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ACCOUNT OF THE I. IFE AND

“ In the Profefforfhip of Logic, to which Mr.Smith was appointed on his ftrft introdu£lion intothis Univerfity, he foon law the necessity of de-parting widely from the plan that had been follow-ed by his predecessors, and of directing the at-tention of his pupils to lludies of a more intereft-ing and useful nature than the logic and metaphy-sics of the schools. Accordingly, after exhibitinga general view of the powers of the mind, andexplaining fo much of the ancient logic as wasrequiiite to gratify curiosity with refpecl to anartificial method of reasoning, which had onceoccupied the universal 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 useful partof metaphyfics, arises from an examination of theseveral ways of communicating our thoughts byspeech, and from an attention to the principlesof thofe literary compositions which contribute topersuasion or entertainment. By these arts, everything that we perceive or feel, every operation ofour minds, is expressed and delineated in fuch amanner, that it may be clearly distinguished andremembered. There is, at the fame time, nobranch of literature more suited to youth at theirfirft entrance upon philosophy than this, whichlays hold of their tafte and their feelings. >