SMITH, Adam. - CARLYLE, Alexander, Minister of Inveresk, attributed author.

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A Letter to his Grace the Duke of Buccleugh, on national defence. First edition, second issue, "a re-issue of the London edition of the same year with a cancel title page and the addition of a postscript dated: Lincoln's Inn, July 20th, 1778" (ESTC), this copy also retaining the London title page. "This discussion of the bill for extending the militia law of Scotland, introduced in 1776, contains a number of passing references to the war in America" (Adams). The postscript comments on Burgoyne's defeat. Carlyle is identified as author in a contemporary hand on the Edinburgh title. After studies at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Leiden where his classmates included William Robertson, Adam Ferguson and John Home, Carlyle was licensed to preach in 1746 and was introduced to the parish of Inveresk, some five miles south-east of Edinburgh, by the duke of Buccleuch the following year, receiving his ordination in 1748. A moderate in his support for ecclesiastical patronage and politically conservative issues, as well as in his endorsement of Enlightenment cultural principles, including liberal education, polite learning and religious toleration, Carlyle was a familiar figure in the cultural life of what has come to be known as the Scottish Enlightenment. Strong and outspoken in his support for the Scots militia cause, having written in 1760 The Question relating to a Scots Militia Considered, the present pamphlet attacks Smith's apparent opposition to militias in the Wealth of Nations, citi

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