He was fortunate in his teachers and his friends.

At Glasgow he was the pupil of Francis Hutcheson; and even if he was taught nothing at Oxford, at least six years of leisure gave him ample opportunity to learn.

His professorship at Glasgow not only brought him into contact with men like Hume, but also admitted him to intercourse with a group of business men whose liberal sentiments on commerce undoubtedly strengthened, if they did not originate, his own liberal views.

At Glasgow, too, in 1759, he published his _Theory of Moral Sentiments_, written with sufficient power of style to obscure its inner poverty of thought.

The book brought him immediately a distinguished reputation from a public which exalted elegance of diction beyond all literary virtues.