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A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1838
Sydney Smith to Lady Grey, [17] December 1838
INTRODUCTION & INDEXES
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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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Combe Florey, December, 1838.

Awkward times, dear Lady Grey! However, you
MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH.415
see those you love, sooner than you otherwise would have seen them, and see them safely returned from a bad climate and disturbed country; and this is something, though not much. I do not see with whom Durham can coalesce. Not with Ministers, certainly; not with ——; not with Peel; scarcely with the Radicals. I see no light as to his future march. Will these matters bring Lord Grey up to town at the beginning of the session? I sincerely hope he may not think it necessary to place himself in such a painful and distressing situation. I think the Whigs are damaged, and that they will have considerable difficulty in the registration. The Hibberts are here, helping us to spend the winter; but nothing can make the country agreeable to me. It is bad enough in summer, but in winter is a fit residence only for beings doomed to such misery, for misdeeds in another state of existence.

On Sunday I was on crutches, utterly unable to put my foot to the ground. On Tuesday I walked four miles. Such is the power of colchicum! I shall write another letter about Church matters, and then take my leave of the subject; also, as I believe I told you before, a pamphlet against the Ballot.

What a strange affair is your Newcastle murder! it is impossible to comprehend it. I think you will want a cunning man from Bow-street.

Believe me, dear Lady Grey, ever your affectionate friend,

Sydney Smith.