Economists -- Great Britain -- Biography; Smith, Adam, 1723-1790
Arriving in London early in November, Smith seems to have remained on
in the capital for the next six months. The body of his unfortunate
pupil, which he brought over with him, was ultimately buried in the
family vault at Dalkeith, for Dr. Norman Macleod and Mr. Steel say so;
but the interment there does not seem to have taken place immediately
after the arrival from France, for the London journals, which announce
the Duke of Buccleugh's landing at Dover on the 1st of November,
mention his presence at the Guildhall with his stepfather, Mr.
Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the 10th, Lord Mayor's Day;
and the Duke, who is stated by Dr. Macleod to have brought his
brother's remains north, could not have been to Scotland and back in
that interval. Smith was accordingly not required to proceed to
Scotland on that sad duty, and on the 22nd of November Andrew Millar,
the publisher, writing to David Hume in Edinburgh, mentions the fact
that Smith was then in London and moving about among the great. This
letter was written about a question on which Hume had sought Smith's
counsel, and on which Millar had held some conversation with Smith,
the upshot of which he now communicates to Hume--the question whether
he should continue his _History of England_. While Smith was still in
Paris Hume had written saying: "Some push me to continue my _History_.
Millar offers any price. All the Marlborough papers are offered me,
and I believe nobody would venture to refuse me, but _cui bono?_ Why
should I forego dalliance and sauntering and society, and expose
myself again to the clamours of a stupid factious public? I am not yet
tired of doing nothing, and am become too wise either to want censure
or praise. By and by I shall be too old to undergo so much
labour."[195]
Smith does not appear to have answered this letter at the time, but
his opinion is communicated to Hume in this letter from Millar, who no
doubt had a conversation with him on the subject. Millar says: "He is
of opinion, with many more of your very good sensible friends, that
the history of this country from the Revolution is not to be met with
in books yet printed, but from MSS. in this country, to which he is
sure you will have ready access, from all accounts he learns from the
great here; and therefore you should lay the groundwork here after
your perusal of the MSS. you may have access to, and doing it below
will be laying the wrong foundation. I think it my duty to inform you
the opinion of your most judicious friends, and I think he and Sir
John Pringle may be reckoned amongst that number."[196]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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