The Smiths of Smiths

by Smith College 1977 Yearbook Staff, illustrated (Illustrator)

Queen Victoria was amused! It may seem unlikely but the preface to this famous biography is given over to quotes from his contemporaries. Not all the quotes are favourable but the roll-call is dazzling: Byron, Macaulay, Walter Scott, George III and IV, Disraeli, Sheridan, Dickens etc. Queen Victoria herself is not actually quoted but 'from various sources' Hesketh Pearson records, ' Queen Victoria used to go into fits of laughter at the sayings of Sydney Smith, which were repeated to her by Lord Melbourne.' From the same section we also learn, somewhat surprisingly, that Abraham Lincoln was an admirer, too, and that when Sarah Siddons,'who never jeopardized her deportment in society as a tragedy queen by lapsing into laughter' first met Sydney Smith she 'developed convulsions, and had to be helped from the table.'

Richard Ingrams has written, 'that of all his (Hesketh Pearson's) subjects Sydney Smith came closest to his own in character, and for that reason the book is probably his masterpiece.' There is no reason to dissent from that, especially when one remembers writers of the calibre of Graham Greene, Max Beerbohm and P. G. Wodehouse were such enthusiasts for it.

And the title? Wishing to pay him the ultimate compliment, it was Macaulay who dubbed Sydney Smith, 'The Smith of Smiths'.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir

299 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1934

Reviews

[Avril · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having finished Rory Muir's Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune, which refers to Smith, I decided it was time to read this. I have had a copy for years in an old Penguin edition, picked up very cheaply from a second-hand bookshop in Wales (Llangollen, to be exact) but had not previously managed to get around to it. Now I'm a little sorry I did.

I like Reverend Smith. I agree with Pearson that it is a pity that most people simply reported how much he made them laugh, and not what he said that was so funny, but I can see why he would have been so beloved. But from my perspective as a 21st century clergywoman his attitude to religion had me almost throwing the book across the room.

Smith went into the Church as a younger son seeking a profession, without the slightest sense of call. Which is fine; I have read enough Jane Austen to accept that. But the point at which he and I must part company is when, later in his life, he opposed the Church of England trying to give all its clergy the same stipend: "Who would go into the Church and spend 1200 or 1500 pounds on his education, if [the universal stipend] were the highest remuneration he could ever look to? At present, men are tempted into the Church by the prizes of the Church, and bring into the Church a great deal of capital, which enables them to live in decency, supporting themselves, not with the money of the public, but with their own money, which, but for this temptation, would have been carried away into some retail trade." (p. 313)

Smith was worried that without the possibility of such prizes the only people tempted to become clergy would be "ranting, raving Pastors". Smith hated Nonconformists and anyone 'enthusiastic' about their religion. With him as a representative of the clergy of the Church of England, no wonder it was attacked by Methodists at one extreme and the Anglo-Catholic Movement at the other. It wasn't a church; just a branch of the English government.

[Mark Stephenson]

This biography of a person quite important in British political and cultural history taught me much. I was unaware that Catholics in England had to wait until 1829 (!) to enjoy full civil liberties. The Reverend Sydney Smith, though he was employed by the established Church of England, felt the laws which prevented Catholics from being officers in the British Army and Navy and from being elected to public office were antiquated, unreasonable and unjust and was a major voice in the coming of the Catholic Relief Act as well as the Reform Bill of 1832. His work in the founding of The Edinburgh Review and his friendships with others who made this publication such a force in British liberal thinking of his day was fascinating reading for me. Being an American brought up with the assumption that any legally established church is unconstitutional and that Monarchy itself is antiquated, unreasonable and unfair, I found several instances here which confirmed those biases - but also appreciated the many instances which illustrated the value of studying, teaching and practicing the virtues expounded in the Bible. I felt I came away with a better understanding of British history and culture and was delighted to have found this volume in a used book store.

[Errol Cavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sydney Smith would make a delighful dinner companion. He was a man of a most amiable nature and armed with a wit that was both dazzling and inoffensive, Perspon book is as good aplace to start as any