The Press.
London, England, 1855-06-16 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

were far inferior to his merit, and that he ought
to have been a bishop, though Sydney often
himself shouted " Nolo Episcopari" with all
his might. Still a bishopric, it is intimated,
should have been offered him. His amiable
daughter forgets how many near relatives of
Whig magnates had first to be provided for,
and that kindred before friendship, and blood
before service, is a fundamental rule of Whig
policy. Sydney Smith, however, did not fare
badly; he became wealthy long before he died,
as in addition to his clerical preferments he
received a third of the large fortune accumu-
lated by his younger brother, Courtenay, in
India.
Sydney was born in 1771 at Woodford, in
Essex. His father was eccentric, and bad
some of the humour for which two of his sons
were conspicuous. Sydney was educated at
Winchester with Courtenay, and received, we
are toll,
A most flattering but involuntary compliment from his
achoolfellows, who signed a round•robin, " refusing to try
fur the college prizes if the Smiths were allowed to con•
tend for them any more, as they always gained them." lie
used to say, " I believe, whilst a boy at school, I made
above ten thousand Latin verses, and no man in his senses
would dream in afterlife of ever making another. So much
for life and time wasted."

No doubt he was early remarkable for
superior capacity. At college he gained a
fellowship of 1001. a y ear, and from this time
had to rely on his own resources, as his father
would allow him nothing. At the wish of his
father he entered the Church, and became
curate in a small village in the midst of Salis-
bury Plain :

One of the first professional duties he was called upon
to perform was to marry his eldest brother Robert to Miss
Vernon, aunt to the present Lord Lansdowne. In a letter
to his mother on the occasion he says, " The marriage
took place in the library at Bowood, and all I can tell you
of it is, that he cried, she cried, and I cried."

His brother Robert was, of course, the
" Convivial Bobus " of happy memory ; and
from this marriage issued the Right Honour-
able Vernon Smith, through the care of Lord
Lansdowne and his Whig friends—it would be
uncivil irony to say that Mr. Smith has any
other claim to the distinction—now President
of the India Board, and a member of the
Cabinet.

Even in the middle of Salisbury Plain, For•
tune found out and smiled on one who in the
best gifts conducive to happiness was emi-
nently her favorite. He related, himself:—

The squire of the parish, Mr. Bench, took a fancy to me,
and after I had served it two years, he engaged me as
tutor to hie eldest son, and it was arranged that I and his
son should proceed to the University of Weimar, in Saxony.
We set out ; but before reaching our destination, Ger-
many was disturbed by war, and, in stress of politics, we
put into Edinburgh, where 1 remained five years. The
principles of the French Revolution were then fully afloat,
and it is impossible to conceive a more violent and agi-
tated state of society.
Those five years at Edinburgh determined
the future character of his life. He had pre-
viously been engaged to a young lady, Miss
Pybus, and to Edinburgh he brought her on
his marriage :
It was lucky that Miss Pybus had some fortune, for my
father's only contribution towards their future menage
(save his own talents and character) were six small silver
teaspoons, which, from much wear, had become the ghosts
of their former selves. One day, in the madness of his
joy, he came running into the room and flung these into
her lap, saying, " There, Kate, you lucky girl, I give you
all my fortune! "

The fortune of the lady was settled on her-
self and her children, at the express desire of
Sydney ; but for a splendid pearl necklace be-
queathed her by her mother the young lady
obtained 5001., and this furnished their house.
Not all young ladies would,
.for the six old
silver spoons, have been capable of so great a
sacrifice. Soon after Sydney received 1,0001. from
Mr. Beach for the care of his son ; and with this
amount the young couple must have appeared
to their friends, from what we know of the frugal
commencement ofJeffrey's married life, in com-
parative affluence. The Edinburgh Review was
started soon afterwards, and must have formed
a welcome addition to Sydney's income, as he
was for many years a regular contributor to it.
The high spirits for which he was conspicu-
ous all through life were in full play during
his residence ftt Edinburgh, and he amused
himself with playful satire on peculiarities of
the Scotch character:—
It requires (he used to say) a surgical operation to get
a joke well into a Scotch understanding. . . . They

SATURDAY,

are so imbued *ith metaphysics that they even make love
metaphysically ; I overheard a young lady of my acquaint.
ance, at a dance in Edinburgh, exclaim, in a sudden pause
of the music, " What you say, my lord, is very true of love
in tne aibsiract, but—" here the fiddlers began fiddling
furiously and the rest was lost.

When the education of his pupils finished
he broke up his camp at Edinburgh and came
to London. He obtained some preacherships—
lectured at the Royal Institution—became
popular—was received with open arms by
Holland-house—and when the Whigs came in
with Lord Grenville in 1806, obtained tile
living of Foston-le-Clay in Yorkshire. soon
a difficulty presented itself; he was riot only
required to reside in hie parish, but, by an
act just passed, to build a residence if no
house existed. He tried in vain to exchange,
then manfully set himself to his appointed task,
built a house after his own plan, finding the
architect's design too etpensive, and thence-
forth farmed and lived in a perfectly inde-
pendent style, making a joke of unavoidable
inconveniences, and snapping his fingers at
all the Mistress Gruudys in creation. His
establishment at Foston is so admirably de-
scribed in a letter from a clergyman who paid
him a visit, that we are tempted to transcribe
the whole passage :

A man's character is probably more faithful y repre-
sented in the arrangements of his home than in any other
point ; and Fostou is a facsimile of its master's mind,
from first to last. He had no architect, bat 1 question
whether a u.ore compact, convenient house could well be
imagined. In the midst of a field, commanding no very
attractive view, he has contrived to give it an air of snug-
ness and comfort, and its internal arrangements are per-
fect. The drawing-room is the colour you covet, the
genuine chromium, with a sort of yellow fioweringpattern.
It is exquisitely filled with irregular regularities—tables,
books, chairs, Indian wardrobes ; everything finished in
thorough taste, without the slightest reference to smartness
or useless finery; and his inventive genius appears in
every corner ; his fires are blown into brightness Ify
snadrachs, tubes furnished with air from without, opening
into the centre of the fire; his poker, tongs, and shovel Nre
secured from falling with that horrid crash which is so de-
structive to the nerves and temper.
His own study has no appearance of comfort • but as Ile
reads and writes in his family circle, in spite of talking and
other interruptions, this is of less consequence. In other
respects it has its attractions: there, for instance, he keeps
his rheumatic armour, all of which he displayed oat of a
large bag, giving me an illustrated lecture upon each com-
ponent part. Fancy him in a fit of rheumatism, his lege
in two narrow buckets, which he calls his jack-boots;
round the throat a hollow tin collar ; over each shoulder a
large tin thing like a shoulder of mutton ; on his head a
hollow tin helmet, all filled with hot water ; and fancy
him expatiating upon each and all of them with ultra-
energy.
His bed-rooms are counterparts of the lower roorria ;
in mine there were twenty-eight large Piranesi prints of
ancient Rome, mounted just as we do ours, but without
frames, and, indeed, in every vacant part of the house he
has hung them up.
His store-room is more like that of an Indiaman
than anything else, containing such a complete and well-
assorted portion of every possible want or wish in a country
establishment.
The same spirit prevails in his garden and farm : con-
trivance and singularity in every bole and corner.
" What, in the name of wonder, is that skele•on sort di'
machine in the middle of your field ?" " Oh, that is Ti'!
universal scratcher • a framework so contrived that every
animal, from a lamb to a bullock, can rub and scratch it-
self with the greatest facility and luxury."
I arrived there on Saturday evening, walking from
York, by which I contrived to lose my way, and take
possession of another man's home and drawing-room fire-
side for some time before the host appeared, and the mis-
take was discovered.
On Sunday we prepared for church ; he was hoarse, so I
was to read; against preaching I had provided by having
no sermon. Good heavens ! what a set-out ! The family
chariot, which be calls the immortal, from having been al-
tered and repaired in every possible way—the last novelty,
a lining of green cloth, worked and fitted by the village
tailor—appeared at the door, with a pair of shafts substi-
tuted for the pole, in which shafts stood one of hie cart-
horses, with the regular cart harness, and a driver by its
side. In the inside the ladies were seated : on the dicky
behind I mounted with him ; but his servant having
placed the cushions without first putting in the wooden
board, on sitting down, we sank through, to his great
amusement. These preliminaries being adjusted, we
set out.
The church resembles a barn more than anything else,
in size and shape ; though, from two old Saxon doors, it
shows claim to higher antiquity than most others. About
fifty people were assembled ; I entered the reading-desk ;
he followed the prayers with a plain, sound sermon upon
the duty of forgiving injuries, but in manner and voice
clearly proving that he felt what he said, and meant that
others should feel it too.
His domestic establishment is on a par with the rest :
his head servant is his carpenter, and never appears ex-
cepting on company days. We were waited upon by his
usual corps dontestique, one little girl, about fourteen years
of age ; named, I believe, Mary or Fanny, but invariably
called by them anal. With the moat immovable
gravity she stands before him when he gives his orders ,

Jl/24t 16, 1855.

the answers to which he makes her repeat verbatim, to
insure accuracy.

Not to lose time, he farms with a tremendous speaking.
trumpet from his door ; a proper companion for which
machine is a telescope, slung in leather, for observing what
they are doing.
On Monday came Lady H. Hall, her two daughters and
her two eons ; the latter, Captain B. Hall, a rare avis I
hive long wished to see ; and Peter Tytler, son (is he not?)
to the author. What a charm there is in good society and
well-informed people ! what would you not have given to
have heard the mass of sit, sense, anecdote, and instruc-
tion that Bowed incessantly !

Lady Holland feels herself forced to vindi•
cate the dignity of the family chariot. She
writes :

The equipage alluded to in this letter requires a little
•:planation. Our house was above a mile from the little
Church, with roads to it of the stiffest and deepest clay,
hardly passable to women in wet weather or winter, and my
mother was in delicate health. We could not afford horses ;
so my father, never ashamed of showing his poverty when
he thought it right, hit upon this rude and cheap device, to
enable his family to accompany him in all weathers to
church. Ludicrous as this description may appear to the
reader, yet the proprieties of life were attended to. The
horse, the harness, the Immortal, and the carter, all wore
their best and cleanest Sunday garb, and I think they et-
cited respect rather than ridicule amidst his humble con-
gregation.

In the midst of all his contrivances Sydney
was no doubt. supremely happy. The picture
of his farming, directing the operations of his
labourers as he stood under his door way
with a speaking trumpet, and watching them
through a telescope, is perfect. The com-
panion picture is, of course, the author in his
study, clad in his rheumatic armour, writing
an article for his dear Edinburgh. The won-
der is, how so much prudence as he mani-
fested through life could have consisted with
so much inventive ardour. It is true that
living in the country is cheap, and temptations
for expenditure infrequent, and farming at
that time must have been, as it is at present,
so profitable a pursuit, that with ordinary
cc mmon sense a man could scarcely miss his
way in it.
In 1828 Lord Lyndhurst, despite of oppo-
site politics, gave him the canonry of Bristol,
and from this time the Canon's worldly cir-
cumstances rapidly improved. He made good
use of his fortune, was always generous, and
threw off the rusticity of Foston with the cir-
cumstances which rendered it necessary, be-
coming in his declining years one of the chief
attractions of social circles in the metropolis.

Lady Holland has executed her task so well
on the whole, particularly in representing all
the eccentric and most strongly-marked fea-
tures of her father's character, that we can have
no hesitation in predicting for her book a wide
and lasting popularity. All who would know
what Sydney Smith really wits, how he lived,
thought, felt, talked, and sported, will find their
desiro gratified in this most amusing me•
moir. For the second volume, however, contain-
ing his letters, often trivial enough, though
characteristic, we can scarcely accord the praise
richly merited by the first. It must be taken
as a sort of make-weight; yet together two
volumes have rarely appeared possessingmore
intrinsic interest or presenting a finer picture
of high intellect united with buoyant animal
spirits, a generous nature, and thoroughly love.
able human qualities. The volumes are rich in
specimens of his humour, and contain many
of his shrewdest thoughts as set down in his
diaries.

The Corning Ca►npaign. By Laurence Oliphant.

London: Blackwood and Sons.
WuEs Louis Napoleon, in his speech at Bor-
deaux, had intimated his intention of accepting
the Imperial dignity, it was remarked as a pe-
culiarity of the French mind that his assump-
tion of the throne was looked upon at once as
au accomplished fact. Speculation was busy,
not in the details of the election or the proba-
bilities of opposition, but in settling the
events which should take place upon his in-
vestment with the purple. Something of the
same kind is now taking place in our own
sober nation with respect to Sebastopol. The
cautiousness of Caniobert has scarcely been
superseded by the impetuosity of Pelissier ;
the French eagles have hardly floated over the
outworks of the Flagstaff, or waved upon the
summit of the Mamelon ; before we trent the
capture of Sebastopol as a certainty, bridge
the interval that must el:Tie before its final