoned the design, and as I wish still to continue
under the obligation of doing what I can, I have allowed the paragraph
to remain as it was published more than thirty years ago, when I
entertained no doubt of being able to execute every thing which it
announced.
ESSAYS BY ADAM SMITH
ON
PHILOSOPHICAL SUBJECTS
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ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITORS.
THE much lamented author of these Essays left them in the hands of his
friends to be disposed of as they thought proper, having immediately
before his death destroyed many other manuscripts which he thought
unfit for being made public. When these were inspected, the greater
number of them appeared to be parts of a plan he once had formed, for
giving a connected history of the liberal sciences and elegant arts.
It is long since he found it necessary to abandon that plan as far too
extensive; and these parts of it lay beside him neglected until his
death. His friends are persuaded, however, that the reader will find
in them that happy connection, that full and accurate expression, and
that clear illustration which are conspicuous in the rest of his
works; and that though it is difficult to add much to the great fame
he so justly acquired by his other writings, these will be read with
satisfaction and pleasure.
JOSEPH BLACK.
JAMES HUTTON.
CONTENTS.
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THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS.
PART I.
OF THE PROPRIETY OF ACTIONS.
PAGE
SEC. I. Of the Sense of Propriety . . . . 9
CH. I. Of Sympathy . . . . . . 9-13
CH. II. Of the Pleasure of Mutual Sympathy . . 13-16
CH. III., IV. Of the manner in which we judge of the
Propriety or Impropriety of the Affections of
other Men, by their Concord or Dissonance with
our own . . . . . . . 16-23
CH. V. Of the amiable and respectable Virtues . 23-26
SEC. II. Of the Degrees of the different Passions
which are consistent with Propriety . . 26
CH. I. Of the Passions which take their Origin from
the Body . . . . . . . 26-30
CH. II. Of those Passions which take their Origin
from a particular Turn or Habit of the
Imagination . . . . . . 30-32
CH. III. Of the unsocial Passions . . . 32-37
CH. IV. Of the social Passions . . . . 37-39
CH. V. Of the selfish Passions . . . . 39-41
SEC. III. Of the Effects of Prosperity and Adversity
upon the Judgment of Mankind with regard to the
Propriety of Action; and why it is more easy to
obtain their Approbation in the one State than
in the other . . . . . . 42
CH. I. That though our Sympathy with Sorrow is
generally a more lively Sensation than our
Sympathy with Joy, it commonly falls much more
short of the Violence of what is naturally felt
by the Person principally concerned . . 42-47
CH. II. Of the Origin of Ambition, and of the
Distinction of Ranks . . . . 47-56
CH. III. Of the Corruption of our Moral Sentiments,
which is occasioned by this Disposition to admire
the Rich and the Great, and to despise or neglect
Persons of poor and mean Condition . . 56-60
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