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A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1842
Sydney Smith to Lady Grey, 21 December 1842
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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December 21st, 1842.
Dear Lady Grey,

I am quite delighted with the railroad. I came down in the public carriages without any fatigue, and I could have gone to the poles or the equator without stopping. Distance is abolished,—scratch that out of the catalogue of human evils.

Luckily, serious quarrels have broken out here, and everybody is challenging everybody. This is something to talk about. I study the question deeply, whether the Clerk of the Peace is to fight a certain captain whose name is Mars. These quarrels produce a wholesome agitation of the air, and disturb the serious apoplexy of a country life.

* Of the writer’s Works.

MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 481

I have just read young Philips’s review of Alison, and think it very good. It is well expressed, and the censure is conveyed in a much more gentle manner than characterizes the Edinburgh Review, or than did characterize it, when I had anything to do with it. I am not sure that it is not every now and then languid and feeble, and certainly it has the universal fault of being a great deal too long. What is required in a review? As much knowledge and information upon any one subject as can be condensed into eight or ten pages. You must not bring me a loaf when I ask for a crust, or a joint of meat when I petition for a sandwich.

The weather is here, as it seems to be everywhere, perfectly delightful. Even in Scotland they pretend it is fine; but they are not to be believed on their oath, where the climate of Scotland is concerned.

Did you ever read ‘Le Père Goriot,’ by Balzac, or ‘La Messe de l’Athée’? They are very good, and perfectly readable for ladies and gentlemen.

Your affectionate friend,
Sydney Smith.