I

WRITINGS OF DR. SMITH. XI

“ It is much to be regretted, that the manuf-cript containing Mr. Smith’s le&ures on this fnb-je<d was deftroyed before his death. The hrft part,in point of compohtion , was highly finilhed; andthe whole difeovered flrong marks of tafle andoriginal genius. From the permiffion given toftudents of taking notes, many obfervations andopinions contained in thefe leisures have eitherbeen detailed infeparate differtations, orengroffedin general calleflians, which have fince been gi-ven to the public. ;But thefe, as might be ex-pelled, have loft the air of originality and thediftin&ive character which they received from theirfirft author, and are often obfcured by that mul-tiplicity of common-place matter in which they arefunk and involved.

“ About a year after his appointment to theProfefforfhip of Logic, Mr. Smith was elecled tothe chair of Moral Philofophy. His courfe of lec-tures on this fubjecl was divided into four parts.The firft contained Natural Theology; in whichhe conlidered the proofs of the being and attri-butes ofGoD, and thefe principles of the humanmind upon which religion is founded. The fecondcomprehended Ethics ftrictlyfo called, and confid-ed chiefly of the doctrines which he afterwardspublilhed in his Theory of Moral Sentiments. Inthe third part, lie treated at more length of thatbranch of morality tvhich relates to jujiice } and