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ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND

“ In the Profefforfliip of Logic, to which Mr.Smith was appointed on his firft introduction intothis Univerhty, he foon faw the necelhty of de-parting widely from the plan that had been follow-ed by his predeceffors, and of directing the at-tention of his pupils to ftudies of a more intereft-ing and ufeful nature than the logic and metaphy-fics of the fchools. Accordingly, after exhibitinga general view of the powers of the mind, andexplaining fo much of the ancient logic as wasrequilite to gratify curiofity with refpect to anartificial method of reafoning, which had onceoccupied the univerfal attention of the learned, hededicated all the reft of his time to the deliveryofafyftem of rhetoric and belles lettres. The beftmethod of explaining and illuftrating the variouspowers of the human mind, the moft ufeful partof metaphyfics, arifes from an examination of thefeveral ways of communicating our thoughts byfpeech, and from an attention to the principlesof thofe literary compofitions which contribute toperfuafion or entertainment. By thefe arts, everything that we perceive or feel, every operation ofour miiids, is expreffed and delineated in fach amanner, that it may be clearly diftinguilhed andremembered. There is, at the fame time, nobranch of literature more fuited to youth at theirfirft entrance upon philofophy than this, whichlays hold of their tafte and their feelings.