The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-12-02

4 Sosiiuse' ne was the center OF every
| circle he entered.
"Macauiay improves, Macaulay i'm
| provesF cried Sydney Smith. Il have
| observed in him OF tate flashes of-si-
lence" The .-sonorous vivacity" Of this
enormous tslker often nettled smith. who
FOUND u Impossible often 10 voice his own
| wit and wisdom
| wish l could write poetry like yon,
| Rogers" he once complained; II would
| write an Inferno and l would put Ma
cauiay among number OF disputants and
| gag him."
Another contemporary described him al
stopping all over on every subject and
! standing I'm the Stops"
Macaulay's wit was as caustic and as
ready as that of his critics. He once de-
scr1bed Lord Brougham as "a kind Of
/ sefni-Solomon, half knowing everything
from the cedar to the hyssop.
The wit and wisdom which flowed with
the wine at dinners at Holland house
were not rescued for later generations. A
\ Few fragments have come down to us
| enough to make us mourn that Bosweis
| appear so seldom in the annals of a Hit
| erature. How we would like TO read the
| table talk of a single evening when Fox
| and Sheridan and Hook anr Byron and
| Sydney Smith and dozens OF others all
| sat about the board. OF Smiths happy
| hits and droii satires we have consider
able stock preserved in Lady Hollands
| life of her father.
No other Englshman ever so bubbled
| over with wit and merry good nature.
Says Trevelyan. the biographer OF Ma.
caniay: He Is full OF wit. humor ana
shrewdreSs. He is not one OF those snow
takers who reserve all their good things
for special occasions. II seems to De
his greatest luxury to keep his wife ana
daughters laughing for two or three hours
every day
He once found a little boy in a lane
MI
Child" said the genial dean. you might
as we'll stroke the dome of st. Pauls
TO please the dean and the chapter"
The question OF wooden pavement
about the cathedral once arose In the
chapter for discussion. "Ah." said smith.
with his usual matter-of-fact tone. III
my reverend brethren here will but lay
their heads together the thing VIII be
| done in a trice.'
One day the conversation turned upon
! an obstinate man who was full OF preju-
dices You might" said Smith. AS
| well attempt to poultice the humps on
| camers back"
Daniel Webster" he declared. 'struck
| me much like a steam engine in trous-
ers."
OF the historian Prescott he once ex-
| claimed, when he comes to England
| Caspian sea OF soup awaits him."
"Of course" he once remarked. III ever
go to a fancy ball at all, should go
| as a dissenter."
MY living In Yorkshire was so far out
| OF the way that II was actually twelve
miles from lemon
THE dean of -" he declared, de
serves to be preached to death by wild
| curates''
mo. | don't like dogs" he said at one
| time II always expect them to go mad.
| A lady asked me once for a motto for
her SPOT. proposed. Out. damned spotr
but she did not think II sentimental
| enough. You remember the story of the
| French marauise who, when her pc, lap
| dog bit a piece out of her footman's leg,
| exclaimed, 'Ah. poor little beastl hope
| II won't make him sick called one day
on Mrs. -. and her iapdog Aew at my
leg and bit it. After plying her dog. like
| the French marquise she did all she could
to comfort me by assuring me the dog
was dssenter and hated the church
and was brought up In Tory family"
Examples might be multiplied indefinite
| ~ OF Smiths ready wit His contribu-
tons TO the Edinburg Review. which ara
numerous, overflow with happy hits, sa-
! trio touches and merry Jokes. Despite
his briIliancy he left behind him no
| single masterpiece upon which his fame
| can rest. His literary energies were ex-
| pended almost wholly upon discussions OF
timely topics. upon reviews and criticisms
mostly OF an ephemeral nature.
4 ~
| Theodore Hook. Edward Everett. who
once listened to his table talk. declared
| that IL Smith had not been known as the
wittiest man OF his day he would have
been accounted ono OF the wisest." Ho
was not caustic wit. like Pope and
| Swift In the words Of his biographer.
mo more kindly humorist ever breathed
than Sydney Smith. and the fact that
| though he was armed with so sharp a
weapon, he went through life surrounded
| by the love as well as admiration OF those
who knew him best. says a great deal not
| only for the goodness OF his heart. but also
| for his habitual self-restraint" Behind
| all OF his wit lay an immense fund of
| practical wisdom He saw quite through
men and measures and he used his wit
| as weapon 10 attack what seemed TO
him TO be abuse and to relieve those OPP
pressed by injustice. A book OF selections
1 might be made from his scattered re-
views and letters that would be worthy
| TO place beside tho best books OF prae-
| teal wisdom in the Language. His adj
| vice Is eminently fun OF common sense
and eminently helpful.
| RE discusses most delightfully."- the three
| 'fallacies OF society"-"Faliacy one be
cause ] have gone through Il. my son
shall so through ., alsoi fallacy two. 1
have said | Will do IL. and l will do it,
! I will stick 20 my word falIacy three I
object 10 half measures-it Is neither one
thing nor the other"
Il always say to young people, no
I writes, beware OF carelessness. no for
tune viii stand II long You are on the
/ high road Ia ruin the moment you think
! yourself rich enough to be careless"
Never give way to melancholy: resist
| IL steadily, Tor the habit viii encroaeh 1
once gave young lady two and twenty
| recipes against melancholy. one was a
| bright IRE. another 10 remember an the
| pleasant things said TO and OF her, an
other % Keep a box OF sugar plums on
the chimney plcco and a Kettle simmer.
ting on the hob take short views. homo
/ for the best aud trust In God reverence
| ana stand IN awe ~ yourself: don't be too
| severe on yourself and your own falling.
keep On; don't faint; DO energetic 70 the
| last"
such warm hearted. cSura geoux. sunny
| nptimls, IA like a spring IN desert. Tx,
| glorious dag in midwiuter We teiu IN
his fail, hearty laugh we usten 20 his
sound philosophy. and Ne forget our sor