A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1844
Sydney Smith to Lady Grey, [19 March 1844]
No date.
My dear Lady Grey,
I give two dinners next week to the following persons, whom
I enumerate, as I know Lady Georgiana
loves a little gossip. First dinner—Lady
Holland, Eastlake,
Lord and Lady
Monteagle, Luttrell, Lord
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| 522 | MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. | |
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Auckland, Lord
Campbell, Lady Stratheden,
Lady Dunstanville, Baring Wall, and Mr.
Hope. Second dinner—Lady
Charlemont, Lord Glenelg,
Lord and Lady
Denman, Lord and Lady Cottenham, Lord and Lady Langdale,
Sir Charles Lemon, Mr. Hibbert, Landseer, and Lord
Clarendon.
The Ministry are very much vexed at the majority of
Lord Ashley, and are making great
efforts to beat him; and it does seem to be absurd to hinder a woman of thirty
from working as long as she pleases; but mankind are getting mad with humanity
and Samaritanism.
I preached the other Sunday a sermon on peace, and against
the excessive proneness to war; and I read them two or three extracts from the
accounts of victories. It was very much liked. I shall try the same subject
again,—a subject utterly untouched by the clergy.
I am reading the Letters to George Selwyn, which entertain
me a good deal, though I think it a shameful publication. The picture of the
year is to be Jairus’s Daughter, by Eddis.
We are all tolerably well here, and send a thousand regards
to all. God bless you!
Lady Harriet Basset [née Lemon] (1777-1864)
The daughter of Sir William Lemon baronet (d. 1824); in 1824 she became the second wife
of Francis Basset, first Baron de Dunstanville and Basset.
Henry Bickersteth, baron Langdale (1783-1851)
Son of a physician of the same name; he studied at Caius College, Cambridge and the Inner
Temple, was a friend of Sir Francis Burdett and Jeremy Bentham, and was appointed master of
the rolls and created Baron Langdale in 1836. In 1835 he married Lady Jane Elizabeth
Harley, daughter of the Earl of Oxford.
John Campbell, first baron Campbell (1779-1861)
Barrister and biographer; he was a liberal MP for Stafford (1830-32), Dudley (1832-34),
and Edinburgh (1834-41); created Baron Campbell (1841), lord chancellor (1859).
Anthony Ashley- Cooper, seventh earl of Shaftesbury (1801-1885)
The son of the sixth earl (d. 1851); he was asocial reformer who introduced legislation
to relieve women and children laboring in coal mines and to limit the work-day for factory
laborers to ten hours.
Thomas Denman, first baron Denman (1779-1854)
English barrister and writer for the
Monthly Review; he was MP,
solicitor-general to Queen Caroline (1820), attorney-general (1820), lord chief justice
(1832-1850). Sydney Smith commented, “Denman everybody likes.”
Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (1793-1865)
English painter educated at Charterhouse; he was a student of Benjamin Robert Haydon, a
member of the Plymouth Institute, and was director of the National Gallery in London
(1850-65).
Eden Upton Eddis (1812-1901)
English portrait painter educated at the Royal Academy Schools; Macaulay and Bishop
Blomfield were among his sitters.
George Eden, earl of Auckland (1784-1849)
The second son of William Eden, first Baron Auckland (d. 1814); educated at Eton, Christ
Church, Oxford, and Lincoln's Inn, he courted Annabella Milbanke and was MP for New
Woodstock. He was governor-general of India (1836-42).
Elizabeth Fox, Lady Holland [née Vassall] (1771 c.-1845)
In 1797 married Henry Richard Fox, Lord Holland, following her divorce from Sir Godfrey
Webster; as mistress of Holland House she became a pillar of Whig society.
Charles Grant, baron Glenelg (1778-1866)
Educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and Lincoln's Inn, he was a member of the
Speculative Society, MP, Irish chief secretary (1818), and colonial secretary (1835),
created Baron Glenelg in 1835.
Nathaniel Hibbert (1794-1865)
Of Munden House, Hertfordshire, the son of West-India merchant George Hibbert
(1757-1837); educated at Winchester, Trinity College, Cambridge, and Lincoln's Inn, he was
a barrister and magistrate. He was the son-in-law of Sidney Smith.
Thomas Hope (1769-1831)
Art collector and connoisseur, the son of a wealthy Amsterdam merchant and author of the
novel
Anastasius (1819) which some thought to be a work by Byron.
His literary executor was William Harness.
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873)
English painter trained at the Royal Academy schools, renowned for his portraits of
animals—he painted Walter Scott with his dogs.
Sir Charles Lemon, second baronet (1784-1868)
The son of Sir William Lemon, first baronet (d. 1824); educated at Harrow, Christ Church,
Oxford, and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a Whig MP for Penryn (1807-12, 1830-31),
Cornwall (1831-32), and West Cornwall (1832-57).
Henry Luttrell (1768-1851)
English wit, dandy, and friend of Thomas Moore and Samuel Rogers; he was the author of
Advice to Julia, a Letter in Rhyme (1820).
Lady Mary Anne Rice [née Marshall] (1800-1889)
The daughter of the Leeds manufacturer John Marshall (1765-1845); in 1841 she became the
second wife of Thomas Spring Rice, first Baron Monteagle.
Thomas Spring Rice, first Baron Monteagle (1790-1866)
The son of Stephen Edward of Limerick; he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and
was MP for Limerick City (1820-32) and Cambridge borough (1832-39). He was chancellor of
the exchequer (1835-39) and contributed to the
Edinburgh
Review.
Edward Stanley, first Baron Monteagle (1460 c.-1523)
The son of Thomas Stanley, first earl of Derby; fighting under Thomas Howard, earl of
Surrey, he was instrumental in the English victory at Flodden Field.
Charles Baring Wall (1795-1853)
Of Norman Court near Salisbury, which he inherited from his father, the banker Charles
Wall; educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he was a Conservative MP for Guildford, Wareham,
and Salisbury, and Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire (1846).
