tish universities in general, or of Trinity College Dublin in particular, in the eighteenth century, cannot be primarily an academic or intellectual history, but rather a social history, with perhaps some inquiry into why the revival of all these universities began in the last years of the century.
The most notable contemporary primary sources on eighteenth century British universities are the Autobiography of Edward Gibbon (which was not available for study), and Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. The latter has (Vol. II, Chapter I, Part III, Article II), a general analysis of the conditions which, in Smith's view, produce effective or ineffective teaching in an educational institution (Smith, V.2, Ch.I, Pt. III, Art. II). (Smith considers only teaching, not scholarly production or publication; he would be perplexed by the "publish or perish" culture of modern universities.) Intermixed through this analysis are a number of observations of the weaknesses of the English universities in his day.
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