Most of the biographies contained in that work were written by James Paterson, but a few of the earliest, including this of Smith, were not.  They were all written, however, from materials which had been long collected by Kay himself, who only died in 1832, or which were obtained before the time of publication from local residents who had known the men themselves, or had mingled with those who did.  The whole were edited by the well-known and learned antiquary, James Maidment, whose acceptance of the story is some security that it came from an authoritative though unnamed source.

Smith was highly taken with Pitt, and one evening when dining with him, he remarked to Addington after dinner, “What an extraordinary man Pitt is; he understands my ideas better than I do myself."[342] Other statesmen have been converts to free trade.  Pitt never had any other creed; it was his first faith.  He was forming his opinions as a young man when the Wealth of Nations appeared, and he formed them upon that work.  Smith saw much of this group of statesmen during his visit to the capital in that year.[343] We find Wilberforce sounding him about some of his philanthropic schemes, Addington writing an ode to him after meeting him at Pitt’s, and Pitt himself seeking his counsels concerning some contemplated legislation, and perhaps setting him to some task of investigation for his assistance.  Bentham had in the early part of 1787 sent from Russia the manuscript of his Defence of Usury, written in antagonism to Smith’s doctrine on the subject, to his friend George Wilson, barrister, and Wilson a month or two later—­14th of July—­writes of “Dr. Smith,” who can, I think, be no other than the economist:  “Dr. Smith has been very ill here of an inflammation in the neck of the bladder, which was increased by very bad piles.  He has been cut for the piles, and the other complaint is since much mended.  The physicians say he may do some time longer.  He is much with the Ministry, and the clerks of the public offices have orders to furnish him with all papers, and to employ additional hands, if necessary, to copy for him.  I am vexed that Pitt should have done so right a thing as to consult Smith, but if any of his schemes are effectuated I shall be comforted."[344] It may be, of course, that Smith was examining papers in the public offices in connection with his own work on Government, but Wilson’s statement rather leaves the impression that the researches were instituted in pursuance of some idea of Pitt’s, probably related to the reform of the finances.  If the Dr. Smith of Wilson’s letter is the economist, he would appear to have stayed in London a considerable time on this occasion, and to have suffered a serious relapse of ill-health during his stay there.