A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1808
Sydney Smith to Lady Holland, [October 1808]
No date.
My dear Lady Holland,
I have heard nothing yet of the doubts and scruples of the
Archbishop, and hope they may be
dying away.
I have let my house at Thames Ditton very well, and sold
the gentleman my wine and poultry. I attribute my success in these matters to
having read half a volume of Adam Smith
early in the summer, and to hints that have dropped from Horner, in his playful moods, upon the subject
of sale and barter.
There is a very snug little dinner today at Brompton, of
Abercrombie, Whishaw, Bigg, and a few
select valuables. It is not known for certain what they will talk about, but
conjectured that it will go hard with the Spanish patriots in their
conversation. By the bye, a person with a feather and a green jacket, clearly a
foreigner, rode express up Pall Mall yesterday evening; and a post-chaise and
four passed over Westminster Bridge about twelve o’clock today. I mention
this for our friend Brougham; he must make
of it what he can. Slight appearances are to be looked to.
Excuse my nonsense; you are pretty well accustomed to it by
this time.
James Abercromby, first baron Dunfermline (1776-1858)
The son of Lt.-Gen Sir Ralph Abercromby; he was MP for Midhurst (1807), Calne (1812-30)
and Edinburgh (1832), judge-advocate general (1827) and speaker of the House of Commons
(1835-39); he was raised to the peerage in 1839.
Henry Peter Brougham, first baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868)
Educated at Edinburgh University, he was a founder of the
Edinburgh
Review in which he chastised Byron's
Hours of Idleness; he
defended Queen Caroline in her trial for adultery (1820), established the London University
(1828), and was appointed lord chancellor (1830).
Edward Venables-Vernon Harcourt, archbishop of York (1757-1847)
The son of George Venables-Vernon, first Baron Vernon, educated at Westminster and
All-Souls College, Oxford; he was prebendary of Gloucester (1785-91), bishop of Carlisle
(1791-1807), and archbishop of York (1807-47).
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.
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Friend of David Hume and professor of logic at Glasgow University (1751); he wrote
Theory of the Moral Sentiments (1759) and
The
Wealth of Nations (1776).
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.