# Protestant Exiles from France/Book First - Chapter 13 - Section XIII

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XIII. Smart Lethieullier, Esq.
As the family to which this gentleman belongs has already been described in detail, it is sufficient to say that he was the second but eldest surviving son of John Lethieullier, Esq., of Aldersbrook, in Essex, and grandson of Sir John Lethieullier. He was named after his grandfather, Sir Joseph Smart, of London (knighted 1696, died 1703). His university education was at Oxford, where he was a gentleman-commoner of Trinity College. He succeeded his venerable father on 1st January 1737 (n.s.), when he was in his thirty-fourth year. He reminds us of Abraham de la Pryme. He made England the scene of his travels, and collected immense materials for illustrating the civil and natural history of his native country. He compiled numerous Itineraries, diligently using his pen in noting the antiquities which he met with, and skilfully employing his pencil in making drawings of everything remarkable. He made a great collection of English fossils in two large cabinets scientifically arranged. These he catalogued and described in a folio volume, in which the most rare specimens were accurately and artistically drawn. His admiration for the marbles of Italy led him to visit those regions, and besides making a fine collection, he compiled an illustrated MS. volume regarding them. He enriched his cabinets and library with the spoils of Italy — the former containing medals and coins; the latter, many volumes of valuable engravings. He also made some explorations in Germany. All this he accomplished without impairing his estate; for he left to his heiress not only Aldersbrook, but also the manor of Birch Hall in Theydon Bois. His heiress was his niece, daughter of his brother Charles, who died in December 1759, he himself surviving only until August of next year. His manuscripts were the ​most remarkable and representative relics of his life. All that he printed consisted of articles in Archaeologia, and in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society:—
1. A Letter to Mr. Gale on the Icening street and other Roman roads in England. Anno 1735 (Arch. vol. i.)
2. A Letter to Mr. Gale, relating to the shrine of St. Hugh, the crucified child, at Lincoln. Anno 1736.
3. A Letter to Mr. G. Vertue, relating to some antiquities at Bordeaux in France.
4. Observations on Sepulchral Monuments, in a letter to James West, Esq. (Arch, vol. ii.)
5. An account of the burning of the steeple at Danbury by lightning. Anno 1749. (Phil. Trans., vol. xlvi. p. 611).
Mr. Collinson describes him as “a gentleman every way eminent for his excellent endowments.” Another panegyrist calls him “an excellent scholar, a polite gentleman, and universally esteemed by all the learned men of his time.” These feelings are more fully brought out in the epitaph upon his tomb at Little Ilford : —
In memory of Smart Lethieullier, Esq., a gentleman of polite literature and elegant taste, an encourager of art and ingenious artists, a studious promoter of literary enquiries, a companion and a friend of learned men, judiciously versed in the study of Antiquity, and richly possessed of the curious productions of nature. But who modestly desired no other Inscription on his Tomb than what he had made the Rule of his Life: To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with his God. He was born Nov. 3, 1701, and deceased without issue, Aug. 27, 1760.
[The following sentence in the Grenville Papers refers perhaps to his scientific and antiquarian collections:— Earl Temple to Mr. Wilkes, Stowe, October 29, 1761 , “I gave your paper concerning Mr. Lethieullier to Mr. Pitt, who with great pleasure promised to obey your commands.”]