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192.: To WILLIAM STRAHAN - Adam Smith, Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence Vol. 6 Correspondence of Adam Smith [1740]

Edition used:

Correspondence of Adam Smith, ed. E. C. Mossner and I. S. Ross, vol. VI of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1987).

Part of: The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, 7 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


192.

To WILLIAM STRAHAN

MS., University of Illinois Libr.; Rae 323–4.

Edinburgh, 5 Feb. 1778

My Dear Strahan

I received the commission in due Course and have only to thank you for your great attention to my interest in every respect; but above all for your generosity in so readily forgiving the sally of bad humour, which in consequence of General Skeenes,1 who meant too very well, most unreasonably broke out upon you. I can only say in my own vindication, that I am not very subject to such sallies; and that upon the very few occasions in which I have happened to fall into them, I have soon recovered from them. I am told that no commission ever came so soon to Edinburgh; many having been delayed three weeks or a month after appearing in the Gazette. This extraordinary dispatch I can impute to nothing but your friendly diligence and that of Mr Spottiswood; to whom I beg to be remembered in the most respectfull manner.

You have made a small mistake in stating our account; you credit me with £150 only, instead of £170; the first bill being for £120 the second for £50.2 Cadell, however, still remains unpaid.3 As soon as I understand he has delivered the books, or before it, if he will send me the account of them, I shall send him the money. I ever am Dear Sir

Most faithfully yours

Adam Smith

[1 ]Smith’s cousin, Robert Skene; his part in the affair of the commission is unknown; and Smith’s ‘sally’ is a mystery also.

[2 ]Calculations on the back of the letter suggest that the commission fees came to ‘£147.18s’. Possibly Smith sent two bills (£120 and £50) to pay the fees; see Letter 191 addressed to William Spottiswoode, dated 21 Jan. 1778.

[3 ]For printing WN ed. 2; see Letter 184 addressed to Willam Strahan, dated 27 Oct. 1777.