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A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1826
Sydney Smith to Catharine Amelia Smith, 27 April 1826
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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Paris, April 27th, 1826.
Dearest Kate,

Yesterday was a very bad, draggling day, and Paris is not pleasant at such a time. I went to the King’s Library, containing four hundred thousand volumes; they are lent out, even the manuscripts, and, I am afraid, sometimes lost and stolen. It is an enormous library, but nothing to strike the eye. I then saw the Palais du Prince de Condé, which is not worth seeing.

I dined with Lord Holland, who is better. The famous Cuvier was there, and in the evening came Prince Talleyrand, who renewed his acquaintance with me, and inquired very kindly for my brother. I mean to call upon him. The French manners are quite opposite to ours: the stranger is introduced, and I find he calls upon the native first. This is very singular, and, I think, contrary to reason.

In the evening I went to Lady Granville’s ball; nothing could be more superb. It is by all accounts
MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH.261
the first house in Paris. I met there crowds of English. Madame de Bourke, the widow of the late Danish Ambassador, renewed her acquaintance with me. The prettiest girl in the room was Miss Rumbold, the daughter-in-law of Sir Sidney Smith.

The French Government are behaving very foolishly, flinging themselves into the arms of the Jesuits; making processions through the streets of twelve hundred priests, with the King and Royal Family at their head; disgusting the people, and laying the foundation of another revolution, which seems to me (if this man* lives) to be inevitable. God bless you!

S. S.