The “Pope” of Holland House
Sydney Smith to John Whishaw, 26 March 1817
March 26, 1817.
My Dear Whishaw,—I have received a
melancholy fragment from poor Horner, a
letter half finished at his death. I cannot say how much I was affected by it;
indeed, in looking back on my own mind I never remember to have felt any event more
deeply than his death. It will give us the most sincere pleasure to see you here if
it is in your power to reach us. Let us detain you, if you do come, as long as your
other avocations will permit.
It is very requisite there should be a monument to Horner. It will be some little satisfaction to us
all. I am not without hopes of being in town but do not like leaving the country
without collecting the little rents that are due to me. Indeed, if I omitted that
ceremony before leaving my friends,
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I most probably should never see them again.
Lord Holland has told you the danger I am
exposed to of becoming Rector of Covent Garden, of horticultural notoriety. I think
this is placing a clergyman in the post of honour, in the van of the battle. Many
of my fashionable female hearers in the chapels at the west end of the town were
bad, but they were not professional. It would be a most ludicrous ecclesiastical
position.
I had a letter from Philips1 yesterday; he begins to tremble
for Manchester. In this part of the country there is not the slightest degree of
distress among the poor. Everybody is employed and at fair wages, but we are purely
agricultural. I was surprised to find Bobus
among the anti-alarmists: he does not always keep such good company.
We saw little Jeffrey in
his way down. I should be glad to know whether he made a good figure in the House
of Lords and produced any effect. I had not seen him for some time, and found him
little improved in manner. In essentials he cannot improve. Lady Holland has not written to me since she was in
this country. I think I am in disgrace at Court. I shall soon see by
Antonio’s2 mode of treating
me. Mrs. Sydney sends her kind regards.
Ever, my dear
Whishaw,
Most truly yours,
Elizabeth Fox, Lady Holland [née Vassall] (1771 c.-1845)
In 1797 married Henry Richard Fox, Lord Holland, following her divorce from Sir Godfrey
Webster; as mistress of Holland House she became a pillar of Whig society.
Henry Richard Fox, third baron Holland (1773-1840)
Whig politician and literary patron; Holland House was for many years the meeting place
for reform-minded politicians and writers. He also published translations from the Spanish
and Italian;
Memoirs of the Whig Party was published in 1852.
Francis Horner (1778-1817)
Scottish barrister and frequent contributor to the
Edinburgh
Review; he was a Whig MP and member of the Holland House circle.
Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (1773-1850)
Scottish barrister, Whig MP, and co-founder and editor of the
Edinburgh
Review (1802-29). As a reviewer he was the implacable foe of the Lake School of
poetry.
Sir George Philips, first baronet (1766-1847)
Textile magnate and Whig MP; in addition to his mills in Staffordshire and Lancashire he
was a trading partner with Richard “Conversation” Sharp. He was created baronet in
1828.
Catharine Amelia Smith [née Pybus] (1768-1852)
The daughter of John Pybus, English ambassador to Ceylon; in 1800 she married Sydney
Smith, wit and writer for the
Edinburgh Review.
Robert Percy Smith [Bobus Smith] (1770-1845)
The elder brother of Sydney Smith; John Hookham Frere, George Canning, and Henry Fox he
wrote for the
Microcosm at Eton; he was afterwards a judge in India
and MP.
Sydney Smith (1771-1845)
Clergyman, wit, and one of the original projectors of the
Edinburgh
Review; afterwards lecturer in London and one of the Holland House
denizens.
John Whishaw (1764 c.-1840)
Barrister, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge; he was Secretary to the African
Association and biographer of Mungo Park. His correspondence was published as
The “Pope” of Holland House in 1906.
