Smith, Adam. Autograph letter signed, 4 pages (9 x 7 ¼ in.; 229 x 184 mm.), "Glasgow," 29 October 1759 to the 1st Earl of She...

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Smith, Adam. Autograph letter signed, 4 pages (9 x 7 ¼ in.; 229 x 184 mm.), "Glasgow," 29 October 1759 to the 1st Earl of Shelburne; in fine condition. Interesting details on expenditures. In his informative letter to the 1st Earl of Shelburne, Smith discusses in some detail the expenses incurred by his son: I have marked every receipt with a letter of the Alphabet. Your Lordship will find the same letter upon the back of the Account or accounts which correspond to it. Your Lordship will observe several receipts that have no accounts corresponding to them. It is always mentioned in the body of the receipt what the money was given for, but there is not always any discharged account from a third person vouching that it was actually so expended. He describes two trips made with him, one to Edinburgh: I was often obliged either to sup or dine at places where it was improper to carry him. When this happened to be the case, that I might be sure what company he was in in a very dissolute town, I ordered a small entertainment at our lodgings & invited two or three young lawiers to keep him company in my absence... the other to the Duke of Argyll at Inverary: we happened to be misinformed with regard to Dukes [sic] motions & came there two days before him during which time we stayed at a very expensive Inn. Smith also gives Shelburne a meticulous account of Fitzmaurice's pocket money: Your Lordship will observe the first Article for Pocket to be four Pounds. he asked for it & as it was the beginning of my government I gave it. It was spent in less than a month, not upon any vitious pleasure, but upon prints & baubles of no great utility & a considerable portion of it upon nuts, apples and oranges. After that I capitulated with him for a guinea a month & he has kept to this pretty nearly. Smith devotes the last paragraph of his letter to an analysis of Fitzmaurice's conduct and prospects in general; His regularity is tempered by a great desire of distinguishing himself by doing actions of eclat that will draw upon him the Attention of the world. He is even animated by this passion to a degree that is a little hazardous & is capable of venturing to expose his talents, which are naturally excellent, before they are perfectly matured. If he lives to a man, he will, I imagine be firm, steady & resolute in an uncommon degree, & by the time he comes to the meridian of Life, will be a man of severe & even of rigid moral. Among payments without voucher listed by Smith are those for some books which we bought for ready money..., for a set of Silver buckles, for a case of mathematical instruments and for some other smaller articles of a few shillings value...It is likely that the case of mathematical instruments would have been supplied by the young James Watt, then Mathematical Instrument Maker to the College of Glasgow, who five years later was to begin his researches into steam power when asked to repair the College's Newcomen Engine. References: Messner & Ross, Correspondence of Adam Smith, no. 42.