Mr Shaw has of late renewed his _enquiries_. They are only to be regarded as the desperate ravings of a man who believes that, in consequence of the _new light_, his moral and his literary character have sunk together into final perdition; that his name, like Lawder's, will be remembered only to his infamy, and _that_ Dr Johnson himself despises and abhors him. Do you think me too severe on the Doctor's infirmities? Can you forgive his injustice to the memory of his benefactors--his political duplicity--his thirst for blood--his inveterate antipathy to the most sacred rights of mankind? Dr Johnson says, that one of the lowest of all human beings is a Commissioner of Excise. This can hardly be the case, unless himself or his reverend friend Mr Shaw shall arrive at that dignity. But in the meantime, there is a Commissioner of Excise, or Customs, (no matter which) who in the scale of human beings is not much _lower_ than Lexiphanes himself. This couple stand in the most striking contrast: and to draw the character of the first is to write an oblique but most severe censure on the character of the second. Dr Smith's language is a luscious and pure specimen of strength, elegance, precision, and simplicity. His _Enquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations_ deserves to be studied by every member of the community, as one of the most accurate, profound, and persuasive books that ever was written. In _that_ performance he displays an intimate and extensive knowledge of mankind, in every department of life, from the cabinet to the cottage; a supreme contempt of national prejudice, and a fearless attachment to liberty, to justice, and to truth. His work is admired as a mass of excellence, a condensation of reasonings, the most various, important, original, and just. * * * * * William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of California, Los Angeles THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY 2520 CIMARRON STREET, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90018 _General Editors_: William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library; George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles: Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles _Corresponding Secretary_: Mrs. Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library The Society's purpose is to publish rare Restoration and eighteenth-century works (usually as facsimile reproductions). All income of the Society is devoted to defraying costs of publication and mailing.