The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-11-22
SYDNEY SMITH
Some characteristics of Famous Genius
and Wit.

some characteristics of n Famous Genius
and wit.
When one tries to estimate the genius
of Sydney Smith, what strikes one
most is his humor unaccompanied by
melancholy. Most great humorists
have been melancholy men, like Mo-
liere. Sydney Smith, on the other hand,
was not jester only in bis books and
in society. His wonderful high spirits
were almost constantly with him in the
home which they filled with happiness
and laughter. The essence of his wit is
this volatile and airy spirit, soaring
without trammel high above the labor
ing world, and discovering, from its
familiar heights, mirthful Resemblance
in things where other men only saw in
congruities. BOldness, freedom, vivaci-
ty, these are the characteristics of his
humor. He had an extraordinary
audacitY in venttring almost on the
the verge of nonsense. He was daring
in humorous eXaggeration. This buoy
ant courage and gayety of fancy some
times give his good thing the character
of American hlImOr.
He began his history of Ethics with
Socrates, and avowed that aristotle
was not such fool as many people think
who have never read him. The early
philosophers, he declared, were gallant
gentlemen, for whose company, / con-
fess, have never had any great relish"
Again: eff Orpheus or Linus sang, in
bad verse, such advice as n grandmother
would now give child of six years old,
he was thought to be inspired by the
gods, and statues or affairs were erected
to his memory" This good-humored
irreverence to the mighty shades of Or
pheus and Linus reminds one, in its
frank Philistianism, OF Mark Twain and
the Innocents Abroad. | am accus-
toned to take Orpheus very seriously,
and do not quite enjoy this cavalier
treatment of Linus. But the gayety of
Sydney Smith becomes more boisterous
than ever when he tries to account for
the superiority of man over the beasts.
To these he allows the rudiments of our
faculties. But aCe. he remarked, live
longer, collect more experience and are
gregarious, so that we communicate
our valuable discoveries to each
other How different is the con-
duct, he says, of the unprogressive
lion! "A lion lives under Il hole in 4
rock, and if any other lion happens to
pass by, they fight. Now whoever gets
a habit of lying under a hole in a rock,
and fighting with every gentleman who
passes near him. can not possibly make
any progress" Again, lions are UNI
communicative, very; hence their sta
G.fs
come together and growl out the OBJ
.servatiOns they have made about killing
sheep and shepherds, and the most
likely places ror catching calf grazing,
they could not fail to improve" This
is quite in ''Mark's way" as Lord Ten
nyson says. Again, when the Catholics
were oppressed in ireland, Sydney Smith
said to the clergy and the Government,
why do You choose these fierce people
to bully? Why don't you torment Will
lam Wilberforee and the Chaplain
saints? Why torture bulldog when
You can get a frog orarabbit?" Again
he writes, on pulpit oratory: "Why are
we natural everywhere but in the pulpitP
Why call in the aid of paralysis to piety?
Is sin to be taken from man, as Eve
was from Adam, by casting him into
deep sleepP'' Yet, with all his
sudacious humor, his friends could
,nly once remember that Sydney
Smith made Il jest bordering on
Ereverence towards things Scriptural,
and he instantly withdrew it, and
seemed ashamed Of his words.
He was a great lover of light; he re-
ioiced, like Scott. in the discovery of
gas, a flaring mode of lighting which
we do not much admire nowadays. This
love of light, Of shadowless views and
elear-cut distinctions, was part of his
intellectual nature 1--WE are all for
orthodoxy and common-sense," he ex-
claimed, in the Edinburgh Rccje'0, and
he was convinced that eommon-sense
and orthodoxy We're at one in their de-
cisions. His mind was of the eighteenth
century. He had no more mercy on
MethOdists and missionaries (guilty, both
of them, of ''enthusiasm') than on
''Puseyites," those ambiguous creatures,
the bats of the modern twilight of the
gods.-Andre10 Lang, an Harper'S Mug
dziRe.
A COSTLY HIGHWAY