The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-06-26 00:00:00

tion enumerated in Miller, and shows where they each
fail ; the true one he considers to be beyond our know-
ledge, perhaps beyond our comprehension.
This last part of the book is by far the most interest-
ingand beautiful: there is a reverent and modest feeling
pervading the whole, yet the essayist clearly vindicates
the moral government of God, the wisdom and fitness
of present things for our present state. We can fully
believe the report of the judges, who declared that
this and the first prize essay were far beyond all
others. No one can read through this, especially the
fourth section, without having his doubts (if he ever
had any) about the goodness of God being compatible
with the existence of sin, at least set at rest, if not
completely answered. The first prize essay we have
not yet seen.

A Memoir of the Rev. Sydney Smith. By his
Daughter, Lady Holland. With a Selection from
his Letters, edited by Mrs. Austin. London :
Longman and Co.
It is seldom that one meets, in this everyday work-
ing world of strife and labour—of real business and
feigned enjoyment, with anything so redolent of
life's sunshine as the pictures produced, in vast and
prolific abundance, in the two volumes devoted to the
life and letters of the Rev. Sydney Smith. These
volumes owe their existence, in a great degree, if not
entirely, to the conjugal affection of the widow, who,
in surviving the late canon of St. Paul's, fondly
cherished his memory, as she had during his life
dearly loved, ardently admired, and duly honoured
her lively, ready-witted, and amiable husband. That
love and admiration being kindled and sustained by
his worth and wisdom, and, as she herself wrote, her
widowhood was cheered to -the last by a hope "of
seeing that published of him, which to me far exceeded
all th brilliancy of head that the world took cogni-
zance of, but which I least valued ; well-knowing,
what the world knew not, the perfection of his heart,
and his love of truth." Impressed with this desire,
she sedulously cherished the mass of materials col-
lected by himself, and urged their arrangement and
publication upon their mutual friend Mrs. Austin,
who willingly undertook the task, which failing
health prevented her from accomplishing, and which
has ultimately devolved on Lady Holland, the wife of
Sir Henry Holland, the physician, and daughter of
the subject of the memoir. The, duty, though con-
siderably advanced,- was unfulfilled at the" time of
Mrs. Smith's death, but it has been discharged with
fidelity and tact, as well as judgment and delicacy.
The memoir is written in such a manner as to give a
clear idea of the moral character and intellectual
vigour of her father, and portrays, in a striking
manner, the vivacious good-humour, and strong
common sense with which he sought to improve
the circumstances, and combat the difficulties by
which he was beset, particularly in the early period of
his life ; in addition to the memoir Mrs. Austin contri-
butes a judiciously-compiled collection of his letters,
introduced and explained by an excellent preface ; the
joint labours of the authoress and editress forming
two volumes of the most delightful and instructive
reading.
Sydney Smith, the subject of the memoir, was born
in the year 1771, at Woodford, in Essex, his father,
Robert Smith, of whom he was the second son, being
a man of considerable eccentricity of manner, and of
careless habits. Mrs. Smith, the mother of Sydney,
was a woman of great beauty and rare accomplish-
ments, and engrafted upon sound judgment, great
sweetness of temper, and lively but inoffensive wit. She
was the daughter of M. Oriel, a French emigrant
from Languedoc, and from her there seems little
reason to doubt that Sydney inherited much of his
playful good-nature and exuberant fancy ; while he
also, it would seem, became heir to no inconsiderable
portion of his father's eccentricity, without having in
any degree imbibed his carelessness in respect to