The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-11-20
SYDNEY SMITH.
some Characteristics of Famous Genius
and Wit.

/ .
and Wit.
When one tries to estimate the genius
If Sydney Smith, what strikes one
most is his humor unaccompanied by
melancholy. Most great humoriSts
have been melancholy men, like Mo-
here. Sydney Smith, on the other hand,
was not a jester only in his books and
in society. His wonderful high spirits
we're 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 it.'
familiar heights, mirthful resemblance,
in things where other men only saw in
congrultieS. BoldneSs, freedom, vivaci
ty, these are the characteristics of HI;
humor. He had an extraordinary
audacity in venturing 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 humor.
He began his history of Ethics with
Socrates, and avowed that Aristotle
was not such fool rs 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: If OrpheuS Or Linus sang, in
bad verse, such advice as 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 Go 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 zoe, 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-
duet, he says, OF the unprogreSsive
lion. "A lion lives under hole in a
rock. and if any other lion happens to
pass b., they fight. Now whoever gets
Il 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 I'M
communicative, very; hence their sta
tionary culture. If lions would only
come together and grOwl out the OBJ
servations they have made about killing
sheep and shepherds, and the most
likely places for catching calf grazing,
they could not fail to improve" This
is quite in Mark way" as Lord Tel
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 bully9 Why don't you torment Will
lam Wilberforce and the Clapham
saints? Why torture Il bulldog when
YOU can get frog or rabbit" Again
he writes, on pulpit oratory: ''Why are
we natural everywhere bat in the pulpit? |
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 |
a deep sleep?" Yet, with all his
audaciOus humor, his friends could |
only once remember that Sydney |
Smith made a jest bordering on |
towards things Scriptural.
and he instantly withdrew it, and |
seemed ashamed of his words.
He was a great lover of light; he re-
joiced, like Scott, in the discovery OF |
gas, Il flaring mode of lighting which
we do not much admire nowadays. This
love of light. of shadowlcss views and
clear-cut distinctions, was part of his
nature. I'VE are all for
and cOmmon-sense," he ex-
in the Edinburgh ReUie1o, and
ne was convinced that common-sense
and orthodoxy were at one in their de-
cisiOns. His mind was of the eighteenth
century. He had no more mercy on
and missionaries (guilty, both
Of them. of enthusiasm than on
'Puseyites, those ambiguous creatures.
he bats of the modern twilight of the
gods.-Andrew Lang, IN Harper'S Nag
1=iRe.