n the midst of much mirth and jollity,
of which the worthy Doctor, among many other useful and
amiable qualities, was a very great lover and promoter. They
told me that in the year 1779 a copy of the Doctor's book
was made out by his clerk for the use of my Lord North. That
at the end of that book the Doctor had subjoined a note to
the following purpose, that though between 1755 and 1779 the
numbers in the great trading and manufacturing towns and
villages were considerably increased, yet the Highlands and
Islands were much depopulated, and even the low country, by
the enlargement of farms, in some degree; so that the whole
numbers, he imagined, must be nearly the same at both
periods. Both these gentlemen believe that this was the last
deliberate judgment which Dr. Webster ever formed upon this
subject. The lists mentioned in the note are the lists of
what are called examinable persons--that is, of persons
upwards of seven or eight years of age, who are supposed fit
to be publicly examined upon religious and moral subjects.
Most of our country clergy keep examination rolls of this
kind.

My Lord North will, I dare to say, be happy to accommodate
you with the use of this book. It is a great curiosity,
though the conversation I mentioned to you had a little
shaken my faith in it--I am glad now to suppose, without
much reason.--I have the honour to be, with the highest
regard, sir, your most obedient humble servant,

ADAM SMITH.[340]

A new edition of the _Wealth of Nations_--the fourth--appeared in
1786, without any alteration in the text from the previous one, but
the author prefixed to it an advertisement acknowledging the very
great obligations he had been under to Mr. Henry Hope, the banker at
Amsterdam, for (to quote the words of the advertisement) "the most
distinct as well as the most liberal information concerning a very
interesting and important subject, the Bank of Amsterdam, of which no
printed account has ever appeared to me satisfactory or even
intelligible. The name of that gentleman is so well known in Europe,
the information which comes from him must do so much honour to whoever
has been favoured with it, and my vanity is so much interested in
making this acknowledgment, that I can no longer refuse myself the
pleasure of prefixing this advertisement to this new edition of