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A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1817
Sydney Smith to Lord Holland, 13 March 1817
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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Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Produced by CATH
 
March 13th, 1817.
My dear Lord Holland,

Nobody, I assure you, is more desirous of living
138MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH.
at ease than I am; but I should prefer the approbation of such men as the Duke of Bedford and yourself, to the most unwieldy bishopric obtained by means you would condemn and despise. Doubtless, when you think of that amorous and herbivorous parish of Covent Garden, and compare it with my agricultural benefice, you will say, “Better is the dinner of herbs where love is, than the stalled ox,” etc. etc. Be this as it may, my best thanks are due to you for your kind exertions in my favour; but you and Lady Holland are full of kindness to me on all occasions: you know how sincerely I am attached to you both.

I entirely agree to, and sympathize with, your opposition to the suspension: nothing can be more childish and more mischievous. Christianity in danger of being written down by doggrel rhymes! England about to be divided into little parcels, like a chessboard! The flower and chivalry of the realm flying before one armed apothecary!

How can old Mother G—— and Mother F—— swallow such trash as this?

I say nothing of the great and miserable loss we have all sustained. He will always live in our recollection; and it will be useful to us all, in the great occasions of life, to reflect how Horner would act and think in them, if God had prolonged his life.

Ever, my dear Lord Holland, most truly and affectionately yours,

Sydney Smith.