CXVI ACCOtJNT OF THE LIFE AND

fo judicious a digeft of all the moft profound andenlightened philofophy of the age.

In juftice alfo to Mr. Smith , it mull be obfer-ved, that although fome of the economical wri-ters had the ftart of him in publilhing their doc-trines to the world, thefe doXrines appear, withrefpeX to him, to have been altogether original,and the refult of his own refleXions. Of this, I

4

think, every perfon muft be convinced, who readsthe Inquiry with due attention, and is at pains toexamine the gradual and beautiful progrefs of theauthor’s ideas: But in cafe any doubt lhould re-main on this head, it may be proper to mention,that Mr. Smith’s political leXures, comprehend-ing the fundamental principles of his Inquiry,were delivered at Glafgow as early as the year lyS?or 1733 ■, at a period, furely, when there exiftedno French performance on the fubjeX, that couldbe of much ufe to him in’guiding his refearchesIn the year 1756 , indeed M. Turgot ( who isfaidto have imbibed his firft notions concerning theunlimited freedom of commerce from an old mer-chant, M. Gournay) publifhed in the Encyclopedic ,

* In proof of this, it is fufficient for me to appeal to'a shorthiftory of the progrefs of political oeconomy in France , publishedin one of the volumes of Ephbneridcs du Citoyen. See the iirilpart of the volume for the year 1769. The paper is entitled,Notice abregee des differens Ecrits modernes, qui ont concoum cttFrance a former la fcience de V(commie politique.