XLIV

account of the life and

fition; and a fimilar effe£f is, in other infiances,produced by that diverfity of forms which, in thecourfe of his copious and feducing compohtion,the fame truth infenfibly affumes. When the fub-je<£i of his work leads him to addrefs the imagina-tion and the heart; the variety and felicity of hisilluftrations, the richnefs and fluency of his elo-quence; and thelkill with which he wins the at-tention and commands the palhons of his readers,leave him , among our Englilh moralifts withouta rival.

The Differtation on the Origin of Languages ,which now forms a part of the fame volume withthe Theory of Moral Sentiments, was, I believe,firft annexed to the fecond edition of that work.It is an effay of great ingenuity , and on which theauthor himfelf fet a high value; but, in a generalriview of his publications, it deferves our atten-tion lefs, on account of the opinions it contains,than as a fpecimen of a particular fort of inquiry,which, fo far as I know, is entirely of modernorigin, and which feems, in a peculiar degree, tohave interefled Mr. Smith’s curiofity. Somethingvery fimilar to it may be traced in all his differentworks, whether moral, political, or literary; andon all thefe fubjecfs he has exemplified it with thehappieft fuccefs.