A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1828
Sydney Smith to Henry Howard, 28 August 1828
Bristol, Aug. 28, 1828.
My dear Sir,
You will be amused by hearing that I am to preach the 5th
of November sermon at Bristol, and to dine at the 5th of November dinner with
the Mayor and Corporation of Bristol. All sorts of bad theology are preached at
the Cathedral on that day, and all sorts of bad toasts drunk at the Mansion
House. I will do neither the one nor the other, nor bow the knee in the house
of Rimmon.
It would, I am sure, give Mrs.
Sydney and myself great pleasure to pay you a visit in
Cumberland, and one day or another it shall be done; but remember, the
difference is, you pass near us in coming to London, and it must be by malice
prepense if we come to you. I hope you have seen the Carlisles, because I wish you all sorts of happiness, and know
none greater than the society of such enlightened, amiable, and dignified
people. When does Philip come to see me?
does he fear being converted to the Protestant faith? Brougham thinks the Catholic question as good as carried; but I
never think myself as good as carried,
288 | MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. | |
till my horse
brings me to my stable-door! Still Dawson’s conversion is portentous. Lady
—— in former times insisted upon Lady
Bessborough having a tooth out before she herself would
venture:—probably Peel has made
Dawson become a proselyte before him, in the same
spirit. What am I to do with my time, or you with yours, after the Catholic
question is carried?
Fine weather,—or, to speak more truly, dreadful heat;—both
hay and corn without a drop of rain; while many Dissenters in the neighbourhood
have lost their crops. I have read Knight’s pamphlet: pretty good, though I think, if I had seen as much, I
could have told my story better;—but I am a conceited fellow. Still, whatever
are my faults, I am, dear Mr. Howard,
most truly yours,
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).
George Robert Dawson (1790-1856)
Educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford, he was a Tory MP for Londonderry (1815-30)
and Harwich (1830-32) who came to support Catholic emancipation. He was Robert Peel's
brother-in-law.
George Lionel Dawson-Damer (1788-1856)
The son of John Dawson, first earl of Portarlington; he fought at Waterloo and was MP for
Portarlington and Dorchester.
George Howard, sixth earl of Carlisle (1773-1848)
Son of the fifth earl (d. 1825); he was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, wrote
for the
Anti-Jacobin, and was MP for Morpeth (1795-1806) and
Cumberland (1806-28).
Henry Howard (1757-1842)
Of Corby Castle in Cumberland; educated at Douai and Paris, he was a Roman Catholic
landowner and antiquary, a Whig, high sheriff of Cumberland (1832), and friend of Louis
Phillipe.
Philip Henry Howard (1801-1883)
Of Corby Castle in Cumberland; the son of Henry Howard (1757-1842), he was MP for
Carlisle (1830-47, 1858-52).
Henry Gally Knight (1786-1846)
Poet, traveler, and architectural historian; after study at Eton was at Trinity College
with Byron; published oriental tales; notable among his later publications is
The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Italy from Constantine to the 15th
Century, 2 vols (1842-44). He was a friend of Samuel Rogers.
Catharine Amelia Smith [née Pybus] (1768-1852)
The daughter of John Pybus, English ambassador to Ceylon; in 1800 she married Sydney
Smith, wit and writer for the
Edinburgh Review.