prior probability

Let’s begin my “Smith in the City” series by narrowing down the date of Adam Smith’s arrival in Paris. We know that Smith lived in Paris for most of 1766, but when exactly did he arrive there?

Adam Smith and his then-pupil Duke Henry, the future 3rd Duke of Buccleugh, began their Grand Tour of Europe in early 1764 and first arrived in the City of Lights on February 13 of that year. Their first sojourn in Paris, however, was a relatively short one: they remained in the French capital for only a few days before relocating to Toulouse, where they resided for the next 18 months, i.e. from March of 1764 to October of 1765.[1] Later on, Smith, Duke Henry, and the Duke’s younger brother Hew Scott Campbell, who had joined his brother in Toulouse in the summer of 1764, all travelled to the Swiss city of Geneva sometime in October of 1765 before returning to Paris a second time.[2] So, when exactly did they return to Paris for their second, much longer, sojourn?

According to Ian Simpson Ross (2010, p. 209), citing two of Smith’s previous biographers, John Rae and E. G. West: “It has been assumed Smith and his pupils [Duke Henry and Henry’s younger brother Hew] travelled to Paris from Geneva in December 1765, in time to see Hume and possibly Rousseau before they left the French capital for England on 4 January 1766.”[3] But as Ross himself correctly notes (ibid.), the surviving correspondence between Hume and Smith does not indicate that any such meeting between them, or between Smith and Rousseau for that matter, ever occurred. Instead, Ross reports that “[t]he first news from Paris of Smith being there comes from Horace Walpole, who recorded on 2 March 1766 that [they] had gone to an ‘Italian play’ … at the Comedie-Italienne.”[4] In fact, the first reference to Smith in Walpole’s private travel journal appears on February 15, 1766. His journal entry for that date begins thus: “Dr. Smith came.”[5]

By contrast, another contemporary source, the Reverend William Cole, has Smith’s pupil, Duke Henry, arriving in Paris as early as October 26, 1765.[6] Although Reverend Cole’s account does not mention Adam Smith or Duke Henry’s younger brother Hew Scott Campbell by name, it is unlikely that Duke Henry would have travelled to Paris from Geneva alone. Of these two primary sources, however, I find Horace Walpole to be far more credible than Reverend Cole for three reasons.

First, as mentioned above, Smith and Duke Henry were most likely in Geneva during the months of October and November of 1765.[7] Secondly, Walpole was annotating his activities in Paris on a daily basis contemporaneously during his seven-month stay in Paris (Walpole was in Paris from September 1765 to April 1766), while Cole began writing his Paris travel memoire almost six months after he left Paris.[8] And thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, Smith and Walpole were residing in the same place, the Hôtel du Parc Royal.

But where in Paris was the Parc Royal located, and why did Smith choose to stay there? I shall address those questions in my next post.

Adam Smith lived in Paris for most of 1766. Among other things, it was during this fateful year that Smith attended the celebrated salons of the leading ladies of Paris and dined with such lights as Diderot and d’Alembert, co-editors of the great Encyclopedie. But most importantly, it was in Paris where Smith met and exchanged ideas with the leading economistes of Europe. In the eloquent words of one student of Smith’s life (Ross 1984), “the encounters with the economic theorists of Paris [the so-called “Physiocrats”] can be considered one of the most exciting passages in Smith’s intellectual development, second in importance only to his early contacts with Hume.”[1] Given how important Smith’s stay in Paris was to his transformation from a moral philosopher into a modern political economist, I will assemble the available evidence and retrace Smith’s footsteps in the City of Lights.

But, first, when did Adam Smith arrive in Paris? One contemporary source (Rev. William Cole, who was in Paris from October to December 1765) has Smith arriving in the City of Lights as early as October 1765, while another source (Horace Walpole, who was in Paris from September 1765 until April 1766) has him arriving as late as February 1766. In my next post (4/21), I will try to narrow down the actual date of Smith’s arrival.

[1] Ian [Simpson] Ross. 1984. The Physiocrats and Adam Smith. Journal for Eighteenth‐Century Studies, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Sep., 1984), pp. 177-189 (p. 185).

Starting tomorrow (April 20), I will begin posting a new multi-part series on “Adam Smith in Paris, 1766.” In the meantime, pictured below is one part of a 1739 map of Paris known as the “Turgot Map.” Among other things, the left side of this beautiful fragment shows the famed Île de la Cité — the island on the River Seine where such landmarks as the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Pont Neuf are located.

Also, this fragment is part of a much larger map of Paris, which was commissioned in 1734 by Michel-Etienne Turgot, the provost of the merchants of Paris, a position roughly equivalent to that of the present-day Mayor. Turgot selected Louis Bretez, a member of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, to prepare a new printed map to record and promote the city of Paris. Bretez and his assistants then spent more than two years making detailed, measured studies of the buildings and other landmarks of Paris for this project. The final (1739) version of the Turgot/Bretez map was executed on a scale of approximately 1:400. More details about this map are available here, via Wikipedia, and here, via the Princeton University Library.

Back in 2020 (see here), I wrote: “Why do we still allow the federal government (and many State governments) to tax our physical and mental labor, which is what an “income tax” basically amounts to? Go ahead and tax my capital gains, or my leisure activities, or my property, or my inheritance, or my wholesale or retail purchases, but for goodness’ sake, stop taxing my labor! Simply put, I don’t need a bunch of fancy jargon to obfuscate the self-evident truth that taxing people’s work is regressive and unjust–the moral equivalent of theft or forced labor. At the very least, the first $100,000 of one’s earnings should be tax free. What am I missing here? (PS: If you Google the phrase “abolish the income tax,” some very interesting things will pop up!)”

By Johann Sebastian Bach; more details here, via Wikipedia. Happy Easter Sunday!

Hello again and good tidings. I am concluding my series of Holy Week blog posts on “Holy Saturday“, which is also the last day of Lent and the third day of the Sacred Triduum, i.e. the three high holy days before Easter: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Eve. You’re welcome!

On Good Friday, the most solemn day of the Christian calendar, Jesus of Nazareth was put on trial for claiming to be the son of God and for other religious crimes (check out this history, via Doug Linder), but did you know that Jesus was tried twice: first under Jewish law (see the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus) and then under Roman law (see Pilate’s Court)? Now you know!

Today, Holy Thursday, we commemorate the Last Supper, the final meal Jesus shared with his disciples in Jerusalem prior to his fateful arrest, his two trials, and his crucifixion. Via Catholic Online: “The cup used by Jesus [at the Last Supper] is known as the Holy Grail. Although it has been rumored to exist throughout history, it is almost certainly lost to time. There is no reason to believe the cup would have been outstanding in any way, and was likely a typical drinking vessel, indistinguishable from many others. Still, many myths continue to revolve around the artifact, and it remains a target for treasure seekers and a subject of entertainment.” More details about the quest for the Holy Grail are available here.

Note: If you are reading this post on your smart phone, I apologize for my website’s new ugly and hideous format. Without warning, WordPress — the platform I have been using since I started blogging in July of 2013 — changed the look of my website without my consent.

Via Wikipedia: “On the Wednesday before his death [Holy Wednesday], Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the Leper. As he sat at the supper table with his disciples, a woman named Mary anointed Jesus’ head and feet with a costly oil of spikenard.” More details here.

This week is Holy Week (Semana Santa), the most sacred time in the Catholic liturgical year, so my blogging will be lighter than usual until next Tuesday, April 19.