A sketch of the life and times of the Rev. Sydney Smith ... based on family documents and the recollections of personal friends

Front matter

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND TIMES

OF

THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH

Contents

PARENTAGE — CHILDHOOD — YOUTH.

Bom at Woodford, Essex, June 3rd, 1771 — Eecklessness and eccentricity of his father — Maria Olier, his mother, of French extraction — Her influence over her children — Sydney Smith's brothers and sisters — Scholar of Winchester, 1782 — Eapid progress there— Youthful adventures of Sydney and Bobus — " Gregory Griffin" — Subsequent career of Bobus Smith — Sydney proceeds to New College, Oxford, 1789, and obtains a Fellowship at the age of twenty — His self-reliance and poverty — Generosity to Courtenay — Quits Oxford in 1794, and with some misgivings prepares to enter the Church .......

Chapter II. 1794—1800

CURATE AT NETHER AVON — TUTOR TO MICHAEL BEACH — MARRIAGE.

Loneliness as Curate in remote Wiltshire village — Establishes Day and Sunday Schools with the help of Mr. and Mrs. Beach — The Beach family and Nether Avon — Mr. Verrey's list of Nether Avon poor, 1793 — Characteristic comments by Sydney Smith — Correspondence with the Squire on the wants of the parish — Mr. Hicks-Beach proposes that the Curate should accompany his son on his travels in the twofold capacity of tutor and friend — Weimar scheme abandoned on account of the war — Arrival in Edinburgh as tutor to young Beach in June, 1798 — The literary and

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XIV CONTENTS.

PAGE social condition of the Scottish capital — Sydney Smith's first impressions of the Scotch — Preaches at Charlotte Chapel, and publishes his first book — Marriage to Miss Catherine Pybus, of Cheam, June, 1800 — Lines on Mrs. Pybus's dog — Returns to Edinburgh with his bride —Generosity of Mr. Hicks-Beach 22

Chapter III. Projection Of The "edinburgh Review" Jeffrey, Horner

AND BROUGHAM.

Sydney Smith's account of the origin of the Review — Lord Jeffrey's reminiscences of its early days — Lord Brougham's statement concerning the memorable enterprise — Comparison of the three accounts — Appearance of the Review, October, 1802, and immediate success — Jeffrey's hesitation in accepting the Editorship — His services as Editor, and ability as Critic — Francis Horner — His brilliant career and early death — His contributions to the Revieiv—^enry Brougham— His rapidity as a writer — His energy and versatility — The impression which he made upon friends and foes — The lights and shadows of his character ... 55

LIFE IN EDINBTURGH AS TUTOR, PREACHER, AND REVIEWER.

The Edinburgh Revieio and the growth of public opinion — Sydney Smith's contributions — Characteristics of his style — His courage and candour as a literary man — His injustice to Missions — His wit, the vehicle for his wisdom — An unpublished essay — His letters from Edinburgh concerning his pupil — Birth of Saba — Death of his mother —Attends the Lectures of Dugald Stewart on Moral Philosophy — Studies Medicine and Anatomy — The Friday Club and its members — Generosity towards John Leyden — A note to Jeflfrev 76

CONTENTS. XV

ARRIVAL IN LONDON, AND EARLY STRUGGLES THERE.

PAGE

Resolves to settle in London — Seasons for the step — The Squire of Nether Avon's reluctance to part with him — His prospects in the Church — Regret at severing his Edinburgh ties — His home at 8, Doughty Street —An act of self-sacrifice on the part of his wife — His difficulties in obtaining clerical recognition— "The Cultivation and Im- 'provement of the Animal Spirits:" an unpublished essay — His remedy for nervousness — Attitude of his ecclesiastical superiors — The fascination of his character for all sorts and conditions of ordinary men . . . , . 100

CHAPTER VI.

1805—1807.

HOLLAND HOUSE PREACHER AT THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL

LECTURER AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION " PETER PLYMLEY "

— GIFT OF FOSTON BY LORD BRSKINB.

The historical and literary associations of Holland House — Lord Holland and his guests — Dr. John Allen and his position at Holland House — Sydney Smith's introduction to society there — Home life in Doughty Street — Sydney Smith as a preacher — Sir Thomas Bernard and the Foundling Hospital — Berkeley Chapel — Appointed to lecture at the Royal Institution — His success as a lecturer— His criticism of Aristotle— Birth of Douglas — Removal to 18, Orchard Street— Death of Pitt and Fox— The Ministry of " All the Talents," and Horner's vindication of its policy — Sydney Smith appointed to the living of Foston by Lord Erskine — Appearance of the " Peter Plymley " letters — Their effect upon the public mind . . . . . . ,117

XVI CONTENTS.

REMOVAL TO YORKSHIRE — LIFE AT HESLINGTON — BUILDS FOSTON RECTORY.

PAGE

The Clergy Residence Bill — Sydney Smith's dilemma — His first glimpse of Foston — Sydney Smith's avowed motives for writing reviews — The cost of removal, and how it was met — Settles at Heslington — His friendship with the local Squire — Lord Grey and Howick — Sydney Smith at his own fireside — His intimacy with Archbishop Harcourt — Sydney Smith's treatment of scientific and clerical bores at Bishopthorpe — Sydney Smith as a diner-out — Decision to build at Foston — Birth of Wyndham — Mrs. Sydney Smith's account of the building of Foston Rectory — On the threshold of a new life 150

CHAPTER VIII. 1814—1817.

LIFE AT FOSTON — THE CHURCH, THE RECTORY, AND THE PEOPLE

KINDNESS TO THE POOR AS " VILLAGE PARSON AND DOCTOR "

— FONDNESS FOR CHILDREN POPULARITY WITH SERVANTS.

A comfortable house — Castle Howard opens its gates to the new Rector — Foston to-day — Description of the Church — The Rectory and its grounds — Personal recollections of Sydney Smith at Foston — The Rector's medical skill — " Sydney's orchards" — He turns farmer— The village children — His quarrel with the tailor over the alteration in the " Immortal " — Establishes a Bible-class — The reverence of his old servants for the memory of their master — Bunch and her successor — Robinson, the joiner ; Kilvington, the coachman — Friendship with Sir George Phillips, of Manchester — Charity Sermon at Prestwich Church, Manchester, 1817, and Miss Leycester's recollections of it — -His wit and humour . 172

CONTENTS. XVli

FAMILY CHANGES ATTITUDE ON PUBLIC QUESTIONS — THE TREAT- MENT OF PRISONERS — THE GAME LAWS AN ACCESSION OF

FORTUNE BUSY LIFE AT FOSTON.

PAGE

Isolation of Ms position — Love of Reading — His own statement concerning Ms expenses atFoston — The living of AmptMll offered Mm by Lord Holland — Illness of Douglas— Visits Earl Grey and Mr. Lambton — Correspondence with Lord Lansdowne on Prison Reform — His opinion on the " heirs apparent" at Castle Howard and Holland House— Lady Georgina Morpeth — Scotch sheep and their vagaries — Spring-guns and man-traps, and his denunciation of them — His clemency as a magistrate — Popular discontent in 1819 — His views on Lord Eitzwilliam's dismissal — An unexpected windfall — Death of his father — Advice concerning low spirits — A comical episode on the Malton Road — Revisits Edinburgh— Lambton Castle — The introduction of gas — A frank criticism— Appointed High Sheriff's Chaplam, and preaches in York Minster — Lady Camperdown's account of Sydney Smith's visits to Weston House . . .199

CHAPTER X.

1825—1829.

SYDNEY SMITH AND THE CATHOLIC CLAIMS — APPOINTED CANON OF BRISTOL BY LORD LYNDHURST — FAREWELL TO FOSTON.

O'Connell and the Catholic Association— Death of Canning — Condition of Public Affairs — Sydney Smith's last contribution to the Edinhurgh Review — His connection with Londesborough, and traditions of him there — Friendship Avith Lord and Lady Wenlock— Statement on the subject, and personal reminiscences by the Hon. Mrs. J. Stuart Wortley — Marriage of youngest daughter to IVIr. Hibbert — Canon of Bristol — Preaches on Religious Toleration before the Mayor and Corporation of Bristol, and gives great offence —

a

Xviii CONTENTS.

PAGE

Catholic Emancipation— Death of Douglas— Obtains the living of Halberton with his prebendal stall — Exchanges Foston for Combe-Florey, to the grief of his Yorkshire parishioners . . . . • • • • • 239

CHAPTER XL

1829—1832.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF COMBE-FLORET HIS MANNER OP LIFE

THERE — -APPOINTED CANON RESIDENTIARY OF ST. PAUL's BY EARL GREY— TAKES PART IN THE STRUGGLE FOR REFORM — DAME PARTINGTON'S COMBAT WITH THE ATLANTIC.

The scenery around Combe-Florey — Letter to Lord Lansdowne— Lord Jeffrey in Somerset— Sydney Smith's practical benevolence towards the suffering and the poor— His foreign deer — His encouragement of thrift — His connection with Halberton — Canon Tinling's reminiscences — Earl Grrey and Reform — Gazette Extraordinarij, Glorious Victory I — Reads himself in at St. Paul's — Sydney Smith and the Episcopate — Mrs. Partington's Battle with the Atlantic — Mr. Arthur Kinglake's recollections of the famous speech — The Reform Bill becomes law . . . . . . .271

COMBE-FLOREY AND LONDON — OLD FRIENDS AND NEW LETTERS

TO ARCHDEACON SINGLETON REPUBLISHES HIS CONTRIBU- TIONS TO THE " EDINBURGH REVIEW."

A graceful old age— Death of Sir James Mackintosh — Lord and Lady Morley — Marriage of eldest daughter to Dr. Holland - -Letter to Lady Grey — His appearance in the pulpit of St. Paul's— Luttrell and Sharp — Difficulties in the way of Trial by Jury in Australia — In France Avith Mrs. Smith — His neighbours at Combe-Florey — The poetical Medicine Chest— His controversy Avith the Ecclesiastical Commission — His services m the pages of the Edinburgh Review to the cause of Political and Social Reform — His way of putting things ........ 304

CONTENTS. - xix

CHAPTER XIII. 1839-1843.

POLITICS SOCIETY WEALTH — FAME.

PAGE

His opinions on the Ballot — Death, of Courtenay — Unexpected wealth — Dickens, Macaulay, and Carlyle — Mrs. Grote — The Athenaeum Club — Growing love of London— Some characteristic sayings— "The brilliant reptile's venomed fang" — Social changes— la church at Combe-Florey— Sermon at St. Paul's on the Vestments Question — Antipathy to the Puseyites— Letter from Bobus— Correspondence with Miss Martiueau— " What is a Puseyite 1 " 337

CHAPTER XIV.

1843—1845.

OLD AGE "honour, LOVE, OBEDIENCE, TROOPS OF FRIENDS " —

ILLNESS AND DEATH —HIS PLACE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, AND LIFE.

Sydney Smith as a member of the Chapter of St. Paul's — His ability as a man of business — The railroad, one of the consolations of his old age — Mr. Gladstone's recollections of a conversation with him- — Professor Owen and Sydney Smith — His friendship with Lord Granville — Lord Houghton^ The alleged irreverence of Sydney Smith — Letter from Mrs. Malcolm, the most intimate of his surviving friends, on the subject — Testimony of others— Sydney Smith and John Ruskin — His failing strength, but unfailing mirth — A letter to Lady Holland — Sydney Smith's petition to Congress on the subject of Pennsylvanian Bonds — His American friends — Final words at the Cathedral — The beginning of the end — Last letter to Mrs. Malcolm — His illness and death — Inscription on his grave at Kensal Green Cemetery — A conspicuous omission among the -^monuments in St. Paul's — His claims on national gratitude 364

XX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Engraved Portrait . . . . . . . F)

Gateway of Winchester College

Yew-tree Walk, ]N"ether Avon

Kether Avon House and Chiircli ,

38, South Hanover Street, Edinburgh ,

The House to which Sydney Smith took his Bride

Charlotte Chapel, Eose Street, Edinburgh

Nether Avon Church

Jeffrey's house, Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh .

Craig's Close, Edinburgh ....

Facsimile of Autograph Letter .... To face page

The Canongate Tolbooth, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle

Holland House ......

Early London Home — 1 8, Orchard Street, Portman Square The Foundling Hospital ....

Sydney Smith's House at Heslington, near York Porch of Foston Church ....

Interior of Foston Church . - . , Foston Eectory ....

Chair from Foston Eectory . ^ . , Foston Church . . . . > .

York Minster . . ....

Bristol Cathedral . ....

A Glimpse of Combe-Florey Rectory

The Castle Hall, Taunton ....

Coml^e-Florey Church ....

Mrs. Grote's Sketch of Combe-Florey Rectory Interior of Combe-Florey Church .

St. Paul's Cathedral

Last London Home — 56, Green Street, Grosvenor Square The Grave of Sydney Smith

PAGE

'ontlspiece

A

SKETCH OF

OF THB

EBV. SYDNEY SMITH.

Parentage, childhood, and youth.

Sydney Smith was born at Woodford, in Essex, on the 3rd of June, 1771. Beyond the official record at the parish church of his baptism, on the 1st of July in the same year — which contains no information except the names of his parents — nothing is now known concerning the family in Woodford, and local tradition is even unable to point out the house in which the great wit was born. This, whilst a matter of regret, need occasion but little surprise, for the birth of a lowly child, like the death of a lowly man, is an event which the busy world has no time to notice ; they pass unheeded, except in the narrow circle in which the child henceforth figures, or from which the man is missed. Sydney Smith belonged, as indeed his ubiquitous surname itself suggests, to a race which is more numerous than select, and from the outset of his career

B he was proudly conscious that his claims to honour must of necessity rest on a more substantial basis than that which inherited distinction affords. " The Smiths," said he to an heraldic compiler, who was anxious to include the armorial bearings of the renowned Canon of St. Paul's in his work, — " the Smiths never had any arms, and have invariably sealed their letters with their thumbs." ^ He relates with roguish glee that on another occasion when questioned — apparently somewhat narrowly — by a lady of title, concerning his grandfather, he gravely informed her that " he disappeared about the, time of the assizes, and — we asked no questions."

In spite of such merry fabrications, his descent, without being noble, was respectable on the side of each parent. His father, Robert Smith, was the eldest son of a wholesale Whitney merchant in Eastcheap, who came from his native Devonshire to London in the early years of last century, and eventually amassed a moderate fortune in trade. Left whilst still a youth to his own guidance, Robert Smith abandoned the business in Eastcheap to his brother John, who — unlike himself — was of a plodding and methodical nature, and, on the strength of a small competency, set out to see the world. There was a dash both of restlessness and eccentricity about Robert Smith, and he certainly transmitted the latter, if not the former characteristic, to the most distinguished of his sons. Few better illustrations of the saying that truth is stranger than fiction can easily be found than that which the career of Sydney Smith's father presents. He was a man of

^ " Memoir of Sydney Smith," by his daughter, Lady Holland, chap. ix. p. 163. Longmans, Green, and Co.

OF THE EBV. STDNEr SMITH. 3

considerable ability, endowed with great force of character, and a keen sense of humour; but his disposition was selfish, and his temper capricious ; and there is no doubt whatever that he was impulsive in his movements and arrogant in manner. He seems to have had a mania for doing rash and unaccountable things, and — in his more vigorous years at least— he was fickle m purpose and uncertain in action.

His marriage is a case in point, and his conduct then was eccentric in the extreme; and, considering the entire circumstances of the case, he was guilty of an almost unpardonable freak. Having won the affections of a beautiful girl, he duly led her to the altar; but no sooner was the ceremony concluded than he left his bride at the door of St. George's, Bloomsbury, in the care of her mother, and abruptly departed for America — a formidable undertaking, especially to the imagination of a young girl, in the middle of last century. After spending some of the best years of his life in half-random excursions up and down the world, Robert Smith eventually returned to England and his patient wife, to diminish still further his patrimony by a series of speculations in houses and land. At length, having worked off some of his superfluous and ill- directed energy in buying, selling, and not getting gain, he settled down, when quite an old man, at Bishop's Lydiard, Somerset, where he died in 1827, at the age of eighty-eight. His last years were probably his happiest, for he grew more gentle and considerate with time ; and Sydney was accustomed to declare that his father was one of the few people he had ever seen improved by age.

The beautiful girl — wlio assuredly was worthy of more handsome treatment — was Maria Olier, the youngest daughter of a Languedoc emigrant exiled from France for conscience' sake at the Revocation of the Edict of J^antes. In appearance Miss Olier is said to have resembled Mrs. Siddons, and all who knew her seem to have been attracted towards her by the charm of her manners and the goodness of her heart. Maria OHer, indeed, both before and after her marriage, was distinguished amongst her friends by tlie strength of her principles, the kindliness of her nature, and the sparkling vivacity of thought and expression which lit up her lively speech. Without an effort she won golden opinions from all who knew her, and retained — amid the general admiration which her goodness and beauty evoked — to the close of a life that was all too short, the gentle and modest spirit with which she began it. Much of that peculiar fascination which Sydney Smith exerted over so many of his contemporaries can be distinctly traced to the rare quaUties of mind aud heart which met in the refined and sensitive nature of his mother.

Five children were born in rapid succession to Robert and Maria Smith. Robert Percy — better known to the world by the famihar household name, which clung to him through life, of " Bobus " — was born in 1770 ; Sydney, as we have already seen, a year later; Cecil in 1772 ; Oourtenay in 1773 ; and Maria in 1774. As this is not a history of the Smith family, but only of the most brilliant member of it, it may not be out of place if some reference is here made to those who, in the same home, began together the battle of life, ere we pass on to pay undivided attention to the

OF THE KEY. SYDNEY SMITH. 5

character and career of the man whose genius has awakened wide-spread interest in that household group. After the death of Mrs. Smith, which occurred in 1802, Maria devoted herself entirely to her father. In many respects she resembled her mother, especially in the gentleness and unselfishness which marked her character, and though always more or less of an invalid, that fact did not check her sympathy with others or hinder those services which it was her delight to render. She died under her father's roof at Bath in the year 1816, and next to the old man himself no one mourned her loss more keenly than Sydney, though all her brothers were warmly attached to her.

The four sons, born in such a home, were uncommonly well equipped with mental and moral endowments for the course which lay before them. From their father they gained courage, self-reliance, determination, and impetuous energy of spirit ; from their mother, quickness of perception, delicacy of feeling, and brilliancy of expression. All the lads soon gave evidence of considerable talent, and three of them were industrious and eager to excel ; Cecil, however, at this period of his life was frolicsome, idle, and careless. They were precocious lads, and read and wrangled like grown-up men, and forsook boyish romps in order to devour books or to discuss questions which were far beyond their years. The consequence was that many boys of their age grew shy of them, and slunk away abashed, unable to hold their own against these fierce young reasoners. The usual result followed ; the young Smiths, one and all, grew very conceited and overbearing until the summer of 1782, when their eJ'ratic father — with more than his usual wisdom — suddenly pounced down upon them, and packed them off to learn their limit and to find their level on the crowded forms of a great public school.

As there was only a year between Bobus and Sydney, Mr. Smith determined to send them to different schools, and to entrust each of them with the care of a younger brother. Under this arrangement Bobus and Cecil went to Eton, and Sydney and Courtenay to Winchester. Sydney had previously spent some years at an excellent preparatory school at Southampton, conducted by a clergyman of the name of Marsh. His father at that time was living at the village of South Stoneham, near Southampton, and Sydney, at the age of six, was sent to Mr. Marsh's school in that town. It is perhaps worthy of passing note that old Mr. Smith, who evidently believed that variety is the spice of life, was " settled " at no less than eighteen different places in England before he found a final resting-place at Bishop's Lydiard. The register of Winchester School shows that Sydney Smith was admitted as a scholar on the 19th of July, 1782, and when he began his career within its walls — a quick-witted, ambitious boy of eleven — there is evidence enough that he was already a lad of promise, and not deficient in either pluck or persistency.

Winchester College, when Sydney Smith entered it, a little more than a hundred years ago, was under the control of Dr. Joseph Wharton, the friend of Johnson, Goldsmith, and Burke, and himself a conspicuous, rather than a brilliant member of the little group of men of letters, who moved like satellites around the burly "Sultan of English literature " in the closing years of his reign. Wharton, who probably owed his position at Win-

Chester to his well-known translation of Virgil, though a finished classical scholar, was a very indifferent schoolmaster. It is one thing to be learned and accomplished, but quite another matter to be able to instil, not only knowledge, but an enthusiasm for it, into the minds of listless and reluctant boys. Dr. Wharton greatly preferred London to Winchester, and the society of the literary circles of the metropolis to that of the sixth form of the school, and as the master himself did not throw much ardour into his work, the majority of his pupils were quite content to follow his example. William Howley, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, was one of the head boys at Winchester when Sydney Smith entered the school ; and when the latter proceeded to Oxford, in 1789, he found his former associate in high repute at New College, and already well advanced on the road to preferment. When they were both old men, Sydney Smith, in his first Letter to Archdeacon Singleton, alluded, in a sly reminiscence, to his acquaintance in their Winchester days with the Primate : " I was at school and college with the Archbishop of Canterbury. Fifty-three years ago he knocked me down with the chessboard for checkmating him, and now he is attempting to take away my patronage. I believe these are the only two acts of violence he ever committed in his life." The subject of the Ecclesiastical Commission was not the first or the most important question on which the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Canon of St. Paul's had found themselves in hostile camps ; for Dr. Howley stoutly opposed the Catholic Emancipation Bill in 1829 as mimical to the interests of the Church, and the Reform Bill two years later as fraught with peril to the Constitution ; as for

Sydney Smith, there was no more ardent friend than he to both measures in the ranks of the clerical profession.

The Winchester lads of that period seem to have been half-starved, and the young and timid amongst them found themselves in an evil case. The remembrance of what he had endured there made an indelible impression on the mind of Sydney Smith, and even in old age he was accustomed to kindle into indignant eloquence whenever he was led to recount his .schoolboy experiences of hunger, hardship, and abuse. The cane was skilfully and powerfully handled in the Winchester of those days, and was regarded as a stimulus to mental exertion, and a spur to learning. Neglected, browbeaten, and half -fed, the buoyant spirits of even the young Smiths proved unequal to the strain, and poor little Courtenay — a lad of more mettle than the friendless child who, two centuries earlier, carved " Dulce domum " on a tree and then died broken-hearted — twice ran away, unable any longer to endure the sorrows of his lot. A chance incident, which Lady Holland relates, supplied Sydney with a more worthy incentive to learning than that which was afforded by his preceptor's angry frown or lifted rod. One day a visitor to the school, who found him during play-hours absorbed in the study of Virgil, gave the lad a shilling, and with it a few kind words of sympathy and praise. " Clever boy, clever boy," exclaimed the stranger, " that is the way to conquer the world ! " Such unlooked-for encouragement broke like a gleam of sunshine across the dreary and troubled life of the neglected boy, and roused within a capable heart the laudable ambition for distinction. Sydney Smitli never forgot that man, and to the end of his life he maintained that it was not only just but wise to " hold such in reputation." The stranger quickly finished his survey of the playground, and went his way, little dreaming of the good which his pleasant words had accomplished ; whilst the lad he had cheered soon afterwards rose to the proud position of a prefect of the school. Even Courtenay plucked up heart, and began to appear at the top of the class lists, until at length the Smiths were so victorious in the school that the other lads declared in a roundrobin, which they had the audacity to send to Dr. Wharton, that they would try no longer for the prizes if Sydney and Courtenay were allowed to compete, as " they always gained them." That this assertion was at least founded on fact is clearly proved by the statement that Courtenay four years in succession carried off one of the two gold medals annually awarded by the Crown for the best compositions in Latin verse and prose.

Among the eighteen prefects of "Winchester the prefect of the Hall stands first ; he is the governor of the school among the boys, and all their communications with the head master pass through him. It was this position — the most responsible and honourable which a Winchester scholar can gain — that Sydney Smith held in the closing year of his stay there. Foremost in work, the young Smiths were also foremost in play, and an amusing incident in the latter direction has fortunately escaped oblivion. Dr. Wharton, whilst pacing solemnly round one night, surprised the " clever boy " of the school in the act of making a catapult in the flickering lamplight. The great man in blissful ignorance of the motive which, had prompted such labours, graciously stopped and condescended to praise his pupil's ingenuity. Sydney felt not a little guilty under the doctor's commendations, for the truth was that the weapon of aggressive warfare, which his skilful fingers were constructing, was designed to bring about the swift destruction of a certain well-fed turkey belonging to the master, whose plump appearance had at length tempted the ravenous youths beyond the point of further resistance.

Whilst Sydney and Courtenay were thus distinguishing themselves in various ways at Winchester, Bobus and Cecil were pursuing an almost identical course at Eton. More especially was this the case with Bobus, who was renowned at school for his classical attainments, and for the ability he displayed in the composition of Latin verse. Amongst his classmates at Eton were John Hookham Frere and George Cannmg, and the youths who afterwards became Lord Holland, Lord Carlisle, and Lord Liverpool. Though only a matter of conjecture, it seems more than likely that Sydney Smith's introduction at Holland House in the early period of his London life, and the welcome which met him at Castle Howard, when circumstances placed him at its gates a few years later, sprang in the first instance out of his brother's acquaintance at Eton with Lord Holland and Lord Carlisle. With Frer^ and Canning, Bobus was on terms of close friendship, and as they were all three full of life and literary ambition, they started a magazine, in the autumn of 1786, called the Microcosm. Frere was seventeen, Bobus and Canning a year younger when they launched their venture upon the world. The Microcosm had. a brief, but on the whole a brilliant career ; the summer vacation of 1787 was, however, too great a trial for its strength to survive, and it slipped out of existence somewhere in the dog-days of that year, amid the regrets of many youthful admirers. Years afterwards, curious to relate, the light which Canning's fame cast upon it led Charles Knight to republish the schoolboy essays of the great statesman and his friends, and the Microcosm thus produced in book form ran swiftly through no less than five editions, the last of which was published in 1825.