A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1813
Sydney Smith to John Archibald Murray, 29 November 1813
November 29th, 1813.
My dear Murray,
I am sorry the editors of the Review should so construe my article as to
suppose it inimical to the free
112 | MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. | |
circulation of the
Scriptures. I do not dissuade anybody from circulating the Scriptures; but
merely say to a particular body of men, “You are bound in consistency
to circulate the Scriptures with the Prayerbook, in preference to any other
method.” Nothing can be more ridiculous than the whole contest;
but as it exists, I thought it right to notice it. Pray regulate the pecuniary
concerns of the Review as you think best, and I shall be obliged to you to
return my review when you have an opportunity of procuring a frank.
I am ashamed to say I have not read Brougham’s article upon education; but I stated my
argument to him in the summer, and he completely acquiesced in it.
I remain, dear Murray, in haste,
yours very truly,
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).