Sunday, November 30, 2008

Short Break in Posting

I am taking a short break in the north-west of Scotland, someway north of Oban, for a couple of days.

It may be possible to read posts but not to send them until Tuesday. Nothing much to do up there except walk a little, read a lot, and enjoy (I hope) some fine food. It's very cold today, with frost on the ground; on the west coast it's snowing, showering and blowing. Fine, bracing Scotch weather (think positive!).

On the way up I shall pass Inverary, where the 3rd Duke of Argyll had his Scottish residence and which Adam Smith may have visited, as the Duke was his main sponsor in his successful applications for his Glasdgow University chairs.

Smith's father had served the 2nd Duke of Argyll in the shananigans that brought Scotland into a parliamentary Union with England in 1707 - it was already a union of crowns.

His father also worked with the 2nd Duke's brother who became the 3rd Duke whom Smith knew, distantly. It was this fortuitous connection that earned him the Duke's favour in his university appointments and the opportunity to prove his genius.

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