friend of Turgot and
Morellet at the Sorbonne, he became a strong advocate of their new
economic principles, and succeeded in getting the principle of free
trade in corn adopted by the States of Languedoc. Whether they were
personally acquainted or not, the Archbishop does not appear to have
cherished any profound regard for Smith, for when he was Minister of
France he refused his friend Morellet the trifling sum of a hundred
francs, which the Abbe asked to pay for the printing of his
translation of the _Wealth of Nations_.

During Smith's first six months at Toulouse he does not seem to have
seen the Archbishop, or to have seen much of anybody, as the following
letter shows. Indeed he found the place extremely dull, the life he
led in Glasgow having been, he says, dissipation itself in comparison.
They had not received the letters of recommendation they had expected
from the Duc de Choiseul, and for society they were as yet practically
confined to the Abbe Colbert and the English residents. For a
diversion Smith contemplates an excursion to Bordeaux, and suggests a
visit for a month from Sir James Macdonald, for the sake not only of
his agreeable society, but of the service "his influence and example"
would render the Duke. Personally he had, to mitigate his solitude,
taken a measure no less important than effectual--he had begun to
write a book--the _Wealth of Nations_--"to pass away the time. You may
believe I have very little to do."

They had arrived in Toulouse on the 3rd or 4th of March, but it is the
5th of July before Smith thinks of writing Hume; at least the
following letter reads as if it were the first since they parted:--

MY DEAREST FRIEND--The Duke of Buccleugh proposes soon to
set out for Bordeaux, where he intends to stay a fortnight
or more. I should be much obliged to you if you could send
us recommendations to the Duke of Richelieu, the Marquis de
Lorges, and the Intendant of the Province. Mr. Townshend
assured me that the Duc de Choiseul was to recommend us to
all the people of fashion here and everywhere else in
France. We have heard nothing, however, of these
recommendations, and have had our way to make as well as we
could by the help of the Abbe, who is a stranger here almost
as much as we. The Progress indeed we have made is not very
great. The Duke is acquainted with no Frenchman whatever. I
cannot cultivate the acquaintanc