_
conceived in the mind of any human being, difficult as is the conception
to a creature surrounded with materiality, with every thought derived
from his senses, and with the total incapacity of defining to this hour,
or even imagining, the nature of Spirit. It will be fully admitted, that
when the idea was once communicated, its reality was substantiated by
the frame of nature, by the regularity, the extent, and the beneficence
of the great physical system. But the origin was revelation. Lord
Brougham quotes Tillotson; but the archbishop had earned his mitre by
other means than the vigour of his understanding, and often trifles like
other men.

In 1759, Smith published his _Theory of Moral Sentiments_--a work of
skill and invention, but which has long since fallen into disuse with
the intelligent world. It, however, had the rare good fortune of
attracting the notice of an individual, possessed at once of the taste
to honour, and the will to befriend, a man of original ability. This
volume fell into the hands of the celebrated Charles Townsend, who
proposed that the author should take charge of the young Duke of
Buccleuch, whose mother, the dowager-duchess, he had married. Nothing in
the life of Townsend was more honourable to him than this choice, not
only for its judgment but for its rarity. The generality of men in
possession of affluence think only of themselves, and would value the
most common-place gratification more highly than the encouragement of
the obscure genius, which wanted only that encouragement to shed a new
lustre on its generation. The man of power in general feels its
possession the primary object of his patronage, and sees no purpose in
the immense opportunity given to him by his rank, but to obtain
adherents, and make his power impregnable. Though there may be
exceptions, such is the rule; and with this recollection of the
established course of things, we give all honour to the memory of the
man, without whose patronage the world would probably have lost the
ablest work of its century, the immortal _Wealth of Nations_.

In 1763, Smith was appointed tutor to the young nobleman, resigned his
professorship, and went with his pupil to France. After a residence of a
year and a half at Toulouse, he travelled in Switzerland, and then,
returning to Paris, spent ten months there. His French residence was
peculiarly fortunate. It rubbed off the rust of his seclusion; it
introduced him to the best society o