A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1841
Sydney Smith to Georgiana Meynell Ingram, 22 May 1841
Green-street, May 22nd, 1841.
My dear Mrs. Meynell,
This paper was quite white when it came here; it is the
constant effect of our street.
I had a slight attack of fever, which kept me in bed for
two nights, and was followed by a slight attack of gout. I am now tolerably
well for a person who is never quite well. We spent two or three days at the
Archbishop of York’s, at
Nuneham. There were Lord and Lady Burghersh, Rogers, and Granville
Vernon: his daughter is a
mass of perfections. I am glad your girl likes me. Give my love to her. I do
not despair one day of convincing her of the superiority of the pavement over
grass; but she is charming, and as fresh-minded as a sunbeam just touching the
earth for the first time.
We are five hours and a half to Bridgewater, and from
Bridgewater eleven miles. Till now I have lived for three days on waiters and
veal cutlets. God bless you! Ever affectionately yours,
John Fane, eleventh earl of Westmorland (1784-1859)
The son of the tenth earl, educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge; after
service in the Napoleonic Wars he was a diplomat in Italy (1814-30) and ambassador to
Vienna (1851).
Edward Venables-Vernon Harcourt, archbishop of York (1757-1847)
The son of George Venables-Vernon, first Baron Vernon, educated at Westminster and
All-Souls College, Oxford; he was prebendary of Gloucester (1785-91), bishop of Carlisle
(1791-1807), and archbishop of York (1807-47).
Granville Harcourt-Vernon (1792-1879)
The son of Bishop Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt; educated at Westminster and Christ
Church, Oxford, he was a Whig MP for Aldborough (1815-20) and East Retford (1832-47.
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855)
English poet, banker, and aesthete, author of the ever-popular
Pleasures of Memory (1792),
Columbus (1810),
Jaqueline (1814), and
Italy (1822-28).