----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- Here's even a closer hit in Mark Akenside (1721 - 1770): "Where senates once the WEAL OF NATIONS plann'd..." ("The Pleasures of the Imagination", date of composition unknown). Interestingly, Akenside also mentions "some powerful hand unseen"... However, I don't know if Smith had read Akenside's "scientific" poetry. Yuri Tulupenko ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]