Regency Men: Rev. Sydney Smith

By | |

Sydney Smith: Wikimedia Commons

THE HERE was no man not excepting Henry Luttrell to whose charm and wit greater tribute was paid by men of all shades of opinion than to Sydney Smith Sang Moore Rare Sydney thrice honour d stall where he sits And be his every honour he deigneth to climb at Had England a hierarchy formed of all wits Whom but Sydney would England proclaim as its Primate And long may he flourish frank merry and brave A Horace to feast with a Pascal to read While he laughs all is safe but when Sydney grows grave We shall then think the Church is in danger indeed And even that dull clergyman historian and novelist the Reverend George Croly found in Sydney Smith an inspiration that made his Muse a degree less dreary than usual

Syndney Smith (1771-1845) was an Anglican cleric, writer, and notable wit.  He also founded the Edinburgh Review and lectured at the Royal Institution.  He left Edinburgh in 1803 to settle in London, becoming a popular and well known preacher, lecturer, and Society man.  He is also remembered for his rhyming recipe for salad dressing:

To make this condiment your poet begs The pounded yellow of two hard boil d eggs Two boil d potatoes pass d through kitchen sieve Smoothness and softness to the salad give Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl And half suspected animate the whole Of mordant mustard add a single spoon Distrust the condiment that bites too soon But deem it not thou man of herbs a fault To add a double quantity of salt Four times the spoon with oil from Lucca brown And twice with vinegar procured from town And lastly o er the flavour d compound toss A magic soupçon of anchovy sauce Oh green and glorious oh herbaceous treat Twould tempt the dying anchorite to eat Back to the world he d turn his fleeting soul And plunge his fingers in the salad bowl Serenely full the epicure would say Fate cannot harm me I have dined to day

Margaret C Sullivan, noted Jane Austen expert, has speculated Smith may be the inspiration for Henry Tilney, of Northanger Abbey.

While in London, Smith began his lectures at the Royal Institution, attracting broad crowds to listen to his progressive speeches on everything from the education of women, to the aboltion of slavery.  Smith left London in 1809 for Yorkshire, writing Peter Plymley’s Letters which was an explosive tome on Catholic emancipation.  Smith would make a few additional moves, before he inherited 50,000 pounds on the death of his brother Courtenay.

Smith was known to suffer from bouts of depression, but would offer charming advice to others on melancholy:

1st Live as well as you dare 2nd Go into the shower bath with a small quantity of water at a témpera ture low enough to give you a slight suggestion of cold 75 or 80 3rd Amusing books 4th Short views of human life not further than dinner or tea 5th Be as busy as you can 6th See as much as you can of those friends who respect and like you 7th And of those acquaintances who amuse you 8th Make no secret of low spirits to your friends but talk of them freely they are always worse for dignified concealment 9th Attend to the effects tea and coffee produce upon you 10th Compare your lot with that of other people 11th Don t expect too much from human life a sorry business at the best 12th Avoid poetry dramatic representations except comedy music serious novels

melancholy sentimental people and everything likely to excite feeling or emotion not ending in active bene volence 13th Do good and endeavour to please every body of every degree 14th Be as much as you can in the air without fatigue 15th Make the room where you commonly sit gay and pleasant 16th Struggle by little and little against idleness 17th Don t be severe upon yourself or underrate yourself but do your self justice 18th Keep good blazing fires 19th Be firm and constant in the exercise of rational religion 20th Believe me dear Lady Georgiana Very truly yours SYDNEY SMITH The Beaux of the Regency, Volume 2 (1908)

Tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.