th his
parishioners and the ecclesiastical courts similar to those which John
Home had encountered twenty years before, and the trouble ended in
Logan resigning his charge in December 1786 on a pension of L40 a
year. Smith, who was an admirer and, as Dr. Carlyle mentions to Bishop
Douglas, a "great patron" of Logan, stood by him through these
troubles. When they first broke out in 1783 he wished, as Logan
himself tells his old pupil Sir John Sinclair, to get the poet
transferred if possible from his parish in Leith to the more liberal
and enlightened parish of the Canongate, and when Logan eventually
made up his mind to take refuge in literature, Smith gave him the
following letter of introduction to Andrew Strahan, who had, since his
father's death, become the head of the firm:--

DEAR SIR--Mr. Logan, a clergyman of uncommon learning,
taste, and ingenuity, but who cannot easily submit to the
puritanical spirit of this country, quits his charge and
proposes to settle in London, where he will probably
exercise what may be called the trade of a man of letters.
He has published a few poems, of which several have great
merit, and which are probably not unknown to you. He has
likewise published a tragedy, which I cannot say I admire in
the least. He has another in manuscript, founded and almost
translated from a French drama, which is much better. But
the best of all his works which I have seen are some
lectures upon universal history, which were read here some
years ago, but which, notwithstanding they were approved and
even admired by some of the best and most impartial judges,
were run down by the prevalence of a hostile literary
faction, to the leaders of which he had imprudently given
some personal offence. Give me leave to recommend him most
earnestly to your countenance and protection. If he was
employed on a review he would be an excellent hand for
giving an account of all books of taste, of history, and of
moral and abstract philosophy.--I ever am, my dear sir, most
faithfully and affectionately yours,

ADAM SMITH.[337]

EDINBURGH, _29th September 1785_.

The lectures which Smith praises so highly were published in 1779, and
are interesting as one of the first adventures in what was afterwards
known as the philosophy of history. But his memory rests now on his
poems, which Smith thought less