upon this fact by an
announcement quoted by President M'Cosh, in his _Scottish
Philosophy_, from the Scots Magazine of 1740, of the promotion of Adam
Smith, Comptroller of the Customs, Kirkcaldy, to be Inspector-General
of the Outports. But conclusive evidence exists of the date of the
death of Smith's father in a receipt for his funeral expenses, which
is in the possession of Professor Cunningham, and which, as a curious
illustration of the habits of the time, I subjoin in a note below.[2]
The promotion of 1740 is the promotion not of Smith's father but of
his cousin, whom I have just had occasion to mention, and who appears
from Chamberlayne's _Notitia Angliae_ to have been Comptroller of the
Customs at Kirkcaldy from about 1734 till somewhere before 1741. In
the _Notitia Angliae_ for 1741 the name of Adam Smith ceases to appear
as Comptroller in Kirkcaldy, and appears for the first time as
Inspector-General of the Outports, exactly in accordance with the
intimation quoted by Dr. M'Cosh. It is curious that Smith, who was to
do so much to sweep away the whole system of the Customs, should have
been so closely connected with that branch of administration. His
father, his only known relation on his father's side, and himself,
were all officials in the Scotch Customs.

On the mother's side his kindred were much connected with the army.
His uncle, Robert Douglas of Strathendry, and three of his uncle's
sons were military officers, and so was his cousin, Captain Skene, the
laird of the neighbouring estate of Pitlour. Colonel Patrick Ross, a
distinguished officer of the times, was also a relation, but on which
side I do not know. His mother herself was from first to last the
heart of Smith's life. He being an only child, and she an only parent,
they had been all in all to one another during his infancy and
boyhood, and after he was full of years and honours her presence was
the same shelter to him as it was when a boy. His friends often spoke
of the beautiful affection and worship with which he cherished her.
One who knew him well for the last thirty years of his life, and was
very probably at one time a boarder in his house, the clever and
bustling Earl of Buchan, elder brother of Lord Chancellor Erskine,
says the principal avenue to Smith's heart always was by his mother.
He was a delicate child, and afflicted even in childhood with those
fits of absence and that habit of speaking to himself which he carried
all through