Adam Smith to William Smith Wednesday, 24 August 1740
Oxford, 24 Aug. 1740
Sir
I yesterday receiv'd your letter with a bill of sixteen pounds inclos'd, for which I humbly thank you, but more for the good advice you were pleased to give me: I am indeed affraid that my expences at college must necessarily amount to a much greater sum this year than at any time hereafter; because of the extraordinary and most extravagant fees we are obligd to pay the College and University on our admittance; it will be his own fault if anyone should endanger his health at Oxford by excessive Study, our only business here being to go to prayers twice a day, and to lecture twice a week. I am, dear Sir
Your most Oblig'd Servant
Adam Smith
(From Smith, Adam. The Correspondence of Adam Smith. Ed. E. C. Mossner & Ian Simpson Ross. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.)