A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1813
Sydney Smith to John Archibald Murray, 12 July 1813
Heslington, July 12th, 1813.
My dear Murray,
I understand you are one of the Commissioners for managing
the Edinburgh Review, in the
absence of our small-bodied, great-minded leader. He has made to me an
affecting appeal for assistance, and, for such as I can afford, shall not make
it in vain; the difficulty is to find books, and I will review any two of the
following:—Clarkson’s
‘Life of
Penn,’ Buchanan’s
‘Colonial
Establishment,’ Thompson’s ‘Travels in Sweden,’ Graham’s ‘Residence in India,’ or Horsley’s ‘Speeches.’ Have the goodness, if
you please, to tell me which of these I shall take, and at what time I shall
send them, giving me all the time you can, for I really am distressed for that
article.
My situation is as follows:—I am engaged in agriculture
without the slightest knowledge of the art; I am building a house without an
architect; and educating a son without patience! Nothing short of my sincere
affection for Jeffrey, and pity for his
transatlantic loves, should have
induced me to draw my goose-quill.
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MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. |
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My new mansion springs up apace, and then I shall really
have a pretty place to receive you in, and a pleasant country to show you.
Remember me very kindly to all my friends, and believe me, my dear Murray, ever most sincerely yours,
Claudius Buchanan (1766-1815)
East India Company chaplain; under the influence of the evangelical John Newton he
traveled to India where he established a college and studied oriental languages.
Lady Maria Callcott [née Dundas] (1785-1842)
The daughter of Admiral George Dundas, in 1809 she married Thomas Graham (d. 1822), and
in 1827 the painter Augustus Wall Callcott; she was a prolific author of books on travel,
art, and history, and a notable society hostess in Kensington.
Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846)
English abolitionist educated at St Paul's School and St John's, Cambridge; he was an
associate of William Wilberforce.
Samuel Horsley, bishop of St Asaph (1733-1806)
Educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and the Middle Temple, he was a defender of religious
orthodoxy who was bishop of St David's (1788), Rochester (1793), and St Asaph
(1802).
Charlotte Jeffrey [née Wilkes] (d. 1850)
The daughter of Charles Wilkes, a New York banker, and great-niece of the radical John
Wilkes; in 1813 the became the second wife of the critic Francis Jeffrey. Their daughter
was also named Charlotte.
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.
Thomas Thomson (1773-1852)
Friend of James Mill and professor of chemistry at the University of Glasgow; he
contributed to the
Quarterly Review.