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A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1806
Sydney Smith to Francis Jeffrey, [13 November 1804]
INTRODUCTION & INDEXES
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
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Author's Preface
Contents
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Index
Editor’s Preface
Letters 1801
Letters 1802
Letters 1803
Letters 1804
Letters 1805
Letters 1806
Letters 1807
Letters 1808
Letters 1809
Letters 1810
Letters 1811
Letters 1812
Letters 1813
Letters 1814
Letters 1815
Letters 1816
Letters 1817
Letters 1818
Letters 1819
Letters 1820
Letters 1821
Letters 1822
Letters 1823
Letters 1824
Letters 1825
Letters 1826
Letters 1827
Letters 1828
Letters 1829
Letters 1830
Letters 1831
Letters 1832
Letters 1833
Letters 1834
Letters 1835
Letters 1836
Letters 1837
Letters 1838
Letters 1839
Letters 1840
Letters 1841
Letters 1842
Letters 1843
Letters 1844
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Orchard-street, 1806.
My dear Jeffrey,

I saw, of course, a good deal of Timotheus while he was here. After breathing for a year the free air of London, his caution struck me as rather ludicrous; but I liked him very much: he is a very honest, good-natured, sensible man.

24 MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH.

I have just blinked at the Review, and that is all. Constable has omitted to send quarterly tributes of reviews to Horner and to me;—to me, the original proposer of the Review, and to Horner, the frumentarious philosopher! If he is ever again guilty of a similar omission, he shall be pulled down from his present eminence.

The other day I went to the Panorama. There was near me a party consisting of one old and three young women; and what do you think was the subject of their conversation?—which was the handsomest, John or William Murray! I am not joking; it is really true, upon my honour. There seemed to be a decided majority in favour of John, on account of his fairness. William Murray will not believe it.

I don’t know whether you agree with me about the present language and divisions of intellectual philosophy. They appear to me to be in a most barbarous state, and to be found nowhere in a state of higher confusion and puzzle than in the ‘Intellectual Powers’ of Dr. Reid. I have got a little insight into metaphysics by these lectures of mine; and though I am not learned enough to cope with you, I think I could understand you, and make myself understood by you. Do you agree with Stewart in his doctrine of sleep?—in his belief of the existence of conceptions?—in his divisions between sensation and perception?—in the propriety of the language he holds about ideas gained by the senses? I do not. Tell me if you do; yes or no, simpliciter.

Sydney Smith.