ABSTRACT
The Duke of Buccleuchs rank, together with Charles Townshend's introductions, ensured an immediate entry into the highest reaches of English society, then in Paris in large numbers, and through them, to the whole range of their Paris associates. In 1775 Patrick Clason, who graduated from Glasgow in 1758 when Adam Smith was there and who became a private tutor and schoolmaster at Logie, wrote enclosing a letter from Charles Bonnet to David Hume, through whom he sent greetings to Smith, the Sage of Glasgow, whose visit was always remembered with great pleasure. The letter is an interesting one, indicating as it does that Smith was a respected and accepted member of the intellectual circle in which he moved. But with the Duke of Buccleuch and his younger brother able to lead a more independent life in Paris than at Toulouse, Smith was able to exploit the varied intellectual offerings of the city.
