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A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1818
Sydney Smith to John Allen, 28 August 1818
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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Foston, August 28th, 1818.
My dear Allen,

I have long since despatched my review of Georgel to Jeffrey. It is ten years since there has been any account in the Edinburgh Review of Botany Bay; I have a fancy to give an account of the progress of the colony since that time; do you know any books to have recourse to? There is a Report of the House of Commons, which must throw some light on the present state of the colony, and there are, above all, if I could get at them, the Botany Bay and Van Diemen’s Land newspapers. Do you know Manne’s book, 1811? Do you know anything else in any other books capable of throwing light upon the subject?

There is a Mr. Stewart in Edinburgh, a Scotch clergyman, who is said to be eminently successful in the cure of phthisis when somewhat advanced; have you
160MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH.
heard anything about him, or his practice? Do you believe in the report? Will you write immediately to John Thompson, to know what is his opinion of Stewart and his practice? The anecdotes I have heard are very numerous and very strong.

The harvest is finished here, and is not more than two-thirds of an average crop; potatoes have entirely failed; there is no hay; and it will be a year of great scarcity.

I cannot at all agree about Walter Scott; it is a novel full of power and interest; he repeats his characters, but they will bear repetition. Who can read the novel without laughing and crying twenty times? What other proof is needed?

Lord Tankerville has sent me a whole buck; this necessarily takes up a good deal of my time. Lord Carlisle gets stronger and healthier every time I see him. Morpeth is arrived at Castle Howard with the Duke of Rutland.

What matchless impudence, to place the two —— in the frontispiece of the Education Committee!

Your sincere friend,
Sydney Smith.