The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-25 00:00:00

THE LATE REV. SYDNEY SMITH.

Sydney Smith was botn at Woodford, in Essex, in 1768,
and, consequently, at his death, was 77 years of age. He
received the rudiments of his education at Winchester, and
was elected to New College, Oxford, in the year 1780, where,
ten years afterwards, he obtained a fellowship ; but it was not
until six years subsequent to the last-mentioned date that he
took the degree of M.A. Some years afterwards he became
tutor to the son of Mr. Beach, M.P. for Cirencester, and
accompanied him to Edinburgh, where he remained for five
years, during a considerable portion of which he officiated at
the Episcopal Chapel in that city. At this time and place
his career as an author may be said to have commenced;
and amongst the earliest of his literary acquaintances were
Lords Brougham, Jeffrey, and Murray. It was from a
suggestion of Mr. Smith that one of the most famous
periodicals in Europe. originated. He proposed to the noble
and learned persons Just mentioned—all of them still living
—that they should unite with him in starting a review ; and
of that publication the subject of this memoir was appointed
editor. Few readers require to be informed that the publi-
cation here referred to is one which has enjoyed almost unin-
terrupted popularity for a period of more than forty years,
under the title of the Edinburgh Review. Very soon after
the commencement of the Review Mr. Smith ceased to be
the editor, for he removed to London, where he settled in the
year 1803, and in the 35th year of his age married the
daughter of Mr. Pylons, the banker.
Although Mr. Smith had now ceased to be the editor, of
the Edinburgh Review—although he had, as he himself
modestly says, " placed its management in the stronger hands
of Lord Jeffrey and Lord Brougham," he yet continued to be
one of its most active contributors, writing frequently on
prison discipline, on the abuses and corrupting influence of
the game-laws, on transportation to Botany Bay, on tolera-
tion, on Methodism, on education, on Irish bulls, mad
Quakers, chimney- sweepers, counsel for prisoners, and a
variety of other subjects. To the criticism of individual
writers, or the estimate of literary character, he gave but
little of his time or attention. The only person to whom he
has devoted more than a single article was the celebrated
Charles James Fox, a man for whom Mr. Smith's admiration
was intense.

In 1806, through the influence of the Whig Ministry, he
was appointed to a living in Yorkshire, but ho was not long
settled there when the cry of "No Popery" expelled the
Government of that day from the councils of the King, and
Mr. Perceval ruled in their stead. It was then that the
most popular of Mr. Smith's works made its appearance.
The celebrated "Letters of Peter Plymley' —under which
designation it was the pleasure of Mr. Smith
then to write—went through so many editions that
the anti• Catholic party stood aghast, and really
trembled far Protestant ascendancy ; but the citadel of
the old constitution in Church and State was not so
easily reduced. In the year 1831, during the Ministry of
Lord Grey, the Rev. Sydney Smith became one of the canons
residentiary of St. Paul's. In 1829 he had received the rec-
tory of Combo Florey, in Somersetghire, a living the value of
which is about 3001. per annum. Mr. Smith had by this
time declined into the vale of years, and the pecuniary ad-
vantages derivable from the exercise of his literary powers
had ceased to become an object to him; his pen was, there-
fore, in some degree laid aside, and he was not induced to re-
sume it till an occurrence took place which he regarded as a
downright invasion of his property and of the rights of deans
and chapters, which as a member of one of those cor-
porations he had sworn to defend. This roused his ire
against Lord J. Russell, and produced some pithy and amusing
letters. His late letters on the honest Pennsylvanians are
fresh in the recollection of our readers. They supply
the most varied illustrations of knavery, the drollest sar-
casms on fraud, the most instructive satire on Republicanism,
and at the same time furnish no imperfect specimens of the
genius and character of the writer. The conversational wit-
ticisms of Sydney Smith would fill a jest-book ; but his cha-
racter will be estimated by posterity on far higher
grounds. It will be remembered that he supported
Roman Catholic claims, and that they were con-
ceded ; that he strenuously assailed the game-laws, and
that they underwent great modification ; that he com-
pelled a large portion of the public to acknowledge
the mischief of our penal settlements ; that he became
the advocate of the wretched chimneysweepers, and their
miseries were alleviated; that he contended against many
of the unjust provisions of the Church Reform Bill, and they
before his time, a man accused
might be hanged before he had
now every prisoner has the benefit of a de-
awte
the
ea
bmaernadfe
ad ;c
rti hmaita laalhceorue n
It will further be freely acknowledged,
fbeene hbayl f
chaeuanr ds
a,
that no public writer was more successful than he in de-
nouncing a political humbug, or demolishing a literary pre-
tender; that he was, on the whole, an upright and a benevo-
lent man ; and, as the world goes, a disinterested politician ;
that he had opportunities of improving his fortune, which he
nobly rejected; and that, having lived with unostentatious
respectability, he died without accumulating wealth.—
Abridged from the Times.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS.
MONDAY, FEB. 24.
The following Railway and other private Bills were seve•
rally read a second time without opposition :
West Yorkshire Railway,
Leeds and Bradford Railway,
Richmond (Surrey) Railway,
Leeds, Dewsbury, and Manchester Railway,
Leeds and West Riding Junction Railway,
York and Scarborough Railway Deviation,
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway,
Birkenhead (Commissioners') Docks,
Kendal and Windermere Railway,
Hull and Selby (Bridlington Branch) Railway,
Manchester Division Stipendiary Magistrate,
Ashton, Stalybridge, and Liverpool Junction Railway
(Ardwick and Guide-bridge Branches),
Manchester and Leeds Railway,
Manchester and Leeds Railway (Burnley Branch, and
Oldham and Heywood Branches Extension)
Manchester and Birmingham (Ashton Branch)
Railway.
PRIVATE BUSINESS, TUESDAY, FEB. 25.
Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock, and Ayr Railway,
Glasgow Junction Railway,
York and North Midland (Goole Branch) Railway,
Huddersfield and Sheffield Junction Railway,
Barnsley Junction Railway,
Wallasey Improvement,
Leeds and Thirsk Railway,
Thames and Medway Canal,
London, Worcester, and South Staffordshire Railway,
Navigation and Railway,
Railway'. y, and Rossendale (Heywood Branch )
SMC hra°r Bridgwaternemcwhf°s Manchester,
er
Cyr aNanßnaa dvlu Bury,
Birmingham Railway.
SECOND READINGS.
Cockermouth and Workington Railway,
Chester and Birkenhead Railway,
Sparrows Herne Road.
NOTICES GIVEN AT THE PRIVATE BILL OFFICE.
SATURDAY, FEB. 22.
Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway,—Committee
on Petition, postponed from Tuesday 25th till Wednesday,
26th February.
Great Southern and Western Railway (Ireland),—Com-
mittee on Petition, Thursday, March 6.
North British Railway,—Committee on Petition, Thursday,
March 6.
Edinburgh and Hawick Railway,—Committee on Petition,
Thuisday, March 6.