AN INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF ADAM SMITH, COMMISSIONER OF HIS MAJESTY'S CUSTOMS.

This articles describes the professional life of economist Adam Smith as the Commissioner of His Majesty's Customs in Great Britain. Adam Smith entered upon his duties as Commissioner of His Majesty's Customs at Edinburgh early in 1778. He was then close to fifty-five years of age, and at the height of his powers and reputation. With an assured income of £900 a year-two-thirds from his government appointments, the other third his pension from the House of Buccleugh-he was a rich man in the Edinburgh of his day and fully in position to enjoy what he loved most: "his mother, his friends, his books." Yet his acceptance of the appointment greatly disturbed his friends who were fearful that the duties of the office would prove "sufficient to waste his spirit and dissipate his attention." During the first years of his residence in this city his studies seemed to be entirely suspended and his passion for letters served only to amuse his leisure and animate his conversation.