Author Archives: F. E. Guerra-Pujol
Smith in the City: the debate over the Stamp Act (part 1 of 2)
Let’s pick up where we left off, with Horace Walpole’s journal entry for Thursday, March 20, which reads: “Mr Young, Mr Lyttelton, Duke of Buccleuch and Mr Smith came. To shops.”[1] What shops would they have visited? And where were … Continue reading
Smith in the City: vignettes of Paris in the 18th century
I will resume my “Smith in the City” series in the next day or two. In the meantime, check out the following description of “Paris in the 18th century” via Wikipedia (links in the original): “Paris in the 18th century … Continue reading
Horace Walpole, a man of many aphorisms
Originally posted on prior probability:
I have been reading the correspondence of Horace Walpole for the years 1765/66 as part of my researches into Adam Smith’s life in Paris. (Walpole’s first visit to Paris coincided with Smith’s second.) Walpole, a…
Smith in the City: Hume’s garden
Adam Smith may have had an opportunity to visit David Hume’s old stomping grounds, the luxurious Hôtel de Brancas on the rue de l’Université, on Sunday, March 16, for Horace Walpole’s journal entry for that day reads: “To Hôtel de … Continue reading
Smith in the City: Count Schuwalof
Note: This blog post should have appeared before my previous one, “Jacobites in Paris.” I am posting it here, out of order, for your edification. Horace Walpole, still recuperating from a serious eye infection, mentions two more individuals by name … Continue reading
Smith in the City: Jacobites in Paris
Horace Walpole’s journal entries for Thursday, March 13 and Saturday, March 15 both refer to Adam Smith and to the Scots College in Paris: March 13: “Dr Smith and Gordon, Principal of the Scotch College came.”[1] March 15: “With Dr … Continue reading
Adam Smith and the salons of Paris: venues of Enlightenment or situses of snobbery?
Horace Walpole’s journal entry for Saturday, March 8 reads: “Ditto. Mme Geoffrin, Mr Smith, Mme du Deffand, Lord and Lady George came.”[1] That is, in addition to Adam Smith, Lord George Lennox, and Lord George’s wife Lady Louisa Kerr, Walpole’s … Continue reading
Smith in the City: the King scolds his magistrates
Horace Walpole’s journal entry for Monday, March 3 reads: “King [Louis XV] went suddenly to the [Paris] Parliament–packing up and writing letters till late in the evening. Dr Smith and Baron d’Holbach came. To the Temple.”[1] This pithy entry poses … Continue reading
Map of Paris (1780)
Although this beautiful pocket map of prerevolutionary Paris was produced in 1780 by the famed cartographers Jacques Esnauts and Michel Rapilly, several years after Adam Smith’s residency in the City of Lights in 1766, it gives us some idea of … Continue reading
Bad data visualization?
I am interrupting my “Smith in the City” series to ask, Does this infographic make any sense to you? Also, where is New Zealand?

