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291.: To DAVID DOUGLAS - 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.


291.

To DAVID DOUGLAS

MS., University of Illinois Libr.; Scott 310.

My Dearest David

I have many apologies to make to you for having neglected so long to write to you. You will not, I know, impute it to any want of regard or affection but to an increased shaking in my hand which renders writing more and more inconvenient for me. Your day of tryal1 will probably be some day in May as, it is proposed, I understand, to bring in a new act of Parliament altering the day of meeting for the court of Session from the 12th day of June to the 12th or some other day in May. You may, I believe, rest satisfied that nobody will get before you.

The illness of Mr Hamilton2 gives me the greatest concern. His death, which God forbid, would be an irreparable loss to the College of Glasgow.

I saw Mr Herbert3 at Dalkeith; but I only saw him. He was so good as to call on me at Edinburgh. But I had the ill Luck to miss him. Be so good as to deliver the inclosed letter to him; it is an invitation to spend some part of the summer with us at Edinburgh. By putting up a bed in our Drawing room we can very easily accomodate him.

I should be glad to hear how the Greek goes on. I suppose by this time you are far advanced in the Odyssey. Mrs Ross and Miss Ross4 are both in their usual state of health: as is likewise your Brother the Colonel5 who is here just now on his way to London. Remember me to Mr and Mrs. Millar to Mr James and to all the rest of the family.6 I ever am my Dearest David

Most affectionately yours

Adam Smith

[1 ]Examination for entrance to the Faculty of Advocates.

[2 ]William Hamilton, Professor of Anatomy from 1781 at Glasgow University; d. 1790, when he was 32.

[3 ]? Eldest son of Henry Herbert.

[4 ]Possibly the wife and daughter of Col. Patrick Ross.

[5 ]Col. William Ann Douglas (1753–1803).

[6 ]Of Professor John Millar.