ce to give them an
advance of L20 apiece from the College funds, because their
remittances had got stopped by the war. Tronchin, the eminent
physician of Geneva, the friend of Voltaire, the enemy of Rousseau,
sent his son to Glasgow in 1761 purposely "to study under Mr. Smith,"
as we learn from a letter of introduction to Baron Mure which the
young man received before starting from Colonel Edmonston of Newton,
who was at the time resident in Geneva. It was of Tronchin Voltaire
said, "He is a great physician, he knows the mind," and he must have
formed a high idea of the _Theory of Moral Sentiments_ to send his son
so far to attend the lectures of its author. It was this young man
who, on his way back from Glasgow, played a certain undesigned part in
originating the famous quarrel between Rousseau and Hume, of which we
shall have more to hear anon. He was living with Professor Rouet of
Glasgow, at Miss Elliot's lodging-house in London, when Hume brought
Rousseau there in January 1866, and the moment Rousseau saw the son of
his old enemy established in the house to which he was conducted, he
flew to the conclusion that young Tronchin was there as a spy, and
that the good and benevolent Hume was weaving some infernal web about
him.

Smith's popularity as a lecturer grew year by year. It was felt that
another and perhaps greater Hutcheson had risen in the College. Reid,
when he came to Glasgow to succeed him in 1764, wrote his friend Dr.
Skene in Aberdeen that there was a great spirit of inquiry abroad
among the young people in Glasgow--the best testimony that could be
rendered of the effect of Smith's teaching. It had taught the young
people to think. His opinions became the subjects of general
discussion, the branches he lectured on became fashionable in the
town, the sons of the wealthier citizens used to go to College to take
his class though they had no intention of completing a university
course, stucco busts of him appeared in the booksellers' windows, and
the very peculiarities of his voice and pronunciation received the
homage of imitation. One point alone caused a little--in certain
quarters not a little--shaking of heads, we are told by John Ramsay of
Ochtertyre. The distinguished professor was a friend of "Hume the
atheist"; he was himself ominously reticent on religious subjects; he
did not conduct a Sunday class on Christian evidences like Hutcheson;
he would often too be seen openly smiling during divine ser