Speaker
Description
Chapter XIII of John Rae’s Life of Adam Smith recounts many of the most salient events and encounters during the middle phase of Adam Smith’s Grand Tour--specifically, the time between Smith’s departure from Toulouse (about October 1765) and his arrival in Paris a few months later (at the end of January or beginning of February 1766). Although Rae devotes only 2000 words to this part of Smith’s life and travels, subsequent scholarship has failed to surpass Rae’s findings. Biographers have rightly attached great importance to Smith’s meeting with Voltaire at a time when the Calas affair was still very much alive, but during his sojourn in Geneva, which has been described by some scholars as an English enclave at the time, Smith met other notable historical figures, including Charles Bonnet; Georges‐Louis Le Sage; Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Stanhope; Dr Theodore Tronchin; as well as Marie Louise Nicole de La Rochefoucauld, the duchesse d'Enville. By all accounts, the duchesse d'Enville would continue to play a role in Smith’s life during his subsequent sojourn in Paris and later years, perhaps even prompting Smith to make some significant alterations to the sixth edition of his Theory of Moral Sentiments. Part 1 of this article presents the circumstances of Smith’s arrival from Toulouse to Geneva. Part 2 exposes the English microcosm in Geneva and how Smith’s networking in Toulouse and Occitania prepared his arrival. Part 3 stresses the consequences of the sojourn, both for the last phase of Smith’s Grand Tour in Paris as well as for his long lasting relationships he formed in Geneva.
| Organization | Université de Toulouse Capitole; University of Central Florida |
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