A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1809
Sydney Smith to Lady Holland, [June 1811]
No date.
My dear Lady Holland,
I hope you are quite well, dining with, and giving dinners
to, agreeable people; free from all bores, and not displeased with yourself.
I am told Mr. Allen
is quite miserable at being defeated by the Archbishop. The trial of skill was
remarkable, and it is now quite clear that the atoms have no real power and
influence in this world.
My life for the summer is thus disposed of:—I walk up and
down my garden, and dine at home, till August; then come my large brother and
my little sister; then I go to Manchester, to stay with Philosopher Philips, in September; Horner and Murray come to see me in October; then I shall go and see the
Earl Grey; then walk up and down my
garden till March.
John Allen (1771-1843)
Scottish physician and intimate of Lord Holland; he contributed to the
Edinburgh Review and
Encyclopedia Britannica and published
Inquiry into the Rise and Growth of the Royal Prerogative in
England (1830). He was the avowed atheist of the Holland House set.
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.
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.