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PAULINE FORE MOFFITT
LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
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JAMES K MOFFITT
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By
James and Horace Smith
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ROBERT SMITH.
Thi; Father oh Jami;s anu Horaci; Smith.
James
and
Horace Smith
JOINT AUTHORS OF ' REJECTED ADDRESSES '
H ifamil^ IRarrative
BASED UPON HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED PRIVATE DIARIES, LETTERS,
AND OTHER DOCUMENTS
ARTHUR HfBEAVAN
AUTHOR OF 'MARLBOROUGH HOUSE AND ITS OCCUPANTS,'
'POPULAR ROYALTY,' ETC.
WITH FIVE PORTRAITS
LONDON:
HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED,
13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1899
All rights reserved.
Richard Clat & Sons, Limited,
London & Bunoay.
PREFACE
Very many Smithian " footprints on the sands of
time " are somewhat faint, but those of James and
Horace Smith have left a deep and lasting impres-
sion. The brothers' chief work, Rejected Addresses,
is, in its way, a classic, declared by so high an
authority as Lord Jeffrey to indicate a talent to
which he " did not know where to look for a
parallel."
Why, it may be asked, has not a systematic Life
of James and Horace Smith been published before
this ? The reason is not far to seek : until now, the
necessary material has not been available.
Horace penned a brief memoir of James, as preface
to a collection of the latter's Comic Miscellanies, pub-
lished in 1840 ; and after Horace's death in 1849,
suggestions were made that a biography of the
two eminent brothers should be written. But for
various reasons the family discouraged the idea ; and
vi PREFACE
without their co-operation, it could not have been
accomplished, as the private journals, containing all-
important data, would have been inaccessible.
Lapse of time, fortunately, has removed these
objections; and through the kindness of a relative
of the Smith family — Harry Magnus, Esq., of Stone-
bridge Park, London — these journals have been
placed at my disposal, and are here made use of
in the writers' own words, and, as ftxr as possible
chronologically.
Arthur H. Beavan.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
1747—1769
PAGE
Introduction — Eobert Smith, the father of James and
Horace — His birth and parentage — Early recollections —
Education — First poetical effort — Meets "Perdita" —
Journeys to London — Is articled to an Attorney — Ex-
periences in London — Sets out for the Continent . . 1
CHAPTER II
1769—1779
Eobert Smith in Paris — Goes to Compiegne — Sees
Louis XV. and Madame du Barry — Sees Louis XV. at
supper — Follows the Royal Stag-hunt at Compiegne —
Meets the Corsican General, Paoli — Is admitted as an
Attorney — His courtship and marriage — Resides at Fen
Court— Birth of James Smith— Helps Mr. Hanway to
promote philanthropic institutions, and appeals to David
Garrick for a Benefit— Attends opening of Free Masons'
Hall— Removes from Fen Court to Frederick's Place,
Old Jewry 13
CHAPTER III
1779—1787
Birth of Horace Smith— The year 1780— The Lord
George Gordon Riots — Robert Smith's personal experi-
viii CONTENTS
PAGE
ence of them — He is appointed Assistant-Solicitor to
the Board of Ordnance — Removes to Old Jewry — Visits
the West Indies — Is elected Fellow of the Society of
Antiquaries 28
CHAPTER IV
1787—1790
Association of James and Horace Smith with the City —
Their childhood — James and Horace at Chi^well School 36
■"o '
CHAPTER V
1790—1791
Sundays at ChigAvell — Play days and recreation at
Chigwell — James at New College, Hackney — At Alfred
House Academy, Camberwell — Attends book-keeping
classes — Horace leaves Chigwell, and goes to Alfred
House 46
CHAPTER VI
The eve of the French Revolution — Robert Smith
again in Paris — Sees Louis XVI. ami Marie Antoinette
at Versailles — The French Drama — The political agita-
tion in Paris — Robert Smith's providential escape frum
the mob — James Smith in France — His narrow escape
from death at Dover 53
CHAPTER VII
1791—1800
James is articled to his father — Goes to Scotland —
Goes to the Isle of Wight — Robert Smith and Sir Joseph
Banks — James visits Dartmouth, the Isle of Thanet, and
" Leasowes " in Shropshire — Goes to various places on
Ordnance Board business — Robert Smith elected Fellow
of the Royal Society— Horace becomes clerk in a City
counting-house — James admitted as an Attorney — The
CONTENTS ix
PAGE
National Thanksgiving at St. Paul's — Patriotism in the
City — Kobert Smith becomes a member of the Society
of Arts — His experiences in Ireland .... 64
CHAPTER YIII
1800—1804
Earliest literary works of James and Horace Smith —
No. 36 Basinghall Street — City Halls and State Lotteries
— James dines with the Hon. Spencer Perceval — Family
visit to Windsor — Illness and death of Mrs. Robert Smith 78
CHAPTER IX
1804—1812
Robert Smith's second marriage — He visits Cambridge,
and there sees Henry Kirke White — Horace Smith be-
comes a merchant — The City in the first decade of the
century — Horace Smith's firm reconstituted— James ap-
pointed joint-assistant to the Ordnance Board Solicitor
— Robert Smith removes to Austin Friars — Horace
Smith becomes a member of the Stock Exchange . . 86
CHAPTER X
1812
Horace Smith's burlesque, The Highgate Tunnel, is
produced at the Lyceum Theatre — James and Horace
Smith's connection with the drama — Destruction of
Drury Lane Theatre by fire — Plans for the rebuilding —
The new theatre 93
CHAPTER XI
1812
Competition for Address to be spoken at opening of
new Drury Lane Theatre — Some of the Addresses — The
X CONTENTS
PAOK
re-opening of Drury Lane Theatre — How Rejected
Addresses came to be written — Its publication . .104
CHAPTER XII
1812—1813
Rejected Addresses and the Reviewers — The eflect of
its success upon the careers of James and Horace Smith
— Their social and literary circle — Horace Smith resides
at Knightsbridge — His friend William Heseltine —
Horace Smith and the Stock Excliantie . . . .117
o^
CHAPTER XIII
1813—1821
Horace Smith's letters to his sister Clara — His second
marriage — Removes from Knightsbridge to Fulham —
Entertains the poet Keats — Horace Smith's account of
his introduction to Shelley and Keats . . . .129
CHAPTER XIV
The Board of Ordnance, its officers and functions —
The " Assistant to the Solicitor " and his duties — Emolu-
ments of the office — An Ordnance Parliamentary " pre-
serve" — Retirement of Robert Smith from business, and
from the post of "Assistant to the Solicitor" — James
Smith appointed "Assistant to the Solicitor" . .140
CHAPTER XV
1821—1825
Horace Smith and ^heUey (continued) — Horace Smith's
connection with the Scott-Christie duel — Mr. Andrew
Lang's remarks thereon — Tlie death of Keats — ILjrace
Smith retires from business, and decides to visit Shcdiey
in Italy — Letter to his sister Clara — Is detained at Paris
by ill-health of his wife — Letters to Cyrus Redding . 149
CONTENTS xi
PAGE
CHAPTER XVI
1821—1825
Horace Smith receives the news of Shelley's death —
His personal recollections of Shelley, and his estimate of
the poet's character .167
CHAPTER XVII
1825—1832
The declining years of Eobert Smith — His verse-work
— Family marriages — Death of his second wife — His last
illness and death .178
CHAPTER XVIII
James and Horace Smith as Wits and Humorists . 186
CHAPTER XIX
Horace Smith's recollections of Sir Walter Scott,
Southey, and Thomas Hill of Sydenham . . . 199
CHAPTER XX
Horace Smith's recollections of Charles Mathews and
Theodore Hook 214
CHAPTER XXI
The personal appearance of James Smith — His habits
— His social circle — His clubs — His love of London —
Kevisits Chigwell school — His last illness and death . 233
^O '
CHAPTER XXII
The later literary works of James and Horace Smith . 249
xii CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXIII
1826—1849
PAGE
Brighton in the "twenties," "thirties," and "forties"
— Horace Smith at Brighton 267
CHAPTER XXIV
The declining years of Horace Smith's life — His last
illness and death — His personal appearance, tastes,
opinions, character, and disposition — The end .291
INDEX 307
ILLUSTRATIONS
ROBERT SMITH, 2ETAT 84, THE FATHER OF JAMES AND
HORACE SMITH Frmtispiece
From Original Miniature.
MARY HMITH, iETAT 25, THE MOTHER OF JAMES AND
HORACE SMITH To fact page 23
Frora a Silliciutte.
MR. ALDERMAN CADELL, MASTER OP THE STATIONERS'
COMPANY, 1798 115
From a Portrait in Stationers' Hall.
JAMES SMITH, yETAT C2 288
From the Portrait by Lontdale.
HORACE SMITH, iETAT 45 291
From the Portrait by Maifjucricr.
Contributed by the Baroness BunDErr-CocTre.
JAMES AND HOEACE SMITH
CHAPTER I
1747—1769
Introduction — Robert Smith, the father of James and
Horace — His birth and parentage — Earlj^ recollections —
Education — First poetical effort — Meets " Perdita " — Journeys
to London — Is articled to an Attorney — Experiences in
London — Sets out for the Continent.
Hard by the Wandle, in the ancient suburb to
which the stream has given its name, is All Saints,
Wandsworth, an unlovely church of some antiquity,
whose flint walls have for many years been hidden
beneath a casing of Georgian brickwork. It stands
in a small disused churchyard, where, amongst some
scores of tombs scattered about in various stages of
decay, may be seen a plain headstone, bearing with-
out text or comment this simple inscrij)tion : —
En ^Icmorji of
EGBERT SMITH, ESQ.,
OF ST. ANNE'S HILL, IN THIS PAEISH,
WnO DIED SEPTEMBER 27, 1832,
AGED So YEARS.
1
B
2 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Not one person in a thousand, perhaps, would
take the trouble to bestow a second thought upon
the owner of so common-place a name ; but the
Robert Smith whose body lies there was no ordinary-
person, and he was, moreover, the father of the
authors of Rejected Addresses. His experiences, too,
were exceptional. He had gazed upon the features of
Louis the Well-Beloved, and of his mistress, Madame
du Barry ; he had been a witness of the Lord George
Gordon riots ; he had seen Louis XVI. and Mario
Antoinette at Versailles, and had escaped by a mere
chance the first outburst of mob-violence that
presaged the Reign of Terror.
This plain Robert Smith — a boy of thirteen when
George IT. died — lived throughout the reigns of
George III. and George IV., intelligently observing
all the changes of that stirring period, and died just
after the passing of the Reform Bill.
Luckily for the biographer, Robert Smith had,
from early boyhood, been in the habit of noting
down, and afterwards elaborating, his impressions of
pa.ssing events; and as time went on, this custom
led him to keep a systematic diary of family aftairs,
etc., preserved in two stout closely-written volumes.
I was l)oi-n [he begins] on the 22nd of November,
1747, U.S., at the dwelling-house belonging to
the Custom-House in Castle Street, Bridgwater,^
and, when between two and three years of age,
' Robert Smith's father was at one time .Mayor of Bridg-
water, and heM the post of Dej^uty Collector of Custom.s at
that port.
ROBERT SMITH'S YOUTH 3
was placed at a day-school in the town kept by
an old woman of the name of Keene, of whose
person, I have still (1818) a clear recollection.
There I remained until the latter end of the year
1751, when I was removed to a writing-school kept
by Mr, David Webber.
An event of a public nature took place in the
year 1752, which was spoken of by everybody, but
understood by few. I mean the alteration of the
style by Act of Parliament. I was told, among
other surprising changes, that I should keep my
birthday, not on the anniversary of the day on which
it really happened, but on the 4th of December. This
puzzled me, as it did others to whom the Julian
and Gregorian calendars were alike unknown.
In the summer of 1754, when I was but seven
years old, my father indulged me in a jaunt of
pleasure to Bath and Bristol, under the charge of
my Uncle George. I was mounted on a long-tailed
pony, dressed in a new scarlet coat, boots, and a
flowing Avig. The riding on horse-back so long a
journey, and for the first time, I found fatiguing, but
the wonders of Bath and a day or two's rest restored
me. At Bristol we were met by father and mother, who
had gone thither on horseback, she riding behind my
father, seated on a blue cloth pillow, and dressed in
a "Joseph," or brown serge riding-dress, with buttons
down to the skirts. We all returned to Bridgwater,
when I recounted my adventures with no little pride
and satisfaction.
During the same year, the town was a continual
scene of liot and disorder, on account of the General
Election for members of Parliament. The candidates
were John, Earl of Egmont (in Ireland), afterwards
created Baron Lovel and Holland (in England),
Robert Balch, Esq., of Stowey in Somersetshire, and
Bubb Doddington, Esq. (afterwards created Lord
4 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Melcombe-Regis). The two former were elected,
and, as usual on such occasions, were " chaired "
throusfh the town on men's shoulders, amidst the
clamours of the high and low rabble, the ringing of
bells, the tiring of " chambers," and the rude sneers
of the unsuccessful party.
Two circumstances took place in 1755 Avhich
made an imi)rcssion upon my memory — the breaking
out of the war with France, and the accounts received
of a dreadful earthquake at Lisbon, wliich happened
on the 1st of November; and the year 17U0 pre-
sented an event of a public nature that made a
strong impression upon my mind at the time, viz.
the death of his Majesty, George II. It happened on
the 25th of October; the account of it was received
at Bridgwater on the following day.
Throughout these early years of his life, Robert
Smith was receiving a good and sensible education.
He was thoroughly well grounded in writing, book-
keeping, etc., and the object of his ambition was
reached when an opportunity arose for acquiring a
knowledge of the classics, by no means easy of attain-
ment in those days at a place like Bridgwater.
The scene now changed [he says]. Holmes'
Latin Grammar was put in my hands ; and tlic
difficulties which first present tht'inselves to a
learner being over, I got through my lessons with
tolerable credit. If a knowledge of the Latin tongue
be a nece.s.sary part of education fur boys, what harm
can it do to girls ? So my father rea.soned ; and he
accordingly ]>laced my eldest sister, Molly, at the same
.school. She Went through her exerci.ses regularly
with the boys, and had advanced a.s far as Ovid's
epistles, when my father removed her from the school.
"THE BOLD IRRESOLUTE" 5
Besides Latin and Italian, the boy studied French,
in which hmguage he afterwards became proficient ;
so that he was well qualified for the start in life
which presently offered itself in the office of a Mr.
John Popham, a London attorney practising in the
Court of Common Pleas, who owned a set of
chambers on the ground floor of No. 5, New Inn, of
which society he was an " Antient," and with whom
it was arranged that Robert should be articled
on his arrival in the metropolis.
Robert Smith evinced considerable powers of
composition at an early age ; and it is interesting to
record the first literary effort of him from whom
James and Horace Smith — the subjects of this
biography — inherited the talent of comic versification.
He describes it as " a loose imitation of some French
verses that he had stumbled upon," in which the
leading idea is sustained with humorous effect.
THE BOLD IRRESOLUTE
I.
As on tlie mar!j,iu of the flood,
Absorb'd in grief, young Colin stood,
His hapless fate bewailing,
Rous'd by despair the shepherd swore
Love's torments he'd no more endure.
So rashly plunged ... a pail in.
II.
Now, fierce with rage, he maddening flew,
And from its sheath a hanger drew.
Still o'er destruction brooding ;
JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Before Dorinda's face, the sAvain,
At one despairing stroke, in twain
Down cleft, all me ! . . . a pudding.
III.
" The conflict's o'er — no more I'll flinch,
But in the imi!ion''cl hoid will quench
A flame than death more cruel,"
He said — then seizing on the bowl,
To Heav'n commends his parting soul,
And drank large draughts ... of gruel.
lY.
"With bitter pangs his heart opprest,
Love's tumult btiiling in his breast,
Ko mortal could abide it ;
Eager he seeks the halter's aid
Thick round his neck in order laid,
He tied, and then . . . untied it.
N(nv mopish grown, in pensive mood,
Beside his bed the shepherd stood,
And sigh'd and wept profoundly ;
A smotheriwj death he now prefers.
So clos'd his eyes, and said his prayers,
Then on his bed . . . slept soundly.
VI.
At length the nymph, to ea.se his pain,
Took pity on the amorous swain.
Her cruelty relented ;
In mutual love their willing hands
They joined in Hymen's silken bands,
And lived till both . . . repented.
Shortly before his first journey to London, Robert
and an old school-fellow, Juhn Chubb, seem to have
"PERDITA" ROBINSOX 7
taken sundry excursions together, one being to
Bristol, where they met the historic " Perdita," then
an innocent little girl of four years, as unconscious
of Florizel, the faithless, as he of his future in-
namorata. Writing of this many years afterwards,
Robert Smith says : —
We spent a few days with Captain Derby and
his wife, who was a distant relation of the Chubb
family. Amongst their children was a most in-
teresting little girl, who, Avhen grown up, married
clandestinely at the age of sixteen, and by degrees
fell off in her reputation. She became afterwards a
" favourite " of the Prince of Wales, and, having
made her dcliut on the stage in the character of
" Perdita," she was well known to the public by that
name. Her person and her manners were pleasing
in the highest degree ; she lived much among persons
of rank and fashion, and her literary talents were
not despicable. For several years before her death
she lost the use of her lower extremities, so as to
be utterly unable to stand.
The morning of Tuesday, the 7th of May,l76o,broke
cold and cheerless over the town of Bath, hardly the
kind of day one would have chosen for a long journey ;
but Robert Smith, a tall and sturdy youth of eighteen,
Avho had secured a seat the previous day after a
pleasant ride from Bridgwater, was one whom mere
physical discomfort would hardly deter from setting
forth for London, where he hoped to play no unim-
portant part. As, however, the cumbersome machine
cautiously manoeuvred out of the White Lion Inn
yard at seven o'clock, few hearts were heavier than
8 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
his, for he was very fond of his home, anfl keenly felt
the parting from his peopk".
Travelling in those days was no light thing — un-
comfortable at its best, and often full of adventures
not infrequently dangerous. It was always expensive,
the fare from Bath to London during the summer
being twenty-eight shillings, with only fourteen
pounds weight of personal luggage allowed, anything
extra being charged at the rate of three-halfpence
per pound. Then there were the tips to the coach-
man and guard, and the charges at the various inns
were based upon a scale of great liberality towards
the landlord.
After leaving Bath, the coach made its way
to Trowbridge, whence it leisurely rolled along
to Devizes. At this point the serious part of the
journey began, as the route lay through the most
exposed district of Wiltshire, where the wind blew
with frightful violence, not to speak of its being all
" collar-work " for the horses.
To beguile the time, the coachman recounted, with
ample detail, how, two months before, there had been
a most remarkable fall of snow in this part of
England — which, indi-cd, had been general through-
out the country — when many lives were lost from
exposure, and numerous accidents occurred, the most
extraordinary of which was one that ha|>pened near
Newca.^tle, where, in the gloom of that storm, two
men riding at fidl gallop in opposite directions met
each r)tht'r with such force that both horses instantly
died, and the lives of their riders were despaired of
A JOURNEY BY COACH 9
But no snow fell on Robert Smith's journey ; and,
after much laborious struggling over the rugged, hilly
road, the travellers reached the inn at Shepherd
Shore. Here they rested and had tea.
Invigorated and warmed, horses and men jogged
along to Beckhampton Inn, and thence pasb the
famous Silbury Mound, where British warriors once
gathered together in battle-array to celebrate King
Arthur's second and last great battle of Badon Hill.
On and on, to the George at West Overton, the
Swan at Clatford, and — in the failing light — to the
Castle at Marlborough ; and after skirting Savernake
Forest for three miles, a welcome twinkling of lights
at Hungerford announced that bed and supper
awaited them at the Black Bear, sixty odd miles from
London. At daybreak the coach was off again.
The roads were now better, as was also the pace,
and there was nothing of interest to note, except that
at all the inns at Newbury, at the Angel, at Wool-
hampton, and at Reading, the meat-hooks that
generally bore a variety of tempting joints sustained
nothing but mutton. After passing through Houns-
low, the coachman, who had been repeatedly asked
for a solution of the mystery, at last admitted that
throughout Wilts and Berks, in consequence of the
past severe weather, there had been great losses
amongst the flocks of sheep, and consequently there
was a perfect glut of mutton that had not " inter-
viewed the butcher in a constitutional manner,"
though otherwise perfectly sound. Cart-loads had
been brought into the nearest towns, and all the
10 JAMES AND HORACE 8MlTli
inns along tlie road had very little else in their
larders.
At the Belle Sauvage on Ludgate Hill, where he
arrived late on the second day of his journey, Robert
Smith tarried not, but at once set out, following a
porter who carried his trunk, to Milk Street in the
City, where he was to lodge with his uncle Thomas,
a wholesale linen-draper.
The following morning, as the youth started west-
ward to present himself to Mr. Popham, it was upon
the London of Dr. Johnson, Boswell, Sir Joshua
Reynolds, and Garrick that he gazed; a London of
picturesque gabled houses flung down ap])arently at
random, with side streets so narmw and tortuous that
it was hardly possible to walk or ride in safety, and
whose principal thoroughfares, such as the Strand,
were so dirty that every morning the ajiprentices
might be seen washing away from the shop-fronts
the accumulated filth of the previous day; whore
jtedestrians in long blue coats like dressing-gowns,
brown stockings, and red or brown iiizzlod })criwigs,
braved all the splashings from pa.ssing traffic, as they
walked on the narrow trottoir of a roadway consisting
of rough stones, which idlhd and rubbed one against
the other ona foundation of nothing but old mud.
Robert Smith was articled I'or five years to Mi-.
Po])ham, by which articles it was agreed that his
father should ]»ay down a premium of one hundred
guineas, and provide for his son board and lodgings,
and " ajtparel suitable for a clerk," during the period ;
while Mr. Poj)ham unrlertook to teach him the law.
DR. JOHNSON 11
and so long as he abode with him, and was in his
actual service, to pay him each term one guinea as
" termage," or term fee. His line of life was now
considered settled. His office hours were from 9 a.m.
to 9 p.m. during the term time, with an allowance
of two hours for dinner; and day after day he
valiantly trudged from Milk Street, having besides
much walking to the law offices, the courts, etc. He
lived frugally, knowing how necessary it was to save
his father's purse ; and so well did he manage that,
from the time of his leaving his father's house until
the expiration of his articles, his expenses were not
more than £55 j)er annum, and this at a time when
living was comparatively dear.
The neighbourhood soon became quite familiar to
the young clerk — his own Inn of Court, with its
dingy brick building, high-pitched roof, and clustered
chimney-pots, its little hall inside the grass enclosure
facing his office, and the archway leading into Wych
Street, St. Clement's Church a stone's-throw off, and
beyond it. Butcher Row, a decaying remnant of
Elizabethan London, whose wood and plaster eaves
overhung the street, noted for its shambles and
eating-houses.
In one of the last-named Robert Smith used
occasionally to see the famous Dr. Johnson, whose
acquaintance he subsequently made. Johnson knew
the Row Avell, and rather surprised Boswell, who one
day was dining at the Clifton, by coming in and
taking his seat like any ordinary mortal intent upon
economy.
12 JAMES AND lion ACE SMITH
As years went by Smith became entrusted with
more and more of the important business of the
office. Diligent as he was, he found time for
occasional relaxation. He says : —
Now and then, though sjiaringly, I went to the
theatre, Vauxhall, etc., and I was often entertained,
not to sav instructed, at the debating society called
the " llubin Huud," in Butcher Row, Temple Bar. I
attended also at convenient opportunities anatomical
lectures, dissections at the hospitals, Martin's lectures
on experimental j)hilosophy, and at other places,
where I thought a little useful knowledge might be
gleaned. At the " Robin Hood." I have seen some of
the first characters in point of rank and science ; but
the greater part consisted of those who api)eared to
be attracted by no higher motive than curiosity.
The price of admittance was sixpence ; for which sum
each person had a right to join in the debates and to
a sup at the porter-pot when handed about. The
chairman had standing before him a "five-minute"
glass, which, when the sand was run out, he turned
as a signal fur the speaker to draw his arguments to
a c< )nclusion. Upon the whole, the business of the
evening was conducted with great regidarity ; and
at the breaking up of the a.ssembly, the chairman,
with some of the members of the Society, retired to
another room to sup.
In the long vacation of 17G9, Robert Smith, instead
of paying his customary visit to Bridgwater, decided
to travel on the continent, then a somewhat formid-
able undertaking. On the :5rd of August ho left
London with his friend, ^Mr. Atkinson, embarked the
same evening from lirighton, and arrived at Dieppe
about 11 a.m. on the 5th.
CHAPTER II
1769—1779
Robert Smitli in Paris — Goes to Compiegne— Sees Louis
XV. and Mdme. du Barry — Sees Louis XV. at supper — Follows
the Royal Stag-Hunt at Compiegne — Meets the Corsican
General, Paoli — Is admitted as an Attorney — His courtship
and marriage — Resides at Fen Court — Birth of James Smith
— Helps Mr. Hanway to promote philanthropic institutions,
and appeals to David Garrick for a Benefit — Attends opening
of Free Masons' Hall— Removes from Fen Court to Frederick's
Place, Old Jewry.
At Dieppe the two friends engaged a Icrlinc to
take them to Rouen, and set out the following
morning, not a little entertained by their mode of
conveyance.
The traces of the horses [says Robert Smith]
were of ropes, and the postilion's boots of immense
size and thickness bound round with iron hoops,
into which he thrust his legs without taking off his
shoes. The use of these enormous boots was, how-
ever, explained to us. Most of the travelling
carriages in France, we were informed, are of two
wheels only, drawn by three horses abreast. On the
small near horse, or hidet, the postilion rides ; and
next to the hidet is the linimonier, or thill-horse
13
14 JAME.S AND JiUllACE .SMITH
(shaft-horse), which su])ports the whole weight of the
carriage. The unyielding boots, therefore, are meant
to protect the pDstiliun's legs from harm, in case of
the hidct falling, as the carriage could make no
impression upon such boots.
From llouen they travelled in a chaise a qnatre
pcrso7incs to Paris, where they put up at the Hotel de
Casignan, Rue Quinquempoix, in the quarter of St.
Denis, when the first thing Robert did was to
"bespeak a suit of clothes proper to appear in at
public jjlaces "where dress might be required." " I
accordingly," he narrates, " ordered a maroon-col-
oured silk (soic de la Rcine), a sword, and a hair-bag,
as did Mr. Atkinson one of black silk, and each his
chcq^ecm de hras."
Meanwhile, the two lost no time in exploring the
capital of France, visiting the markets, the Palais
Rfjyal, the Palais de Tuileries, the quays, the streets
and boulevards, purchasing on their way back to
their hotel two knives for their personal use, for they
had been told that the convert for each person con-
sisted only of a " large four-pronged silver f«trk, a silver
spoon, a cltHU iia})kin, a china plate, and a wab r-
bcjttle and tumbler," that " every one carried his own
knife in his pocket, the .same knife serving all ])ur-
poscs of cutting the meat, the fork conveying it to
the moulli."
One evening they went to La Come<lie Franraise
on the south side of the Seini-. The piece i>trforiried
was Lc Vb-e de rOrphclin.
THE COMEDIE FRANCAISE 15
The house [says Robert Smith] not unlike Foote's
little theatre in the Haymarket, lamps placed along
the front of the stage, no seats in the pit, over which
were two chandeliers suspended, and, these being the
only lights, the whole had but a sombre appearance.
The favourite actor was Molle, but his action was
too violent in parts which did not appear to me to
require it. Here, as at the Opera in the Tuileries,
the prompter's head is seen rising up through a
small opening in the front of the stage.
Their attire being now en r^glc, the friends set out
for Compiegne, where the King was at the time,
taking with them introductions to certain persons of
influence at the Court.
Passing through St. Denis, Ecouen, and Lusarche,
we arrived at Chantilly at about seven o'clock in the
evening. At this place the Prince of Conde has a
superb chateau, which we visited immediately after
our arrival. It is surrounded by a moat full of
water, in which were some of the largest carp I ever
saw, and so tame that after throwing to them a
few bits of bread, they came and nibbled the bread
from our hands. Near the village are the Prince's
stables, a large uniformly-constructed building, in
which we saw a great number of fine English
hunters ; it is formed to contain two hundred and
forty horses. As we walked through the park, we
were astonished at the great number of partridges
that were running about almost as tame as chickens.
I had observed, indeed, in the country we passed
through, partridges, pheasants, and hares in great
plenty ; but this is not to be wondered at when we
consider the severity of the game-laws in France ;
offenders are sent to the army, or even to the
IG JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
p^alleys, with very little ceremony. Not far from
the stables, between there and the village, is La
Meute, a superb dog-kennel of three hundred
hounds. Once a year, we were informed, the Prince
treats his tenants, their fjimilies, and labourers, with
a great fete in the park. Among the diversions is
that of " shooting an arrow " fur a silver bowl and a
silver plate given by the Prince. He himself shoots
the first aiTow, taking care always to miss the mark.
The/('i!c lasts three days, during which time dancing-
parties exercise themselves on the lawn, where tents
are erected, as well as in the wood; refreshments are
given out unsparingly, and there are billiards, etc.
etc. It is by these acts of condescension and kind-
ness that princes and all others may recommend
themselves to their dependants and secure their
affections.
The next morning, the Court being then at Com-
piegne, we dressed ourselves in our silk suits, and
about noon repaired to the chateau. We readily
gained admittance, and waited with others for nearly
half-an-hour in the King's ante-chamber, when the
King entered it on his way to the cha})el. I had
stationed myself so close to the door, that the King
in passing made a short pause and looked steadfastly
at me as if trying to recollect my person. The King
is in stature rather above the middle height, stoops
a little at the shoulders, and his knees turn out a
little. His comjilexion is rather dark, his hair and
eyebrows nearly black, his nose somewhat aquiline,
and his look altogether majestic, though not the
least severity or haughtiness in his countenance.
Shortly after the King, his sisters, the mcsdauns of
France, passed also through the ante-chamber on
their way to the chapel, whither we ourselves then
went. The chapel is plain and neat, the music soft
and solemn. A little before the service was ended
A DISH OF FROGS 17
we returned to the ante-chamber, and then again
had a distinct view of the King and his sisters on
their way back. We had afterwards another view
of him in the court of the palace as he entered his
carriage to go a-hunting, a diversion of which the
king is said to be passionately fond.
At supper that evening they had, among other
things, a dish of fricasseed frogs.
It stood near me [relates Robert Smith]; I tasted
and liked it very much. My fellow-traveller tasted
too, and thought them larks. The English are
strongly prejudiced against frogs as a dish, but the
food is delicate, and much prized when the prejudice
is overcome. The skin is taken off, and the hind-
quarters only are dressed, and when properly cooked
with artichoke bottoms, truffles, morels, etc., form a
repast of which no Englishman need be ashamed or
afraid. What is there in the feeding of frogs more
revolting than in that of eels and other pond iish,
ducks, hogs, etc. ? Yet all these an Englishman
eats without scruple or inquiry.
In the following description given by Robert
Smith of Louis XV. and his court, it will be observed
that he was not at all impressed by the beauty of
Madame du Barry. Voltaire remarked of her like-
ness that " the original was intended for the gods."
Smith writes : —
On the morning of the 27th of August, which was
Sunday, we paid another visit to the chateau. We
then again saw the King, the Princess, the King's
suite, etc., on their way to and from the chapel, as
well as in it. Among the great folks were the
c
18 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Duchess de Choisic, cmhoivpoint and handsome, the
Duchoss do Chartros, young and ])retty. Wc had
a good view also of Madame de Barre, the King's
favourite. She is not a beauty, but has an agreeable
form and cheerful countenance. That it is the road
to preferment in Fiance is well known, and this
lady, we observed, had great attention jxiid to her.
\Ve were afterwards permitted to enter, with
others, an ajjartment in which the King's grandson
(the future Louis XVI.), the Comte de Provence,
and the Comte d'Artois (afterwards Charles X.),
were dining The former completed his tifteenth
year on the 23rd of the present month. He is tall
for his years, rather reserved in manner, and of a
sallowish complexion. The Comte de Provence has
a quick eye, but appears also rather reserved. The
Comte d'Artois is handsome, lively, and laughing.
From this apartment we went to another, in which
the Mcsdco/irs of France were then at dinner ; and
here we had a more distinct view of each than
before. The eldest, iMadame Adelaide, has a genteel
figure ; the second, Madame Victoire, is a complete
brunette, cmhonpoint, and of rather a masculine ap-
|)carance ; the two others, Madame Louison and
^ladame Sophie, having nothing particular in face or
figure. Two of them wore their hair in coloured
silk bags, in shape like those of men in full dress,
and tht-y were all highly rouged.
In the afternoon we took a rt'jrular survev t^f all
the apartments, and upon our goinginto the gardens,
we saw liom the terrace the King and his suite
returning from his chasse cCoucnu.v, f(illowed by an
immense concourse of people. The day was Sunday,
]mt Sundays in France have theii* diversions as well
as their religious ceremonies. We were told that
the King had, on that afternoon, shot with his own
hands no less than thiity-seven brace of ]iartridges.
LOUIS XV. AT TABLE 19
But this is not so surprising when we consider the
very great plenty of birds, and the method of a
chasse de fusile lioyale. The King has his chasseurs
close to him, and the instant he discharges his piece
he gives it to one of them, another at the moment
clapping a loaded one into his hands, by which he
has frequently an opportunity of shooting twice, if
not three times, at the same bird or covey.
This being the day on which the King and Royal
Family usually go in procession to the Carmelites, we
went thither, but were disappointed in our expecta-
tions of seeing the ceremony ; it did not take place,
the King being too much fatigued to attend. In
the evening, however, we again saw the King and the
Mcsdamcs at supper, on which occasion all persons
decently dressed are admitted into the apartment.
Before the King sat down, he took from his pocket
two rolls of bread, which he laid on the table before
him. These, we were informed, had been taken by
the King from two baskets of bread, baked by dif-
ferent bakers, a practice which had its origin prob-
ably from an apprehension of poison. The King ate
heartily, taking something from a number of dishes.
When he had occasion to drink, he said " d hoirc,"
when two of his attendants in full dress, with bags
and swords, advanced to the table (which was of
semi-circular form), making their obeisances. One
of them carried in his hands a gold or silver-gilt
salver, on which were two bottles and two goblets of
the same metal as the salver. Having poured into
one of the goblets some wine from one of the bottles,
and water from the other, the other attendant drank
it. The two bottles and the other goblet were then
presented to the King, who poured li'om the bottles
and drank, when the attendants immediately retir-
ing backwards with similar obeisances, left the room.
This ceremony was performed three times during the
20 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
supper. What a fiircc ! As soon as the dessert was
finished, the King and his sisters rose from the table
and retired to his private apartments, as we did to
our auhcrgc.
Aitgust 2Sfh. — On this day was to be a Royal
stag-hunt, and we repaired to the rendezvous in a
carriage, where the King and his suite shortly after-
wards arrived. Matters had been so arranged by
M. Beauvais, that upon our alighting from the
carriage we found a couple of English hunters ready
for us, most gaily tricked out Avith crimson and gilt
bridles and stirrups. Upon alighting from their
carriages, the King and his suite mounted their
horses and proceeded towards a neighbouring wood
in which was the stag. Among others in the King's
train was the Field-Marshal, Duke of Richelieu, a
little merry-looking ohi man, mounted on a French
lidd, and attended by a running footman dressed
in a blue satin fancy dress with ornamental cap,
holding in his hand a silver staff with a large knob
at the top. As from curiosity we mixed among the
King's attendants, one of them politely asked what
answer he should return to his Majesty should he
make inquiry concerning us, which he usually did
u]ion perceiving strangers. I told him that we were
English individuals who had visited France on a
journey of pleasure, and had taken the liberty to
attenfl, that we might have the honour of seeing
the King, and the ceremonies of a Royal hunt.
The King, it seems, is passionately fcjnd of all Held
sports. He conversed freely with those about him,
and especially with Madame de Barre, who rode
by his side attired in a man's hunting-habit.^
* Tliis was a favourite dress of liers, usually ornamented
with large revers, or facin^'.s, trimmed with Iloniton lace,
whicli showed off to perfection her bare ami fauUIess neck
A ROYAL STAG-HUNT 21
He hummed and whistled several hunting tunes,
amongst them the pretty old French ditty Jean dc
NivcUc a. trois manteanx, Trois -palefrois, d trois
chateaux, listening occasionally to the horns of the
chasseurs in the wood, and the " opening " of the
hounds. From there he directed his course, but
without attempting to keep in with them. After
four or five hours' chase in this fashion, in which he
had occasionally a distant view of the stag, the
animal took to bay, and was shot to prevent his
worrying the hounds. Here all remained until the
King and his attendants rode up to the spot, when
the principal chasseur cut off one of the stag's fore-
feet, and on his knees presented it to the King.
His Majesty handed it over to one of the attendants
that it might be preserved among his other trophies
of the chase. All the horses and dogs were English.
We then dismounted, and returned in our carriage
to Compiegne, where we again slept.
The friends journeyed home by way of Antwerp,
the Hague, and Helvoetsluys, and at the Hague
had the good fortune to meet the celebrated Corsican
patriot and chief, Paoli (mentioned in Boswell's Life
of Johnson), who had just escaped from that island,
and was proceeding to England by the same packet
in company with a young Hanoverian baron. Paoli,
it appears, entertained a dismal anticipation that
he would be verj^ ill on the passage to Harwich.
Says Robert Smith : —
Upon our getting on board the packet, Paoli
immediately went below deck and lay down to avoid
sickness, but his forebodings were soon realized. I
went down occasionally to inquire after him, and
22 JAMES AND IIOPvACE SMITH
found liiiii (juitf (lishcartoned. l\v often exclaimed,
half in jest and half in earnest, that he Avas sure the
voyage would kill him, that he should iicxcr li\e to
see EnLdaud. The vountjf Hanoverian continued on
deck, eatint( his cold tongue and hread, di'inkiiig
bottled beer, and capering about, highly rejoiced at
the thought of soon seeing England. Indeed, as
soon as the packet had hoisted her sails and put to
sea, he said to me with an air of seeming triumph,
"Now we are upon English ground!" I did not
understand him at first, and answered. " Oh, no ! you
must expect some rough weather before you reach
England ; peihajis you will be ill too, as well as the
general." He immediately replied, with another
caper, "I beg your pard(jn, we are now upon the
High Sea ; t/ud is English yround."
His articles of clerkship having exi)ired, llobert
Smith was admitted on the 23rd of June, 1770, as
an attorney in the Court of Common Pleas : and ho
subsequently became a solicitor both of the High
Court of Chancery and of the Court of King's
Bench, where the celebrated and accomplished Lord
Mansfield ^ presided.
And now the most important event in Robert
Smith's life was approaching. The story is best told
in his own words : —
During the summer. I attended the Hampstead
Assembly, and on the first night danced with Miss
' Described by Pope as —
" Noble and younj:, who strikes the heart
With cvory spri^'htly, every decent part ;
]v[U;il, the iiijiir'd to defend,
To charm the MistrcFs, or to fix the Friend."
MAkV SMI III,
Thi: MMiHik or Jamus and Houm.i. Smith.
MRS. ROBERT SMITH 23
Bogle, daughter of James Bogle French, Esq., a
merchant in Swithin's Lane. My partner pleased
me. I was struck with her person and manner of
behaviour, and was anxious to know who and what
she was. The result of my inquiry was satisfactory,
and I now began to entertain feelings to which be-
fore I was a stranger. On the following ball-night
I again danced with her as a partner, slept at a
friend's house at Hampstead, and in the morning
waited upon my partner to inquire after her health.
I was received with great good-humour both by
herself and her mother. These circumstances en-
couraged me, and I danced with her again on the
folloAving ball- night. The business was now done
so far as respected my own intentions, and on the
following morning I waited upon the father in
Swithin's Lane, to whom I opened myself fully. He
received me with great civility, made the neces-
sary inquiries into my education, family, and pros-
pects, and after a pretty long conversation desired
me to call on him again on that day Aveek. I was
punctual to the appointment, when Mr. French told
me that he had informed himself concerning me,
communicated my wishes to his wife and daughter,
and that I was at liberty to visit in the family.
From this time my visits were constant, and in a
month or two our union was considered as fixed.
I now looked out for a home, and at length
succeeded in engaging one, No. 1, Fen Court, Fen-
church Street. The house being furnished, and all
previous matters arranged, I was married on the
11th of February, 1773, at the Parish Church of
St. Swithin's, London-Stone. I had now connected
myself with a family who were dissenters from the
Established Church, of which Church I considered
myself a member, it being that in which I was
brought up from my infancy ; but, to say the truth,
24 JAME.S AND HORACE SMI'lll
religion, or rather, the difference between one form
of Christian worship and another, was a subject that
had never engaged my thoughts deeply : and upt)n
now considering it, I found no dithculty in conform-
ing to the mode of a worship adopted by my wife's
family."
A daughter, j\Iaria, was born in December of the
same year; and in 1775 is recorded the birth at
Fen Court of James, his eldest son — one of the
future authors of Rejected Addresses : —
On the 10th of February, my dear wife presented
me with a son. He was baptized by the name of
James, in Fen Court, by ill". Spilsbury on the 9th
of March ; but his baptism was not registered at
Dr. Williams' Library until the 11 th of December
following, No. 8rS5.i
In July [continues the journal] meetings were
held by a few individuals, of whose number I was
one, for establishing an " Inoculating Disjionsary "
for the poor. The plan being finally arranged,
officers were appointed, and a house was taken in
Old Street, opposite St. Luke's Hcjspital. I acted
as their secretary. It went on tolerably well at
first, but prejudices and jealousies prevailing too
strongly against it, the scheme was abandoned al-
together in 1777, and I sat down with the l«^ss of a
few pounds.
' In the "advertisement " to tlie 22ii(l clition of Tlcjerted
Addn-fiMPH (Joliii Murrny, 1'<")1), it is stated incorrectly tliat
1)oth James and Horace Smilli were l)orn at No. 30, IJasinq-
liall Street. Robert Sniitli'.s family did not remove lliere
until 1790, when James was fifteen, and Horace eleven years
of age.
A LETTER FROM GARRICK 25
It will be seen that Robert Smith was consider-
ably in advance of his time in his efforts to apply
practically the principles of Jenner ; and, no
doubt, it was the death of King Louis XV. from
smallpox that confirmed him in his resolution to
do all in his power to mitigate the ravages of the
horrible disease in his own country. This, however,
was not his first philanthropic work. A charitable
institution had been established by the name of the
Misericordia Hospital, in Ayliffe Street, Goodman's
Fields, for the exclusive reception of contagious
diseases of a particular kind. The celebrated j)hilan-
thropist, Jonas Hanway, best known, perhaps, as
having been the first individual who had the temerity
to use an umbrella in the streets of London, was
the chief promoter of the design, and Robert Smith
was the secretary. The latter says : —
In order to help the finances of the hospital, it -was
thought desirable to obtain a benefit-night for it, it
possible, at one of the London theatres, and I was
desired to make the necessary application to Mr.
Garrick, one of the proprietors, and sole manager of
the Drury Lane House. I did so by letter, and
received the following answer : —
Adel]}hi, Dec. 12, 1775.
Sir,
The Theatre Royal in Drury Lane gives
two Charity Benefits a year to the Hospitals, and
they take their Turn in succession — there are two
fix'd for this, and two for the next, and how they
go on afterwards I cannot say, not having the Book
with me ! — if the Committee would be pleas'd to
26 J A:\IES and HORACE SMITH
know the future arrangements of the Benefits, if
they will send their secretary, he shall see what
we have done, what we shall, and what we can do. —
I came from Ham|)ton yesterday, or you should have
had an answer before.
I am, .Sir,
Your most obedt Servant,
D. Garuick.
Mr. Rorert Smith,
Feit Court, Fenchurch Street.
The following year, Robert Smith was present
when the great actor retired from the boards. He
says : —
On the 10th of June Mr. Garrick took his leave
of the stage, performing the part of Don Felix in
the IFonder. After the performance, he addressed
the audience in a composition of his own. The
house was so crowded in all parts, that I had great
difficulty in squeezing myself into a back row of the
front boxes. I never saw plaudits so loudly, liberally,
and deservedly bestowed as on that occasion.
Next year he " assisted " at the function of a
different kind : —
On the 2:kd of May, Free .Afasons' Hall in Great
Queen Street, Lincoln's Irm Fields, was dedicated
with great solemnity. My friend Poole and myself,
we being both of the craft, attended in our appropri-
ate dre.sses. Strangers were admitted into the
gallery, and among them a number of ladies.
By the end of 1778, another son, Leonard, and
another daughter, Sophia, had been born to him.
AT FREDERICK'S PLACE 27
and, his business also increasing, he removed at
Michaehnas, 1779, from Fen Court to Frederick's
Place, Old Jewry, where he had taken a twenty-one
years' lease of a roomy house that had been recently
erected on the site of the old Excise Office.
CHAPTER III
1770—1787
Birth of Horace Smith — The year 1780 — The Lord George
Gordon Riots — Robert Smitli's personal experience of them —
He is appointed Assistant-Solicitor to tlie Board of Ordnance
— Removes to Old Jewry — Visits the West Indies — Is elected
Felldw of the Society of Antiquaries.
On Friday, the 31st of December, 1779, as the
old year lay a-dying, Horace Smith was usliered
into the world. Though always called Horace, he
was baptized Horatio, on the 18th of February, 1780,
by the Rev. ]\Ir. Spilsbury, minister of the dissenting
congregation at Salter's Hall; and his baptism, like
that of his brother James, was registered at Dr.
Williams' Library, in accordance with the wishes of
his mother's family, who, as we have seen, were
Nonconformists.
The first year of Horace Smith's life was one of
stirring historical events. The War of Independence
still raged in America, there being ranged against
Great Britain, in addition to her rebellious colonies,
both Franco and Sjiaiu, while the aiiticil neutrality
(if Prussia, Russia, Sweden, and Norway, was prac-
tically eipiivalcnt to open hostility. In far-off Asia,
28
THE LORD GEORGE GORDON RIOTS 29
Warren Hastings was a powerful administrator,
fighting against tremendous odds. At home, the
year was remarkable for the Lord George Gordon
Riots, and the utter failure of the constituted
authorities to adequately deal with the disturbance.
James Smith always maintained that he had wit-
nessed the rioting, and humorously posed as an
authority on the subject; but cross-examination
seldom failed to elicit the fact that, as soon as the
first mutterings of the storm reached the city, his
nurse, who, in order to see what was going on, had
taken him with her into Cheapside, was terrified
almost out of her wits by some of the mob insisting
upon knowing where her blue cockade was, and so
beat a retreat into the haven of Frederick's Place,
breathless and exhausted with running all the way
from St. Paul's Churchyard.
However, his father has left us a vivid description
of his own experience of the riots, which culmin-
ated on Wednesday, June the 7th, when the mob
attempted to take the Bank of England by storm.
The month of June [says Robert Smith] was
distinguished by one of the most atrocious riots
that has disgraced the capital for many years. A
Bill was then before Parliament for the repeal, or
modification, of some of the statutes against
Catholics. This measure met with opposition from
some of the members, and by many without doors ;
among others was Lord George Gordon, a half-
cracked brother of the Duke of Gordon, who was
himself a member, and a furious bigoted " Pro-
testant." The cry of "No Popery" was spread
30 JAMES AXD HORACE SMITH
pretty generally, and all true Protestants were in-
vited by public hand-bills to assemble on the 2nd of
the month, in St. George's Fields, for the purpose of
accompanying their leader to the House of Commons
with their Petition. A numerous mob assembled,
with each a blue ribbon in his hat, and being then
arranged in a sort of military array, they were after-
wards marched through the City and along the
Strand, to the House of Commons. I happened to
be coming out of Somerset House as they passed it ;
and as the day was hot, and a vulgar, furious zeal
marked upon their countenances, 1 concluded that
they would not separate without mischief.
This proved to be the case. I followed them,
and witnessed the commencement of the horrid out-
rages that were committed both on pers(jns and
property. The mob stopped the carriages of the
members of both Houses, bawling out " No Popery,"
and chalking these words on the carriages. Such of
the members as did not readily return the cry, were
grossly insulted, some dragged from their carriages,
and others forced to take shelter in the neighbour-
ing houses. After a while, the Horse Guards made
their ap])earance, and rode through the mob, who
(opened right and left to let them ])ass, and immedi-
ately closed, shouting and hissing, the soldiers
flourishing their swords in a menacing attitude, but
as they did not otherwise use them, the mob beciime
more insolent, and pelted them with stones and
])ieces of faggot which they had taken from a neigh-
bouring baker's.
All was now uproar and confusion, and after a
while detachments of the mob paraded oft' to difterent
])arts of the t(jwn, t(j execute, as it afterwards
apjM^ired, their vengeance upon the ])laces of worship
and houses of the Catholics. I thought it now high
time to make my retreat, and returned to the city
THE LORD GEORGE GORDON RIOTS 31
through St. George's Fields, and over Blackfriar's
Bridge. In my way back I found that the mob
had set fire to Newgate, and were liberating the
prisoners. These scenes of lawless uproar continued
both by day and by night for above a week, during
which time the most savage excesses were com-
mitted, the civil power hardly daring to show itself,
from a consciousness of its inability to stem the
torrent.
Large bodies of troops having at length arrived
in London by forced marches, martial law was pro-
claimed. Houses and shops were kejDt shut, the
military were posted in churches, upon the Royal
Exchange, in Guildhall yard, and other places.
Regular encampments were also formed in St.
James's Park, the gardens of the British Museum,
etc. etc. The mob were still daring, committing
their ravages in all directions ; but at length the
soldiery were compelled to act, and many lives were
sacrificed !
Robert Smith used to relate how curiously silent
Cheapside became as the light began to fail on
Wednesday, the 7th of June, when the rioters were
expected. Every preparation had been made for
them. Warehouses, offices, and shops were close-
barred ; the usually busy thoroughfare was deserted,
and, firmly attached to the stout posts that edged
the pavement, great hempen cables had been fixed
aci'oss the street by the deft hands of sailors, who
had brought them up in lighters from Deptford.
The same precautions had been observed on the
other side of the Bank, in Cornhill. Each soldier
had thirty-six rounds of ammunition served out to
32 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
him ; and at about sunset the attack began. As
the mob, disconcerted by the barriers in Cheapside,
halted in their impetuous course, and broke uj) into
small detachments, struggling along the pavement
in their attempt to reach the Poultry, the military
began to fire. At the first discharge some score
of people fell, and were hastily dragged into St.
Mildred's Church. Unfortunately, many innocent
people suffered from the indiscriminate firing in
different parts of the city, as it was very difficult
to distinguish between the rioters and peaceable
citizens. Robert Smith himself had a narrow escape
from being killed : —
I had [he says] the curiosity to Avalk out fi'om
Frederick's Place, and to stand at the soiitli-west
Corner of the Old Jewry, from whence I could tthserve
all that passed. Shortly afterwards, four or five
drunken fellows with blue cockades in their hats
came reeling down Cheapside, bawling out " No
Popery." As they approached, the eyes of the
Volunteers were intent upon them, and the com-
manding officer called out " Attention ! " All was
silent, and the drunken fellows, with<jut offering any
violence, were about to ])ass the corps, l)y walking
on the foot pavement, as if to make towards the
Compter, when the officer tnM tlirni to " fall back ";
and at the same time a few muskets were pointed
t<jwards them to prevent their ])assing. They re-
treated a few ])aces to the spot where 1 stood, and
there made a halt, muttering curses at the soldiery,
when all of a sudden two oi' tlinr muskets were
discharged at them. One of the balls lodged in the
door-post of the house against which I stood, not
ACTIONS FOR LOSSES 33
half-a-dozen inches from my right shoulder ; another
passed between my legs, and shattered the brickwork
against the calves of my legs.
I lost no time in making good my retreat down
the Old Jewry ; and the rioters taking the same
direction, the soldiers discharged their pieces plenti-
fully without distinguishing the guilty from the
innocent. The balls whistled along by me before I
could turn into Frederick's Place, but I pi'ovidenti-
ally escaped ; the rioters, too, were all untouched ;
but a poor fellow who had just come out of Schu-
maker and Hayman's counting-house with a bill his
master had sent him for, was shot through the heart.
He fell, gave a convulsive kick or two, and died.
Another in crossing the Old Jewry from Dove Court
with a plate of oysters in his hand was shot through
the wrist. The consternation was so great and
general throughout the metropolis, that many of the
families removed themselves out of the town, as if
to avoid an enemy or the plague. I took mine for
a few days to Lay ton, where they remained until all
was quiet. The damage done to property of all
descriptions, houses, furniture, and goods, was to an
immense amount, and actions were brought by the
sufferers, upon the Riot Act (1 Geo. c. 1), for a
recovery of their " losses." As attorney to the Hand
in Hand Fire Office, which had paid large sums
upon their policies, I brought several actions in the
names of the assured, and obtained verdicts in all.
Robert Smith often narrated how, on the morning
after the attack on the Bank, he visited Lord Mans-
field's house in Bloomsbury Square, and saw the
d6hris of the unique library and costly furniture
smouldering in the road ; and how, returning to the
City by way of Holborn Hill, he stood aghast before
3i JAMES AND HORACE SMTTIT
the burnt-out distillery, and the awful spectacle of
poor wretches lying about, literally roasted to death
in the blazing rum and gin.
In the year 1782 an important change took place
in Robert Smith's fortunes. He says: —
Upon the Dukt! of Kichmond's coming into office
as Master-General of the Ordnance, he appointed
Mr. Serjeant Adair " Solicitor " to the Ordnance.
Such was the language of the a]i])ointment ; but the
duties of the situation are exercised by a practising
solicitor, called in office language the " assistant to
the solicitor." Mr. Serjeant Adair recommended me
as his " assistant " ; and this situation I have enjoyed
from that time to the present (1818).
Three years later. Smith received a tempting offer
from his father-in-law to proceed to the West Indies
on important business.
My wife's flithcr [he explains], Mr. Bogle French,
having large balances due to liiin t'ii>m some of his
corn's])ondents in the West India Islands, ])ut more
particularly in Granada, he thought it an object that
I should go thither accom])anied by his son, in order
to adjust the accounts, and make arrangements for
remittance. For my own trouble and absence from
my business at home, he offered to pay mo £15(J0,
exclusive of all expenses. [He was ultimately paid
£2000.] Knowing the im})ortance of the business
to him.self and his family, I readily accepted the
offer.
Meanwhile, both he and his wife thought that the
keeping up of the house in Frederick's Place during
his absence would be an unnecessary expense ; and
IN THE WEST INDIES 35
as the lady preferred to reside altogether at Hollo-
way, where he had taken a small country-house
three years before, Smith determined to part with
his lease. But he could not do this without proper
offices for his business, which was to be conducted
during his absence by his managing-clerk. He
therefore engaged with his brother-in-law, Mr.
Norris, for the building behind his house, No. 21, in
the Old Jewry. The lease of the Frederick's Place
house he sold for £100.
He set sail from Deal for the West Indies on
November the 7th, 1785, and, having successfully
accomplished his mission there, returned home,
reaching Holloway on July the 1st, 1786. The
following year he was elected a Fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries of London ; and, having paid
his admission fee, and the usual composition in lieu
of annual payment, he was, on May the 3rd, admitted
a Fellow for life.
CHAPTER IV
1787—1790
Association of James and Horace Smith with the City —
Their childliood — James and Horace at Chigwell School.
James and Horace Smith were not only city-born,
but city-bred ; James residing there fifty-eight years,
and Horace thirty-five, until they came to know
every nook and corner of its intricate courts and
alleys, and all worth remembering of its ancient
history.
Fen Court — where James first saw the light — is
still a delightfully shady nook wherein to stray from
Fenchurch Street on some broiling July day. It
retains a fragment of an old churchyard, where
sundry trees contrive to keep up ap])earances, and
don each spring a new suit of tender green. In
the last century, this scrap of graveyard was hemmed
in by narrow red-brick tenements, where merchants
und lawyers lived, and carried on business, and
were as contented as are their modem descend-
ants in ])alatial offices and homes in Kent or
Surrey.
As soon as he was able to walk, young James
36
EXPLORING THE CITY 37
used to go with his nurse or his mother to all kinds
of delightful places close by. There were constant
visits to Leadenhall Market, a never-failing source
of interest, where the little boy revelled in the
sight of live poultry, rabbits, guinea-pigs, and other
" small deer " beloved of children. The Tower of
London and its menagerie, easily reached down
Mincing Lane, was a treat sparingly bestowed and
rapturously enjoyed. There was the Monument,
across Eastcheap, to be stared up at with wonder
and amazement. London Bridge, with its four great
wheels for raising water, was easily accessible, and
often in the summer James was taken for a stroll
through the sheds and pent-houses that then repre-
sented Billingsgate, to the river front, or, better still,
on the Custom House terrace, where he could watch
for hours the noiseless floating traffic. Every day,
almost, there was something new to look at, and at
every hour of the day there was bustle and excitement
in the crowded thoroughfares of the dear old city.
Frederick's Place — where Horace was born — Old
Jewry, Basinghall Street, and Austin Friars were
not one bit less interesting than Fen Court, and in
each of these localities the brothers lived, as from
time to time their father shifted his place of abode.
Thus while poor, friendless Charles Lamb — born the
same year as James Smith — was prowling about the
streets, " shivering at cold windows of print-shops to
extract a little amusement," James and Horace were
joyously exploring the City, until there was hardly
an old mansion or hall that they did not know.
38 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Bv the time James was ten years old, an extensive
family of brothers and sisters had sprung up around
him. Leonard was nine years of age, Horace six ;
and there were four sisters, Maria, Sophia, Louisa,
and Adelaide, Subsequently, another sister was
born, completing Robert Smith's family of three sons
and five daughters.
Everything was in favour uf the boys starting in
life with an exceptionally good education, which
began, as it should, at home. All the time that
could be spared from the multifarious duties of
her household, Mrs. Smith devoted to grounding
her children thoroughly in the elements of know-
ledge ; and her sweet, patient disposition, and un-
affected but practical piety, effected more by force
of example than all the precepts of divines and
pedants, in developing their naturally amiable and
attractive character.
From their father the boys derived invaluable
aid. Tired though he n^ght be after close applica-
tion to his office-work, Robert Smith was ever ready
to devote himself to the lads, teaching them the
rudiments of the classics, French, and even Italian,
patiently solving the difficulties in the iron rules of
grammar, helping them with gentle hands along the
stony paths of the three " R's," so that when they
went to school, the usual drudgery stage that dis-
gusts .all clever boys was (juickly surmounted, and
they were able to ap})ly unhampered intelligence to
the task on hand, and master it with ease.
Their father, who from youth ujj had been in the
EARLY VERSE-WRITING 39
habit of composing what he called " little poetical
effusions," encouraged his children to do the same ;
and both James and Horace soon evinced a special
aptitude for rhyming, and such a decided love of
punning, as would have been thought remarkable by
any family not so accustomed to it.
A particularly sociable man was Robert Smith,
and his society was much courted by a large circle
of acquaintances, who thoroughly appreciated his
wit and conversational powers, which seemed to be
rendered more striking because of his singularly
handsome face and figure. Besides being a shrewd
and close observer of nature, he had made quite a
study of mankind, and possessed a deep penetration
into character. In this respect, too, his sons were
like him, for as mere boys they noted the peculiari-
ties and eccentricities of others, reproducing their
idiosyncrasies in neat little verses, all of which have,
unluckily, perished.
Several of their father's friends were poetically
inclined, and amongst them was Mr. John Chubb, an
old Bridgwater playmate, who, during his periodical
visits to London, used to stay at the Smiths'. John
Chubb possessed also a taste for painting and draw-
ing, which latter art he cultivated with some success
as a caricaturist ; and nothing more delighted the
boys — especially Horace — than to watch him sketch
a group of well-known people in all sorts of grotesque
attitudes. Sometimes there came to dine with their
father various members of literary and scientific
societies, and after dinner the boys would creep in
40 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
to the dining-room, and eagerly listen to the grave
dissertations, treasuring up all they could understand
for further investigation.
James Smith used to say that the crowning
episode in his early years was when, but eight years
old, he was taken by his father to Bolt Court and
presented to Dr. Johnson, then near his end. The
old sage received him very kindly, and told him to
be " a good boy, and always obey his father and
mother." Another " great event " of his childhood
iiappened one Sunday. As he and his father were
leaving Highgate Church, they were met by Lord
Chief Justice Manstield, who, after a somewhat
lengthy conversation with Robert Smith, turned to
young James, and patting him on the head, inquired
if he too intended to be a lawyer, a pleasant smile
playing about his firm but kindly mouth. James
was too confused to reply ; and this, he afterwards
explained to his mother, was because he was won-
dering all the time whether, in order to be a judge,
one was obliged to have a big high nose and piercing
eyes, in which case he had no chance of bccdiiiinLC
one.
Every year the young Smiths were taken into
the country for change of air. TIk^sp were not the
days when indulgent parents, aided and abetted by
the family doctor, took their boys and girls t(^ the
seaside, the Continent, or across the Atlantic, on
every possible excuse. ()iir (ieorgian forefathers
considered country air and country diet all-sufficient
for themselves: and if forced to think of sea-air for
IN THE COUNTRY 41
their little ones, as a rule found it at Gravesend.
London, beyond the belt of market-gardens and
orchards that encircled it, was surrounded by per-
fectly rural places — villages as quiet and pleasant as
many that are now found five miles from a railway
station in Dorsetshire.
Essex was the favourite resort of the London
citizen. It was handy, notoriously healthy, and
cheap ; and for Robert Smith it had other attractions,
as many of his friends lived there. Thus in the
spring of the year 1775, the family went into
furnished lodgings at Layton. The next summer
they went to Salter's Buildings near Epping Forest,
and the following year a small house with a good
garden was taken on lease at Layton for the term of
fourteen years, at the rental of £21 per annum.
For the greater convenience in going to and from
London, and in order to give his wife and young
ones an " airing " occasionally, Robert Smith pur-
chased a horse and a " whiskey," a kind of light
vehicle.
A twenty-guinea rental does not seem much, but
the cheapest bargain Robert Smith ever made in
this line — and he seems to have had a craze for tak-
ing leases and disposing of them — was at Upper
Holloway, then exceedingly rural, where he got a
house at the foot of Highgate Hill, with orchard,
kitchen-garden, barn, stable, and paddock, for
twenty-five guineas per annum, including taxes of
every kind !
The day arrived when it became necessary to
42 JAMES AND II Oil ACE 8MITH
select a school for the boys. A kind of family
council Wcis held, and, by the advice of his Essex
acquaintances, Chigwell School was decided upon.
Thither James and Leonard were sent the following
term, January 1785 ; Horace following, at the rather
tender age of eight, two years later, there to " learn
Latin and Greek, etc."
School-life was then an altogether different affair
from what it is now. Parents and boys were more
easily satisfied, less fastidious about board and
lodging. Pocket-money was sparingly bestowed, the
quarterly tip of an ordinary present-day Eton lad
probably exceeding the receipts of the eighteenth-
century boy's entire school-days.
The staple dietary was : for breakfast, bread and
cheese, skimmed milk or porridge ; f<jr dinner, plain
roast and boiled meat ; and for supper, bread and
cheese again, with very small beer to wash it
O ^ down. How would our jcuncssc dord like it!
y^ Yet most of our greatest statesmen, divines, and
warriors had to put up with this when they were
boys.
The Smiths rougher! it with the rest. Their
sleeping apartment was decidedly exiguous, neither
more nor le.ss than what we should call a large
cupboard, with a narrow slit for a window. Still,
it had the recommendation of being warm and com-
fortable in the winter.
An early school anecdote of himself is related
by Horace Smith in a letter to his friend, Charles
Mathews. Being asked by Mr. Burford, Head
AT CHIGWELL SCHOOL 43
Master, the Latin for the word " cowardice," and
having forgotten it, he replied that the Romans
" had none." Luckily for Horace, Burford choose to
regard this as a hon-mot, and he was complimented
instead of being awarded the usual penalty for not
knowing his lesson.
Burford was a man of considerable ability, a
scholar, dignified in manner, and with a kindly and
indulgent disposition ; a man to be both respected
and beloved, and well-deserving the epithet " hon-
oured" bestowed upon him by his favourite pupil,
James Smith. In many things he was in advance
of his time.
By the ordinance of Archbishop Harsnett, the
pious founder, the only Latin and Greek grammars
to be used were " Lilly's " and " Cleonard's " ; and
for " phrase and style " only Tully and Terence were
to be studied ; the Greek and Latin poets might be
read, but " no novelties nor conceited modern
writers " ! These restrictions, however, did not pre-
clude Burford from giving the brothers Smith a
thoroughly good classical education. Unlike most
of the boys, they were naturally inclined to be studi-
ous, though James was full of animal spirits and fond
of practical jokes, for the consequences of which he
would have suffered, had he not won the heart of
Burford by his cleverness and talent, which always
placed him at the top of his class.
He was a capital mimic; and one day, having
managed to obtain a cast-off wig of Burford's, he
ascended the sacred desk, over which was a sound-
44 JA:\IES and HORACE SMITH
ing-board, and, changing the expression of his face
with wonderful facility, so exactly imitated his tone
and manner that the whole school was in fits of
laughter. Burford was at that moment just about
to enter, but paused outside the door, enjoying the
fun, imagining that the writing-master, Vickary,
was being " taken off." He was quickly undeceived,
and, hastily entering the room, sternly reprimanded
Smith, who was told to report himself in the study
after school-hours. But on James promising not to
do the like again, he was let off with nothing worse
than a good " wigging."
This Vickary, who married into the Burford
family, was an exceedingly strict teacher, and, like
Dickens's " Mr. Creakle," only too delighted to have
any excuse for rapping the knuckles of some unfor-
tunate boy who was awkward in handling his pen.
James Smith held hi in in such awe that, years
afterwards, in his poem on Chigicdl Revisited, he
thus recalls him : —
Seek we tlie cliurcliyanl, there the yew
Shades many a swain wlioni once 1 knew,
Now nainele-sand forgotten ;
Here towers Sir Kdward s marble bier,
Here li(?.s .stern Vickary, ami here
My father'.s frit-nd, Tnm Cotton.
James Smith had a very retentive nn inory for
localities, and in the .same poem describes the exact
position of the ink-bespattered desk where he was
initiated into the mysteries of Cornelius Nepos, and
of another where he
AT CHIGWELL SCHOOL 45
fagged hard at Plutarch,
Found Ovid's mighty pleasant ways,
While Plato's metaphysic maze
Appeared like Pluto — too dark !
Nothing was forgotten. He remembered where
a certain usher used to sit, and where his school
chums — and they were many — had their appointed
places, and how one in particular, a boy of chilly
temperament and tallowy complexion, always man-
aged to secure the best place near the open hearth :
Here Usher Ireland sat, and there
Stood Bolton, Cowel, Parker, Ware,
Medley, the pert and witty,
And here — crack station near the fire —
Sat Roberts, whose Haymarket sire
Sold oil and spermaceti.
CHAPTER V
1790—1701
Sundays at Chigwell— Playdays and recreation at 01ii|,'\vell
— James at New College, Hackney ^ — At Alfred House Academy,
Cambcrwell — Attends book-keeping classes — Horace leaves
Cliigwell, and goes to Alfred House.
On Sundays and Saints'-days, the boys were for-
mally marshalled into the school-rooms, whence they
proceeded in orderly procession, service-books in
hand, to morning-prayers at Chigwell Church, where
good old Archbishop Harsnett sleeps his last sleep
in front of the altar. It was strictly enjoined that
during Divine service they should kneel at the proper
time, "and bow at the name of Jesus," and that those
who were able to do so should take notes of the
sermon, and submit them to the master the following
morning. This was a great trial to the Smiths, as
James, with his keen sense of humour, could hardly
refrain from expounding his notes facetiously ; and
Horace found it difficult to avoid imparting to the
preacher's exordium a romantic and picturesque tone
tmwarranted by the .solemnity of the subject.
The boys had not far to walk to church. The
(plaint little building w;is almost next door, ap-
46
A VILLAGE BEAUTY 47
proached by an avenue of yew-trees, which met over-
head, and were so closely interlaced as to form a
living awning of sombre green.
At the west end, opposite the porch, was a small
gallery, set apart for the Harsnett boys, and faced by
another gallery. A certain village beauty used to
walk across the meadows every Sunday to attend the
services at Chigwell, in preference to those of her own
district, no doijbt for good and sufficient reasons.
She was dressed very much as we are accustomed to
picture the charming Dolly Varden — short frock with
tight sleeves, open in front, and drawn through the
pocket-holes, long mittens and long white apron,
black stockings and the neatest of high-heeled shoes
with stout buckles. Unlike Dolly Varden, however,
her headgear was a charming white bonnet, which
suited her dark complexion to a nicety. Until she
arrived at church, the elder boys concentrated their
attention upon the door by which she would enter,
and afterwards upon herself, while she affected utter
indifference to the Harsnett gallery admiration.
This bewitching lass appears to have made a deep
impression on James Smith, although it is not on
record that he ever so much as spoke to her ; but
recalling his school days, and his Sunday in particular,
he writes : —
Yon pew, the gallery below,
Held Nancy, pride of Chigwell Row,
Who set all hearts a-dancing :
In bonnet white, divine brunette,
O'er Burnet's field, I see thee yet
To Sunday church advancing.^
1 Chi(jwell Revisited.
48 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Whenever he could get time from his studies,
Horace, though in a desultory and sedate fashion,
used to join the other boys in games and rambles ;
but James, a great lover of books, would stroll away
alone, mount some old tree, comfortably settle himself
between the forked branches, and there revel in any
old volume he could procure.
Chigwell consisted of but a few houses, including
the old King's Head, immortalized by Charles
Dickens in Barnahy Riulge. Next to it was a forge
round which the boys loved to hover ; and there was
but one general shop, where sweet-stuff could be
obtained. Chigwell was, however, the proud possessor
of some parish stocks, though they never seem to have
been used, for James observes : —
I dive not in parochial law,
Yet this I know — I never saw
Two legs protruded through 'em.'
Adjoining the church lived the village doctor : —
One Denham, Galen's son, who dealt
In squills and cream of tartar.'
Up the road were some miniature almshouses,
where dwelt an old pensioner, " wry-mouthed Martin
Hadly," who used to excite the boys' sense of the
ridiculous by his queer gesticulations when he talked.
Outdoor games were not elaborated in those days,
but swimming, nolais volcns, they all had to learn in
a rough and ready fashion, having to jump into a
deep hole formed by the river Roding, and take their
chance of sinking or swimming : —
' Chifjwdl Revisited.
AT HACKNEY NEW COLLEGE 49
Seek we the river's grassy verge,
Where all were destined to inimerge,
Or willing or abhorrent.^
Upon leaving Chigwell in 1789, James Smith was
sent to the Nonconformist New College at Hackney,
chiefly in deference to the religious principles of his
mother, and also because, being a Presbyterian, he
was excluded from our universities.
One of the most brilliant of the Presbyterian
ministers of that day was the Rev. Dr. Abraham
Rees, best known, perhaps, as the compiler of the
Encyclopedia which bears his name. Rees was for
some years tutor in an academy at Hoxton, and on
its dissolution in 1785 he became associated with an
institution that had been founded for the purpose of
providing a liberal education for dissenting youths,
and especially for the training of ministers. The
trustees of the institution had purchased a roomy
mansion and grounds at Hackney, known as Homerton
Hall, or Bond Hopkin's house, and adding two wings,
opened the establishment in 1786 as New College,
Hackney. Dr. Rees, who occupied the Hebrew
and Mathematical chair, was one of the principals,
together with Dr. Richard Price and the Rev. Thomas
Belsham — all of them eminent for learning and
science.
The records of New College are scanty, and have
not been preserved with much exactitude ; but in an
old minute-book there is an entry of a meeting of the
committee on the 23rd of July, 1789, Dr. Rees being
^ Chigwell Revisited.
50 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
present, when it was " resuh ed that Mr. James Smith
of the Old Jewry be admitted as student on his own
foundation at the College, Hackney, at the commence-
ment of next session ; " and thither he accordingly
went on the 2 1 st of the following September.
In the one year that James Smith remained at
New College, young though he was, he derived con-
siderable advantage from the intellectual vigour and
clear insight into nearly every subject that char-
acterized " Encyclopedia Rees." His religion was
broadened, his latent powers were encouraged into
development, and he began to learn the great
lesson of self-reliance and independent thought.
Had he remained for the whole term, who knows but
what he might have evinced a desire to enter the
ministry ; in which case we should perhaps have had
a second Rowland Hill in the pul})it.
I'^ioiii New College James went to Alfred House
Academy, Camberwell. The pro])rietor of this school,
a ^Ii-. Wanostrocht, had been strongly recommended
to Robert Smith by his fii<'iHls in Paris. French was
the current language of the school, and Italian,
German, and Spanish were taught, together with
drawing, fencing, dancing, and music, in addition to
the usual course of Latin, Greek, writing, arithmetic,
and book-keejiing.
Nicholas Wanostrocht seems to have been a kind
of prototype of .Mi-. Harlow in Sancfford and Mcrton.
His prospectus liolds out a delightful prospect to the
Sandford and Merton type of boy, and must have been
immensely appreciated by the lads in general.
ALFRED HOUSE ACADEMY 5l
According to the custom of every academy, there
are two half-holidays a week, viz. Wednesdays and
Saturdays. On these occasions, the master himself
always accompanies the young gentlemen, sometimes
in the fields ; and by pointing out to them the most
useful productions of nature, endeavours to lead their
young minds into a habit of observation and atten-
tion. In every little country excursion, a variety of
objects, both in the vegetable and animal kingdoms,
present themselves, and furnish numberless subjects
for conversation, and it is the master's employment
so to direct his inquiries as to excite the curiosity
and improve the understanding of his pupils.
The house, large and airy, was pleasantly situated
between Camden Kow and Havill's Fields, where the
Camberwell House Asylum now stands. The situa-
tion was dry and healthy, and the neighbourhood
noted for its sylvan beauty. On half-holidays the
boys were often taken to the Grove, when moral
lessons were inculcated on the identical spot where
George Barnwell, the London apprentice, led away
by the wiles of a designing and abandoned woman,
murdered his rich old uncle, for which crime he reaped
his reward at Tyburn.
Amongst James Smith's contributions to Rejected
Addresses is a ludicrous parody of the story of George
Barnwell, in which the writer's school-days evidently
rose up before him, as he penned the stanza
beginning : —
A pistol he got from his love —
'Twas loaded with powder and bullet ;
He trudged off to Camberwell Grove,
But wanted the courage to pull it.
52 JAMES AND H Oil ACE SMITH
Both Nicholas Wanostrocht and his school have
long since vanished ; but cricketers will recall a work,
at one time very popular, that owes its origin to
Wanostrocht's son, who wrote under the pseudonym
of " N. Felix." It is called Felix on the Bat, and is
an able treatise on the national game.
James remained at Alfred House for about a year
and a half ; after which, being still rather deficient in
writing and book-keeping, he went with his brother
Leonard to a commercial academy, kept by a Mr.
Eaton in Tower Street, where they daily attended
the classes, having their meals at home in Basinghall
Street, whither Robert Smith had removed from the
Old Jewry.
At the same time (midsummer 171)1), Horace left
Chigwell School, and went to Alfred House, where
he stayed for nearly four years, going through the
same course of studies as James.
CHAPTER VI
The eve of the French Eevolution— Robert Smith again in
Paris— Sees Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette at Versailles —
The French Drama — The political agitation in Paris — Robert
Smith's providential escape from the mob — James Smith in
France — His narrow escape from death at Dover,
We must now go back to Robert Smith, who had
returned from the West Indies, and in the summer
of 1788 went again to Paris, — this time on important
legal business, — where he was the subject of some
remarkable experiences. The period was that of
which Hallam writes : —
" An event was now impending which was to shake
Europe to its foundations. To all outward appear-
ance France was in a most prosperous condition.
She was at peace with all Europe ; she had achieved a
triumph over England, her ancient rival, by helping
to emancipate her rebellious colonies ; yet she was
herself on the brink of a terrible convulsion."
Of the preliminary upheavings of this political
and social earthquake, Robert Smith was an eye-
witness.
We put up [he says] at the Hotel d'York, Rue
Jacob, Fauxbourg St. Germain, kept by one Guillan-
deau, whose wife was an Englishwoman. A voiture
53
54 JAMES AND llUKACE SMITH
being thought necessary fur us during our stay in
Paris, or at least convenient, I had desired Monsieur
Guillandcau to ordor one, and this morning a notary
waited upon us with a hail dc carrosse lor my signa-
ture. An English coachman would have been
contented with less ceremony ; but here, every in-
strument to be valid must be entered into dcvant
notairc.
August 9, 1788. — Understanding that the am-
bassadors lately arrived from Tippoo Saib were to be
presented in great state to the King and Queen
(Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette) at Versailles
to-morrow, we had desired Monsieur Peregaux to
procure us tickets, and this day he sent us two for
our admission into the gratuh a^^j^artemcnts. In the
evening we went to La ConMic Frani;aisc, the per-
formances Lcs fcmmes savantcs of Moliere, and
L £,colc tics Maris.
August 15. — Having procured a, permission for owv
voiture to Versailles, and ordered an additional pair
of horses with a postilion, we set out this morning
between 7 and 8 o'clock in our dress-suits for Ver-
sailles, where we arrived between 9 and 10, and
were set down near the gates of the chateau or
palace. We went immediately to the chateau,
j)resented our Inllcts, and were admitted.
After ascending Lc Grand Uscalidre, we went
through a suite of rooms, all crowded with well-
dressed persons, who, like ourselves, had been
admitted by billets to the ante-chambers, but were
not permitted to enter the presence-chamber. We
advanced, however, by degrees to the door of La
Grande Galdrir, where the Swiss Guards stood to pre-
vent the entrance of those who had not been before
presented to their ^lajesties, or who did not come
])roperly introduced. For some time we stood here
with others, but at length, by dint of importunity, and
MARIE ANTOINETTE 55
telling the guards that it would be a great dis-
appointment to us as strangers to return without
seeing the ceremony, we were slyly smuggled in,
and got at last to the further end next to the
Queen's apartment. Here we took our station in
the midst of persons of both sexes attired in the
most superb court-dress.
After waiting about two hours, the double-door
of the Queen's apartment was thrown open, and she
came out, attended by her suite of ladies, some of
whom held up her train. They passed close to me,
her Majesty walking most gracefully and majestic-
ally through the gallery to the apartment that leads
to the chapel, whither she was going. Very shortly
afterwards, the three Indian ambassadors with their
suite, all full dressed in the costume of their country,
and preceded by a dozen officers of the French
court, entered the gallery from the Queen's apart-
ment, and advanced towards the chapel also, as I
understood.
In about three-quarters of an hour, the Queen
returned in the same dignified manner, and was
immediately followed by the ambassadors. They all
remained for some time in the Great Gallery, where
I had full opportunity of examining their persons.
The Queen is tall, fair, of regular features, with a
most pleasing smile on her countenance, and moves
with great elegance and dignity. She was habited
in white silk, embroidered with silver and flowers in
the most sumptuous manner, and yet every part of
her dress seemed to set easy. I never saw finer
men than the three ambassadors ; one of them was
above six feet high, and well-formed. They Avere all
easy in their behaviour, and every attention was paid
to them by the company. Among the persons present
was the Count d'Estaing, a character well known to
the English during the late war both in the East
56 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
and West Indies. I never before witnessed so
splendid a scene. We remained in the gallery until
about three o'clock, when the Queen retired to her
a])artment, and the conijiany withdrew shortly after-
wards. The King did not make his appearance,
from what cause I know not.
The ambassadors dined this day at the Prime
Minister's, and carriages were ranged along the side
of the chateau in readiness to convey them about
the i)ark and gardens. As we were waiting with
many others to see them, the Comte d'Artois drove
up to the ])alace, and alighted. In a few minutes
the King's carriage also drove up, when he alighted,
])assed close to us, and ascended a small staircase
that leads up to the chapel. His Majesty ap})eared
in high s})irits, talking familiarly to the gentlemen
who attended him. He is rather inclined to
corpulency, has a ruddy comj)lcxion, and draws his
eyelids together as if short-sighted. He was dressed
in scarlet, richly end)roidered with gold.
Having gratified our curiosity with a sight of the
King, and the day being pretty far spent, we re-
turned in (»ur voiture to Paris. In the afternoon of
the following day we went to Lcs Vari^tes Amnfidntdi
in tho Palais Pioyal. The entertainment was L'Av-
gloisd J'liris, and La Tiniiih. The latter was a new
piece, and was so well received by the audience, that
the instant the curtain droiipcd there was a
universal cry throughout the house of L'Avfn/r,
JjAnUiur ! The poor devil of an author then made
Ids appearance, conflucted on the stage by one of
the ])erformers. The cla])ping recommenced, tho
author made a most ])rofoiiiid reverence to the
house, and seemed as if a])out to return his thanks
for the favouraV)le rccejition of his ])iece, but hi.s
feelings overj)owerefl Iiiin. He clasped his hands
t-ogether, then ojiening them, raised his arms above
"LES PETITS COMEDIENS" 57
his head, and ran off the stage without saying a
word.
A few evenings afterwards we went to see Lcs
Pdits ComMiens de Monseigneur S.A. S., Le Comte
de Beaujolais. The performance was Alexis and
Colin, preceded by a light petite ^nkc, and followed
by La Belle Usclave, a musical entertainment. Almost
all the performers were young persons from ]5 to
20, or 22 years of age, and their manner of acting
was new. They come on the stage properly habited
for their parts, which they a2^2^car to perform, moving
their lips, adapting their countenances and their
motions as the play required ; yet not one of them
uttered a syllable. The whole of the siieahing part
was performed by persons behind the scenes, as was
the singing. The deception was so great that it was
some time before I discovered it. I am told that
the managers of this theatre have no royal license
for acting plays, so that they have hit upon this
expedient to elude the law.
For the last day or two, an Arret du conscil d'etat
die Boi, dated the 8th of the present month, has
been in circulation, and has been freely commented
upon at the coffee-houses. By this Arret (or decree)
his Majesty signifies his intention to convene Les
£tats Gen&aux on the 1st of May next, in order to
deliberate on the great and weighty affairs of the
nation; and in the meantime, his Majesty ioi part
suspends the execution of the late Arret, which
abolished the Parliament, and established La cour
PUniairc. This Arret, so congenial, I understand,
to the wishes of the kingdom, cannot fail of giving
universal satisfaction.
August 18. — Another Arret has just come out,
dated the 16th of the present month, by which
payment of the public debts is in part postponed,
and put upon a new footing until the assembling of
58 JAMES AND HORACE 8MTTII
the £tats G4)i6raux in May next. A certain class of
creditors arc to receive entire ])a)'ment in Billets iht
Tresur Iioi/al ; others are to receive |>art in these
bills, and part in money ; and debts under 500 livres,
ivs well as the payment of the army and navy, are to
be paid wholly in money. As in the present situ-
ation of the kingdom, and of jtublic credit, the King
cannot borrow, the only alternative which is left to
him is, not to pay.
The affairs of France, as far as I can judge, seem
drawing to a crisis. No confidence in the ])resent
minister (Archbishop Lomenie de Brienne), })ublic
credit gone, the administration of justice su.spended,
and, notwithstanding all this, expensive public
buildings are going forwards, and Lcs Spectacles and all
other places of public entertainment are crowded to
excess. Who shall pretend to say that France is not
a happy nation in spite of the difficulties that
threaten her !
Aufjust 27. — We drove this forenoon to Choisy Ic
Jloi, and dined at Saint Nicolas (au hord de I'eaii),
and had at our dinner an excellent matclotte, a dish
of stewed eels and gudgeon. This dish alone is a
" turtle-feast " to th(! cockneys of Paris, and I give
them credit for their taste.
Upon our return to Paris, we strolled to Ndtre
Dame, and on our way back to the hotel we saw an
immense multitude of peoj)le upon the Pont Kevf
and in the riaec Ddiiphiad. In the latter place (at
the top of which stands Le Palais des Marchands)
were illuminations, fireworks, and other demonstra-
tions of joy, on account of the Archbishop's dismissal
from office.
August 20. — We drove to St. Denis, dined at Le
Pavilion Royal, and then returned to Paris. In the
evening we took several turns upon the terrace of
the r^jY/iTiVs gardens, and on our return to the hotel
"THE RED FOOL-FURY" 59
we crossed Pont Royal. We again observed the
illuminations in Place Dauphind and about the Pont
Neuf, and heard the fireworks. The noise and
shouting were louder than before. Surely Necker's
friends (who is appointed the new Minister) must
have a hand in the furious exultation.
August 30. — Lucky was it for us that we returned
from the Ticillerics across Pooit Royal. The noise
which we heard proceeded from the most dreadful
outrages on the Pont Neuf, Place Dau23hin4, Place cle
la GHve, etc. It seems that on the preceding even-
ing, a party of the Guet-a-inecl (city watch), com-
manded by Monsieur Le Chevalier du Bois, had
been under the necessity of using force to disperse
the mob, who had been guilty of great irregularities
in and about Pont Neuf. The mob resisted, and in
the scuffle one of the Guet with the butt-end of his
musket knocked out the brains of a young lad about
seven or eight years old. This so enraged the popu-
lace, that last night they attacked the different Corps
de Gardes (guard-houses), pulled them to the ground,
burnt the materials, and routed the Guets completely.
Every carriage that passed the Pont NeufwaiS stopj^ed,
and the passengers and coachmen were made to pull
off their hats to the statue of Henry IV., and to
bawl out, " Vivent le roi et Monsieur Necker." At
length they laid about them with swords and
bludgeons, slashing and bruising all without dis-
tinction who attempted to pass the bridge. Mon-
sieur le Comte de Nesle, who was returning from
Versailles in his voiture, was stopped on the Pont
Neuf, the glasses of his carriage were broken to
pieces, and he himself was so much cut and bruised,
that he is confined to his bed, and, as I understand,
is dangerously ill. In the Place de G^^hve the Giu.t
fired upon the mob, who, being possessed of firearms,
returned the fire, and fifty or sixty persons were
GO JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
dangerously wounded, five were killed on the
spot.
Notwithstanding this disturbed state of things,
we returned to those places to view the ravages that
had been committed. In the Flace dc GHcc we
saw against several of the houses marks of the musket
balls, the Corps de Gardes were everywhere in mins,
n(jt a Guet was to be seen ; and the mob have now
their own way.
Undeterred by the risk he had run in August,
Robert Smith again went to Paris in December of
the same year, to complete the troublesome piece of
legal business he had in hand, taking with him
liis son James — a great treat for the thirteen-year-
old bov. Robert Smith writes : —
ft/
December 23, 1788. — At Chantilly, whilst our
breakfjxst was getting ready, we all strolled down to
the chateau and gardens of the Prince de Conde.
The moat round the chateau was frozen over, and
several persons were amusing themselves in skating,
etc. Among them was the young Due d'Enghein
(son of the Due de Bourbon, and grandson of the
Prince do Conde), who, with a person whom we
understood to be his tutor, was entertaining himself
in a curious manner. They had fach a small
inii/ieai', or sledge, just large enough to receive one
person, with short wooden spikes })ointed with iron
in their hands. Each iraincdu had in it a low seat,
was turned up before and shod with iron. Each
withdrew his sledge a short distance from the other,
and then, with the assistance of their ])ointed sj)ikes,
advanced tow;irds each other with all the rapidity
ill their ])o\ver, just like two rams fighting. The
violence with which the jirows of the two trainccinx
PARISIAN "LIFE" 61
met each other was sure to throw out one or other
of the combatants, to the great entertainment of
themselves and of the spectators. I could not help
observing, however, that the tutor was displaced
much oftener than the young duke ; perhaps the
etiquette required that he should be.
Arrived at Paris, the Smiths put up at their old
hotel, the York, and in the evening young James
made his first acquaintance with a French Variety
Theatre in the Palais Royal. His father took him
to Astley's, where they were entertained with feats
of English horsemanship, some of which " made
the French spectators stare with astonishment."
They went everywhere, and appear to have seen
every phase of Parisian life, even going to several
of the guingucttes in the Faubourg Montmartre,
where they saw the lower orders of people in high
glee, eating, drinking, dancing, and waltzing, of
which latter amusement Robert Smith evidently
did not approve, for he remarks, " This species of
dance I understand to be German, but to me it
appears wanton and indecent ! "
At last the wished-for day arrived, when the
business that had detained Robert Smith three
weeks, " doing little more than kicking up his heels,"
was completed, and he was free to return home.
Being anxious to be gone [he says] I set off with
my son in a cabriolet, but owing to the rugged-
ness of the roads and the darkness of the evening,
we proceeded no further than St. Denis. We left
there at six o'clock this morning (January 16). We
G2 JAMES AND HORACE SMTTir
breakfasted at Chantilly, dined in our cal)riolet on
a cold langue cle hiviif de Fiandres, which I had hiid
in at Paris, and at half- past eight o'clock in the
evening had reached Amiens. Continuing to Mon-
treuil, we left that place early in the morning. Upon
our arrival at Calais (January 18), I found that the
wind had been so boisterous, none of the boats could
venture out, so that all mv hurrv in wttinsf awav
IVom Paris, and on the road, is likely to prove of
little avail, the wind still continuing to blow strong.
January 23. — The wind still blows strong, but
Ca])tain Oakley of the Royal Charlotte, with whom
I had agreed to sail when the weather should
moderate, telling us that he might now venture out,
we went on board, and soon afterwards sailed with a
rough sea and a high wind. After beating up some
time to the westward, the captain stretched across
the channel, but before our arrival otf Dover we
perceived the flag (jn the pier-head was taken down,
as a signal that there was not water sufficient over
the bar. Ca])tain Oakley paused for a few minutes,
then whispering something to the man at the helm,
he told us that he must either make the attempt to
get in, or return to mid-channel, and there lie-to
until the morning tide. He dashed therefore for
the mouth of the harbour, notwithstanding the
waving of hats on the pier for him to keep out. He
persisted, and just as we got upon the bar, the
vessel struck, and immediately laid d(jwn on her
beam-enfls. The mainvard alnmst instantlv came
upon deck, giving mo a smart ])low ui\ the shoulder
in its fall, but I held fast to the pump, and saved
myself from being carried overboard with the boat.
My son James had fortunately slij»)»i'd into the
cabin, and by that means escaped tlu; danger. The
sailors on the jtier, perceiving the mischief, bawled
out to the captain with their speaking-trumpets to
CROSSING THE BAR 63
" keep all taut," meaning not to let go a single sail,
lest the ship should be struck backwards and for-
wards by the waves and dashed to pieces against the
pier. A boat made the attempt to toss a rope to
us, but the sea washed so powerfully into the mouth
of the harbour that she could not get near enough.
The bustle on the shore, and the confusion on board,
were not a little alarming. However, after a few
seas had broken over us, a most tremendous one
came, took the ship's bottom as she lay on her side,
and canted her over the bar into deeper water, when
she righted, and was moored in the harbour as fast
as possible. We all scrambled on shore, taking with
us our luggage, without the ceremony of its being
taken to the Custom House. The danger was
certainly great, and our escape ought to call forth
all our gratitude !
Having taken a hearty dinner, I set off with my
son in a chaise and four horses for Canterbury, and
from thence we went on to Sittingbourne, where we
supped and slept. We proceeded in the same manner
next morning, breakfasted at Rochester, changed
horses at Dartford, and arrived safely at London.
From thence, after a short stay, I went to my family
at Holloway.
CHAPTER VII
1791—1800
James is articled to liis fatlier — Goes to Scotland — Goes to
the Isle of Wight — Robert Smith and Sir Joseph Banks —
James visits Dartmouth, the Isle of Thanet, and " Lejisowes "
in Shropshire — Goes to various places on Ordnance Board
business — Robert Smith elected Fellow of the Royal Society
— Horace becomes clerk in a City counting-house — James
admitted as an Attorney — The National Thanksgiving at
St. Paul's — Patriotism in the City — Robert Smith liecomes
a member of the Society of Arts — His experiences in Ireland.
Robert Smith was keenly in favour of boys see-
ing, as soon as possible, all of the world that thoy
could, regarding it as a most important part of
their education that they should learn from ])ersonal
observation what kind of a country they lived in.
He therefore never lost an opportunity of taking
them on his journeys. As to James, who was
destined for the law, it was deemed essential that
he should go with his father on his jjn^fessional
tours, especially on those of Orflnancc Board
business, in order to familiarize him witji iIkj dock-
yards and forts under its control.
64
A TOUR IN THE NORTH 65
Consequently we find that in their holidays, or
whenever leave of absence could be obtained, the
boys paid visits to various parts of the kingdom ;
the deliberate mode of travelling then in vogue
affording them capital opportunity for their favour-
ite study of humanity. Their experiences and
adventures proved of the greatest use to them, for
their memories were wonderfully retentive ; nothing,
however trivial, escaped their keen powers of
observation ; and, of course, every humorous in-
cident was treasured up as a jewel of great price.
By the time they had arrived at manhood, the two
young Smiths were looked upon as experienced
travellers, and probably knew Great Britain better
than we, at the close of the nineteenth century,
who, in our rush of travelling from London to distant
centres, ignore the interesting districts that lie
between.
On March the 9th, 1791, James, at the age of
seventeen, was articled to his father for five years
as attorney's clerk.
In August of the same year, James went on a
tour to the North with his father, his grandfather
French, and his sister Sophia, a man-servant ac-
companying them. The party set out on Sunday
in their " glass-coach and four," and with the usual
changing of horses, breakfasting, dining, and supping
on the road, arrived at Carlisle in five days, by way
of Greta Bridge — the destined scene of Sir Walter
Scott's Bokelnj — which Robert Smith describes as
" a romantic little spot."
66 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
On Sunday morning, the 12th of August, they
entered Scotland at the river Sark, the incident
being thus recorded in the Journal : —
A little beyond the river is Gretna Green, a place
well-known to many a young couple, some of whom,
no doubt, have heartily repented of their folly. Upon
our entering the village, our ])ost-b()ys, out of mere
fun, began smacking their whi})s, and driving at a
furious rate. From a house on the left hand, we
perceived a man come hastily to the door and stare
at us ; but the drivers went on, shaking their heads
at him and laughing. This man, they told us, was
the famous blacksmith, Josejih Paisley.
Two days later the party arrived at Glasgow,
putting up at the Tontine.
Citizens of Glasgow, and others who are acquainted
with its wonderful progress, and with the marvellous
transformation of the river Clyde, will be amused
at Robert Smith's account : —
Over the river [he says] are thrown two stone
bridges, the " (Jld Bridge" and the "New Bridge."
Just above the Old Bridge is a meadow of good
size, called the " Green," which belongs to the town,
and is rented by one Smitli.at £120 ]tii- annum.
Upon it is erected a large building or wash-house,
fitted up with a nninlxT of cojjjx-rs, and ])rovided
with lul)S. A number of women we saw at the
tubs, busily eniployed, an<l many liuinhvds were
scattered about on the banks of the river, washing
their linen and sjjreadingit out on the (Jreen to dry.
Smith furnishes tul)s and coal ; the W(jmen, .sijaj)
and starch ; and from each washerwoman in the
EDINBURGH IN 1791 67
" House " he receives sixpence per day for the hot
water, and threepence more for the tub !
The travellers reached Edinburgh from Glasgow in
about seven hours, and drove to Walker's Hotel in
Princes' Street in the new town.
Like any tourist of to-day, they "did" all the
sights: the Register Office, the Castle, Holyrood,
the old town, St. Giles's Church (four places of
worship under one roof), etc. etc. Robert Smith
naively remarks : —
Edinburgh has many religious establishments, of
which the supreme is the " General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland." It meets annually in the
month of May, in an aisle of St. Giles's Church,
which is fitted up for the purpose. The " Throne "
on such occasions is filled by a " commissioner " from
the Crown ; but he neither debates nor votes. He
calls them together, and dissolves tbem in the name
of the " King " ; but they call and dissolve themselves
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The return home, by way of Berwick, Newcastle,
Carlisle, Doncaster, Grantham, and Barnet, occupied
ten days, and " all arrived in safety at London after
a journey of more than 800 miles."
In January 1793 Robert Smith went to Liverpool.
He appears not to have formed a very favourable
opinion of the future industry of Lancashire. He
writes : —
On this occasion I saw the whole process of
cotton manufacture. The machinery is curious, and
68 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
the whole acted upon by the power of a steam-
engine. The throwing together, however, of so
many men, women, and children of both sexes, from
what little I saw, and by the information I received,
is highly injurious both to their health and their
morals !
The following July the three boys set out on a
"jaunt of pleasure" with their father to Portsmouth
and the Isle of Wight.
From Cowes in a post-chaise and a whiskey, we
drove to Newport, and viewed the interior of Caris-
brook Castle. Upon our return to the outer gate
of the castle, the person who had conducted us
through the apartments, turned to me and asked
whether I had ever seen him before ? I answered,
" Not that I recollected." — " Sir," said he, " you have
seen, I dare say, Mr. West's famous print of the
death of General Wolfe ? " — " Yes, everybody has
seen that." — " Do you recollect the figure of the
Grenadier Serjeant who is running up to the General
with his hat otf, to bring the account of the Fi-ench
having run ? " — " Yes, I do." — " Sir, I am that
Serjeant. I sat to Mr. West for the likeness, which
was then thought a good one. But I am grown old
now, sir ; I don't wonder at your not recollecting
me.
In August James went on a little tour to Graves-
end, Tilbury Fort, Upnor Castle, etc., and viewed
the Ordnance Board lands, picking up much valu-
able information respecting his future official duties.
In the year 1794 there is a curious entry in
Robert Smith's journal. It appears that a friend
had given him a small Chinese book, of who.se con-
SIR JOSEPH BANKS 69
tents both were utterly ignorant, so it was sent to
Sir Joseph Banks with a letter desiring his accept-
ance of the volume. The following was received in
reply :—
Sir Joseph Banks presents his compliments to
Mr, Smith, and returns him many thanks for the
present of a Chinese book, which he will carefully
deposit in his library, in hopes at some future time
he may meet with a Chinese man who will inform
him of the nature of the contents, of which he
confesses himself just as ignorant as Mr. Smith.
Soho Square, Jan. 25th, 1794.
In September James accompanied his father to
Dartmouth on important Ordnance business, when
the land required for the erection of forts on Berry
Head, near Brixham, was arranged to be purchased
by the Government.
It is worthy of remark, that although Robert
Smith travelled about so much, he was never
attacked by highwaymen, probably owing to his
great personal strength and activity, which had
become known, and also to the fact that he always
carried firearms, and was ready to use them.
Not long after the West of England trip, James
and his father went to Ramsgate and Margate in
search of lodgings for the family, when they man-
aged to see a good deal of the Isle of Thanet, and
in Margate Churchyard were struck with the
quaintness of an epitaph, the subject of which was
a girl-child, aged four years and six months : —
70 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
" With Howing sail and easy gale
Kidd brought her to the pier ;
Though safe in port, her time was short,
T' enjoy the pleasures here.
Seager, 'tis true, restored her to
Her former health and charms,
But Christ did say, ' Come, haste away,'
And clasp'd her in His arms."
They ascertained that the said Kidd was master of
one of the Margate hoys, and Seager an apothecary
of the town, but could not so easily discover what
the " pleasures " of Margate could have been to a
more infant !
Robert Smith was always keen on epitaphs, and
particularly partial to one he had seen in the church-
yard of Frampton on Severn, relating to a humble
imitator of Henry VIII. It ran thus : —
Ell (illcmorn of
JOHN GRIFFIN,
HIS SIX WIVES, AND FOUR CHILDREN.
He was lay clerk of this church
fur upwards of 59 years.
Died, Febnuinj 13//), 1788. Ad. 84.
" Tliis (iliurt iiiscriiition lot it bciir,
The Clurk, etc., lie.f iiuiet hero."
James's next journey was a delightful one, made
in company with his father to " Leiusowes " in
Shropshire, immortjilized as the residence of the
poet Shcnstone — Jiuthor of The tSchoolmistress, etc. —
whom Horace Walpole used to call the " water-gruel
bard," and of Hugh Miller, the prince of laud.scape
HORACE AS CLERK 71
gardeners, " Leasowes " had been sold for £17,000
by its owner, Captain J. Halliday, R.N., and the
Smiths had to give formal possession to the
purchaser.
On their way back to London they passed through
Oxford, when James took the opportunity of going
through the colleges ; and when, a year later, busi-
ness calling them to Landguard Fort, Harwich, and
Ipswich, they explored the rival University town of
Cambridge — James regretted that he had not been
" baptized a Churchman ! "
We next find James at Lewes, at the trial and
conviction of certain artillery-men who had been
embezzling Ordnance stores ; then followed his first
visit to Brighton, a place of which both he and
Horace were destined to see much in after years.
On the 24th of November, 1796, Robert Smith
was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph
Banks being the president ; and on the 8th of
December he was admitted as a Fellow for life, his
certificate being immediately preceded by that of
Samuel Rogers, who had been elected a week earlier.
The same year Horace left Alfred House Academy,
and became a clerk in the counting-house of Mr.
Robert Kingston, a merchant, of 39 Coleman Street.
Owing to Robert Smith's great influence as a
solicitor to the Hand-in-Hand Insurance Company,
and his connection with the African Company, which
ensured his nomination being accepted, no premium
was paid ; but, on the other hand, Horace received
no salary.
72 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
On the 9th of March, 1797, James's articles expired ;
but it was not until February 1798 that he was
admitted as an Attorney of the Court of King's
Bench.
The year closed by the Smiths being spectators of
a " very solemn and impressive scene."
Their Majesties [writes Robert Smith], with the
whole of the Family and a numerous suite of the
nobility and gentry, followed by an immense popu-
lace, attended a National Thanksgiving at St. Paul's,
on account of the three great victories that were
obtained over the enemy by the British fleet. These
were, by Lord Howe over the French, on June the
1st, 1794 ; by Sir John Jarvis over the Sj);iiiiards,
on February the 14th last ; and by Admiral Duncan
over the Dutch, on the 11th of October last. The
sight was truly gi-and. All the shops were shut in
the line of procession, the front windows of most of
the houses taken out, and the rooms fitted up with
seats for company. We stationed ourselves in the
crowd at the corner of the Old Bailey, and had a
very fair view of the procession as it passed.
England, threatened by an invasion, was then in
the midst of her tremendous struggle with Bona-
parte, fighting the French by sea and land ; and the
City, as ever, was not behindhand in patriotism.
Says Robert Smith : —
Fi-l/ruary, 179S. — On the 9th of this month, a
public meeting of the bankers, merchants, and trades-
men of London, was held by advertisement at the
Royal E.Kchange. The o])j(_'Ct of the meeting was to
raise by voluntary contribution a sum of money for
the public service, and many resolutions were entered
DUBLIN IN 1801 73
into, calculated to inspire confidence and ardour in
the public cause. The Exchange was crowded in
every part.
May 1st. — On this day, ward-meetings assembled,
and other meetings were held of the inhabitants of
London for forming an " Armed Association," which
the threatening aspect of the French had rendered
a prudent measure.
Novemher "ilst. — On this day I was admitted a
member of the Society of Arts, Manufactures, and
Commerce in the Adelphi. I paid my annual sub-
scription of two guineas, and have continued to do
so to the present time (1818).
In the first year of the nineteenth century James
Smith had attained his twenty-fifth year, and was
considered sufficiently experienced to be left in
charge of the office while his father went to Dublin
on one of the most interesting of his numerous
journeys. Robert Smith writes : —
The commercial house in London, of French and
Burrowes, having become contractors for the Irish
2J- million loan of this year, it was thought advis-
able to concert a plan of executing it, so as to
render the stock marketable in both countries. I
prepared the draft of a Trust deed for carrying it
into effect, and, the deed being settled by counsel,
Mr. Burrowes wished me to accompany him to
Dublin. I consented, and we left London together
in the mail-coach on the 16th of June, Mr. Burrowes
taking with him in the inside of the coach a leather
trunk well secured, in which were guineas and bank-
notes to the amount of £70,000 ! This sum was
intended to make good the first deposit upon the
loan.
74 JAMES AND HORACE SMTTIT
At 10 p.m. on the lUth we embarked for Holy-
head on board the Leicester packet, with a fresh breeze
at S.W., and squally a})pearance of the sky. The
breeze had increased, and at about three o'clt)ck in
morning the wind chopped to the west, which
obliged the packet to work her way close-hauled.
After about twelve hours' tossing and tacking, we
arrived at the " Hill of Houth." Stnnding on
towards the point of land on the left, the Wick-
low mountains rising in the background, we worked
our way into the Bay of Dublin. Here the prospect
is delightful. Crossing the bar, we entered the
Litfey, and at the " Pigeon House Dock " we took
the Post-Office wherry to the Watch House on
Rogerson's Quay, whence we proceeded in a hackney
coach to Kearns's hotel in Kildarc Street. After
breakfast, we strolled out to see the "lions," Trinity
College, the Four Courts, Merrion Square, and St.
Stephen's Greens, etc., etc. A meeting was held in
connection with the Irish Loan, and a plan was
finally adopted calculated to make it a success.
When the meeting broke uj), j\rr. Burrowes and
myself went to dine with his brother, and in the
evening we all went to the Theatre Royal in Crow
Street. The play was Cumberland's comedy of The
Wlied of Furtunr, in which John Kmdile (who is
over here for a time) performed the part of " Pen-
ruddock." The entertainment was, " No song, no
supper." The theatre itself is neat and conimo-
di(»us, the aj)proach to it by no means convenient
or agreeable.
Next day we went to view the interiors of the
Houses of Lords and Commons, just by Trinity
College. The walls (»f the House of Lords are hung
with tapestry, on which arc represented the Battle
of the Boyne and the Siege of Ijt)nd(iiiderry, two
well-known events in Irish history; th<' cliair of
THE IRISH PARLIAMENT 75
state is covered with crimson velvet ; the woodwork
of burnished gold, and over it is a handsome canopy ;
the woolsack, the table, and the seats are all
covered with scarlet cloth, and disposed in much the
same manner as those in the House of Lords at
Westminster. The whole produces a very pleasing
effect. In the same building is the House of
Commons, which is of a circular form ; the seats for
the members are circular stools or chairs, the bottoms
covered with black leather, the backs of solid mahog-
any. Facing the Speaker's chair in the body of the
House are two boxes, one for the Serjeant-at-Arms,
the other for the Chaplain of the House ; a large
gilt chandelier of wood hangs from the centre of the
dome, and round the House is a circular gallery for
strangers.
At three o'clock Mr. Nevill and Mr. Roper, a
barrister, did me the favour to call at our hotel, in
order to introduce me into the Gallery of the House
of Commons. I remained in the gallery until the
House broke up at a quarter before six o'clock.
There happened to be no interesting debate, the
time of the House being chiefly occupied in Com-
mittee upon matters of revenue.
A day or two afterwards I had an opportunity of
seeing the House of Lords during a sitting. Their
Lordships had under consideration a Bill for making
compensation to corporations, and to individuals who
would lose their situations, or sustain a loss, by the
approaching Union.
Lord Farnham spoke violently against the Bill,
animadverting upon the preamble, the clauses, the
conduct of the House in passing it through its
different stages in the manner in which it had to be
done, not forgetting that of the Commons. He was
called to order two or three times by the Lord
Chancellor, but soon relapsing into the same strain.
76 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
the Marquis of Drogheda (who is well-disposed to
Government and the Union) rose to speak to
" order," and in a dry, arch manner, said he thought
it would very much " shorten the debate " if the
House were cleared of strangere. He moved it, and
we were all obliged to depart. His meaning was, that
Lord Farnham, in the violent language he was using,
addressed himself more to the strangers below the
Bar, and through them to the newspapers, than to
their Lordships.
In the evening Mr, Burrovves and myself dined
by invitation with the directors of the two Assur-
ance Companies of Dublin at Atwell's Tavern,
The conversation after dinner turned principally
upon the new loan, the trade of Ireland, the advan-
tages and disadvantages to Ireland, particularly to
Dublin, of the approaching miion of the two
coantries. The topics were well handled, but I could
clearly perceive great difference of sentiment among
the directors touching the latter, Dublin, they said,
would suffer innnense loss by the removal of the
Parliament ; which would be felt in a particular
manner by the proprietors of houses and hjdgings,
by tradesmen of all descriptions, by the theatres and
other places of public resort, by the professors of the
law, and by the numerous dependents upon all these.
A certain description of persons, it was admitted,
would receive compensation, but it was fifty chances
to one whether any of them would deem the com-
pensation ad«'(]uat<'. '^riicre appeared to be much
good sense in the remarks, but they are unavailing;
the measure, I believe, is already determined upon.
Jannarif 2')th. — In my rambles this morning I
walked to the Four Courts. Mr. Justice Finucane
was then sitting at Nisi Prius in the Court of
Common Plea.s. The forms of proceeding are much
the same as in England, except that, after the sum-
THE FACETIOUS MR. CURRAN 77
ming up by the Judge, a copy of the issue is handed
up to the jury, who confer together ; and when
agreed on their verdict, the foreman writes it on the
paper, subscribes his name, and returns it to the
officer, who files the written verdict as his voucher.
There is no witness-box, but the witness sits on a
chair that is placed on the table of the Court. I
stayed here for nearly a couple of hours, and was
particularly entertained in hearing Mr. Curran, the
facetious Irish barrister. It was some squabble about
a duel, or rather, a challenge ; and it was to the
interest of his client that he should turn the whole
into ridicule, which he did most completely. " My
Lords, the Judges laugh, and you're dismissed."
By the bye, the style of pleading at the Irish Bar
is different from what it is with us. The counsel
indulge more in digression, in oratorical flourishes,
and give a greater rein to the fancy. An English
barrister sticks more to his instructions, to the
matter of fact, and to the law.
The object of our journey being now completed,
we left Dublin about midnight on the 27th of June,
and arrived safely at the General Post-Office in
Lombard Street at five o'clock on the morning of
the 1st of July.
CHAPTER VIII
1800—1804
E:irliest litiM-arv works of James and Horace Smith — No.
36 Basiughall Street — City Halls and State Lotteries —
James dines with the Hon. Spencer Perceval — Family visit to
Windsor — Illness and death of Mrs. Robert Smith.
About the period 1799 — 1800, just as he was
coming of age, Horace Smith made his first essay in
literature. It was not fur want of example and
encouragement that he had not begun still earlier,
for his father spent most of his spare moments in
literary work of one kind or another, constantly
contributing ])aper.s on weighty subjects to the
Gentleman's Magazine and the Euroj)can Magazine,
and to the learned societies of which he was a
nioniber; and somotimes indulging in lighter
artieles, one of which, burlesquing the etymology
of the word "danger," as given by J. P. Andrews in
his anecflotes, a])j)eared in the JiJitropean Magazine.
Horace, uncertain how his first novel (for such it
was), entitled, A For/rih/ Story, would be received
by his father, who considered that kind of writing
frivolous anfl inconsistent wit li his son's position as
7>s
HORACE'S EARLY NOVELS 79
clerk in a city counting-house, brought it out under
the convenient name of " Mr. Smith." ^ It dealt with
the felicities of domestic life in a highly moral and
improving manner, after the fashion of the day.
It must have had a sitccds d'estime ; for, the follow-
ing year, the same publishers issued " Mr. Smith's "
second novel, The Biinaivay, or the Seat of
Benevolence, in four volumes, the scene of which
entertaining production — a " novel with a purpose "
— is laid at Cliffdown Lodge on the banks of the Avon
in Gloucestershire, where the owner, Mr. Somers,
a rich recluse, receives the penniless and ragged
Theodore, a perfect stranger to him, and is so touched
by his artless story of distress, and of his willingness
to work as a clerk, or " even as a gardener," that he
instantly closes with the offer of his services in the
latter capacity, as follows : —
" It fortunately happens at this time I am making
some improvements in my pleasure-garden; if you
will assist me in the design by giving your opinion
and instruction, I shall consider it a favour; in
retui-n for which, my house, table, and purse are at
your service." .... Theodore was grateful, and
was preparing to thank him, but Somers insisted
that the obligation was on his side, and therefore
requested he would say no more on the subject
He next furnished him with a change of linen and
various other articles he had immediate occasion
for, and then threw down his purse on the table,
desiring he would supply himself with sufficient to
procure other necessaries.
1 Published by Crosby and Letterman of Stationer's Court,
in three small volumes, at the price of half-a-guinea.
80 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
" Mr. Smith's " style was much jippreciated in
certain circles, and The Manaway was quickly
followed (in 1801) by Trevaiiion, or Maio'imonial
Urrors (published by Earle and Hermit, 47
Albemarle Street), prefaced by these lines :
'Tis an important point to know,
There's no perfection liere below ;
Man's an odd coinpuund after all,
And ever has been since the Fall !
Trevanion is, perhaps, even more stilted than
The Runaivay. It treats of secret marriages
generally, and the mischief arising therefrom, and,
in a kind of epilogue, propounds some exceedingly
virtuous sentiments. This work was followed in 1807
by Horatio, or Memoirs of the Davenjwrt Family.
James, while quite a youngster, started his literary
career by sending to the Gentleman's Magazine a
series of characteristic letters, detailing the most
extraordinary discoveries in natural history and
antiquity. They were pure hoaxes, and the
brothers, with all but irrepressible feelings of mirth,
used to watch their unsuspecting father as he
gravely read the pages of " Mr. Sylvanus Urban's"
ultra-respectable periodical, in which their contribu-
tions appeared anonymously.
Together with Horace, James contributed in 1802
to the Pic Nic and Cabinet Weekly, an cjthemeral
publication started by Colonel Henry Greville, of
whom Lord Bynin \vn»te: —
"Or hail at once the patron and the jiile
Of vice and folly, Greville and Arj;yle."
LITERARY ACTIVITY 81
In 1809 James was a contributor to The London
Revieiv, which proved a failure, and was soon dis-
continued. With Horace, he wrote several of the
prefaces to Bell's British Theatre, published
under the sanction of Mr. Richard Cumberland, the
well-known dramatic author. From 1807 to I8I0
James was a constant writer for the Monthly^
Mirror, the property of the eccentric Mr. Thomas
Hill of Sydenham. It was in this periodical that
the poetical imitations called Horace in London —
subsequently published in the first edition of
Rejected Addresses — first appeared.
It will be seen that the brothers were accustomed
to the wielding of the pen, and, in fact, were ex-
perienced writers, when (in 1812) their literary
masterpiece was conceived and brought forth.
In the year 1800 the Smith family were living at
36 Basinghall Street, whither they had removed from
Old Jewry in 1790. The house was old-fashioned
and roomy, of red-brick, and hidden away behind
one of the ugly warehouses abounding in that
narrow and tortuous thoroughfare, which connected
Cateaton Street with London Wall. It had a long
garden at the back, reaching almost to Coleman
Street, where, in the heart of the city, all kinds of
hardy shrubs flourished, and well-known herbaceous
favourites appeared in the narrow borders, with each
changing season.
This garden adjoined that of the old Girdler's
Hall, famous for a venerable mulberry-tree, said to
have escaped the devouring flames of the Great Fire
G
82 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
of London, which, raging all around, destroyed the
parish-church of St. Michael's just across the street.
There was much in the locality to feed the imagin-
ations of such lovers of the past as James and
Horace Smith. Improvements had not yet begun.
London — at any rate the City — was to a great
extent " old and picturesque London " still. The
age of ugliness had not arrived, and designs for the
dismal " bald street " yet slumbered in the brain of
Nash, the architect, and his Royal patron. Quaint
little casements, framed by projecting eaves and
peaked gables, gazed into the street below with a
look of hospitable invitation.
Close by the church in Basinghall Street was
Coopers' Hall, whose members made casks for the
packing of dry goods, and of goods the reverse of
"dry." For some years the State lotteries were
held here, the tickets being arranged at Somerset
House, and afterwards conveyed to Coopers' Hall on
sledges, escorted by a detachment of Life Guards ;
the drawings (which James and Horace used
frequently to witness) being conducted by boys from
Christ's Hospital.
Whatever may be .said against the morality of the
State lotteries, the temptation to an impecunious
Government to rai.se money by this means was too
great to be resisted, and all classes were bitten by
the insane hope of making a fortune by the turn of
a lucky number.
Even such a high-minfled man as the Right
Honourable William Windham was not above trying
THE LAST PUBLIC LOTTERY 83
his luck, and seems to have regarded it as a perfectly
legitimate investment.
Robert Smith occasionally ventured his money,
and, when verging upon his eightieth year, took a
chance in the last public lottery in England, which
he thus briefly records : —
October 17, 1826. — I went to London in the
stage. The drawing of the State lottery closing
to-moiTow, I was disposed to try my luck, and pur-
chased a ticket. It came up a blank.
James was now his father's partner in all but name,
and industriously attended to his legal duties.
Leonard, to whom it is not necessary to refer at
length in this narrative, was completing his seven
years' clerkship at Downs, Thornton, and Free, the
Bankers, in Bartholomew Lane. Horace, as we have
seen, was a clerk in a Coleman Street counting-
house, literally round the corner, just at the back of
his house in Basinghall Street, where he joined the
family at meal-times.
James went a good deal into society even at this
period; and on January 2nd, 1801, we find him
dining at Bellsise House, Hampstead, with the Hon.
Spencer Perceval and Mrs. Perceval, a daughter of
Sir Thomas Wilson of Charlton.^
In the summer of 1803 James and Horace went
1 On March 11 of the following year, James Smith's sister,
Sophia, was married at the church of St. Michael's, Bassishaw,
to Mr. Thomas Cadell, only son of Mr. Alderman Cadell, the
well-known publisher in the Strand.
84 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
with their father and mother to the Royal Borough,
when they had the gratification of having a good
look at King George and the Royal Family. Says
the Journal : —
On the 10th of July, Mrs. Smith and mysolf and
our young folks took a little excursion to Windsor.
We dined, supped, and slept at the Windmill Inn,
at Salt Hill, and the following day (Sunday) drove
in a glass coach to Windsor that we might see the
Royal Family. We had the fir.st view of them on
their going to Chapel, and afterwards during the
service. We dined at the inn at Windsor, and in
the evening walked to the Terrace. Upon the King,
Queen, and Family entering the Terrace from the
Queen's Palace, we all ranged ourselves against the
wall of the castle, myself and my sons with our
hats off. The King and Queen on passing looked
at us, paused for a moment, and smiled as if pleased
at the sight.
King George and his consort, at sight of the
Smiths and their eight children, were probably
reminded only too forcibly of their own extensive
family.
This, unhappily, was the last excursion which
Mrs. Robert Smith was permitted to take with the
whole of her family. Up to this period her children
had been spared that .saddest of all experiences —
personal bereavement ; but they were soon to realize
it in its acutest form. For .some time Mrs. Robert
Smith's health had been declining, owing to con-
stitutional weakness of the heart, which increa.sed a.s
she grew older, and suddenly developed alarming
DEATH OF MRS. R. SMITH 85
symptoms in the form of most distressing spasms.
After a temporary recovery, the doctors advised her
removal to Worthing, a place she much liked.
She returned to Basinghall Street on the 24th of
the month in better spirits, and improved in her
general appearance ; but her husband's heart was
" full of anxiety and forebodings," alas! only too well-
founded, for one Saturday — the 3rd of November — ■
she died suddenly, from the effects of sudden excite-
ment caused by unexpected noise and fear of fire.
CHAPTER IX
1804—1812
Robert Smith's second marriage — He visits Cambridge, and
there sees Henry Kirke White — Horace Smith becomes a
merchant — The City in the first decade of the century — Horace
Siiiilli'.s firm reconstituted — James appointed juint-assistant to
tlie Ordnance Board Solicitor — Robert Smith removes to
Austin Friars — Horace Smith becomes a member of the Stock
Exchange.
Mrs. Robert Smith's death left a dismal void in
the family life at 36 Basinghall Street.
Though many years elapsed before James and
Horace set up establishments of their own, their lives
gradually became more and more independent and
self-contained, until with the second marriage nf
their father an entirely new order of things prevailed.
For, in spite of the loving attention of sons and
daughters, Robert Smith, now verging on sixty,
.sorely felt his loneliness. Essentially a domestic
man, he shrank from the idea of having to face old
age without the companionship and comfort <tf a
wife, and his thoughts turned involuntarily to his
old friend Poole's widow, then about fifty-six.
I had been intimately acfjuaintcd with ^Irs. Poole
86
KIRKE WHITE 87
[he says] for more than thirty years ; and to her, after
much consideration on the fitness of the measure, I
made an offer of my hand. After a while the offer
was accepted, and matters were arranged for our
future union. On Friday, the 17th of January,
1806, the marriage took place at the chapel in
Queen Square, Bath.
The couple went to reside at Woodford, in Essex
— the late Mr. Poole's residence — the house in
Basinghall Street being still maintained as a town-
house. Before settling down they made several
excursions into the country, and amongst other
places went to Cambridge, where they saw the poet,
Kirke White, shortly before his death.
Early in August [says Robert Smith] I set out in
our coach with Mrs. Smith and my two daughters
on a little excursion to Cambridge. We slept the
first night at Hockerill, called on the following day
at Little Shelford, and dined, supped, and slept at
Cambridge. The next day was spent in viewing the
several colleges, the Senate House, the Library, etc.
Coming out of the gardens of one of the colleges,
St. John's, we met Kirke White,^ a young student,
of whom the Rev. Thomas Thomason spoke highly
for his piety, talents, and general good conduct. He
is a young man, about one-and-twenty, of good
appearance, but of consumptive habit.
The same year (1806) Horace Smith left the
counting-house of Mr. Robert Kingston, the mer-
^ Henry Kirke White died (from overwork) at St. John's
College, Cambridge, Oct. 19, 1806, aged twenty-one years and
seven months.
88 JAMES AND HORACE SMTTII
cliant in Coleman Street, wliLTe he had been a pro-
batiuner for ten years, and, with his father's aid,
went into partnership with a Mr. Chesmer, under
the title of "Smith & Chesmer," Merchants and In-
surance Brokers, 3 Copthall Chambers. His brother
Leonard, the following year, became a partner in the
firm of " Bogle, French, BoiTowes, and Canning,"
West-India merchants, reconstituted under the
name of " Bogle, French, Warren, and Smith."
The times were hardly propitious for entering
into mercantile partnership, and yet, if the risk were
great, the gains were ])roportionally large ; and in
those stirring days, before the invention of the tele-
graph had brought all the world to the same dead
level, and reduced profit to a mere fraction, indi-
viduals with cool heads, possessed of exceptional
means of infonnation, were almost certain of acquir-
ing fortunes. Business was a fascinating and excit-
ing pursuit, when at any moment intelligence might
arrive of engagements won or lost by the British.
Although the year 1805 had seen Napoleon's gigantic
efforts on land everywhere crowned with success,
it had been immortalized by Nelson's victory
at Trafalgar ; and con.suls, though they had once
touched 58^, had been n'iiiarkal)ly uveii throughout
the year.
In the spring oi isutJ, the great Pitt, worn out
with cares and anxieties, died at the age of forty-six.
Lord Grenville and all the " Talents " succeeded, and
made themselves specially unpopulai- in mercantile
circles by the imposition <>i' a }»roperty-tax of ten
HORACE IN BUSINESS 89
per cent. The celebrated Berlin Decrees, intended
to cripple, if not to destory, British commerce, were
promulgated by Napoleon, and added still more to
the intense uneasiness and anxiety that prevailed in
the City. Distrust abounded ; yet the most extra-
ordinary frauds were concocted, and successfully
carried out.
In those days business was transacted with de-
liberation and dignity ; not in the " life or death "
manner of the present day. As regards costume, it
was the era of top-boots and knee-breeches ; and
we can picture the future author of Rejected Ad-
dresses standing in front of the bow-windows of
old Lloyd's co^e-hoase in Lombard Street, or on the
flagstones of the Royal Exchange, clad in snuff-
coloured coat, grey trousers, yellow-topped bluchers,
and low hat, or in black coat, white cravat, and
gaiters, according to the season, bargaining in the
market for West Indian produce.
Horace Smith exhibited in business a shrewdness
and clearness of judgment for which his literary
friends in after life never could give him credit.
They quite overlooked the nature of his early
training, and his constant association with a father
who possessed business qualifications of a high order.
Moreover, as has been observed, the possession of
exceptional information was in those days more im-
portant even than now. Robert Smith's position
in the Ordnance Office enabled him to receive the
earliest and most accurate intimation of the move-
ments of the British forces, upon whom all eyes
90 JAMES AND JlOKACE SMITH
-were fixed ; and the purport of many an important
Government dispatch from the seat of war, privately
reaching his ears some time before it was generally
known in the City, was communicated by him to
Horace.
Horace Smith's firm prospered, inspiring so much
confidence that three years after its formation
Mr. John Down, a son of Robert Smith's banker
(of the firm of Down, Thornton, Free, and Cornwall),
joined the concern, and put into it the sum of
£10,000, after which it was designated " Smith,
Chesmer, and Down." Horace now began to make
money ; and a pleasant side-light is thrown upon his
disposition by a fact which his father records with
great satisfaction. He says : —
On this day (October I7tli) my son Horace, in
consideration of the heavy payments which I have
made for himself and his brothers, very kindly pre-
sented me with £500. I received it as a token of
affection from a dutiful son, and shall retain the
remembrance of it as long as I live.
James Smith pursued his calling with no less
diligence than his brother, making himself more and
more indispensable in his fiither's office, and (piali-
fying for the important post of Joint-Assistant to
the Solicitor of the Ordnance. He met with all
kinds of curious experience, both in the ordinary
course of business as a solicitor, and in that of
the Government Department with which he was
connected.
In the year 1812, memorable for the dastardly
"ASSISTANT TO ORDNANCE SOLICITOR" 91
assassination of Mr. Perceval, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, by Bellingham in the lobby of the
House of Commons, Robert Smith, who for some
time had been endeavouring to get his son James
appointed as his joint-assistant — with a view, no
doubt, to his eventually succeeding him — renewed
his application as soon as the Earl of Mulgrave
became Master-General of the Ordnance, in place of
the Earl of Chatham. His request was granted, and
the following letters were received from the Board's
secretary : —
The Master-General and Board, having been
pleased to acquiesce in the request you have pre-
ferred, that the name of your son, Mr. James Smith,
may be added to your own in the appointment of
" Assistant to the Ordnance Solicitor," I am directed
to state the same for your information, and that you
and your son will accordingly be termed " Joint-
Assistants to the Solicitor,"
Having returned his thanks to the Master-General,
Robert Smith received the following reply : —
Sir, — The result of the inquiries which I made
in consequence of your application, has rendered it
highly satisfactory to comply with your request for
the appointment of your son as assistant to the
Ordnance Solicitor.
I am, sir,
You most obedient humble servant,
Mulgrave.
Egbert Smith, Esq.
Finding that his means would not admit of his
keeping up both the large expensive house in
92 JAMES AND HORACE RMTTIT
Basinghall Street and the one at Woodford, and
also that his wife preferred to live in the country,
Robert Smith determined to make new arrange-
ments. The lease of the Basinghall Street premises
was therefore disposed of; rooms were taken at No.
18 Austin Friars, and thither the office papers were
removed, and the business thenceforth carried on ;
while he and his wife, with his unmarried daughters,
went to live at Woodford.
Horace Smith, who had severed his connection
with the mercantile firm in which he was a partner,
about this period became a member of the Stock
Exchange, his place of business being in Shorter's
Court, Throgmorton Street ; and he and his brothers
lived together in rooms attached to the office in
Austin Friars.
CHAPTER X
Horace Smitli's Burlesque, The Highgate Tunnel, is pro-
duced at the Lyceum Theatre — James and Horace Smith's
connection M'ith the drama — Destruction of Drury Lane
Theatre by fire — Plans for the re-building — The new theatre.
In the year 1810, a private Act of Parliament was
applied for, empowering a Company ^ to carry out a
laudable scheme, whose object was to divert the
traffic entirely from the difficult and often dangerous
ascent of Highgate Hill, by the creation of a new
and easily accessible route.
It Avas proposed to effect this object by the
construction of a tunnel of considerable length ;
but Mr. John Rennie, the famous engineer, having
pointed out the great inconvenience of this, a shorter
one with open approaches was agreed upon. The
Act, in spite of the decided unpopularity of the
project, was passed, and the work began.
In this age of steel and iron, the idea of a petty
little culvert, 211 yards in length, being regarded as
a wonderful piece of engineering, seems incredible.
1 This Company eventually built the well-known Highgate
Archway, now in course of re-construction by the London
County Council.
93
94 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
But the good folk of LSlO, innocent of modern
modes of steam and electricity, thought a good deal
of it, and watched its progress with deep interest.
Early on the morning of April 15th, 1812, when
the work was about half finished, and luckily before
any of the workmen had arrived, a tremendous slip
occurred, the whole of the excavation collapsed, and
the tunnel was filled up with earth.
This accident caused an immense sensation in
London, where the idea had from the first been
regarded as chimerical and ridiculous ; so much so
that the wits had at once produced a satirical pro-
spectus for getting rid of the difficult ascent by the
summary process of removing the hill itself
" It is intended," they said, " by means of a mechani-
cal slide, to remove the whole of the hill into the vale
behind Caen Wood, where the seven ponds now are,
thereby forming a junction with Hampstead, and
inviting the approach of the two hamlets in a more
sociable manner. On the spot where Highgate now
stands, it is intended to form a large lake of salt
water of two miles over or thereabouts, beginning at
the north end of Kentish Town, and reaching to the
spot where the White Lion at Finchley now stands."
The prospectus went on to say, that the said lake
was to be supplied with sea-water from the Es.sex
roast by means of pipes, and to be stocked with all
kinds of sea-fish except sharks, " there being plenty
of these to be had in the neighbourhood." Further,
it was intended, it said, to erect a large building in
the centre of the wood on the north side of the lake,
"THE HIGHGATE TUNNEL" 95
which building was to be used for insane surveyors
and attorneys who had lately infested the neighbour-
hood of Highgate, to the annoyance of the ordinary
inhabitants.
Horace Smith seized the ojDportunity, and under
the pseudonym of " Momus Medlar, Esq.," produced
a burlesque operatic tragedy in two acts, called
The Highgate Tunnel, or, the Secret Arch, which
was accepted by John Miller, the dramatic publisher
of 25 Bow Street, was produced at the Lyceum
Theatre on Thursday, the 2nd of July, 1812, and had
what was then considered " quite a run " of twenty-
four nights.
Robert Smith, to whom the secret of the author's
real name had been confided, was proud enough of
his son's success, though tradition and professional
etiquette forbade him openly to approve. The
following bald entry appears in his Journal : —
October, 1812. — A few months ago, my son Horace
wrote a little after-piece for the stage, called The
Highgate Tunnel, which was brought out at the
Lyceum Theatre in the Strand, and had a run.
There was, of course, after the fashion of the day,
a Prelude to this production, termed An Ode to
Fortttne, when Momus Medlar, Esq., one of the
characters, and "Author of the New Tragedy,"
invokes the fickle Goddess : —
Kick down (and welcome) Highgate Arch,
But be content with one ill,
When from the Gallery Ruin nods,
Oh ! whisper silence to the gods,
And spare the Muses' Tunnel !
9G JAMES AND HORACE SMTTII
The gods were pleased, and the critics favourable.
Even the leading journal, the Times (July 4, 1812),
condescended to bestow upon the piece the following
remarks : —
It is a burlesque, and a not unamusing one, on
some of the late Covent Garden meludranias. The
Secret Mine is treated with ridicule, if not very
dexterous, at least very allowable ; and by the help
of some popular melodies, the piece proceeds to its
conclusion without any violent offence to criticism.
Ridicule has been long since disallowed as the test
of truth, and it nmst not rise into a test of dramatic
merit ; but whatever makes some of the later jiro-
ductions of the mclodramc manufacture hide their
diminished heads renders a general service to public
taste. The plot of the present piece is founded on
the terrors of the Highgate publicans of losing
their trade by the change of the road. The princi-
pal sufferer has " a daughter fair," who has won the
heart of a youthful miner. He is promised her
hand on betraying the key-stone of the arch. The
publicans project a general attack ; they are dis-
comhted ; they attack again on horseback ; the
battle is joined with fierceness, till, like Virgil's bees,
exigui pulvcris jadu, the battle is stilled by a cloud
of dust from above, — the arch gives way, — and the
combatants all fall instantly dead. This is sustained
Avith .some lively dialogue, and some ])aro(lies of
favourite passages. The music is tolerably well
selected ; and the piece, without admitting of much
])raise from the nature of the thing, is sufficiently
well-conceived for its object.
One of the parodies here referred to was recited
by Jerry Grout, described in the play-bill as " an
"ALL THE WORLD'S A STABLE" 97
honourable bricklayer, lover, and tunnelleer," who
soliloquizes thus : —
'Tis all the same —
All the World's a stable,
And all the men and women ride on horses ;
Youth has its field-horse ; age its chamber-horse ;
And one man in his time mounts many hobbies,
To travel many stages. — First, the rocking-horse.
See-saw succeeding to the nurse's arms : —
And then the braying donkey with his driver,
Mounted by Margate Miss in shining spencer,
Trotting to Dandelion.^ Then the hack
By priggish cockney guided, prime, bang up.
Whose threaten'd lash is all my eye, like that,
Beneath his Mistress's eyebrow : — Then the palfrey
Bearing an Actress feather'd like shuttlecock,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the Secret Mine. — Last scene of all,
That ends this jockey, groomish history,
Is second childishness, and neighing Actors,
Whose dull horse-play can raise a dull horse-laugh,
Sans wit, sans speech, sans taste, sans everything. —
And now, my Mum, what say'st thou to a glass ?
The musical portion of the burlesque included
another amusing parody set to Dr. Arne's noble air,
" The soldier, tir'd of war's alarms." It was sung by
Tom Trowel, " a vocal labourer," to the words —
The bricklayer, tir'd of bearing hods,
Deserts his gang, exhausted nods.
And snores both loud and clear ;
But if the penny trumpet sound.
He jumps, transported, from the ground.
And claims his pot of beer.
From early youth Horace, like his brother James,
was an intense admirer of the drama, particularly
of the plays of Richard Cumberland. These had
^ A place of amusement near Margate.
H
98 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
fallen out of fixshion ; and in the year 1805, while
Horace was still in a city counting-house, his con-
viction that this neglect was utterly unwarranted
became so strong, that he wrote a poem deploring
the lamentable absence of taste on the part of the
theatre-going public in ])referring the dramatic
works of other writers to those of Cumberland.
This effusion fell into Cumberland's hands, and
he was so pleased that he quickly made the
author's acquaintance, and introduced him into his
own literary circle, and, to Horace's great delight,
to most of the notable actors of the day.
Thus James and Horace Smith soon came to
know everybody in any way connected with the
stage, and amongst them Miller, the dramatic
publisher of Bow Street, and Charles William
Ward, both of whom were destined to influence very
considerably the lives of the brothers.
Ward was of good famih' and well-connected, and
had married Jane Linley, a younger sister of
Brinsley Sheridan's first wife. He possessed a ver-
satile talent, social tact, and easy manners, and had,
besides, considerable judgment in l)usiness matters,
so that he was well fitted for the responsible position
of secretary to the Theatre Royal, Di'iiry Lane.
Ward was of a convivial disposition, as were most
of the popular men of his day, and an exc(>llcnt
judge of port, the frequent imbibing of which
generous liquor had .set its sign and seal on
his nose. Hence the sobriquet of " Portsoken ^
^ One of the City ward."?.
AN EPIDEMIC OF FIRE 99
Ward," privately bestowed upon him by Horace
Smith.
It was really the Smiths' acquaintance with Ward
that led to their writing Rejected Addresses. But
here it is necessary that I should diverge slightly
from the chronological order which I have endea-
voured to maintain in this family narrative.
On the 20th of September, 1808, a great sensation
was created in London by the total destruction of
Covent Garden Theatre, attended by sad loss of
life.
The recollection of this catastrophe was fresh in
people's memories, when the town was startled
(January 1809) by the intelligence that the entire
east wing of St. James's Palace, including their
Majesties' private apartments, and those of the
Duke of Cambridge, had been burnt down, and the
rest of the Palace saved only with great difficulty.
An epidemic of terrible fires seemed to have set
in. At the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, the Cir-
cassian Bride was running; and on the 24th of
February, 1809, — the first Friday in Lent,— the
theatre, according to custom throughout that season
of mortification and fasting, was closed until the
following day, and left in charge of the usual watch-
men and caretakers. About eleven o'clock that
night, a gentleman named Kent, residing in Tavistock
Street, Covent Garden, happened to be passing, and
noticed a strong light in one of the second-floor
windows of the theatre facing Little Russell Street.
He watched it for a few minutes, and deciding' that
100 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
it betokened nothing more unusual than workmen
busy upon an urgent piece of repairs or alterations,
passed on.
In twenty niiuutes, however, the light had in-
creased, and tongues of fire began to make their
appearance at the window. Alarm was given, and
messengers were dispatched in every direction for
the fire-engines. At that time there was no Fire
Brigade, but each of the Insurance Companies (and
there were sixteen) maintained a number of engines,
with a staff of firemen in distinctive costume.
The engines were only in.uinals, ani] incapable of
forcing the water to any great distance or in any-
thing like an adecjuate (piantity for a large fire.
By the time the " Hand-in-Hand," quickly foUcjwed
by the " Phcenix " and the " Sun," had reached the
spot, the entire upper portion of the great edifice
was in a blaze, at an elevation that would have
severely taxed the powers of even a modern "steamer."
As it was, the manuals confined their attention to
the surrounding houses, and, the su})]ily of water
being plentiful, managed to keep them from catching
alight. The sight was splendid : an iiiiKiMk.n mass
of fiame enwrapped the whole building from Brydges ^
(now Catherine Street) Street to Drury Lane, a
distance of one hundred and fifty 3'ards. I'y nn'd-
night the roof had fallen in, and with it the gigantic
wooden figure of Apollo that had stood on the
summit; and soon afterwards, a poition of the
' Catlicrinc Street fonnfrly oii<le<l at Kxeter Street, wlieiice
t<j Little Kussell Street it wud called lirydj^cs Street.
THE BURNING OF DRURY 101
outer walls in Russell Street and Vinegar Yard fell
down, completely blocking up the passage.
By three o'clock the flames had nearly subsided,
and at five o'clock a.m. all was over, and nothing
but the mere shell remained of the structure that
eighteen years before had been re-built by Holland,
when Garrick's Drury Lane — styled by Mrs. Siddons,
from the magnitude of its dimensions, the " Wilder-
ness " — was pulled down.
An enormous crowd, kept well in check by a strong
detachment from the Horse Guards and Foot Guards,
and estimated to number at least a hundred thousand
souls, quickly assembled, as, from the central position
of the fire, the reflection of the flames was visible
for miles. ^
Far and wide
Across red Thames's oleaming tide,
To distant fields the blaze was borne,
And daisy white and hoary thorn
In borrow'd histre seem'd to shame
The rose or red sweet Wil-li-am.
To those who on the hills around
Behold the tiames from Drury's mound,
As from a lofty altar rise,
It seem'd that nations did conspire
To offer to the god of fire
Some vast stuj^endous sacrifice ! ^
In all directions the tops of the houses were
covered with people, and from those that commanded
^ Now that a large open space has been created by the
pulling down of part of Catherine Street near Russell Court,
a fine view can be obtained of Drury Lane Theatre, and it is
easy to realize what a commanding site the great building
occupies.
^ Rejected Addresses.
102 JAME8 AND HORACE SMITH
a view of the river it was possible to distinguish
every person crossing Westminster and BlacktViars'
Bridges, so bright was the light that ]>laycd upon
the water. And so great was the heat given out by
the conflagration that it was distinctly felt across
Covent Garden Market, at the portico of St. Paul's
Church.
A considerable time elapsed before arrangements
could be made for the re-erection of the theatre.
There were many questions to decide, and money
was slow to come in. But by July of 1811, the
Committee — appointed under the Act of Parliament,
which authorized the formation of a Joint-Stock
Company for the re-building by shares (^f £100
each — met under the presidency of Mr. Samuel
Whitbread, M.P., the celebrated brewer, and were
able to report that subscriptions were flowing in
freely.
Various designs for the now building were con-
sidered, and, finally, Mr. Benjamin Wyatt was
appointed architect; and his jilan, acrom])anied by
a lucid explanatory tract, was freely circulated in
the paj)crs, and on the whole approved of by the
public.
A certain kind of pro\ision was madi- against
possible future conflagrations, by means of an acpie-
duct of con.siderable deiith, ingeniously designed by
Colonel Congreve, to furnish the house with an am})le
supply of water, shoidd Jiccidont occur from fire. It
was to be effected by an engine that would play from
the stage into every box in the house! This is
"CONGREVE'S PLUG" 103
referred to by Horace Smith in the Rejected
Addresses : —
Again should it burst in a blaze,
In vain would they ply Congreve'e plug,
For nought could extinguish the rays
From "the gknce of divine Lady Mugg.
CHAPTER XI
1812
Competition for Address to be spoken at opening of new
Drury Lane Theatre — Some of the Addresses — The re-opening
of Drury Lane Theatre — How Rejected Addresses came to be
written — Its publication.
It was arranged by the Committee that the opening
night of the new theatre should be on the 10th of
October, 1812 ; and on the 12th of August preceding,
there appeared the following announcement in the
leading daily paper : —
" REBUILDING OF DRURY LANE THEATRE.
" The Committee are desirous of promoting a free
and fair competition for an Address to be spoken
upon the opening of the Theatre, which will take
place on the 10th of October next. They have, there-
fore, thought tit to ann(junce to the public, that
they will be glad to receive any such compositions,
addressed to their Secretary, at the Treasury Office
in iJrury Lane, on or before the 10th of September,
sealed up, with a distinguishing word, number, or
motto on the cover, corresponding with the inscrip-
tion on a separate sealed paper, containing the name
"WITHOUT A PHCENIX" 105
of the author, which will not be opened unless con-
taining the name of the successful candidate."
The brothers Smith had previously been made
aware by their friend, Mr. Ward, that such a competi-
tion would be promoted, and Horace, taking advan-
tage of this information, prepared a genuine address,
which was sent up with the others, and shared the
same fate of rejection. It was incorporated in his
volume of Rejected Addresses as " An Address without
a Phoenix," and concludes thus : —
Oil ! may we still, to sense and nature true,
Delight the many, nor offend the few.
Though varying tastes our changeful Drama claim.
Still be its moral tendency the same —
To win by precept, by example warn,
To brand the front of Vice with pointed scorn,
And Virtue's smiling brows with votive wreaths adorn.
As many as one hundred and twelve Addresses were
sent in to the Committee, who heroically sat and
patiently listened while each one in turn was recited
before them. Some were brief, others of inordinate
length ; in fifteen, the poet " flashes his maiden
sword." In general they bore a close resemblance to
each other; thirty contained complimentary allusions
to Wellington, and to Whitbread, the breAver ; and in
no fewer than sixty-nine, the fabled Phcenix was
invoked. Even Whitbread, who himself sent in an
Address, had a Phoenix, but, according to Sheridan,
he made more of the bird than his rivals had done,
entering into particulars, and describing its wings,
beak, tail, etc. ; in short, it was " a poulterer's descrip-
tion of a Phoenix."
lOG JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Some few of the Addresses were manifestly not
seriously meant to be spoken ; and the professionals
in the poetical world studiously abstained from
competing.
Bravely the Committee struggled through their
thankless task. One Address, abounding in pathos,
from the pen of the well-known W. T. Fitzgerald,
of whom Lord Byron wrote —
" Shall hoarse Fitzgerald bawl
His creaking couplets in a tavern hall — "
tiied their " staying " powers very severely. Six
hours were spent in discussing the merits of this
lengthy and elaborate elegiac, until at last it was
decided, ncm. con., that, as it was confessedly by far the
longest, it should be referred to the prompter to
report, whether, with that superior merit, it might
not, in his opinion, prove also the fittest, as giving the
scene-shifters more time to arrange matters before
the rising of the curtain.
Eventually the Committee, sadly puzzled what to
do, since none came up to their expectations, decided
to reject them all, and in their dilemma applied to
Lord Byron, who acceded to their request, and
provided them with an Address which was duly
recited at the re-opening.
All London was ai?tir, and, as the hmir of opening
approached, the streets leading to Drury Lane were
crowded with sight-seers, ])atiently waiting in the
pouring rain, up to their knees in mud. Scjldiers
guarded the entrances to the theatre, and admitted
MRS. DAVID GARRICK 107
the company so gradually that there was no crushing
or confusion.
The house was rapidly filled with an enthusiastic,
well-behaved audience, who considerately abstained
from hanging their shawls and coats over the front of
the boxes, thus leaving the splendid decorations open
to the sight of all.
When the curtain drew up at half-past six o'clock,
the entire company came forward and sang " God
Save the King " and " Rule, Britannia," received with
the loudest applause.^ Then came Lord Byron's
Address, spoken by Elliston dressed as Hamlet. It
began thus —
" In one dread night, our city saw and sighed,
Bowed to the dust, the Drama's tower of pride,
In one short hour beheld the blazing fane,
Apollo sink, and Shakspeare cease to reign,"
and finished — after more than sixty lines — with the
following —
" The curtain rises — may our stage unfold
Scenes not unworthy Drury's days of old !
Britons our judges, Nature for our guide,
Still may we please, long, long — may ijou preside."'
A touching incident occurred before the perform-
ance began. As Mrs. Garrick entered the box
specially reserved for her, the audience rose, and
welcomed her with three such hearty cheers, in
memory of her incomparable husband, that the poor
old lady, deeply moved by this exhibition of popular
affection, shed tears.
^ The leader of the band was Sir George Smart.
108 JAMES AXT) TIORACE SMTTTI
Tilt' play ^ thi-'H proci't'ilid, lullowod l»y the farce,
The Devil to Pay. The audience was full of good-
humour, and " all went uierry as a mamage-bell."
Finally, it was said that the sum taken that night
at the doors amounted to £S59.
So passed the memorable performance, at which
(it need hardly be said) James and Horace Smith
were present, the former relating to his friends his
personal recollection of the opening of the former
Drury Lane Theatre, when, between the play and the
farce, an epilogue, written by George Colman, had
been " excellently spoken " by Miss Farren.
Of course a good deal of discontent was felt among
the one hundred and twelve " rejected," from the fact
of Ijyron not having com^Jctcd ; but only one of the
number tried publicly to air his grievance. This was
a certain Dr. Busby, who, soon after the re-opening,
created considerable disturbance by addressing the
audience from one of the boxes, and, af'tci- much
interruption and confusion, prevailed upon the good-
natured au<li('nco to allnw him to i-ccitc his own
rejected Adtlrcss from the stage. His voice, however,
was so weak as to be almost inaudible; the ])ublic
hafl given him a chance, and he had failed. Dr.
Busliy, ])olitely handeil from the stage by the stage-
manager, bowed respectfully to the audience, and
di.-^ajtjjearod.^
' UituiJpt — Elliston ill tlm title role, Mr>. Mountain as
Oplitlia, an<l Mr. Pnpr.' a-* the CMin-it.
' In the Briti.-'h Mnseuin, on tlie title-pa^G of a book cdntaiir
ing .some " Genuine Rejected Addresses," the Library authori-
"WHAT ABOUT THE REJECTED?" 109
On the 21st of August — just six weeks before
the re-opening — James Smith was dining with the
general secretary, C. W. Ward, at the Piarra
Coffee House, Covent Garden. Ward had been
telling Smith of the large number of Addresses
that within a fortnight after the issue of the ad-
vertisement had come to hand, and of his opinion
that the bulk of them would turn out to be inferior
and absurd compositions; whereupon, James im-
provised some verses that sent Ward, who had by
this time consumed the greater part of a magnum of
fine old port, into fits of laughter. Suddenly he ex-
claimed, " But what about all the rejected ones, my
boy ! Won't there be a d d row when the av/ard
is given ! They'll be wanting the rejected Addresses
published, just to show the public what they were
like. Now, I have an idea ; why shouldn't you try
and make fun of them all, and write yoior idea of the
rejected ones !" — " Well, I don't know," said James,
" perhaps I may try ; " and nothing more was said
upon the subject. But the hint thrown out was not
forgotten; James repeated it to Horace, who caught
at the idea, and together they concocted a plan of
action.
It was, of course, impossible for them to know for
a certainty who had or who had not sent in Addresses,
or who were likely to do so ; but from some casual
ties have thought it prudent to append a pencilled note, to
the effect that they were not written by James and Horace
Smith.
110 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
ivniarks made hy Ward, they wore almost sure that
William Thomas Fitzgerald would be in the list, and
also Dr. Thomas Busby, Mus. Doc, notorious for his
classical translation of Lucretius ; but whether the
great lights in the literary firmament would show
on this occasion was a matter of surmise. Another
and grave difficulty stood in the way, which Horace
shall ex})lain in his own words.
No sooner was the idea of oui- work conceived
[says he] than it was about to be abandoned in embryo,
from the apprehension that we hafl no time to mature
and bring it forth, as it was indispensable that it
should be written, printed, and jtubiislu'd by the
opening of Drury Lane Theatre, which would only
allow us an interval of six weeks, ;ui(l wr had both of
us other avocations that precluded us from the full
command of even that limited period. Encouraged,
h«nvever, by the conviction that the thought was a
good one, and by the hope of making a lucky hit, we
set to work, con amore, our very hurry not im])robablv
enabling us to strike out at a heat what we might
have foiled to produce so well, had we possessed time
enough to hammer it into more careful and elaborate
form.
Our first difficulty, that of selection, was l)y no
means a light (jue. . . . We had t(» confine ourselves
to writers whose style ;uid lial.it of thought, being
more marked and jieculiar, was more capable of
exaggeration and distraetion. To avoid polities and
personality, to imitate the turn ofmiudas well as the
idiraseology of our originals, and at all events to raise
a harmless laugh, were our main objects; in the
attainment of whieh united aims we were sometimes
hurri(Ml into extravagance, Ijy attaching nuich more
importance to the last than to the first.
SCOTT, REAL AND FALSE 111
The Rejected Addresses consist of twenty-one
effusions in prose and verse, supposed to have been
sent in to the Committee and rejected as un-
suitable ; they are also supposed to have fallen into
the hands of the authors, and to have been published
by them as fair samples of the state of poetry in
Great Britain. In reality, they are clever imitations
of well-known poets and writers ; but, strictly speak-
ing, they are not so much jjarodies as distinct literary
compositions. " A Tale of Drury Lane " so exactly
imitated Sir Walter Scott that the " Wizard of the
North " was himself deceived, and said to James
Smith, " I certainly must have written this myself,
although I forget upon what occasion." Well might
he have thought so. Compare the genuine coin with
the counterfeit —
MARMION.
Canto v, Stanza xx.
At m'sht, in secret, there they came,
The Palmer and the holy Dame.
The moon among the clouds rose high,
And all the city hum was by.
Upon the street, where late before
Did din of war and warrior roar,
You might have heard a pebble fall,
A beetle hum, a cricket sing.
An owlet flap his boding wing
On Giles's steeple tall.
Canto vi, Stanza xi.
That night, upon the rocks and bay.
The midnight moonbeam slumbering lay,
And pour'd its silver light, and pure,
Through loop-hole, and through embrazure.
Upon Tantallon tower and hall ;
11-2 JAMES AND HORACE SMTTII
But chief where arched windows wide
llluiuiiiate tiie cliapi-l's pride,
The suber ghinces fall.
REJECTED ADDRESSES.
" A Tale of Drurt Laxe," by Horace Smith.
On fair Augusta's' towers and trees
Flitted the silent midnight breeze,
Curling the foliage as it pass'd,
"Which from the moon-tipp'd plumage cast
A spangled light, like dancing spray.
Then re-assumed its still array ;
When, as night's lamp unclouded hung.
And down its full ell'ulgeiice Hung,
It shed such soft and balmy power
That cot and castle, hall and bower,
And spire and dome and turret height,
Appeared to slumber in tlie light.
From Henry's chapel, Rufus' hall,
To Savoy, Temple, and St. Paul ;
From Knightsbridge, Pancras, Camden T(jwn,
To Kedritfe,- Shadweli, Horsleydown,
No voice was heard, no eye unclosed.
But all in deepest sleep reposed.
No wonder that an old matter-of-fact Leicestershire
clergyman, after reading the Rejected Addresses,
remarked, " I do not see why they should have been
rejected. I tliink some of them very good ! "
Perhaps the very best of all is the parody of
Southey's Ctirsc of Kchama : —
TlllC FL'NEKAL.
Midnight, and yet no eye
Througli ail tlie Inij)erial city closed in .sleep !
Behold her streets ablaze
1 One of the old names for London. * Rotherhithe.
SOUTHEY PARODIED 113
With light, that seems to kindle the red sky,
Her myriads swarming thro' the crowded ways.
Master and slave, old age and infancy,
All, all abroad to gaze :
House-top and balcony
Clustered with women, who throw back their veils,
With unimpeded and insatiate sight
To view the funeral pomp which passes by,
As if the mournful rite
Were but to them a scene of joyaunce and delight.
REJECTED ADDRESSES.
"The Rebuilding," by James Smith.
Midnight, yet not a nose
From Tower Hill to Piccadilly snored !
Midnight, yet not a nose
From India drew the essence of repose !
See with what crimson fury.
By Indra fann'd, the god of fire ascends the walls of Drury !
Tops of houses, blue with lead
Bend beneath the landlord's tread,
Master and 'prentice, serving-man and lord,
Nailor and tailor
Grazier and brazier,
Through streets and alleys pour'd —
All, all abroad to gaze,
And wonder at the blaze.
Thick calf, fat foot, and slim knee
Mounted on roof and chimney,^
The mighty roast, the mighty stew
To see ;
As if the dismal view
Were but to them a Brentford jubilee.
A general favourite in the Eejeded Addresses
is " The Theatre," by James Smith, — in the opinion
of the Edinhurglh Beviciu the best piece of the
collection. It begins : —
^ This couplet was introduced in answer to one who alleged
that the English language contained no rhyme to " chimney."
I
Ill JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
'Tis sweet to view, from lialf-past five to six,
Our long wax-candle.*, with short cotton wicks,
Tuuch'd by the lamplighter's Promethean art.
Start into li^rht, and make the li^^^hter start ;
To see red Plio'lms through the jjallerv-pane
Tin>^'e with his l)eam the beams of Driiry Lane ;
While gradual parties till our widen'd pit.
And gape, and gaze, and wonder, ere they sit.
" The Theatre " is more than a masterly imitation
of George Crabbe. One can picture the interior of
Drury Lane and the expectant audience, and can
watch with deepest interest the successful efforts of
Pat Jennings, the red-haired youth, who, to recover
his hat, let down a " motley cable " composed of
bon'owod handkerchiefs —
Starr'd, striped, and spotted, yellow, red, and bine,
Old calico, torn silk, and muslin new,
and thus
Rcgain'd the felt, and felt what he regain'd ;
While to the applauding galleries grateful Pat
Made a low bow, and touch'd the ransoni'd hat.
The " Hampshire Fanner's Address," a j)arody of
William Cobbett, also by James Smith, is considered
by many excellent judges to be among the very best
of the imitations.
On the completion of Hrjrckd yidihrsscs, the
authors sent their MS. to some of the leading pub-
lishers, but in every ca.se it was perused and " retunied
with thanks," The Smiths did not care to ])ay for
its publication out of their own pocket, for, as Horace
says, " We had no objection to raise a laugh at the
expcn.sc of others, but to do itat ourown cost, uncertain
WW. ALDERMAN CADl.l.L.
MURRAY AND CADELL 115
as we were to what extent we might be involved, had
never entered our contemplation."
Amongst others, they had communicated with Mr.
John Murray, but before sending him the MS. had
inquired if he would entertain the idea of publishing
it, in which case he might have the copyright for the
modest sum of £20. Mr. Murray refused the offer,
and subsequently stated that he did so because he
had taken it for granted that, as Mr. Cadell was
related to the Smiths, they had previously offered
the MS. to him, and that he had declined it.
The feeling of clanship is rarely so strong south of
the Tweed as to lead people to be particularly anxious
to do business with relations or connections, as such ;
and Cadell was the last man in the world to be in-
fluenced by these considerations. This the Smiths
well knew ; but there was also another reason for
their not offering the work to him. On the death
of Alderman Cadell in 1802, the business, which had
fallen into a state of comparative decrepitude, required
that the closest economy should be practised, and that
for many years no financial risks, however small,
should be run. This had become a fixed principle of
the firm, and Cadell — an excellent " man of affairs "
— was well known among authors as " close," and
little disposed to deal on the basis of cash down if
he could avoid it.^
^ As Thomas Cadell's grandson, the author may be allowed
to make the above statement with some authority. Thomas
Cadell, by dint of steady application, and ably assisted by his
partner, Wm. Davies, and a particularly capable chief clerk,
IK, JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
However, as Mr. ]\Iurray had blindly rejected their
Rejected Addresses, tiie tiuestion was, what were
they to do ? At this point their good angel, C. W.
Ward, reminded Horace that John Miller, the
dramatic publisher of Bow Street, having already
lathered the Hiyhgcdc Tunnel, would be the most
likely person to apply to.
No sooner hiul this gentleman looked over our
manuscript [says Horace] than he immediately offered
to take upon himself all the risk of publication, and
to give us half the profit, should there he any — a
liberal proposition with which Ave gladly closed.
The success of the book was immediate and re-
markable ; and as new editions were called for in
(piick succession, the lucky authors were by and by
able to dispose of their half cojn'right to Mr. MilUr
for £1000.
In Robert Smith's Journal Ave find this terse
entry : —
Octejher 11///, 181 2. — ^ly two sons, James and
Horace, jointly (•<im]iosed a little jeu d'esprit of a
satirical nature, called liejected Addresses, or the New
Theatruni Poetarma. It hit the fancy of the jiublic,
and Avent through several editions in a short time.
nainorl Mutlow, slf)wly l)ut snrdy restored the firm's prosperity,
iiud ilii-tl in 183G, leaving a handsome fortune to liis family.
CHAPTER XII
1812—1813
Bejeded Addresses and the Reviewers — The effect of its suc-
cess upon the careers of James and Horace Smith — Their
social and literary circle — Horace Smith resides at Knights-
bridge — His friend William Heseltine — Horace Smith and the
Stock Exchange.
Bejeded Addresses was published on the day Drury
Lane Theatre was re-opened.
Lord Byron, alluding to the success of Childe
Harold, says, " I awoke, and found myself famous "
(which Horace Smith tells us was thus parodied by
a witty, runaway wife — " I awoke," said she, " and
found myself infamous I ").
The authors of Rejected Addresses had reason to be
quite as exultant as Byron. Within a week, reviews
and newspapers of all shades and complexions were
praising their production, and speculating on the
identity of the authors ; and the moment this was
revealed, their acquaintance was eagerly courted by
the notabilities of the day. Amongst many others,
the Dowager Countess of Cork — the first lady of
rank who threw open her house to literature, and
made intellectual distinction a recognized passport
117
118 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
to society — was anxious to have them at her
soirees.
Many of the writers who were parodied hastened
to bear testimony to the accuracy of the imitations,
and joined heartily in the kiugh. On the whole, the
only discontented persons were the poets who were
left out. Campbell ventured a remonstrance, and
was told that it was as imj^ossible to parody the
finished elegance of his poetry as the handsome
features of his face. " That's all very well," he
replied, " but I should have liked to have been
among them for all that."
The Press was all but unanimous in praising the
work. The EdinliLryh Revieiv for November LSI 2
devoted to it no fewer than eighteen pages, and the
Quarterly gave five pages to a most favourable notice
of the little volume ; while, across the Atlantic, the
Analectic Magazine (1813), published in Philadelphia,
allotted ten of its pages to the work. It long con-
tinued a favourite in the United States, where three
editions — 184'4, 1859, and 1871 — were published.
How many copies of Rejected Addresses were sold
on its first appearance it is difficult to conjecture ;
but the b<j<)k ultimately ran into more than thirty
editions. Mr. Murray had to wait seven years before
he could secure the co})yright for iJLJI, and
thousands of the little volume must have been since
disj)osed of by the noted firm in Albemarle Street.
By the time the third edition was exhausted the
brothers Smith had realized from licjected Addresses
the sum of £1000.
STOCKBROKER AND SOLICITOR 119
In the prime of life, — thirty-seven and thirty-three
years of age respectively, — of eminently gentlemanly
manners and bearing, and of remarkably handsome
personal appearance, highly educated, and possessed
of an inexhaustible fund of literary knowledge,
James and Horace Smith were exactly fitted to
shine in the presence of the highest and most
learned.
Mr. S. C. Hall, in his Booh of Memories, writing
of James and Horace Smith, says he thinks it
" surprising that a stockbroker and a solicitor should
have become poetical and literary ; " an observation
resembling that of the Times reviewer of In
Memoriam, who seemed to think it an absurdity
that Tennyson should have wasted his poetic senti-
ment over the death of Arthur Henry Hallam, " a
mere barrister at the Chancery Bar ! " Neither
romance nor emotion, forsooth, may dwell in the tents
of a professional man, nor in the fastnesses of the
money-grubbing city and the Stock Exchange. If,
as the E,ev. F. W. Robertson indignantly says, " the
Chancery Bar, or any other accident of a man's
environment, destroys the real poetry of life, then
the human soul has no worth but that which comes
from its trappings — an idea which I reckon about
the most decisive proof of a vulgar soul which can be
found."
The Smiths had now the entrSe into West-End
salons, inaccessible to all but the most distinguished
men and women of the period ; and amongst their
many friends were Lady Salisbury, Lady Jersey,
120 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
and Lixcly Albiiia Buckinghaiashire, at one time
prominent members of the " Pic Nic Club." ^ The
brothers were achnitted into the sacred circle of
Almacks' by the high-pricstesses who ruled over the
establishment. The ILai'l of Mulgrave was their
close and faithful friend ; also Lord Abinger, Lord
Denman, Lord Hartington, Larly Blessington, Count
d'Orsay, ]\[rs. Vcnschoyle, John Wilson Crokor of
Moulsey, The Countess Guiccioli, Sir E. L. Bulwer,
Lord Hertford, General Phip])s, Lord Essex, Miss
Burdett Coutts, Mrs. Lane Fox, and a host of others.
They came into close contact ^\'ith the galaxy of
famous poets and authors that bedecked the literary
firmament — Byron, Campbell, Coleridge, Hood (born
in the Poultry, not far from their own home iu Old
Jewry), Keats, Thomas Moore, Sixmuel Rogers,
Shelley, Sir Walter Scott, Southey, Wordsworth,
Jane Austen, Harrison Ainsworth, the Rev. Thomas
Barham, ]Mrs. B;irbaul(l, William Cobbett, George
Crabbe, Miss Edgeworth, De Quincey, William
Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, Theodore Hook (a friend of
James Smith in his youthful da3-s), Jesse (the writer
on Natural History), Charles Lamb, W. S. Landor,
Captain Alarryat, the Rev. T. R. ^lalthus, Lady
Morgan, Miss J;me Porter, Sydney Smith, John
Horno Tooke, Sharon Turner. (Jf .-u-tists they knew
Benjauiin West (President of the Royal Academy),
Heiny Fuseli, Turner, Stothard, Sir Thomas
Laurence, Robert Snurke, Sir Fiuncis Chantry (then
a rising scul})tor), Flaxman (in his zenith), and
' Vide Chapter VUl.
SUCH IS FAME ! 121
Westmacott (who had been made an A.R.A. some
years before the appearance of Rejected Addresses).
As to actors, the Smiths lived in a fortunate
period of the Drama. They had seen Kemble,
Munden, Bannister, Dowton, Elliston, Listen, Mrs.
Siddons, Fawcett, Johnston, Miss Farren, Charles
Young, and Edmund Kean, and, later on, his talented
son Charles. They had heard Mrs. Billington, Mdlle.
Mara, Incledon, and Braham sing the sweet music
of Arnold, Callcott, Shield, Stevens, and dementi.
With many of the above the Smiths had for years
been intimately associated, but their circle of
dramatic acquaintances kept extending. Their
heads were not in the least turned by their notoriety.
In their daily vocations they " kept the noiseless
tenor of their way ; " James in his father's office,
Horace on the Stock Exchange, making money in a
very prosaic fashion.
James Smith used to illustrate the limited and
ephemeral nature of fame by an incident that
happened to himself in a Brighton coach. One of
the passengers, an old lady, struck with his extra-
ordinary familiarity with things and people, suddenly
exclaimed — " And pray, sir, — you who seem to
know everybody — pray, may I ask who you are ? " —
" James Smith, ma'am." This reply evidently con-
veying nothing to her mind, a fellow-passenger
added, " One of the authors of Bejccted Addresses."
The old lady stared at them by turns, and quietly
said, " I never heard of the gentleman or the book
before."
122 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
James Smith was content to rest liimselt" upon
the reputation secured by his share in the production
of licjecicd Addresses, and laid down a maxim, to
which he adhered, if not to the exact letter, at all
events in spirit, that, when a man had once made a
good hit, he should not attempt another.
Horace, on the other hand, fired by greater
ambition, and being, perhaps, of a more active men-
tal temperament, decided to embark in a literary
career — a decision which he successfully carried out
some years later, when he had obtained an independ-
ency, and leisure.
As was not unnatural, the brothers were immensely
popular with women. To the blandishments of the
fair sex individually James always seemed to exhibit
a stoical indifference ; yet Horace tells a wicked
story of his brother, who, being made free of the
green-room in a certain theatre, was thus addressed
one night by an actress of note — " Mr. Smith, you are
constantly here, but y(jii do not appear to attach
yourself to any of our ladies." " Oh, Madam," was
the reply, " that proves my discretion ; you little
know what is going on in private between me and
some of you."
With Horace it was different. He was th<jroughly
domesticated, and, longing for the felicity of a home
of his own, had in 1810 contracted a matrimonial
alliance, which, unfortunately, failed to obtain the
approbation of his father. There thus arose between
them a coolness which it took years to remove.
Horace became the tenant of a modest dwelling, No.
"MISS HORACE SMITH" 123
3 Knightsbriclge Terrace, in the Kensington Road,
on a site locally known as ',' the island," and opposite
the present Wellington Court ; but the old buildings
have long ago disappeared, and have been replaced
by little shops. Knightsbridge was then but a
hamlet, and quite rural. The " Green " was unbuilt
over, and Tattersall's was still in Grosvenor Place.
Nursery grounds and market-gardens occupied the
site of Belgravia, and Lowndes Square was a kind of
Vauxhall Gardens.
No. 3 Knightsbridge Terrace was convenient for
a city man, as he could go to and from business in
any of the stages. At a pinch, he could take a
hackney-coach to the Bank for 4-s. 6d., or drive him-
self in a whiskey, Avhich it was Horace Smith's custom
to do. It was quiet enough, but from the front
windows there was always something to be seen, as
the main road was crowded with traffic throughout
the day and far into the small hours of the morning.
Four-horse coaches were seldom out of sight, lum-
bering wagons crawled along incessantly to the
pleasant music of horse-bells, and every now and again
post-chaises, glass-coaches, and at intervals the
equipages of Royalty, dashed past along this, the
approach to the famous Bath road.
The children born to Horace from this union were
Eliza (Tizey) and Horatio Shakespeare ; the former
still living at Brighton, and known far and wide as
" Miss Horace Smith," a truly grand old lady in
mental powers and intelligence, whose memory is
prodigious, and whose conversation, though increasing
124 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
infirmities forbid its continuance for long at a
time, still Hashes with wit and humour like that
of her father. Horatio Shakespeare died when
a school-boy at Boulogne-sur-Mer. He was a
sprightly lad, full of oddity and fun; and when,
some little time before his death, his intellect sud-
denly became somewhat dulled, the French tutors
attributed the fact to stupidity, not suspecting that
a growing disease— water on the brain— was the
cause of the poor boy's inability to learn.
Among Horace Smith's many friends on the Stock
Exchange was William Heseltine, whose office in
Throgmorton Street adjoined his own, and whose
private residence was Turret House, Lambeth.
It would very much surprise us now-a-days, if we
learned that any of the gentlemen clad in irreproach-
able frock-coats and hats always glossy and new,
who every day in the week may be seen issuing from
their comfortable offices in Austin Friars, Draper's
Gardens, Throgmorton Avenue, or Copthall Court,
and wending their way to the " House," were living
" over the water " at Lambeth. But in Horace
Smith's time there were no Pullman-car trains to
convey successful dealers in stocks and shares, when
their arduous toil was over, to luxurious homes any-
where within a radius of sixty miles from town ; and
they thought themselves fortunate indeed if they
fould secure the lease of one of the fine mansions in
JMoomsbury, which was still a fashionable (piartcr of
London.
Turret House, in the South Lambeth Road, how-
TURRET HOUSE 125
ever, was one that the noblest of families might have
been proud to dwell in. Standing in its own
beautiful grounds of some four acres in extent, the
picturesque old mansion, rich in association of the
Tudor and early Stuart epochs, was celebrated as
the home of Sir John Tradescant, and of his son and
grandson, who were successively gardeners to Queen
Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., and to whom
posterity is indebted for the introduction of the
study of botany as a science into this country.
The wonderful collection of curiosities and rarities
gathered together by this enterprising Dutch family
from every part of the then known world, passed
into the keeping of their personal friend, the famous
Elias Ashmole, and was by him presented to the
University of Oxford, where it constituted the
Ashmolean Museum.
The first mulberry-tree planted in England grew
in the garden of Turret House, where also the rarest
of plants had been introduced by the Tradescants
after their numerous and extensive travels. No
home, in fact, could have been better suited to feed
the romantic instincts of Horace Smith ; and in
BramUetyc House, the most popular of his romances,
he makes special reference to the ancient mansion
he knew so well.
It has been said that every man has an alter ego.
If so, William Heseltine certainly occupied that
position in relation to Horace Smith. In Stock
Exchange transactions, though no formal partnership
existed between them, the one was jidus Achates to
12G JAArr.S AXD HORACE SMTTU
the other. WilHain Heseltine was a man of hirge
experience and great shrewdness, and under his
fostering wing Horace Smith, never too indiul to
learn from others, made but few mistakes in his
transactions,
Horace Smith hajipened to become a stockbroker
at a i)eriod (1812) when cverj-body possessed of a
certain amount of shrewdness had a good chance of
making money; but he had the immense advantage
— call it good luck — of being well-advised, and of pos-
sessing the rare qualification of readiness to act upon
advice Avhen ofifered disinterestedly. He had, besides,
a large and influential connection of relatives and
friends, who, when stock had to be transferred, invest-
ments made or re-made, brought their transactions
to him. Thus he soon came to pos-sess the more
legitimate, if less remunerative, conventional business
of a stockbroker. Eniiiiciitly a jiruilcut man, he
was not given to extremes in his .speculations; and
he could usually learn, either from his father or his
brother James, through the Ordnance Office, the
truth of the innumerable rumours constantly dis-
turl)ing the Stock markets.
Horace Smith had the good fortune to be amongst
tho.se who were "on the right side" and early buyers
of " Omnium," when the jicriod of unci-rtainty that
succeeded the escape of Napoleon from Elba ter-
minated on receipt of the news of Waterloo in this
country.
Miss Frances Williams W ynii relates in hvr Dlarirs
how a spy from the h«Hise of Rothschild, who had
BUYING "OMNIUM" 127
for many days been on the watch at Ghent, where
Louis XVIII. and his little court resided while the
fate of his dynasty was in the balance, observed on
the morning of Monday, the 19th of Juno, that
the Royal party, breakfasting in an apartment whose
French windows were wide open, suddenly com-
menced to embrace one another with every sign of
rejoicing. This was quite enough to apprise him
that unusually good news had arrived from the field
of battle, so without waiting an instant he started
off for London, arriving there shortly before the
official and accredited messenorer.
This may, or may not, account for Rothschild's
early information ; the probability points rather to
the employment of carrier pigeons, which would have
reached the office much quicker than an em^jloye.
■Anyhow, he had the news first ; and his recognized
agents on the Stock Exchange instantly began the
old game by professing to sell " Omnium," while he
was in reality secretly huying largely through other
brokers. The device succeeded for a short time,
but many of the more wary speculators were not
thus to be deceived. Heseltine quickly conjectured
that something serious was in the wind, and that
probably a grand success had been scored by the
allies. He communicated his theory to Horace
Smith, who was only too ready to believe that the
" Corsican tyrant " had met with a decisive reverse.
Horace slipped away to Austin Friars, and was
privately told by James that, so far as information
had reached their Department, he had good reason
128 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
for conjecturing that victory was on the side of
Wellington.
Both Heseltine and Horace Smith were purchasers
of Omnium, and when, on the 21st, it rose to G per
cent, premium, their prudence was rewarded, and a
good many thousand pounds went into their pockets.
Spanish, for some reason or other, always a
fascinating security to dabble in during those piping
days of rash speculation, was never approved of by
Horace Smith; and in his Midsummer Medley for
1830 he thus condemns these risky securities —
Other;', the dupus of Ferdinand,
By royal rt)<,'uery trepanii'd,
Find all their treasure vanish,
Leaving a warning to the rash,
That the best way to keep their cash
Is not to touch the Spanish.
In William Heseltine, Smith found not only a
firm business friend but a kindred spirit. Heseltine
was imaginative and of a literary and antiquarian
turn of mind ; and Smith's visits to the old Turret
House, continued until long after he had left the
Stock Exchange, no doubt helped to foster his love
of the Carolian period of history.
Heseltine, a kind and most unostentatious man,
was, like Smith, an author, and subsequently i)ro-
duced The Lad of the riantngcnets, an historical
narrative dedicated to the Earl of Winchelsea and
Nottingham. Amongst his other works were Some
Ji'rjleetiaiis at the Grave, written after having been
present at the interment (August 8th, 183G) of the
famous N. M. Rothschild.
CHAPTER XIII
1813—1821
Horace Smith's letters to liis sister Clara — His second mar-
riage — Removes from Knightsbridge to Fulbam — Entertains
the poet Keats — Horace Smith's account of his introduction to
Shelley and Keats.
From Ryde, Isle of Wight, where he had taken
a house, Horace Smith dates the following letter to
his youngest and favourite sister Clara, a very
attractive girl, who in 1813 had married Mr.
Dodson, " second Assistant-Collector Inwards " at the
Custom-House, and to whose grandson, Mr. Harry
Magnus, the journals of Robert Smith have de-
scended.^
July 22, 1817.
Bating the intense and bitter cold, I had a
pleasant ride yesterday outside the coach, reaching
Portsmouth about half-past seven, but as old Neptune
look'd rather scrowling and sulky I did not cross till
this morning, when a stiff breeze (which owes me
thirty shillings for spoiling my hat with the spray)
conveyed me hither in an hour and a half
I found my vermin quite well, and Eliza mani-
^ Vide Preface.
129 K
130 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
fostly improved, as her bones no longer rattle as she
walks, nor does her back look so much like a rabbit
before it is smothered in onions.
Ryde stands where it did, and as I have gathered
no scandal, I have of course nothing interesting to
send you.
Walking by myself in the fields this beautiful
evening, 1 bethought myself of your brats, when
my reflections involnntariJy arrnnrjed thnnsckrs (as
the novels have it) with the annexed sonnet, which
I venture to send, because I'm sure the subject will
bribe the judge to give a verdict of acquittal.
Your affectionate brother,
Horace Smith.
SONNET TO CLARAS BRATS
Thnu lan^'liing Julia and Selina i^rave,
Of azure eye aiul .stoul atliletic limb,
Ye whom one birth to our embraces gave,
Not like tlie race (if Twins (U-furiufil and slim,
But rather tluise Lalima Iturc to him
Who wields tlie thunder — may ye live to brave
The storms of fate, and in the sjjarkling brim
Of joy's full cup, y(jur lips for ever lave.
O may the morning of each life be bri;,dit
As parents' wishes in their fcmdest Hight.
And may its evening be as calm a scene
As that which smiles around me whih- I write.
Where Ocean by a clouilless sky made green
Awaits the night unrufileil and serene !
H Jupiter was not the father o( Latona's twins
it is not my fault, for it rhymes ; but you had better
look, as I have no means of reference here, and cut
the lines according to pattern ; only let Dodson get
the best god he can to be com])arcd to himself.
Were it my case, I shmdd select \ ulcan, for all the
world knows he was a JSviith.
BECALMED 131
Byde, Isle of Wight,
Thursday, the somethingth of August, 1817.
Dear Clara,
We seem to have commenced a regular
Sewardian correspondence with an interchange of
sonnets and poetical pretties, which it now comes
to my turn to contribute, and which I should have
done sooner, but that I have been running up to
London for some days, leaving Parnassus for the
Stock Exchange, and only returned here on Wednes-
day night. Many thanks for your verses, which I
perused with very great pleasure, and, as in duty
bound, return you a sonnet, inscribed among others,
though of course, inferior scribblings in the porch of
Binstead Church. ... As a punishment for my sins,
I came off by the Cowes packet at seven o'clock %vith-
out hrealcfast, and it soon fell so dead a calm that
the captain proposed taking to the boat, into which
accordingly about twenty were stowed, but as Mr.
Parker, who accompanied me, and who is a sea-faring
man, thought her over-laden and unsafe, and refused
to go on board, we remained with four others on
board the packet. Not a drop, not a crumb, not
a boat left, not a breath of wind, the tide left us long
before we got to Caldishot [Calshot] Castle, and in
this plight, like a log on the water, and no boat to be
hailed to our assistance, we remained till half -'past two,
when a wherry from Cowes came to deliver us from
thraldom at an expense of twelve shillings. . . .
In the last week the arrivals have been numerous,
and all the large houses are now occupied. Croker
and his family are in George Street. I met him on
the pier last night and had a chat with him, and
was introduced to his wife. Mr. Cooper, the brewer,
has drowned himself in one of his own vats, and a
gig last Tuesday bolted over the cliff close to Shank-
lin Chine, owing to the horse taking fright, but the
132 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
lady and gentleman were at the time walking up the
hill ; so nobody was killed but horse and gig. This
is all our news.
Yours affectionately,
H. Smith.
SONNET INSCRIBED IN THE PORCH OF
BINSTEAU CHURCH
Farewell, sweet Binstead, take a fond farewell
From one unused to sight of Woods and Seas,
Amid the strife of Cities doomed to dwell.
Yet roused to extacy by scenes like these : —
Who couhi for ever sit beneath tliy trees
Inhaling fragrance from tlie flowery dell ;
Or, listening to the murmur of the breeze,
Gaze with delight on Ocean's awful swell.
o
Once more adieu ! nor deem tliat I profane
Thy sacred Porch, for while the Sabbath strain
May fail to turn the Sinner from his ways,
There are impressions none can feel in vain,
These are the wonders which perforce must raise
The soul to God in silent faith and praise.
AxxA Seward.
In his matrimonial affairs Horace Smith seems
to have been fated not to please his father. It is an
acknowledged axiom that people seldom practise
what they preach ; and Horace Smith, who at the
age of twenty-two had written a novel to illustrate
the evils of clandestine marriages,^ was no exception
to this rule, for in the year 1818 he contracted a
second alliance, the circumstances of which did not
tend to heal the breach between him anfl his father,
who thus enters the f\ict in his journal : —
' Trevanion, ur Matrimonial Errors (IbUl).
"ELYSIUM" 133
March 17 tJi. — My son Horace was married this
day (unknown to me at the time) to Miss Ford, a
young lady originally from Devonshire. The first
intimation given me of this marriage was by a letter
from Horace dated from Cheltenham, for which
place the young married couple set out immediately
after the ceremony. I sincerely hope that the con-
nection will prove a source of happiness to both !
Horace has good understanding, and many amiable
qualities: all of which, I have no doubt, he will con-
tinue to make a proper use. My two other sons
still remain bachelors ! I am sorry for it.
Miss Ford was a real west country beauty, with
dark hair and eyes and lovely complexion, and her
children inherited no small share of her personal
attractions. Her three sisters were equally famed
for their beauty, and one of them became the mother
of the well-known E. M. Ward, R.A.
On this his second marriage, Horace Smith re-
moved from Knightsbridge, and went still further
away from town — to Elysium Row, Fulham, where
he lived until the year 1821.
Pleasure -seeking denizens of Belgravia, driving
via the King's road, Chelsea, towards Barn Elms
or Ranelagh, to be present at a polo-match or other
fashionable gathering, after passing Parson's Green
along what is called the New King's Road, will
notice an unpretending one-storied house with stone
eagles guarding the entrance-gates, upon which are
inscribed the words " Draycott Lodge." Here lives
one of England's greatest painters, Mr. Holman
Hunt. The ugly arches of the District Railway to
134 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Putney cut diagonally through the western boundary
of his grounds, and also through what was once a
garden of some one and a half acres belonging to a
comfortable three-storied tenement at the corner of
an isolated terrace of about a dozen old-fashioned
houses which constitute Elysium Row, Fulham, and
date back to the year 1738. This corner house was
Horace Smith's home from 1818 to 1821 ; and
though now there seems little justification for its
alluring title of " Elysium," in the " twenties " and
" thirties " the Row was most prettily located with
gardens, nursery grounds, and orchards in every
direction, while for absolute retirement it might
have been miles away in the country.
To this little retreat, with its pleasant old-fashioned
garden, Horace Smith used to invite his intimate
friends to " come down and rusticate ; " and his eldest
daughter remembers that, when she was a child, she
was solemnly led into the garden by her father one
lovely afternoon in July to take a peep at a fragile-
looking and rather ill-dressed gentleman sitting
" immantled in ambrosial dark," beneath a wide-
spreading ilex. " Do you see that man ? " said her
father; "that's a poet." It was poor Keats, then
fast ncaring his end, whom Smith had enticed from
Wentworth Place, Hampstead, to dine and spend a
long day with him.
Dinner — at which James and Leonard Smith,
Thomas Hill, " the literary city drysalter," ^ and one
or two other kindred spirits, were also guests — was
1 See Chapter VIII.
JOHN KEATS 135
served earlier than usual to lengthen the exquisite
evening, and everything that could be thought of
to tempt the poet's feeble appetite was there. As
the Rev. Thomas Barham relates in Ingoldshy
Legends : —
— in due time a banquet was placed on the board
In the very best style, which implies in a word
All the dainties the season (and King) could afford.
Fricandeau, fricassees, Ducks and green peas,
Cotelottes a I'lndienne, and chops a la Soubise.
Then the wines — round the circle how swiftly they went !
Canary, Sack, Malaga, Malvoisie, Tent ;
Old Hock from the Ehine, wine remarkably fine,
Of the Champagne vintage, of seven ninety-nine ;
Five cen'tries in bottle had made it divine !
Hill, as a special favour, had been allowed to send
over from his well-filled cellars at Sydenham a dozen
of Keats' favourite beverage, some quite undeniable
Chateau Margeaux ; and it was unanimously voted
that the company should drink their wine in the
open air.
In the course of a letter quoted in the Life and
Letters of John Keats, by Lord Houghton, the poet
says : —
I dined with Haydon the Sunday after you left,
and had a very pleasant day. I dined too (for I
have been out much lately) with Horace Smith, and
met his two brothers, with Hill and Kingston, and
one Du Bois. They only served to convince me
how superior humour is to wit in respect to enjoy-
ment. These men say things which make one start
without making one feel; they all know fashion-
136 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
ables; they have all a mannerism in their very
eating and drinking, in their mere handling of a
decanter. They talked of Kean and his low com-
pany. " W()ul(l I were with that company instead
of yours," said I to myself! I know such like ac-
quaintance will never do for me, and yet I am going
to Reynolds' on Wednesday.
The Smiths had made both Shelley's and Keats'
acquaintance at Leigh Hunt's house at Hampstead.
In the year 1816 [says Horace Smith] at the house
of our mutual friend, Leigh Hunt, then residing at
Hampstead, I made my first personal acquaintance
with this remarkable man [Shelley]. Punishments
disproportionately severe always excite sympathy for
their victim, rather than condemnation of his offence.
In the midst of all the reckless enthusiasm that
prompted Shelley, like a moral Quixote, to run atilt
at whatever he considered an abuse, I felt convinced
that his aims were pure and lofty, that he was solely
animated by an impassioned philanthropy in the
prosecution of which he was ready to sacrifice his
life ; and such being his motives, I thought it most
cruel and unjust that he should be proscribed as a
reprobate, and be made the butt of the most malig-
nant invectives. Having long comp;vssi(jnated him
as a grievously over-punished man, and having re-
cently read his poems with a profound admiration
of his genius, I had looked forward to our first meet-
ing with no common interest. He was not in the
cottage when I arrived, but I was introduced to
another young poet of no common talent — Keats,
who was destmed, alas ! ere many years had flown,
to meet the same premature death, and to lie in the
same' cemetery with Shell<y beneath fhr ruined walls
of Rome. Keats h;is been described by Coleridge
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY 137
in his Table Talk as a " loose, slack, not well-
dressed youth," and to an observant eye his looks
and his attenuated frame already foreshadowed the
consumption that had marked him for its prey.
In a short time Shelley was announced, and I
beheld a fair, freckled, blue-eyed, light-haired, deli-
cate-looking person, whose countenance was serious
and thoughtful ; whose stature would have been
rather tall had he carried himself upright ; whose
earnest voice, though never loud, was somewhat un-
musical. Manifest as it was that his pre-occupied
mind had no thought to spare for the modish ad-
justment of his fashionably-made clothes, it was
impossible to doubt, even for a moment, that you
were gazing upon a gentleman; a first impression
which subsequent observation never failed to con-
firm, even in the most exalted acceptation of the
term, as indicating one that is gentle, generous,
accomplished, brave. " Never did a more finished
gentleman than Shelley step across a drawing-room,"
was the remark of Lord Byron ; and Captain Medwin,
writing after several years' acquaintance with Shelley,
and an extensive intercourse with the polite world,
thus expresses a similar opinion : — " I can affirm that
Shelley was almost the only example I have yet
found that was never wanting, even to the most
minute particular, in the infinite and various ob-
servances of pure, entire, and perfect gentility."
Two or three more friends presently arriving, the
discourse, under the inspiration of our facetious host,
assumed a playful and bantering character, which
Shelley by his smiles appeared to enjoy, but in which
he took no part ; and I then surmised, as I found after-
wards, that it might be said of him, as of Demosthenes,
Non displicuisse illi jocos sed non contigisse. Young
as he was, a mind so deeply impressed with the
sense of his own wrongs, and sobered by his solemn
138 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
vow to redress, if possible, the wrongs of his fellow-
creatures, was naturally more disposed to seriousness
than to levity. The weather being fine, the whole
party sallied forth to stroll upon the Heath, where I
attached myself to Shelley, and gradually drawing
him apart, enjoyed with him a long and uninter-
rupted conversation. Well may 1 say enjoyed, for
to talk with a man of extensive reading and un-
doubted genius, who felt such a devout reverence
fur what he believed to be the truth, and was so
fearless in its assertion that he laid his whole many-
thuughted mind bare before you, was indeed a treat
to one whose chief social intercourse had been with
minds all stamped in the same established educa-
tional mould, or conforming to it with that plastic
conventional hypocrisy which the worldly-wise find
so exceedingly convenient. My companion, who,
as he became interested in his subjects, talked much
and eagerly, seemed to me a psychological curiosity,
infinitely more curious than Coleridge's Kubla Khan,
to which strange vision he made reference. His
])rincipal discourse, however, was of Plato, for whose
character, writings, and philosophy he expressed an
unbounded admiration, dwelling much on the similar-
ity of portions of his doctrines to those of the New
Testament, and on the singular accordance between
the .scriptural narrative of the birth of Christ and the
miraculous nativity attributed to Plato, 420 years
before our era. On my confession that I coidd not
manage so subtle a thinker in the original Greek,
but that I possessed Dacier's translation, Shelley
repliefl, " Then you have seen him by mooidight,
instead of in the sunshine ; the clo.sene.ss of his logic
and the .splendour of his diction cannot be transferred
into another language,"
The friendship between Shelley and Horace Smith
SHELLEY AND H. SMITH 139
was very sincere. " For the author of Rejected
Addresses" says Lady Shelley, " Shelley had the most
affectionate regard, a regard fully deserved by that
excellent and warmed-hearted wit." This feeling
was thoroughly reciprocated, and when Shelley left
England in 1818, never to return, he, with the
utmost confidence in Smith's integrity and discretion,
placed his pecuniary affairs in his hands.
But before dealing with this interesting period of
Horace Smith's life, it is necessary to revert to his
brother James.
CHAPTER XIV
The Board of Ordnance, its officers and functions — The
" Assistant to the Solicitor " and liis duties — Emoluments of
the office — On Ordnance Parliamentary "preserve" — Retire-
ment of Robert Smith from business, and from the post of
"Assistant to the Solicitor" — James Smith appointed "As-
sistant to the Solicitor."
The important State Department with which
James Smith and his father were intimately associ-
ated for periods of twenty-seven and thirty-seven
years respectively, deserves more than a passing
notice.
As its title implies, the special function of the
Ordnance has always been the construction, })n)-
vision, and charge of every kind of projectile imple-
ment of war. The splendidly equipped workshops
of Woolwich, Enfield, ISirmingham, and Walthani
Abbey attest the modern development of a system
that has lasted since artillery and small arms came
into use ; but in the Smiths' time the Board looked
after other important matters, now in the province
of the Royal Engineers ; viz. the acquisition of lands,
and the construction of forts, for the defence of the
nation during times r)f war.
14IJ
THE OFFICE OF ORDNANCE 141
The original " Instructions " for the government
of the Office of Ordnance were entered in an old
folio book of Charles II.'s time, and kept in the
Ordnance Office. Robert Smith had a copy of this
book made for his own private use, soon after he
became " Assistant to the Solicitor " of the Ordnance ;
and it was from this source, not accessible to any
outsider, that he was able to give the following
account of the Board and of his own official duties,
which I believe will be new to most of my readers.
The Office of Ordnance [he says] is governed by
a Master-General and a Board under him, all separ-
ately appointed by Letters Patent, to hold during
pleasure. The Board consists of five " Principal
Officers" — the Lieutenant-General, the Surveyor-
General, the Clerk of the Ordnance, the Store-
Keeper, and the Clerk of the Deliveries, any three
of whom form a " Board." The Master-General and
Lieutenant-General are each by virtue of his office
in two capacities — the one military, the other
civil.
In their military capacity, the Master-General is
Commander-in-Chief; and the Lieutenant-General
second in command over the artillery and engineers.
In his civil capacity the Master-General is en-
trusted with the entire management and control
over the whole Ordnance Department. He can do
alone any act, which can otherwise, if he does not
interpose, be done by the Board. The Board make
contracts and agreements for the purchase of stores
and performance of services, and direct the issue of
money and stores. They also order, sign, execute,
transact, and perform every other matter incident
to the office of the Ordnance.
U2 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
What these " matters " were may be learnt from
Robert Smith's account.
The solicitor to the Ordnance [he says] receives
hisa])pointmcnt from the Master-General by warrant,
and is borne upon the " Establishment " at a salary
of £300 per annum. Properly speaking, he is the
" Counsel " of the Ordnance, and is always a
Barrister-at-Law, and although in official proceed-
ings he is styled the " Sulicitur," the duties of that
situation are executed by a practising solicitor, called
in office language the " Assistant to the Solicitor."
He also is appointed by the Master-General, though
not by warrant, but by a minute of the Board. He
is not upon the " Establishment," neither does he
receive a salary, and he is removable at the pleasure
of the Master-General or the Board. His duties
are various. He pro])ares all contracts, agreements,
and other instruments that are directed by the
Master-General or the Board. He solicits all Acts
of Parliament for the purchase or exchange of lands
for the use of the Ordnance, and i\)r making com-
])ensation to the proprietors and occu])iers <jf the
lands taken, and then makes out and transmits to
the Surveyor-General's office, the several bills for
the sums awarded to each jiroprietor. He likewise
conducts all ])rosocutions of whatever kind, and
brings and di-lL-nds all such actions and suits as are
previously directed by the Master-General or Board,
conferring with the "Solicitor" on all necessary
occasions. He makes written n^ports to the Master-
General and Board u})on a variety of subjects, such
as the Crown's title to houses and lands placed
under the charge of the Ordnance ; the boundaries
of such lands, and all trespa.sses and encroaehments
made upon any of them ; the liability of Ordnance
lauds and buildings to the jjayment of tithes, taxes,
THE SOLICITOR'S DUTIES 143
etc. ; the liability of the several officers of the
Ordnance who occupy such lands to the payment of
personal taxes, etc. ; the liability of Ordnance
wagons and carriages to the i^ayment of turnpike
and other tolls ; as also the artillery horses whether
attached or not attached to guns and carriages ; or
whether proceeding under march routes, or other-
wise ; questions arising out of the Mutiny, or other
Act of Parliament, relative to fraud, embezzlement,
the enlistment, desertion, pay, subsistence, etc., of
the privates of the artillery, etc. etc.
To enable himself to perform these and the other
duties attached to his situation, he must be pos-
sessed of a tolerable law library, particularly of the
statutes at large. He keeps plans or copies of plans
whenever he is able of the Ordnance lands and
fortifications throughout the kingdom and abroad.
He keeps abstracts of or references to the several
Acts of Parliament, and deeds under which the
lands are purchased. He makes a digest of the
whole, and of the laws relative to Ordnance matters
for his own particular use. By means of this digest,
and of an alphabetical list of former references and
reports, arranged according to place and subject-
matter, he furnishes himself with ready information
upon the several points that are brought under
his notice. For his attendance on the Master-
General and Board as the " Solicitor " at the office
at Westminster and at the Tower, he is allowed the
yearly sum of £100, which he charges in his half-
yearly bills. For preparing deeds and contracts,
conducting prosecutions and actions, and transacting
all other law business, he charges in the ordinary
manner of solicitors, and for travelling he is allowed
Is. 3d per mile for chaise hire, and £1 Is. Od. per
day during his attendance from London when ordered
bv the Master-General or Board.
144 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
These charges, " in the ordinary manner of
solicitors," during the course of Robert Smith's
tenancy of his office came to a notable sum. In
his journal he says : " As a matter of private curiosity,
I have given the annual amount of my Ordnance
bills from the time I first entered upon my office
in 17821 down to the end of the present year,
1818." "The profits," he naively adds, "have not
been inconsiderable."
For the thirty-seven years the total was £62,000,
and from 1805 to 1818— the war years— the bills
averaged £3,400 per annum.
Not long after James Smith had been admitted
as an attorney, he was made acquainted by personal
experience with the system of " close boroughs " that
prevailed before the Reform Bill of 1832. Queen-
borough was considered a strict Government " pre-
serve," and its representatives were usually rccom-
inendcd to the voters by the Ordnance and Admiralty
Department turn and turn about. On the occjusion
referred to, it was the turn of Robert Smith's office
to recommend a candidate, and as the Duke of
Richmond, the then Master-General, desired Mr.
Rogers, the Secretary to the Board, to get in, that
gentleman offered himself, and Robert Smith was
requested to be on the spot, to give his professional
advice should it be deemed neces.sary.
Accordingly, he proceeded to Sheerness with his
son James, and put himself in contact with the
Ordnance officers there, who were thoroughly ac-
1 See Chapter III.
ROBERT SMITH RETIRES 145
quainted with the political ground. The whole
affair was delightfully simple, as no other candidate
dreamed of offering himself; and Mr. Secretary-
Rogers was without opposition elected as the repre-
sentative of the free and enlightened burgesses of
Queenborough,
The termination of war after the battle of
Waterloo brought about an important change in
Robert Smith's affairs, and hastened his determina-
tion to retire altogether from business.
The late peace [he says], though a blessing in
itself, must produce a great diminution of my
Ordnance and other business, which has occasioned
me to think of quitting business entirely in favour
of my son James, This I shall probably do at the
end of the present year [1818] should both our lives
be spared. When the measure shall be finally
determined on, James must endeavour to prevail
on the Master-General, Lord Mulgrave (who has for
some time honoured him with his particular notice)
to consent to my son being sole assistant to the
Ordnance Solicitor.^ This will fix him in the
situation. . . . My intention with respect to my son
James cannot be accomplished for the present. On
account of declining years and health, the Earl of
Mulgrave signified his wish to resign his office of
Master-General of the Ordnance. This he shortly
afterwards did ; and in December, Field-Marshal
the Duke of Wellington was gazetted in his room.
But though all application on the subject of
changing must be postponed until the new Master-
General shall have completed his office arrangements
(whatever they may be), the other part of our
^ See Chapter IX.
14G JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
design, that of my relinquishing business,^ has been
arranged between me and my son — my son, however,
to receive the v:hole 2'>')'ojits.
On this da}', therefore, December 31st, 1818, my
son provided himself with a new set of books; and
my name was withdrawn from the office doors.
In the course of the following year, the Duke of
\\\'llington having done me the honour to ask ni}'
opinion upon some point of law that was connected
with his official character of Master-General, I con-
ceived this a favourable opportunity to make known
to his Grace my wishes concerning my son.
To these applications I received a favourable
answer ; that from the Duke's private secretary was
as follows : —
Office of Ordnance,
July -loth, 1819.
Sir,
I am directed by the Master-General to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 11th
instant, and to acquaint you that his Grace has
given orders that the name of your sou may be
allowed to stand singly, as Assistant to the Ordnance
Solicitor, agi'eeably with your request.
I am, Sir,
Your most obedient,
llumbU- servant,
¥. B. Hervey.
Robert Smith, Esq.,
18 Austhi Friars.
Thus my wishes in this respect are now accom-
plished, and 1 rejoice at it. The situation of
"Assistant to tin- Solicitor " <if so distinguished a
public Board as that of the Ordnance, besidea being
^ Robert Smith was tlieii .■■eventy-one years of age.
JAMES SMITH, THE OFFICIAL 147
honourable to a professional man, is the source of
emolument, especially in time of war, as the amounts
of my bills for a number of years will show. But it
is one that requires attention, and in that attention
I hope my son will not be wanting.
James Smith did not belie the confidence reposed
in him by his father. His literary work was never
allowed to interfere with his official duties. Until
almost the day of his death, in 1839, as grave as a
judge, and looking as if a joke or witty saying were
an impossible perpetration on his part, he sat in his
office at No. 18 Austin Friars, and subsequently at
27 Craven Street, Strand, surrounded by tin boxes,
heavy volumes of statutes, and all the dusty " pro-
perties " of a solicitor's office, as if sticking to business
were the one and only aim of life.
His situation as Assistant to the Solicitor, in
course of time, became a purely nominal one. Long
years of peace followed his appointment.
" No war or battle's sound
Was heard the world around."
Martello Towers began to fall into a state of di-
lapidation ; luxuriant growths of herbage sprang
up on ramparts that once echoed with the tread of
watchful sentinels ; the few pieces of artillery that
were suffered to remain slowly rusted and sank to
the ground from their rotting carriages ; Iambs
gambolled at the muzzles of the harmless cannon ;
and all along our coasts Landseer's Peace became
a living reality. From Tilbury to distant Berry
H8 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Head, and yet more remote Pendennis Castle, the
sites of our national defences became peaceful
pastures for cattle or the resort of picnickers.
Yet James Smith remained at his post in a State
Department which was once essential to the safety
of the nation, but whose raison d'etre had dis-
appeared.
CHAPTER XV
1821—1825
Horace Smith and Shelley (contimi^d)— Horace Smith's con-
nection with the Scott-Christie duel — Mr, Andrew Lang's
remarks thereon— The death of Keats — Horace Smith retires
from business, and decides to visit Shelley in Italy — Letter to
his sister Clara — Is detained at Paris by ill-health of his wife
— Letters to Cyrus Redding.
Horace Smith, at the opening of the year 1818,
met Shelley for the last time, when the poet was in
London making arrangements for his departure from
England — a step determined upon, partly for the
purpose of finding a milder climate in the south of
Europe, and also because of his dread that Lord
Chancellor Eldon might give effect to some hints he
had thrown out in Court respecting the custody of
Shelley's infant son by his second wife.
Under a Chancery decree, Shelley had already
been bereft of the offspring of his earlier marriage,
and had been compelled to set aside £200 for their
maintenance out of the £1000 per annum allowed
him by his father, Sir Timothy Shelley. This in-
come was regularly paid until March 1821, when, to
the astonishment of Horace Smith — his financial
149
150 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
agent at that period — it Ava.s abruptly stop})C'd.
Horace at once wrote to his friend in Italy as
follows : —
March 28th, 1821.
My dear Shelley,
I callud to-day at Brookes and Co. for
your money as usual, and was not a little sui-jjrised
to be told that they had received notice not to
advance anyiliing more on your account, as the payment
to them would in future he discontinued; but they
could give nie no information why the alteration
had occurred, or whether you were apprised of it.
Perhaps you have been, though you could htirdly
have failed to mention it to me. But I Avill call
again, and endeavour to get some solution of the
apparent mystery. Meantime, if you are in any
straits you had better draw on me at the Stock
Exchange for what you want. I would remit you,
but that, knowing that you are not over regular in
matters of business, you may, perhaps, have made
new arrangements lor your money, and, through
inadvertency, omitted to apprise me. . . . ^
Burning with indignation at what he conceived
to be a conspiracy against poor Shelley, Horace
Smith, restraining himself with great effort, wrote,
amongst many other letters, a very temperate one
to Sir Timothy (whom he felt sure had no participa-
tion in the plot), asking for an explanation ; and,
receiving a courteous reply, wrote to his friend : —
London, April VMh, 1821.
De.mi Sfiellev,
1 wrote you on the 17th inst., with a
budget of letters relative to this lawsuit; and
^ Shelley Memorials, by Lady Shelley.
SHELLEY'S AFFAIRS 151
annexed I hand you a copy of Sir Timothy's reply,
received yesterday. I am most glad that I wrote
to him, for it turns out that my conjecture that he
was unacquainted with the affair is correct, and that
the law proceedings were literally coohed up by the
lawyers. It appears a most scandalous liberty in
Mr. Whitton, not only to make your father a party
without his privity, but actually to stop your money
on his own authority. I have this day written a
few lines to Sir Timothy, stating that I had seen a
letter at Wright's from Whitton, certainly implying
that he had communicated with Sir T., and I leave
the lawyer to get out of this dilemma as well as he
can. Of Whitton I know nothing ; but I seem to
dislike him by instinct. Having written you so
many letters lately, I have nothing further to say,
than to repeat the pleasant assurance that I shall
this summer or autumn take you by the hand, when
we can talk over all these matters.
I am, my dear Shelley,
Ever yours,
Horatio Smith.
If the Fates had permitted the " taking in hand,"
the man of business might have succeeded in keep-
ing the poet's money matters in order, and have
saved him much worry and petty annoyance. Horace
Smith always did what he could to help Shelley in
the way of temporary advances and loans, which
substantial proof of friendship was fully appreciated.
" It's odd," Shelley once remarked, " that the only
truly generous person I ever knew who had money
to be generous with, should be a stockbroker." And
when Horace Smith sent him a copy of his book,
entitled Amarynthus the Nympholct,a Pastoral Drama,
152 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
IFith other Poems, Shelley exclaimed, " Anci he writes
poetry too ; he writes poetry and pastoral dramas,
and yet knows how to make money, and does make
it, and is still generous."
In his letter to Shelley of March the 2Sth, 1821,
Horace Smith thus refers to the Scott duel : —
Poor Scott ! what a melancholy termination ! and
how perfectly unnecessary ! Christie and the two
seconds will surrender and take their trial at the
Old Bailey Session next month. We are raising a
subscription for Scott's family.
John Scott was the editor of the London Magazine,
and in the November number of 1820 there appeared
a long article written by himself, bringing forward
serious charges against the managers of Blackwood' s
Maffazine,^ and this was followed up in the December
number by a more vigorous onslaught, entitled The
Mohawk Magazine. Naturall}', the result was retali-
ation on the part of Blackwood's, which took the
form of anonymous attacks on Scott, who, by guess-
work only, attributed their authorship to John
Gibson Lockhart. A bitter controversy ensued, and
finally merged into an acrimonious dispute between
Scott and Lockhart 's friend, ^\y. Christie. Scott
challenged Christie, and a duel by moonlight was
fought on Friday night, February tiie IGth, 1821, at
Chalk Farm, when, after an interchange of shots
without etfect, there was a second encounter, and
' Dubbed by Sir Walter Scott, «' The Mother of Misdiief."
THE JOHN SCOTT DUEL 153
poor Scott received a wound to which he succumbed
in a few days.
Scott had asked Horace Smith to act as his
second, in case a personal encounter with Lockhart
or Christie should take place. So one night, he
called upon him at No. 1 Elysium Row, Fulham, to
discuss the subject. Horace Smith did his best to
dissuade his bellicose friend from resorting to physi-
cal force, and made him plainly understand that
under no circumstances would he be a party to a
duel. His views on duelling are here set forth in
his own words : —
A duellist is a moral coward, seeking to hide the
pusillanimity of his mind by affecting a corporeal
courage. Instead of discharging a pistol, the resort
of bullies and bravoes, the really brave soul will dare
to discharge its duty to God and man by refusing
to break the laws of both. He is the true hero
who can exclaim in the sublime language of
Voltaire, Jc crains Lieu, chcr Ahncr, ct Jc nai d'aittre
crainte.
Scott could not have applied to a more unsuitable
man than Horace Smith, as the latter was quite un-
acquainted with the rules and nice points of etiquette
connected with duelling, and at no stage of the
squabble did he give Scott any warrant for stating
that he had consented to act as his second. He
published in 1821 an explanation of his own part
in this sad transaction, and in 1847 he referred to it
in his Becolledions of John Scott.
Mr. Andrew Lang, the Universal Provider of the
154 JAMES AND HORACE SMTTIf
literary world, seeking, like the busy bee, to gather
honey from every opening flower, must needs alight
on the grave of Horace Smith. To (piit metaphor,
Mr. Lang, in several bewildering passages in his
Life and Letters of John Gibson Loclchart} referring to
these explanations of Horace Smith, goes out of his
way to accuse him of a gross misstatement of facts,
because he — Mr. Lang — iinagincs he has discovered
some inconsistencies in Smith's statements, one of
which was made six-and-twenty years after the
other !
Keats once wrote : — " The Scotch cannot manage
themselves at all ; they want imagination, and that is
why they are so fond of Hogg, who has so little of it,"
Mr. Andrew Lang is gitted with the supposed
missing faculty in an unusual degree; but, in his
arraignment uf Horace Smith, it has led him
astray. Surely the eulogy of a Lock hart does not
necessitate the calumniation of a most honourable
man, who has been dead f«jr the last fifty years !
Such conduct is hardly worthy of one who hails
from the " Borders," where of old " life was held of
light account, but honour was highly reckoned."
On the night of February the 23rd, 1821, Keats
died of consumption at Rome, where he had been
tenderly nursed by Mr. Severn, the artist. The news
was published in Londim on the 25th of March; and
it is .suppose<l that Shelley first heard of it by a
letter from Horace Smith, which, dating from Fulham,
March 28th, 1821, contains the following:—
1 1896-97.
"ADONAIS" 155
You never said anything of Keats, who I see (in
Tlie Examiner, March 25th) died at Rome under
lamentable circumstances.
But as Shelley at the time of Keats's death was
living at Pisa, barely two hundred miles distant
from Rome, it seems incredible that he should obtain
his first intelligence of the sad event from England.
Shelley's letter to Severn, dated November the 29th,
1821, proves nothing either one way or the other.
Shelley sent a copy of Adonais to Horace Smith,
who, in acknowledging it, says : —
He (Mr. Gisborne) handed me also your poem on
Keats's death, which I like, with the exception of the
Ccnci, better than anything you have Avritten, finding
in it a great deal of fancy, feeling, and beautiful
language, with none of the metaphysical abstraction
which is so apt to puzzle the uninitiated in your
productions. It reminded me of Lycidas, more from
the similarity of the subject than anything in the
mode of treatment.
Shelley made a point of sending a copy of each of
his works to Horace Smith as they came out. He
writes from Leghorn to Mr. Oilier, his publisher —
" Whenever I publish, send copies of my books to
the following people for me — Mr. Hunt, Mr. Godwin,
Mr. Hogg, Mr. Peacock, Mr. Keats, Mr. Thomas
Moore, Mr. Horace Smith, and Lord Byron " (at
Murray's) ; and again, from Pisa, he writes to him —
" Allow me particularly to request you to send copies
of whatever I publish to Horace Smith."
In a letter, September 4th, 1820, Horace Smith
ir)G J A:\IES and HORACE SMITH
expresses to Shelley his opinion of two of his
works : —
I got from Ollit^'r last week a copy of the Promc-
tkcus Unhciund, which is a most original, grand, and
occasionally sublime work, evincing, in my opinion,
a higher order of talent than any of your previous
productions ; and j'et, contrary to your own estima-
tion, I must say I prefer the Ccnci, because it con-
tains a deep and sustained human interest, of which
we feel a want in the other. Prometheus himself
certainly touches us nearly ; but we see very little
of him after his liberation ; and, though I have no
doubt it will be more admired than anything you
have written, I question whether it will be so much
read as the Ccnci. . . .
On the Gth of April, iS'il, a daughter was born
to Horace Smith at Fulham. She was christened
Rosalind, after the heroine of Shelley's beautiful
poem Bosalind and Helen, which had been begun at
Marlow, and completed at the baths of Lucca at the
special request of Mrs. Shelley. The next day
Horace Smith wrote to Shelley at Pisa : —
As affairs (political) seem all settling in Italy, I
resume my intentitm of taking you l)y the hand.
My wife has a daughter, and is doing perfectly well.
I expect we shall 1)^' ready to start in July or
August. Will that be too hot, and would y
j)referably recommend October
Horace Smith's ambition was to make literature
a ])rofession, and about this time he, with wonderful
self-restraint, carried into effect a resolution he had
HORACE SMITH RETIRES 157
made to retire from the Stock Exchange, however
great the temptation to the contrary might be, as
soon as he had amassed a fortune sufficient to ensure
him a modest independency. On the very day that
he considered this aspiration was reached, he sent in
his resignation to the committee without a moment's
hesitation. His retirement turned out to be a hicky
thing, for in the panic period of 1825-1826, when
no fewer than 770 banks stopped payment, the fruit
of all his labours might, like that of thousands, have
been swept away.
Before settling down, however, he determined to
visit Italy. We read in his father's journal : —
Jime 12th, 1821. — My son Horace has been for
some time desirous of visiting Florence for a couple
of years, and on this day, he, his wife, three children,^
and a female servant, came to town preparatory to
their setting out for Dover. His reasons for the
measure are, economy, pleasure, and the acquisition
of French and Italian literature. I wish he may
not be disappointed in any of these views ; but I
cannot say that I like the scheme.
Arrived at Paris, Horace wrote the following letter
to his sister Clara : —
36 Chautereine, Chaussee d'Antin, Paris,
July 22nd, 1821.
My dear Claea,
I should have written to you sooner, but
that I doubted whether they would forward letters
to you at the Isle of Wight, where I suppose you
^ Eliza, Horatio, and Rosalind.
158 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
are enJDying walks and woods and solitude, while I
am rambling amid the bustle of the crowded Boule-
vards, or the classical retreats of the Champs Elysees.
I am delighted with Paris, and have hardly been a
day without encountering some English actjuaint-
ance. On board the packet, I heard a gentleman
laying down the law somewhat authoritatively, and
informing us that, owing to the high wind when he
last crossed, he lost a fjndt ('no great loss thought I),
and in talking of the inns at Bijulogne, he depreci-
ated all the understandings of the place, by main-
taining stoutly that there w^as not a nous in the
town. This proved to be Adelaide's^ (juondam
neighbour, INIr. Prestwidge, with whom I renewed
my acquaintance, and from whom we experienced
the greatest civility, both on board the packet and
in Paris, wdierc he was suthciently at home to be
enabled to show us some of the lions.
We stayed at Calais two or three days to recruit,
and posted hither, sleeping at Abbeville and Beau-
vais, passing through dull, desolate, moated, and
drawbridged towns, all obviously built before the
F1(;(k1 ; and a Hat, treeless, hedgeless, uninteresting
country, with here and there a shabby, wild, grass-
grown chateau, looking very jjrison-like or mad-
housoy, and now and th(>n a scarecrow straggling
village, or cluster of mud-hovels, till we got into an
apple country, where there were ])lenty of trees, but
not a single apple, the crop having utterly failed.
Little variations occurred in these features till we
got to the very barriei-s of Paris, when all at once
we seemed to have lea])t forward about a thousand
years, the houses presenting niodiiii classical eleva-
tions, all built of white stone, extremely lofty,
mngnihcent, and im))ressive, the streets wifle and
handsome, gay carriage's Hitting about, and a smart,
' His .si.'^tcr.
IN PARIS 159
numerous, and noisy population succeeding to the
stagnation of life through which we had passed.
We went to the Hotel Maurice, an immense place
(140 bedrooms), so full of English that we could
only get accommodated by putting up a temporary
bed for Horace. Next day we put the children to
school with a friend of Sophia's settled here, and
most happy we were to get rid of Horace, who kept
us in perpetual fear of his being lost or run over, or
both, as he was perfectly wild with the novelty of
the scene.
Opposite to the back of our hotel is the Tuilleries
and Louvre, with all its far-famed contents — the
gardens with their Frenchified but very grand
succession of statues, ponds, shady walks, gates and
arches leading to the Bois de Boulogne and the
Champs Elysees, where you may fancy yourself in
Abyssinia — and on the other side of our street we
walked to the Palais Royal, with its noble square
surrounded with innumerable shops, and refreshed
with trees and a handsome jet d'eau in the centre.
To see all this within five minutes' walk of our
residence, in the midst of Paris, certainly struck us
all of a heap. But what pleases me most is the
abundance of gardens and flowers, all as green and
fresh as a pickled herring; artificial flowers inside
the house, and real ones outside, seems to be a
passion with the French, and I like them for it.
We went one day to dine at Grignon's, a famous
o-estaurateair, but Sophia could not be reconciled to
the dishes or the publicity, and we sat down once or
twice at the talle d'hote at Maurice's, generally from
thirty to forty, and all English; but the place was
so expensive and noisy that we have moved into
these lodgings, small but comfortable, for which
we pay 200 f a month, and where, to the amaze-
ment of those who know it, we have determined on
IGO JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
dining at home occasionally, which to a Parisian
seems perfectly ridiculous. We have bought a
hattcrie dc cuisine for three or four francs, and enjdyed
to-day some stewed voal and peas, au nature!, as the
Frenchman says with a sneer when you decline
kickshaws ; and for wine, I am quite content with
the lowest price, \%'hich is 15 sous or 7 hi per bottle.
I like all their wines except champagne.
We spent a most delightful morning at the
Cimeti^re of Pere la Chaise (whither I must go
again), and the sight of which, with its exquisitely
tasteful and picturesque toml)s, embowered in trees,
shrubs, and flowers, with their simple and feeling
inscriptions, was quite sufficient in my mind to dis-
prove the assertion that the French are deficient in
sentiment and affection. They come constantly to
hang garlands and crosses on the tombs of their
relations, and to refresh the flowers with which they
are planted, for which purpose water-pots are left in
many of the enclosures ; — not a flower was picked —
m^t a stone scribbled — not a figure defaced, and
inside most of the railings are chairs for the friends
to come occasionally and weep in, an office in which
we saw more than one engaged, and the day after
our visit a man blew out his bmins on the toiid) of
his wife ! There may be some parade in all this, but
I am convinced there is a good deal of feeling, and
I am glad I came here, were it only on account of
Pere la Chaise.
About five minutes' walk from our present
lodgings are Tivoli Gardens, where we have been
roaming, and of which some parts are perfectly
secluded and rural. I think I shall sub.scribe for the
morning walks. Wf have warm baths in the build-
ing for Hfteen-j)ence, and are near all the gaiety if
we like, but have yet been to no theatre. Once we
have walked through the Louvre, and to-morrow we
A CHANGE OF PLANS 161
are going to the Luxembourg. ... I shall stay
here two months longer, and shall write to you again.
Your affectionate brother,
H. Smith.
Horace Smith's plans, however, received an un-
welcome upheaval. He had intended joining Shelley
in Italy, and had, in fact, sent on all his heavy
luggage to Leghorn by sea; but the weather in
Paris became intensely hot, and his wife, who was
singularly intolerant of warm weather, became so ill
that she could not travel further. It was a great
disappointment to Horace Smith, who wrote to his
friend as follows : —
Paris, August 30th, 1821.
My dear Shelley,
The disappointment and vexation by the
sudden overthrow of all my long-cherished plans is
not less painful to me than the cause of it is distress-
ing. I have also to regret the trouble I have
unnecessarily given you, and the disappointment
(for I have vanity enough to believe you will think
it such) to w^hich I have exposed you.
In the midst of these more serious annoyances, I
have hardly time to attend to the petty incon-
veniences to which we must be subjected by wintering
here without any of our clothes, books, or comforts,
all of which have been shipped to Leghorn. I
think of taking a house at Versailles, but at present
I am quite unsettled in everything. When I have
arranged my plans I shall write to you again, till
when, and always,
I am, my dear Shelley,
Your very sincere and disappointed friend,
Horatio Smith.
M
162 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Eventually, Horace Smith took an apimrtcment in
the Hotel des Reservoirs, Versailles, which he
furnished, and from which he dates some very
interesting letters to his friend, Cyrus Redding.^
15 BxiP (/fcs Reservoirs,
Versailles, 1821.
Dear Sir,
I have been a good deal occupied in
changing and furnishing my lodgings, and have had
but little time for writing, and I have no access to
books, as mine have not yet been returned from
Italy, but they are on the route, and I hope to keep
you supplied with admissible matter. Your account
of the sale is gratifying, and I should think must be
satisfactory to Mr. Colburn, even should it not
advance further, though his heavy expenses must
demand a wide circulation.
That you should not receive much novelty is
natural enough, for who the deuce can hit upmi
anything new, when half the world are racking
their brains to do the same ? The magazine certain 1}'
improves, and as far as I can judge from those who
see it ht'iv and at Galignani's, gives groat satisfaction.
I had heard of p(;or Leigh Hunt's adventure. I
hope to heaven he will get out to Italy somehow,
for this is the very crisis of his fate, not only as it
may remove him from all the devilry with which he
hius been S(» long beleaguered, but that it may })lace
him within the powerful influence of Lord l^)yron.
His non-arrival has occjisioned a whole chapter of
embarrassments at Pisa, where his lordship h;vs
' Cyrus Redding's Fifty Years' Recollections. From 1821
to 1830 Reddini^ was the workin}^ editor of tlie New Munthbj
Mitijazine, of wliidi Campbell, the poet, wan the nominul
chief. He wiia also the iiulhor of several woiks.
ABOUT SHELLEY 163
appropriated a part of his palace for his reception,
and has matured the other phxns for which he was
wanted. What these are I do not exactly know, but
Shelley is only interested as an occasional contributor,
and none of the party will dream of heretical, still
less of atheistical theories, in a periodical publication
which would be inevitably suppressed. Though
Shelley is my most particular friend, I regret the
imprudence of his early publications on more points
than one, but as I know him to possess the most
exalted virtues, and find in others who promulgate
the most startling theories most amiable traits, I
learn to be liberal towards abstract speculations,
which, not exercising any baneful influence on their
authors' lives, are still less likely to corrupt others.
Truth is great, and will prevail — that is my motto,
and I would, therefore, leave ever}> thing unshackled
— what is true will stand, and what is false ought to
fall, whatever be the consequences. Ought we not
to feel ashamed that Lucretius could publish his
book in the teeth of an established religion, while
martyrs are groaning in perpetual imprisonment for
expressing a conscientious dissent from Christianity?
Human punishments and rewards will generally
be found sufficient for human control, so far as it
can really be controlled. Jack Ketch is the most
effectual devil, and the gallows the most j^ractical
hell ; the theoretical ones, which could not deter from
crime, are seldom much thought of by the rogue,
until these most tangible ones are about to jDuuish
him.
John Hunt is a fine-spirited fellow, and I beg to
be kindly remembered to him.
I am delighted with France, particularly Versailles,
and do not think of an immediate return. There is
very good English society here.
I never look at the magazine without wondering
164 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
how you get through the labour, which I ll-ar is too
heavy to allow you any trip to this side, where I
should be most happy to see you. I have taken
a})artnients and furnished them myself, whieh I find
a much cheaper plan.
I am always. Dear Sir,
Yours very faithfully,
Horatio Smith.
15 Rue des Reservoirs,
Versailles, 1822.
Many thanks, my dear Sir, for your acceptable
letter of the 21st July, handed to me by Mr. Crowe,
who passed a day with me, very agreeably on my
part, and to whom I should have been happy to show
further civilities, but that the shortness of his stay
prevented it. He seems a very intelligent, unassum-
ing man, and I should much like to join him in his
excursion, as I still hope to visit the classic regions
if I can get my wife's health re-established.
I understand the paragra])h to which you allude
in Blavhwooil is an ill-natured one towards me, and
it d<tes not contain an atom of truth, as I knew
nothing of the projected work at Pi.sa, and certainly
shall not contribute a line, even were I requested,
wliich I have never been, so that if you have an
o}»portunity of contradicting the a.ssertion, I will
thank you to do so. Even Shelley, the only one of
the party with whom I am in communication, has
no share in the domiciliation of Hunt, nor has he
pledged himself to any literary ])aitirij)ation in the
ijlans, whatever tliev niav be. From him I have
lately heard of Hunt's arrival at Genoa on his way
to Leghorn, Lord Byron's present residence, where
he is amusing himself with a Ix'autiful yacht, which
he has just had built at (Jenoa.
Two more cantos of Don Juan arc finished, at
ENGLAND'S BESETTING SIN 165
which I for one feel little pleasure, for I hate all
productions, whatever be their talent, which present
disheartening and degrading views of human nature.
This is, in my opinion, worse than impiety, though
it is the latter imputation which will destroy its
popularity in England, almost the only country
existing in Europe where bigotry retains its omnipo-
tence. You did well, however, to strike out anything
in any contribution calculated to give offence, even
to particular professions, for what Johnson said of
the drama is applicable to magazines: — "Those
who live to please, must please to live."
I suppose a similar feeling suppressed my final
journal of a tourist, where my summary of the
French national character is probably deemed too
favourable, though I do think the English might be
benefited by hearing something about the virtues
of their neighbours, instead of having their blind
hostility aggravated by lying diatribes. A man of
four or five hundred a year keeps a cabriolet and
horse which would be hooted and pelted in England,
but they answer his purpose, convey him to his
friends, and give him air, pleasure, and variety. All
these an Englishman foregoes if he cannot do it in
style, and mount a lacky behind in a blue jacket
with gold lace. Pride, filthy pride ! — pride is the
besetting sin of England, and, like most other sins,
brings its own punishment, by converting existence
into a struggle, and environing it with gloom and
heart-burning.
I am exactly of your feeling — I can live comfortably
under an arbitrary foreign government, while I was
perpetually annoyed at home by the tyranny and
mismanagement of men whose talents were despicable.
I felt as if I was constantly kicked by jackasses — •
here I do not trouble my head about the French,
and only endeavour to forget the English ministers.
IGG JAMES AND llOliACE SMI'l'lI
Your information about a paper will be most
vahiablo if we get permission to establish one, of
which I have no expectation. We have a Paris
English magazine, to which Galignani has started
an opposition. I occasionally give it a lift with my
pen, but neither of the works answer, nor do I much
expect they will. Adir-u.
My dear Sir,
Yours very faithfully,
Horatio Smith.
CHAPTER XVI
1821—1825
Horace Smith receives the news of Shelley's death — His
personal recollections of Shelley, andjiis^estimate of the poet's
character.
It was when residing at Versailles that the intel-
ligence of Shelley's death reached Horace Smith.
It was a terrible blow to him, and for years after-
wards he could hardly speak of it without emotion.
I think I cannot do better than devote this chapter
to Horace Smith's recollections of his poet-friend.^
The fatal catastrophe [he says] was made known
to me by the following letter from a mutual friend ^
then residing in Italy : —
'Fisa, July 25th, 1822.
' I trust that the first news of the dreadful calamity
which has befallen us here will have been broken to
you by report, otherwise I shall come upon you with
a most painful abruptness ; but Shelley, my divine-
minded friend — the friend of the universe — he _ has
perished at sea ! He was in a boat with his friend
Captain Williams, going from Leghorn to Lerici,
1 A Greybeard's Gossip about his Literary Acquaintances.
2 Leigh Hunt.
167
1G8 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
when a storm arose, and it is supposed the boat
must have fouiidfrod. . . . God bless him ! I can-
not help thinkinr,^ of him as if he were still alive, so
unearthly he always appeared to me, and so senii)h-
ical a thing of the elements ; and this is what all his
friends stiy. But what we all feel your own heart
will tell you. . . . Our dear friend Mas passionatelv
tond of the sea, and has been heard to say he should
like it to be his death-bed.'
And in a subsequent letter from Albaro, near
Genoa, the same party wrote to me : —
'I am sure you will think the maxim of " Better
late than never " a very good one, when you see the
enclosed lock of hair. You will know whose it is.
I cannot bear yet to put his name d<iwn upon })ap('r
more than I ain help ; and this is my best excuse for
not having written sooner. With regai-d to himself,
who left me so far behind in this as well as in other
qualities, I am confident he must have written to you
(jn the subject to which you refer. I have a strong
recollection that he mentioned it to me. I know
that you were one of the last persons he spoke of, and
in a way full of kindness and acknowledgment.'
Th(nigh I had occa.sional interviews with Shelley
after this connnencement of our accpiaintance,^ his
wandering life ])revented my seeing much of him
until the year 1817, when I gladly accepted an
invitation to pass a few days with him at Marlow in
Buckinghamshire, where he was .settled.
Since his hist arrival in London, his cinMimstances
had materially altered. He was now united to his
second wife, whose talents justified her illustrious
descent as the daughter of (iodwin and Marv Wol-
stencroft, while her virtues and her amiability, bless-
' At Leijj'li Hunt's bouse.
MORE ABOUT SHELLEY 1G9
ing their union with a domestic happiness which
sntiered no intermission up to the moment of her
husband's death, infused a reconciling sweetness into
the grievously bitter cup of his life. At one time
he had been reduced to such extremity of destitution
as to be in danger of actual starvation ; but by con-
senting to cut off a portion of the entail on the
estate to which he was entitled, he secured to him-
self an income of a thousand a-year, which would
have been more than competent had his all-loving
heart and ever-open hand allowed him to limit his
charities. Denying himself all luxuries, and scarcely
ever tasting any other food than bread, vegetables,
and water, this good Samaritan wandered to the
various prisons for debtors, and to the obscure
haunts of poverty, to seek deserving objects for the
exercise of his unwearied and lavish charity.
In Miser3''s darkest caverns known,
His ready help was ever nigh,
Where helpless anguish pour'd the groan,
And lonely want retired to die.
Captain Medwin has related an affecting instance
of his youthful generosity, in pawning his beautiful
solar microscope to raise five pounds for the relief of
a poor old man ; but the time had now arrived when,
for the purposes of his unbounded benevolence, the
strictest economizing of his liberal income proved
insufficient, and he had recourse to the ruinous
expedient of raising money upon post obits. I can
speak with certainty to his having bestowed up-
wards of five thousand pounds on eminent and
deserving men of letters, gracing his munificence by
the delicacy and tact with which he conferred it.
And this large sum was exclusive of innumerable
smaller donations to less distinguished writers, and
of his regular alms to miscellaneous claimants and
170 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
established pensioners. He loved to reccnint the
rich legacies bequeathed to Cicero and to Pliny the
younger, by strangers whom their writings had
delighted or instructed, as evidencing a prevailing
literary taste among the ancients much more liberal
than our own ; but, he added, that as no one could
be sure of surviving the parties whom he wished to
benefit, and still less certain that the latter could
afford to wait, it was much better that such intentions
should be carried into immediate execution. ''Solas
qiias dedcris semper hahcbis opes," what you have given
away is the only wealth you will always keep, seemed
to be the motto of his life. No wonder that among
such a nation of Mammonites as the English, a man
so utterly self-denying and unworldly should be
viewed as a sort of lustis nahircc. No wonder that
rich curmudgeons maligned him, for there was a daily
beauty in his life that made theirs ugly. No
wonder that the writer of this record, educated in
the sordid school of mercantile life, could hardly
trust the evidence of his senses when he saw this
extraordinary being living like the austerest anchor-
ite, denying himself all the luxuries appropriate to
his birth and station, that he might ap])ro|)riate his
savings to the relief of his fellow-creatures; and
silently sh(twing, for he never made a ])roclarnation
of his bounties, that, despising riches on his own
account, he only valued them so far as they enabled
him to minister to the relief of others.
For several years Shelley had scrujiulously re-
frained from the use of animal food, not uj)on the
I'ythagorean or J^rahminical doctrine that such a
diet necessitates a want<jn, and, tlurefore, a cniel
destniction of God's creatures, but from an impres-
sion that to kill the native "burghers of the wood,"
or tenants of the flood and sky, that we may chew
their flesh and drink their blood, tends to fiercen
AN " ESSENTIALLY FEMININE " MIND 171
and animalize both the slaughterer and devourer.
This morbid sensibility, and the mistaken conclusion
to which it led, did not permanently condemn him
to an ascetical Lent; but he was ever jealous of his
body, ever anxious to preserve the supremacy of his
mind, ever solicitous to keep the temple pure and
holy and undefiled by any taint of grossness that
might debase the soul enshrined within it. Zeal-
ously devout and loyal was the worship that he
tendered to the majesty of intellect.
Though the least effeminate of men, so far as per-
sonal and moral courage were concerned, the mind
of Shelley was essentially feminine, some would say
fastidious, in its delicacy ; an innate purity which
not even the licence of college habits and society
could corrupt. A fellow-collegian thus writes of
him : — " Shelley was actually offended, and, indeed,
more indignant than would appear to be consistent
with the singular mildness of his nature, at a coarse
and awkward jest, especially if it were immodest or
uncleanly ; in the latter case, his anger was un-
bounded, and his uneasiness pre-eminent."
During one of our rambles in the noble woods near
Marlow, we encountered two boys driving a squirrel
from bough to bough by pelting it with stones. My
companion, who was remarkably fond of children
(guess how his affectionate heart must have been lace-
rated by the forcible abstraction of his own), and who
could not bear to see any sentient creature ill-used,
reasoned so mildly with the urchins on their cruelty,
that they threw down their missiles and slunk away.
On my expressing a hope that they would not soon
forget a lesson so lovingly given, he shook his head,
observing that before they got home, they would
probably encounter some of those who ought to set
them a better example, amusing themselves by
what are unfeelingly termed the sjwrts of the field,
172 JAMES ANT) HORACE SMITH
and he congratulated himself lliat he had iU'Vrr
been one of those amateur butchers — had never
found a pleasvu'e in wantonly slaying any of his
animal hniJnrn. The phrase sounded strange to
n)e, but I found that he had previously adopted it
in that fine invocation commencing his poem of
Alasfar, which shows how completely he fraternized
with universal nature : —
Eartli, ocean, air, beloved brotherhood !
If our f^Tcat mother have iinl)ued my soul
Witli auj^lit of natural piety to feel
Your love, and recompense the boon with mine : —
If dewy morn, and odorous noon and even,
AVith sunset ami its gor},'eous ministers,
And solemn midni.L'ht's tiii,L,'linj^' siK'iitness ; —
If Sjirin^'s voluplunus j)aulings wlu-n she breathes
Her first sweet kisses, ha\e been dear to me ;
If no bright bird, insect, or gentle beast
I consciously have injured, but still loved
And cherished these my kindred ; — then forgive
This lioast, beloved brethren, and withdraw
No portion of your favour now.
Never, never shall 1 forget my last wandering
with the poet, as we stretched far away from the
haunts of men, beneath the high over-arching
boughs, which, forming around us a (lothic temple,
with interminable cloisters, still o])ening as we
advanced, seemed to ins])irc him with the love and
the worship of nature, and to suggest a tiillir dis-
closure of his religious views than he had hitherto
impartefl to m(\ J^ecoming gradtially excited as he
gave way to his sentiments, his eyes kindled, he
strode forward more rapidly, swinging his arms to
and fro, and spoke with a vi-henjence and a ra])idity
which rendered it diflictdt to collect his opiinHns on
])articular points, though I have a clear recollection
of their general tendency. However absurd and
untenable may be the theory of atheism, he held it
SHELLEY'S RELIGION 173
to be preferable to that nominal theism, which in
fact is real demonism, being a deification of man's
Avorst passions, and the transfer to an imagined
fiend of that worship which belongs to an all-loving
God. He quoted Plutarch's averment, that even
atheism is more reverent than superstition, inas-
much as it was better to deny the existence of
Saturn as king of heaven, than to admit that fact,
maintaining at the same time that he was such a
monster of unnatural cruelty as to devour his own
children as soon as they were born ; and in confirma-
tion of the same view he quoted a passage from
Lord Bacon, asserting the superiority of reason and
natural religion. Any attempt at an impersonation
of the Deity, or any conception of Him otherwise
than as the pervading spirit of the whole illimitable
universe, he held to be presumptuous ; for the finite
cannot grasp the infinite. Perhaps he might have
objected to Coleridge's grand definition of the
Creator, as a circle whose centre is nowhere, and
whose circumference is everywhere. Without assert-
ing the absolute perfectibility of human nature, he
had a confident belief in its almost limitless improv-
ability ; especially as he was persuaded that evil, an
accident, and not an inherent part of our system,
might be so materially diminished as to give an
incalculable increase to the sum of human happiness.
All the present evils of mankind he attributed to
those erroneous views of religion in which had
originated the countless wars, the national hatreds,
the innumerable public and private miseries that
make history a revolting record of suffering and
crime. Every national creed and form of worship
since the world began had successively died away
and been superseded ; experience of the past justi-
fies the same anticipation for the future ; the feuds
and schisms and separations in our own established
174 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
faith are the rents and cracks that predict the ap-
proaching downfall of the temple. Now, if maiikiiid,
abandoninsf all those evanescent symptoms, could
be brought universally to adopt that religion of
Nature which, finding its heavenly revelation in
man's own heart, teaches him that the best way to
testify his love of the Creator is to love all that he
has created; that religion, whose three-leaved Bible
is the earth, and sea, and >-ky — eternal and immut-
able Scriptures, written by God himself, wliich all
may read and none can interpolate, there would be a
total cessation of the ddUnn tlicdJogicnin which has
been such a lirebrand to the world ; the human race,
unchecked in its progress of improvement, would be
gradually uplifted into a higher state, and all created
beings, living together in harmony as one family,
would worship their common Father in the un-
divided faith of brotherly love and the gratitude of
peaceful ha]>piness.
Utopian (h'cams, perchance, visionary yearnings,
too great and glorious ever to receive their consum-
mation upon earth ; but who shall describe the
profound emotion with which I listfmd to them ?
As we wandered al(»ne through the vast natural
cathedral of the wcjods, our feet falling inaiidibly
upon the turf, so that all around was hushed, as if
the earth itself were listening to the rapt en-
thusiastic voice, wliili' through the leafy openings
overhead the blue sky seemed to smile benignly
down upon him, who can wonder, although I wivs
so many years older, that a solemn icverenee began
to mingle with my admiral imi of the singular
youth by my side i When I ga/,ed upon his beam-
ing countenanee, and saw his fragile frame excited
l)y his theme until his bosom appemed to be " heav-
ing beneath incund)ent deity " ; when I recalled his
exquisite genius, his intellectual illumination, his
IDEALIZING THE REAL 175
exuberant philanthropy, his total renunciation of
self, the courage and grandeur of his soul, combined
with a feminine delicacy and purity, and an almost
angelic amenity and sweetness, I could almost fancy
that I had been listening to a spirit from some
higher sphere, who had descended upon earth to
inculcate a self-realizing confidence in the lofty
destinies of mankind, and to teach us how we might
accelerate the advent of a new golden age, when all
the different creeds and systems of the world would
be amalgamated into one — and liberated man would
bow before the throne of his own aweless soul, or of
the power unknown.
During the poet's residence in Italy, I corre-
sponded with him regularly on the subject of his
poems, generally to make the same unfavourable
report as to their sale, and often to receive the same
reply, that since he found the public refused to
sympathize with his effusions, he should cease to
emit them ; but the injustice of the outer world had
turned his thoughts inwards ; he found in the muse
both a recipient for his blighted affections, and a
vent for his aspiring hopes ; and he wrote on, in
spite of neglect, and in defiance of abuse. Kemem-
bering his school-boy's vow, he determined to fulfil
his mission. I had frankly confessed my opinion
that his writings, too subtle and mystical, and even
too imaginative for the public taste, would have a
better chance of success if they exhibited a greater
variety of human character, and a more intelligible
object. Mrs. Shelley says: — "More popular poets
clothe the ideal with familiar and sensible imagery.
Shelley loved to idealize the real, to gift the
mechanism of the material universe with a soul and
a voice, and to bestow such also on the most delicate
and abstract emotions and thoughts of the mind."
When this is extended to a long and not very intel-
176 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
lible allofrorv, the writer must content himself with
an " audience fit, though few." Confessmg his pre-
ference of idealism to reality, Shelley says in one of
his letters, " The Epipsychidioii is a mystery: as to
real tlesh and blood, you know that 1 do not deal in
those articles ; you might as well go to a gin-shop
for a leg of mutton as expect anything human or
earthlv from me."
ThJ " (Edijius Tyrannus; or Swellfoot the Tyrant,"
was transmitted to me in manuscript, with a recpiest
that I would get it anonymously published. Though
I thought it unworthy of Shelley's genius, which
was little adapted to satire, and still less to political
pleasantry, 1 complied Avith his request, little sus-
pecting the dilemma in which it would involve me.
Scarcely had it appeared in the bookseller's window,
when a burly alderman called upon me on the part
of "The Society for the Suppression of Vice," to
demand the name of the author, in order that he
might be prosecuted for a seditious and disloyal libel.
On my denying its li.iliility to this accusation, and
refusing to disclose the writer's name, I was angrily
apprised, that unless I consented to give up the
whole impression to the Society, an action would
instantly be commenced against the publisher, who
stood by the side of the alderman in dcej) tribula-
tion of spirit. To .save an innocent man from fine
and impri.sonment, and the chance of ultimate ruin,
I submitted to this insolent dictation of the Society,
and made holocaust of "Swellfoot the Tyrant" at
the Tn(|uisition Offiec, in Bridge Street, Blackfrians.
Much as Shelley was maligni'd by strangers, none
of tho.se who knew liini ])ersonally had ever spoken
of him except in tcnns of unbounded admiration and
affection. Perhaps no one formed a juster estimate
of his character, and no one was more comjK-tent to
judge, than Lord Byron, who thus describes him: —
BYRON ON SHELLEY 177
" He was the most gentle, most amiable, and least
worldly-minded person I ever met ; full of delicacy,
disinterested beyond all other men, and possessing a
degree of genius, joined to simplicity, as rare as it is
admirable. He had formed to himself a hemi ideal
of all that is fine, high-minded, and noble ; and he
acted up to this ideal, even to the very letter. He
had a most brilliant imagination, but a total want of
worldly wisdom."
CHAPTER XVII
1825—1832
The declining years of Robert Smith — His verse-work —
Family marriages — Death of his second wife — His last illness
and death.
In his declining years Robert Smith lived a quiet
and useful life, devoting himself to his children and
grand-children, and unostentatiously associating
himself with every good work that came to hand.
He observes : —
A retired village life as mine will henceforth be,
can afford but little occasion for remark of any kind.
If I cannot attain to Otium cum dignitatc, I must
endeavDur at all events to escape its opposite ex-
treme, Tedium vita:.
After living at Champion Hill, Camberwell, and
Leyton in Essex, he finally .settled down for the
remainder of his days at St. Anne's Hill, Wandsworth.
Beneath his grave and business-like demeanour
lay a fund of quiet wit and humour, which, whenever
an opportunity offered, found vent in versification.
Thus, when his wife's young niece, wli<» was very
musical, was staying with them, he scribbled her the
following lines : —
178
A MUSICAL JOKE 179
Praise, undeserved, the poet says,
Is satire in disguise ;
But commendation that is just
No j)oet will despise.
ir.
Thus, " Laura, you are much improv'd
In manners and in learning ; "
Now, you will readily admit
That uncles are discerning.
-'o-
III.
Turn to your music-book, you'll find
Rules and instructions plenty,
Selected for the pupil's use,
By Paddon and Clemen ti.
IV.
Give to these rules a wider field,
A metaphoric meaning.
So as to make them rules of life,
Weeding as well as gleaning-.
V.
That every thought, and word, and deed,
May properly avail,
Order it rightly, then sum up
In " Diatonic scale."
VI.
Neither too jj nor yet too b
Be a " Piano " ;
True to your " Time," your ^Tn your q
In "Basso" or "Soprano."
ISO JAMES AXD HORACE SMTTIT
VII.
Tliniigli you ]iave • •, "fret," aii.l tr.
Willi I upright, (.Um't n^
And, slioukl you take a crabbed f^
" Finale," no i^:.
VIII.
Wliene'cr vou feel " con furia " rise,
Restrain it fi-om — =:mi^
This do iu " aniorosa " style,
Dolce
IX.
So manage " Cadence," " Air," and " Grace "
(Vuu play in " Minor" key)
As that the " Dominant " ' produce
A " Perfect-Harmony."
'Twixt Chittagong - and Bedford Square ^
How vast the difference found !
There, all is dismal, dreary waste.
Here, highly culturd ground.
In 1821, his eldest grand-daughter, Marin
(fainiHarly called Mira), had married the Rev. J.
Channing Abdy, curate of St. CJeurge the Martyr,
Southwark, who.se father, the Rev. W. J. Ahdy,
rector of St. John's, Horsleydown, died in IS^.S. The
living being vested in the Cri»wn, his son a]t)ilie(l to
the Lord Chancellor for it. Ho succeeded in his
application contrary to all expectation, clerical
eti(juette being rather against the bestowal of a
* Her governess.
- Her birtliplace. * Her boarding-school.
FROM MRS. S. C. HALL 181
living upon the son of a late incumbent. Abdj's
most formidable rival was a certain Dr. Sampson, to
whom Robert Smith, triumphing in his son-in-law's
victory, addressed the following stanza : —
Sampson, thy hopes upon St. John's,
An Abdy raised, and can extinguish ;
Fathers had merit, so have sons.
And there are patrons who distinguish.
Whatever emanates i'rom Eldon ^
Must of necessity be well done.
Maria Abdy later in life contributed to the Ncio
Monthly and Metropolitan Magazines and several of
the fashionable annuals many poems of considerable
merit, which were collected and printed for private
circulation. After presenting one of these volumes
to Horace Smith's friend, Mrs, S. C. Hall, she
received the following letter of acknowledgment : —
My dear Madam,
A thousand thanks for the charming gift
you sent me. I have read the poems with great
pleasure ; some few are old friends. It was most
kind of you to remember me in this way.
I know you are very busy, for I often see your
name, and you must permit me to add, never with-
out pleasure and advantage.
I am glad you like my young friend Toulmin.
She is a very charming and valuable person, and not
at all tinted with that awful bluism which disfigures
so many literary ladies.
I think a cousin of yours is one of Mr. Hall's dear
friends, Mr. E. M. Ward ; what a noble artist and
estimable man he is.
1 The Lord Chancellor,
182 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
I see Horace Smith's name very lVei|uentl}' in
print, but of late I have not had time to read much
— to my sorrow.
I assure you I sympathize very afifectionately
with yuu in your surruw/ fur I know what your
sensitive nature must endure.
Very faithfully,
Your obliged,
Anna Makia Hall.
The liedonj, Old Bromptotiy
IBth March, 1826.
Mira Abdy had been married nearly nine years
before she was blessed with any offspring. At last
a boy was born ; and when Robert wrote to Mira's
mother (his daughter) congratulating her upon
having become a grandmother, he enclosed these
lines : —
Nonumquc prematur in Annum.
I.
So Mim fancies tliat "prematiir"
Ap])lie.s alike to Art and Nature,
At least, tliat it admits a " may lie " ;
She therefore wait.s " nine year.s " the time,
Then stereotypes her jirose ami rhyme,
And iiuljlishe.s a little baby !
II.
what a theme for spK-en and \V()n<l('r !
"Who ever heard ol hucIi a blunder ?
'Tis all a hoax — a fib — no better."
Nay, ladies, nay, all genend rules
Have their exceptions, in the schools,
And Mira seems to l)e " confined" by letter.
^ Her husband's death.
MORE MARRIAGES 183
III.
What comforts new, what honours too
To Father, Mother ! Me, and you !
Mira is well ! the child alive !
To all of us tlie scene is new,
" Great grand-dad," I, at eighty-two,
You, "Grand-mamma" at fifty-five.
IV.
To guard, however, against jeers,
As to mere words — or meaning,
Tell Mira, that nine months (not years)
Are quite enough for weaning.
And here I close my scrawl, God bless
Mamma and babe ! Adieu.
The marriages of his other grand-daughters came
later on. In 1826 Elizabeth Cadell was married
to Mr. William Oliver, a solicitor of No. 2 Tudor
Street, New Bridge Street, Blackfriars, who attained
considerable eminence in his profession, and lived for
many years at Wimbledon.
On the 16th September, 1828, E,osa,i another
Cadell grand-daughter, was united to Mr. Burgess,
at that time a clerk in the Victualling Office, and
the following year her sister Sophia married Mr.
Henry Leman.
The last family wedding Robert Smith attended
was that of Joanna Cadell.^
June Uh, 1831. — On this day [he says] my grand-
daughter, Joanna Cadell, was married at St. Pancras
1 After the death of Mr. Burgess, she married the Hon. E.
Edwardes, uncle of the late Lord Kensington.
^ The author's mother.
184 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Church to Mr. Henry Beavuii, au attorney in Siick-
ville Street, Piccadilly. ]\Iy daughter and myself
went into a glass coach to the d6jcuncr, given on this
occasion by Mr. Cadell.
Up to the age of 77, Robert Smith had been
troubled with very fewailments, except an occasional
severe cold, the result of constant exposure in
travelling. Then, almost without any warning, and
while his wife was confined to her room by a bad
attack of pleurisy, he was seized with a fit of
apoplexy. He was never again the hearty, robust
(j1(1 gentleman that he had been ; and the gout
inherited from his mother began to show itself in a
peculiar form of cutaneous affliction, most tedious
and tormenting, his eyesight began to fail, and his
strength visibly declined. His intellectual faculties
were as bright as ever, and when the weather
permitted he always drove out in his carriage
to see his daughters, the eldest of whom, Maria,
came to keep house for him just before his wife's
death in 1828, which, after several years of illness,
ha|»pened as suddenly as that of his first wife in
1804.
Robert Smith was now more aiul more dependent
upon his children and grand-children, who were
devoted to him.
Weak as he was physically, his mind was
wonderfully alert, and being asked by his grand-
daughter, Eliza Smith, to compose something for
her album, he wrote as follows : —
DEATH OF ROBERT SMITH 185
Oil, what is Cupid, with his bow and darts,
Coinpar'd to Phillis, and her strange demands !
The little archer only aims at hearts,
She takes our hearts — then asks us for our hands.
But will no Damon check the wild career,
And strive, at least, to shorten the research ?
Now dare to turn the tables on the fair.
By asking her to sign his " album " in the Church 1
At last the summons came. His daughter, con-
tinuing the family journal, writes : —
Septcmhcr 27tli. — On this day my father
breathed his last ! He had fallen into a kind of
stupor attended by difficulty of breathing. He died
quite easily, without pain or struggle.
Thus passed out of the world, at the age of eighty-
five, one of the most upright, kind, unselfish, and
excellent of men.
With characteristic unostentation, he left instruc-
tions that he might be buried " with as little cere-
mony and in as simple a manner as possible," in All
Saints Churchyard, Wandsworth.
CHAPTER XVIII
James and Horace Smith as "Wits and Humorists.
Horace S>riTFT, writing of his brother James,
says : —
He was one of the most agreeable companions
imaginable, and it was difficult to pass an evening
in his company without feeling in better humour
with the AV(jrld ; such was the influence of his in-
exhaustible fund of amusement and information, his
lightness, liveliness and good sense. He was not
very witty or brilliant, nor even very ready at
repartee. Indeed, I am ])rftty sure that most of
the best things recorded of iiim were impromjytusfaifit
d loisir ; but no man ever excelled him in starting
plea.sant topics of conversation, and sustaining it ;
nor was it well ])ossiblo for a party of modi-rate
dimensions, when he was of it, to be dull. The
droll anecdote, the apt illustrati(»n, the shrewd re-
mark — a trait of humour from Fielding, a scrap of
song from the Br'jfjars Oprrd, a knock-down retort
of Johnson's, a C(juplet from Pojje or JJ)ry(len — all
seemed to come as they were wanted, and, as he was
always just as ready to listen as to talk, acted each
in turn as a sort of challenge to the comjtany to
bring forth their budgets, and contribute towards
the feast.
180
JAMES SMITH AND THE JUDGE 187
He was rather fond of a joke at the expense of
his own branch of the legal profession, and always
gave a peculiar emphasis to any line in his songs
that referred to an attorney, as for instance : —
Mr. Barker's as mute as a fisli in the sea,
Mr. Miles never moves on a journey,
Mr. Gotobed sits up till half after three,
Mr. Makepiece was bred an attorney y
Mr. Gardener can't tell a flower from a root,
Mr. Wilde with timidity draws back,
Mr. Ryder performs all his journeys on foot,
Mr. Foote, all his journeys on horseback.
Yet James Smith had the greatest respect for his
profession and instinctive reverence for legal digni-
taries. An invitation to dine with a judge afforded
him more gratification than would a command to
banquet with Royalty itself.
In his day [continues Horace Smith] it was cus-
tomary on emergencies for the judges to swear
affidavits at their dwelling-houses. James was de-
sired by his father to attend a judge's chambers for
that purpose, but being engaged to dine in Russell
Square, at the next house to Sir George Holroyd's,
one of the judges of the Court of King's Bench, he
thought he might as well save himself the disagree-
able necessity of leaving the party at eight o'clock,
by dispatching his business at once ; so a few
minutes before six, he boldly knocked at the judge's,
and requested to speak to him on particular business.
The judge was at dinner, but came down without
delay, swore the affidavit, and then gravely asked
what was the pressing necessity that induced James
Smith to disturb him at that hour. As Smith told
the story, he raked his invention for a plausible
188 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
excuse, but finding none fit for the purpose, he
bhirted out the truth — " The fact is, my lord, I am
engaged to dine at the next house — and — and — " —
" And, sir, you thought you might as well save your
own dinner by spoiling mine ? " — " Exactly so, my
lord, but — " — " Sir, I wish you a good evening."
Though he brazened the matter out, he said he
never was more frightened in his life.
The following well-known anecdote of James Smith
is thus related in full by his brother Horace : —
The many bodil}- infirmities of Charles Mathews,
and more especially the sad accident that lamed him
for life, had tended to irritate a temper which his
extreme sensitiveness sometimes rendered touchy,
though his nature was always kind and genial.
Among his little jr/'andial peculiarities was a ve-
hement objection to mock-turtle soup, on account
of some unwholesome ingredient with which, as he
a-sserted, it was usually thickened. Once I met him
at a party where several servants in succession having
oift ivd him a plate of his " pet abhtjrrence," he at
length lost patience, uttered an angry, " No, I tell
you ! " and petulantly tossing up his elbow at the
.same time, upset a ])ortion of the rejected comjiound
upon his sleeve. Next day, I again encountered him
at dinner, when he related what had occurred, ex-
claiming, " I am delighted beyond measure that ray
coat is spoiled ; I have locked it uj) ; I wouldn't have
it cleane-d for twenty pounds; call to-morrow, and I'll
show you the sleeve ; it stands of itself, stiff as the
arm of a statue. Y«>u wouldn't believe me when I
told you on good authority, that the lawyers sold all
their ])archments to the ])astry-cooks to make some
villainous stuff called glaize or gelatine, or in plain
ANECDOTES OF JAMES SMITH 189
English, glue, out of which they manufacture jelly,
or sell it to our poisoning cooks, who put it into their
mock-turtle to make the gruel thick and slab."
" I have heard of a man eating his own words," said
James Smith, " but if your statement be true, a
man may have unconsciously eaten his own acts and
deeds."
" He may, he may ! " cried Mathews. " Egad,
my friend, I thank you for the hint, it explains all
about my confounded indigestion. Doubtless I
have some other man's ivill, which renders it so in-
subordinate to my own will ; I myself love roast pork
and plum-pudding, but this alien will, transferred
from some lawyer's office to my intestines, will not
allow me to digest them. You have heard of the
fellow with a bad asthma who exclaimed, ' If once I
can get this troublesome breath out of my body, I'll
take good care it shall never get in again,' and I may
Avell say the same of this parchment usurper who
has taken possession of my stomach. How he got
there is the wonder, for years have elapsed since I
swallowed glue — I mean jelly or mock-turtle."
But for felicitous impromptu, the anecdote of
James Smith told by the Rev. Julian Young, son of
the famous actor, Charles Mayne Young, possibly
bears the palm. Mr. Young says : —
When Jesse was preparing for the press his
Gleanings in Natural History, James Smith one
day unexpectedly burst in upon him. The moment
he saw him, he said, " My dear Smith, you have
come in the very nick of time, as my good genius, to
extricate me from a difficulty. You must know that
to each of my chapters I have put an appropriate
heading. I mean by that, that each chapter has
190 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
prefixed to it a quotation from some well-known
author suitefl to the subject treated of, with one
exception. I have been cudgeling my brains for a
motto for my chapter on Crows and Rooks, and cannot
think of one. Can you ? " — " Certainly," said he,
with promptitude, " here is one from Shakespeare
for you ! ' The cause (caws), my soul, the cause
(caws) ! '"
The following is one of James Smith's humorous
compositions : —
At a certain election dinner at Cambridge, the
Mayor sat at one end of the table and Sir Peter
Pawsey, a gentleman of good estate in Lincolnshire,
at the other. Sir Peter's son, a raw, long-legged lad
from Harrow, Avas also at table. After dinner, the
general buzz that frecjuently occurs in a mixed party
Wivs succeeded by a momentary silence. " Here is
one of those awkward ^?a?tscs that one sometimes
meets with at table," observed the Mayor to a doctor
of civil law on his right. The conversation went on,
and in about ten minutes another ces.satiun of talk
suddenly took place. " Here is another of those
awkward ^;rt?tsfs at table," repeated the mayor to the
doctor. " Xot half so awkward as a Cambridge
mayor," belhnved Sir Peter Pawsey, casting a furious
glance at the astonished chief magistrate. The fact
was, the baronet had jjocketed the first supp(^sed
personal affront, which he had taken to himself; but
the scconcl, glancing as it seemed to do, upon his
darling and only son, wa.s too much for his temper's
endurance.
James Smith was in the hal)it of sending Lady
Blessington occasional epigrams, complimentary
scraps of verse, or punning notes, like this : —
AN EPIGRAM 191
The newspapers tell us that your new carriage is
very highly varnished. This, I presume, means
your wheeled carriage. The merit of your personal
carriage has always been, to my mind, its absence
from all varnish. The question requires that a jury
should be impannelled.
The following is an epigram by James Smith upon
a village physician and a vicar who often walked
arm in arm together —
D.D. AND M.D.
How D.D. swaggers, M.D. rolls !
I dulj them both a brace of noddies ;
Old D.D. has the cure of souls,
And M.D. has the cure of bodies.
Between them both, what treatment rare
Our souls and bodies must endure !
One has the cure without the care,
And one the care without the cure.
James Smith was great at " taking off" the foibles
of the Cockneys of his day, his descriptions being
most faithful. Mrs. Dobhs at Home, which ajjj^eared
in the Neiu Monthly Magazine, is perhaps the least
known of these. It is rather a long poem, but the
opening lines are worth repeating : —
What I shall the Morning Post proclaim
For every rich or high-born dame
From Portman Square to Cleveland Row,
Each item no one cares to know ;
Print her minutest whereabouts,
Describe her concerts, balls, and routs,
Enumerate the lamps and lustres,
Show where the roses hung in clusters.
Tell how the floor was chalked, reveal
The partners in the first quadrille —
102 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
How long they danced, till, sharp as hunters,
They sut'down to the feast — from Gunter's ;
How much a (luart was paid for peas,
How nmcli for pines ami strawberries,
Taking especial care to fix
Tlie hour of parting — half-past six?
And should no hard make proclamation
Of routs enjoyed in humhler station ?
Kise, honest Muse, in Hackney roam,
And sing of " Mrs. Dobbs at Home."
He who knows Hackney, needs must know
That spot enchanting — Prospect Row,
So called because the view it shows
Of Shoreditcli Road, and when tliere blows
No dust the folks may one and all get
A peep— almost to Norton Folgate.
Here Mrs. Dobbs at number three
Invited all her friends to tea.
Concerning aldermen and city magnates generally,
James was always good-humouredly sarcastic ; as fur
instance : —
THE CLAPHAM CHALYBEATE
Who has e'er been at Clapliam must needs know the pond
That behmgs to Sir Pjaniaby Sturch ;
'Tis well stock'd with fish ; ami the knight's rather fond
Of bobbing for tench or for perch.
When he draws up his line to decide if all's right,
Moist drops o er his pantaloons dribble ;
Though seldom, if ever, licguiled l>y a bite.
He now and then boasts of a nibble.
Vulgar mud, very like vulgar men, will encroach
Uncheck'd by the spaile and the rake ;
In process of time it envelf)pcd the roach
In Sir Barnaby's Lilliput lake.
Five wfirkmen, well arm'd, and denuded of shoes,
Now fearlessly delved in the flood,
To steal unawares on the Empress of Oaze,
And cast oil the insolent mud.
BONS MOTS 193
The innocent natives were borne from the bog,
Eel, minnow, and toad felt the shovel.
And lizard-like eft lay with fugitive frog
In a clay-built extempore hovel.
The men worked away with their hands and their feet,
And delved in a regular ring ;
When lo ! as their task work was all but complete,
They wakened a mineral spring.
" We've found a Chalybeate, sir," cried the men ;
" We halt till we know what your wish is." —
" Keep it safe," quoth the knight, " till you've finished, and
then —
Throw it back with the rest of the fishes."
These are necessarily but samples of the poetic
humour of James Smith. Of his racy conversation
and Ions mots, alas ! mere scraps remain on record.
My political opinions [he once said] are those of
the lady who sits next to me, and, as the fair sex are
generally " perplexed like monarchs with the fear of
change," I constantly find myself conservative.
" Mr. Smith, you look like a Conservative," said a
young man across the table, thinking to pay him a
compliment. " Certainly, sir," was the prompt reply;
" my crutches remind me that I am no member of the
movement party."
We are enjoined upon grave authority [he once
wrote] to put off the old man. I should be happy
to do so if I could. At present I am flying in the
face of scripture, and putting it on.
Alluding to the obelisk newly erected at the
entrance of the Victoria Park in honour of Queen
Victoria, he said : —
o
194 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
The people of Bath surjias.s tlic Athenian sage.
He merely chewed the pebbles, but, according to the
Morning Herald, at Bath the Victoria Column is in
everybody's mouth !
When one of James Smith's friends remarked that,
since he had obtained a pension, he had ceased to
write, James Smith replied — " I see you are a pen-
shunner."
He used to relate with great glee a story illustrat-
ing the general conviction that he disliked rurality.
He was sitting in the library at a country house,
when a gentleman proposed a quiet stroll into the
pleasure-grounds. " Stroll ! why, don't you see my
gouty shoe ? " — " Yes, I see that plain enough, and
I wish I'd brought one too, but they're all out
now."— "W.ll, and what then?"— "What then?
Why, my dear fellow, you don't mean to say that
you have really got the gout ? I thought you had
only put on that shoe to get off being shown over
the improvements."
Horace Smith's humour was of a different order
from his brother's. Shelley said of him : —
Wit and pcnse,
Virtue and Innnan knowle(l<.!e, all tliat might
Make tliisdiiil world a bu.sinc.i.s of delight
Are all combined in Horace Smith.
His definition oi wit is that it " consists in dis-
covering likenesses, judgment in detecting differ-
ences. Wit is like a ghost, much more often talked
about than seen. To be genuine it should have
KEATS ON HORACE SMITH 195
a basis of truth and applicability, otherwise it
degenerates into mere flippancy."
Here is an instance of his humour in verse : —
THE ENGLISHMAN IN FRANCE
A Frenchman seeing, as he walk'd,
A friend on t'other side the street,
Cried " Hem ! " exactly as there stalk'd
An Englishman along the road ;
One of those Johnny Raws we meet
In every seaport from abroad,
Prepared to take and give offence,
Partly, perhaps, because they speak
About as much of French as Greek,
And partly from the want of sense.
The Briton thought this exclamation
Meant some reflection on his nation,
So bustling to the Frenchman's side,
" Mounseer Jack Frog," he fiercely cried,
" Pourquoi vous dire ' Hem ! ' quand moi passe ? "
Eyeing the querist with his glass,
The Gaul replied — "Monsieur God-dem,
Pourquoi vous passe quand moi dire ' Hem ' 1 "
The poet Keats greatly appreciated Horace Smith's
wit, and in a letter to his brother and sister,
remarks : —
Horace Smith said to one who asked him if he
knew Hook, 'Oh, yes, Hook and I are very intimate.'
There's a page of wit for you to put John Bunyan's
emblems out of countenance.
In a letter to Cyrus Redding, Horace Smith says : —
You came down (to Brighton) last month to take
a shower-bath or two ; if you want warm baths, now
is your time ; and you will have nothing to pay, as
the air will confer them gratuitously.
196 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Shonkl any of the articles I gave yon fi»r the
3Iagazine prove objectionable, you can return thcni
Avhen any parcel is coming from Burlington Street.
They are mere hors-d' ccnvrcs, as the French cartes
say, and do not deserve to be treated ^vith any
ceremony.
Here are a few amusing passages from Horace's
writings : —
At some private theatricals given at Hatfield
House, old General G was pressed by a lady to
say whom he liked best of the actors. Notwith-
standing his usual bluntness, he evaded the question
for some time, but being importuned for an answer,
he at length growled — " Well, madam, if you will
have a reply, I liked the prompter the best, because
I heard the most of him, and saw the least of him ! "
He describes an alderman (for he did not admire
the city fathers) as "a ventri-potential citizen, into
whose mediterranean mouth good things are per-
petually flowing, although none come out. His
shoulders, like some of the civic streets, arc widened
at the expense of the corporation."
A saw he describes as " a sort of dumb alderman,
which gets through a great <l(al by the activity of
its teeth. N.B. A bona-fide alderman is not one of
the ' wise saws ' mentioned by Shakespeare, at least
in ' modern instances.' "
Once, when at Harrogate, observing some pila.stcrs
surmounted with the Cornua Ammonis, Horace ven-
tured to ask the builder to what order they belonged.
HORACE SMITH'S HUMOUR 197
" Why, sir," replied the man, putting his hand to his
head, " the horns are a little order of my own."
Horace was rather severe upon barristers as a
class, but qualified his strictures by remarking : —
All briefless barristers will please to consider
themselves excepted from the previous censure, for I
should be really sorry to speak ill of any man
witJwut a cause.
With Ions vivants he had little sympathy : —
An epicure [he says] has no sinecure ; he is unmade,
and eventually dished by made dishes. Champagne
falsifies its name when once it begins to affect his
system ; his stomach is so deranged in its punctuation,
that his colon makes a point of coming to a full stop;
keeping it up late ends in his being laid down early;
and the hon-vivant who has always been hunting
pleasure, finds at last that he has only been whipping
and spurring, that he might be the sooner in at his
own death !
Writing of epitaphs, he says : —
Sir Christopher Wren's inscription in St. Paul's
Cathedral, " Si monumentum oxqidris circicmsjnce,"
would be equally applicable to a physician buried
in a churchyard, both being interred in the midst of
their own works.
Alluding to the depreciation of house property,
Horace observes : —
What is the value of houses ? It is notorious that
they are everywhere falling, especially the very old
ones ; rents threaten to be all pepper-corns ; house-
owners will not get salt to their porridge, even if
198 JAMES AND J K J RACE SMITH
they distrain upon their tenants, and make quarter-
day a day without quarter.
The word " sack " is found in all languages —
which a profound antiquary has explained by sug-
gesting that it w;is necessary to have that primitive
Avord, in order that every man, when he took his
departure from the tower of Babel, might ask for his
own bag.
Friendship, Horace Smith considered, cannot long
exist amons the vicious —
o
For we soon [he says] find ill company to be
like a dog, which dirts those the most whom
it loves the best. After Lady E. L. and her female
companion had defied public opinion for some time,
her ladyship was obliged to say, " Well, now, my dear
friend, we must part for ever; for you have no
character left, and I have not enough for two."
An umbrella is an article which, by the morality
of society, you may steal from friend or foe, and
which, for the same reason, you should not lend to
either.
The world is a great inn kept in a perpetual
l)Ustlo of arrivals and departures — by the going
away of those who have just ])aid their bills (the
debt of nature), and the coming oi those who will
soon have a similar account to settle.
CHAPTER XIX
Horace Smith's recollections of Sir Walter Scott, Soutliej,
and Thomas Hill of Sydenham.
As I have before remarked, the Smiths — more
especially Horace — could mimber amongst their
acquaintances nearly all the celebrated men of
their day ; but space does not admit of more than
a reference to a few of these.
In company with his friend, Mr. Barron Field of
the Temple, who subsequently became Judge of the
Supreme Court of New South Wales, Horace Smith
journeyed to Edinburgh, where he had the honour
of being introduced to Sir Walter Scott, an event
of which he gives the following account : ^ —
On the 7th of July, 1827, having left Speir's Hotel
in Edinburgh at an early hour, I proceeded to the
Court-house, in which a few persons were already
assembled, awaiting the arrival of the judges. At
one extremity of a railed enclosure, below the
elevated platform appropriated to their lordships,
sat Sir Walter Scott in readiness for his official
duties as clerk of the court, but snatching his
leisure moments as was his wont, and busily engaged
in writing, apparently undisturbed by the buzzing
in the court, also the trampling feet of constant
1 A Greybeard's Gossip about his Literary Acquaintances.
199
200 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
new-comers. The thoughts which another man
woukl have wasted by gazing vacantly around him,
or by "bald, disjuintecl chat," he was probably at
that moment embalming by committing to paper
some portion of his immortal works. Let me
frankly confess that his first apiioarance disappointed
me. His heavy figure, his stopping attitude, the
lowering grey brow, and unanimated features, gave
him, as I thought, a nearer resemblance to a plod-
ding farmer than to the weird magician and poet
whose every look should convey the impression that
he was "of imagination all compact." Quickly,
however, were his lineaments revivified and altered
when, upon glancing at a letter of introduction,
which my companion had ]:)laced before him, he
hastened up to the rail to welcome me. His grey
eyes twinkled beneath his uplifted brows, his mouth
became wreathed with smiles, and his countenance
assumed a benignant radiance as he held out his
hand to me, exclaiming, " Ha ! my brother scribbler !
I am right glad to sec you." Not easily, "while
memory holds her seat," will that condescending
phra.se and mo.st cordial reception be blotted fmm
my mind. On learning that 1 shijuld be compelled
to' quit Edinburgh in two da^s, my fellow-traveller,
Mr. Barron Field, having business at the Lancaster
Assi/X'S, he kindly invited us to dine with him,
either on that day or the next, for both of which,
however, we were unfortunately i)re-engaged.
Though the parties who had thus bespoken us were
barrister friends, from whose .society I anticipated
no small pleasure, most willingly woid<l I have
forfeited it, had I foreseen the great delight and
honour in which I might have participated.
" Positively, I must see something of you before you
leave 'Auld Reekie,'" kindly resumed Sir Walter.
" Suppose, you come and breakfast with me to-
A VISIT TO SIR WALTER SCOTT 201
morrow, suffering me to escape when I must make
my appearance in court." To this proposition we
gave an eager assent, and I need scarcely add that
on the following morning we presented ourselves at
his door, within a minute of the time specified.
Our host was dressed, and ready to receive us ;
his daughter, Miss Scott, presently made her ap-
pearance, shortly followed by her brother, Mr.
Charles Scott. During our short meal, I can recall
one remark of Sir Walter, which, trivial as it was,
may be deemed characteristic of his jealousy in the
minutest things that touched the good reputation of
Scotland. I happened to observe that I had never
before tasted bannocks, when he entreated me, and
earnestly repeated the request, not to judge of them
by the specimen before me, as they were badly
made, and not well-baked. Our conversation chiefly
turned upon Edinburgh, of which city, so grand and
picturesque from its locality, so striking from the
contrast of its old and new towns, I expressed an
unbounded admiration. Our host, however, assured
me that the Highland scenery would have been
found more romantic and imposing, and expressed
his wonder, considering the quickness, facility, and
economy with which it might now ^ be explored, that
I should lose so favourable an opportunity of pro-
ceeding further north, even if I did not pay my
respect to the Hebrides.
A few months before my visit to Scotland, I had
dedicated a little book ^ to Sir Walter, forwarding to
him a copy in which I had endeavoured to express
my great and sincere reverence for his character. . . .
From the breakfast-party I have been describing,
my friend and myself were reluctantly tearing our-
selves away, that our host might not be too late for
the court, and already we had reached the hall,
1 1827. 2 Reuben Apsley.
202 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
when Sir Walter, detaining me by the button, drew
me a little on one side, as he said with a mystifying
smilo and tone : —
" Did it ever happen to you, when you were a
good little boy at school, that your mother sent you
a parcel in the centre of which she had deposited
your favourite sweetmeat, whereof you had no sooner
caught a glimpse than you put it aside that you
might wait for a half-holiday, and cany it with you
to some snug corner Avhere you could enjoy it
without fear of interruption ? "
" Such a thing may have occurred," said I, much
marvelling whither this strange impiiry was to lead.
" Well," resumed my colloquist, " I have received
lately a literary dainty, bearing the name of
(here he mentioned the title of the work I had sent
him). Now, I cannot peruse it comfortably in
Edinburgh, with the daily claims of the Court of
►Sessions, and a variety of other interruptions ; but
when I get back to Abbotsford, won't I sit down in
my own snug study, and devour it at my leisure."
Sir Walter's time, I well knew, Avas infinitely too
precious to be wasted in the perusal of any produc-
tion from my pen; but the kindness of his speech,
and the playful honhommic of his manner, were not
the less manifest, and not the less gratefully felt.
He had politely invited me to visit him at Abbots-
ford when he should return to it, and though I could
not avail myself of his courtesy, I determined to
make actpiainlance with the mansion which, solidly
as he had constructed it, was destined to be the
least enduring of his works. After another hasty
raml)le, therefore, over the most ])ictur('S(jU(' city in
Europe, I bade it a reluctant adieu, and started for
Abbotsford, fraught with abundant recollections and
]»leasant anticijjations, most of which bore reference
to Sir Walter Scott.
ABBOTSFORD 203
Not over pleasant, however, did I find the approach
to his mansion, for the river had been swollen by
heavy rains, the waters threatened to enter our
post-chaise, and the rocky ground sorely tried its
springs. Probably the old abbots never ventured
across the ford, to which they have bequeathed their
name, in a close carriage. The surrounding locali-
ties presented but small attraction, for, though the
far-extending scenery was enlivened by the river,
and its prevailing bareness was relieved by wide
plantations over the demesne, the latter were too
young at that period to assume any more dignified
appearance than that of underwood. By this time ^
they have, probably, grown out of their sylvan
pupilage.
The building constituted a museum of relics so
rich in historical associations, many of them bearing
such immediate reference to some of his novels, that
almost every stone might literally be said to " prate
of his whereabout."
Small as was the armoury in the hall, it excelled
many a larger collection in curiosities, most of the
weapons having an historical or personal interest
attached to them. Some of these were donations
from individuals, but when Sir Walter became a
purchaser of such rarities, he must have laboured
under the disadvantage of raising the market price
against himself The gun of an obscure marauder
could be of little value to any one ; but when it was
known to have belonged to Rob Roy, the hero of a
popular novel, and was to be sold to the author of
the work, it acquired an adventitious enhancement,
which must have rendered its purchase much more
expensive. In the library I noticed a splendidly
bound set of our national chronicles presented by
George IV., one of the very few instances ever
1 1848.
204 JAMES AND IIOUACE SMITH
evinced by that monarch of a taste for books, or of
any attention to an author. In one of liis poems,
Sir Walter cautions the reader that
" He who would soe Melrose an\i,'lit
Must view it ]>y the pale mooulight ;
but as I had been told that he himself had never
taken his oini aduice, I proceeded to visit the abbey
in the daytime, and in my next morning's drive
over a dreary moor of forty miles to Ottorburn, had
abundant time to reflect upon all that I had seen
and heard in the modern Athens, and in the residence
of our age's most illustrious writer.
* * * * *
At Keswick, we visited the poet Southey, Not
without emotion did I })ush l)a(k the swing-gate,
giving access to the large rambling garden in which
his house w^as situated ; not with(jut a rovL-rent
curiosity did I gaze U})on the books of which his
collection was so large that they overflowed their
appropriate receptacles, aii'l 1 liirkly lined the sides of
the stairs up which we ascended.
* « * « «
In a handsome apartment, forming both a lilirary
and silliiig-rouui, we I'uund llie laureate, surrounded
by a portion of his charming family. Of trivial
events I never retain the specific date, l)ut the
honour of an introduction to so distinguished a
writi^r will excuse my reconling that it occurred on
the first day of July. I have not furgotten his tell-
ing me that I had chosen t<jo early a period for
visiting the Lakes, as the weather was seldom
projtitious at that season; and fully did the skies
contirm his assertions, for it rained almost incessantly
during the whole of my st.ay at Keswick. No clouds
or mists, however, intercepted my sight of the
A VISIT TO SOUTHEY 205
laureate, and nothing could be more cordial than
the reception I experienced. His quick eye and
sharp intelligent features might have enabled him
to pass for a younger man than he really was, had
not his partially grizzled hair betrayed the touches
of age. His limbs, too, seemed to share the activity
of his mind, for in the course of our conversation,
requiring reference to some particular book, he ran
with agility up the rail-steps which he had rapidly
pushed before him for the purpose, and instantly
pounced upon it. One of his daughters assured me
that he knew the exact position of every volume in
his library, extensive as it was. That he possessed
few, if any, which he had not consulted, is evident
from the multifarious reading displayed in The
Doctor, the volumes of which are but so many
common-place books of uncommon reading.
We passed the evening at his house, the conversa-
tion generally taking a literary turn ; though I cannot
recall its particular subjects, I remember to have
brought away with me an impression — perhaps an
erroneous, perhaps a presumptuous one — that he
betrayed occasionally more party spirit than was
quite becoming. If I had not been too diffident in
such a presence to disclose my own opinions, he
might, perhaps, have reciprocated the thought. Old
age has taught me to abjure all dogmatism; to
distrust my own sentiments, to respect those of
others wherever they are sincerely entertained. That
so good, so kind-hearted a man as Southey should
write with so much acrimony, not to say bitterness,
whenever he became subject to a political or religious
bias, has excited surprise in many persons who did
not reflect that his residence in a remote country
town, surrounded by a little coterie of admirers,
whose ready assent confirmed him in all his preju-
dices and bigoted notions, must have had a perpetual
206 JA:MES and HORACE SMITH
tendency to arrest his mind and to prevent its
moving forward with the general march of intellect
and liberality.
As a public ^^Tite^, for such might he be deemed
from his intimate connection with the Quarterly
lu'vicv:, he .should have resided in the metropolis.
I have already noticed the injurious effect of a lono-
expatriation upon manners; and though Southey
never left England, his self-banishment from Lon-
don imparted a degree of rigid austerity to his
mind, and literally accounted for its want of urbanity.
Wordsworth, all whose sympathies are with nature,
rather than with towered cities and the busy hands
of men, is in his proper element among lakes and
mountains ; but a critic and a writer, whose business
it is " to catch the manners living as they rise,"
should always reside in a capital city.
Southey made another and a still more unfortunate
mistake when he a])propriated to himself the device
of in lahore quies — when he maintained and acted
upon the theory, that change of mental labour is
(••juivalent to rest, and if he alternated between
history, poetry, and criticism, he would not re(|uire
any relaxation or repose. For any man this would
have been a perilous error, but for one whose se-
questered life, however charming might have been
his domestic circle, admitted little other social
enjoyiui'iit and all(jwed hardly any varieties of
amus(.'ment, a long course of such monotonous labour
could not fail to grow doubly hazardous. But a few
more years had been thus passed when the whole
sympathizing world had occjusion to deplore the truly
melancholy residts produced by this unmitigated
over-exertion of the intellectual faculties, when, to
use the words of his widow, the fiat had gone forth,
and "all was in the dust!"
In 182^5, lung before this calamity, 1 forwarded him
A LETTER FROM SOUTHEY 207
a little work/ of which he immediately acknowledged
the reception in a truly gratifying letter. Most
justifiably might I present a copy of it to the reader
upon the sole ground that every unpublished writing
from such a pen must be acceptable; but I will
frankly confess that I have an additional motive, and
that laudari a laudato viro is an honour which I
cannot consent to forego, when I have such an
excusable opportunity for claiming it : —
Keswick, Nov. 6, 1828.
Dear Sir,
The book, which your obliging letter of the
28th last announced, arrived yesterday afternoon,
and, having this morning finished the perusal, I can
thank you for it more satisfactorily than if the
gratification were still an expected one. You have
completely obviated every objection that could be
made on the choice of scriptural scenes and manners,
and you must have taken great pains as well as
great pleasure in making yourself so well acquainted
with both. In power of design and execution this
book has often reminded me of Martin's pictures,
who has succeeded in more daring attempts than
ever artist before him dreamt of. I very much
admire the whole management of the love-story.
The only fault which I have felt was a want of
repose. How it could have been introduced I know
not, but it would have been a relief. There is a
perpetual excitement of scenery and circumstances
even when the story is at rest, and the effect of this
upon me has been something like that of the first
day in London after two or three years at Keswick.
Young readers will not feel this, and as we advance
in life, we learn to like repose even in our pleasures.
Do me the favour to accept a copy of my Collo-
^ Zillah, a Tale of the Holy City.
208 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
qnics when they sliall be puLlished (;is I expect) in
January. Though they contain some things which
possibly may not accord with your opinions, there is,
I think, much more with Avhich you will find yourself
in agreement, and the prints and descriptive portions
may remind you of a place which 1 am glad to
remember that you have visited.
My wife and daughters thank you for what will
be their week's evening pleasure. So does my pupil
and jilay-fellow, Cuthbert, who, I am glad to say,
feeds uj^on books as voraciously as I did at his age.
Believe me, my dear sir,
Yours, with sincere respect,
Robert Southey.
One of the most amusing and hospitable of the
Smiths' friends was Thomas Hill — the proprietor of
the Monthly Mirror, to which, from 1807 to 1810,
James was a constant contributor — " at whose
hospitable board at Sydenham," says Horace Smith,
" my brother and myself were frequent guests ;
generally encountering some of the popular wits,
literati, and artists, and never quitting his cottage
w^ithout the pleasant recollection of a cordial
welcome, and much convivial enjoyment, among
companions equally distinguished for their solid
attainments and their social vivacity."
Cyrus Redding writes that —
Thomas Hill was a character long known wherever
a quorum of literary men chanced to meet, that
is if he could get admission into it. lit- had
no literary tastes or ac«piirenient.s. His manners
were those of his business, a city drysalter. But
what mattered all this if he himself thought it
THOMAS HILL 209
was otherwise, and in consequence of that idea,
and having been once the proprietor of a little
theatrical periodical, he took a fancy to those in
the " literary line," as he would have phrased it.
He imagined himself a Thames Street Maecenas.
To assume this character, he invited a number of
literary men to his villa at Sydenham. Of the
number were the two brothers Smith, Barnes, after-
wards of the Times, George Colman, Mathews,
Campbell, Hook, and others, who did not object to a
jaunt of eight miles for a merry meeting.
He gave plain dinners and good wine, in exchange
for which his guests used to play upon his idea of
being a literary patron, to his infinite gratification.
They often sat late, and got back to town at the
dawn of morning, on their way giving improvisations,
and reciting, literally, " rh^anes on the road." Camp-
bell, who lived at Sydenham, nearer the summit of
the hill than the drysalter, used to accompany those
townward bound, and take leave of them at a par-
ticular spot, flinging up his hat and wig in the air,
when they parted, he to his two-o'clock bed, and the
rest of the party, or a portion of them, to business
rather than the blankets when they arrived home.
Horace Smith has left the following account of his
Sydenham friend : —
In addition to Hill's besetting sin of imagining all
his own geese, and all the geese of all his friends, to
be swans, he was an inexhaustible quidnunc and
gossip, delighting more especially to startle his
hearers by the marvellous nature of his intelligence,
not troubling his head about its veracity, for he was
a great economist of truth, and striving to bear
down and crush every doubt by ever-increasing
vehemence of manner and extravagance of assertion.
p
210 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
If you strained at a gnat he would insiaiitly give
you a camel to swallow ; if you boggled at an im-
probability he would endeavour to force an impossi-
bility down your throat, rising with the conscious
necessity for exertion, for he was wonderfully demon-
strative, until his veins swelled, his grey eyes goggled,
his husky voice became inarticulate, his hands were
stretched out with widely disparted fingers, and the
first joint of each thumb was actually drawn back-
wards in the muscular tension occasioned by his
excitement. Embody this description in the figure
of a fat, florid, round little man, like a retired
elderly Cupid, and you will see Hill maintaining a
hyperbole, not to say a catachresis, with as nmch
convulsive energy as if he believed it ! And yet it
is difficult to suppose that, deceived by his o\vn
excitement, and mistaking assertion for conviction,
he did not sometimes succeed in imposing upon
himself, however he might fail with his hearers ;
otherwise he would hardly wind up, as I have more
than once heard him, by exclaiming —
"Sir, I affirm it with all the solenmity of a death-
bed utterance, of a sacramental oath."
Blinded by agitation and vehemence he could no
longer see the truth, and went on a.sseverating until
he fancied that he believed what he was .saying.
This, however, was in the more rampant stage of the
disorder ; there was a previous one, in which he
would look you sternly in the face, and in a tone
that wixs meant to be conclusive, and to inflict a
death-bl(jw upon all incredulity, W(»uld cm])halically
ejaculate, " Sir, I happen to hioin it !"
If this failed, if his hearer .still looked sceptical,
he would immediately play at double or quits with
his first assertirm, adding a hundre<l per cent, to it,
and making the- .same addition to the positivencss
with which he supported it, until he gradually
LITERARY PARTIES 211
reached the rabid state, in which he would not
condescend to affirm anything short of an impossi-
bility, or to pledge anything short of his existence
to its literal veracity.
*****
His large literary parties were always given at his
Sydenham Tusculum, which, though close to the
roadside, and making no pretensions to be " a cot-
tage of gentility," was roomy and comfortable enough
within, spite of its low-pitched thick-beamed
ceilings, and the varieties of level with which the
builder had pleasantly diversified his floors. The
garden at the back, much more useful than orna-
mental, afforded an agreeable ambulatory for his
guests, when they did not fall into the pond in their
anxiety to gather currants — an accident not always
escaped. Pleasant and never-to-be-forgotten were
the many days that I passed beneath that hospitable
roof, with associates whose varied talents and in-
variable hilarity might have justified us in despising
the triteness of the quotation, when we compared
our convivial symposia with the nodes coencBque
Dettm.
On those summer afternoons, we mounted the
little grassy ascent that overlooked the road, and
joyfully hailed each new guest as he arrived, well
aware that he brought with him an accession of
merriment for the jovial dinner, and fresh facetious-
ness for the wit-winged night ! Let it not be thought
that I exaggerate the quality of the boon com-
panions whom our Amphitryon delighted to assemble.
If we had no philosophers who could make the
world wiser, we had many a wit and wag who well
knew how to make it merrier. Among those most
frequently encountered at the jollifications were
Campbell, the poet, then occupying a cottage in the
212 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
village, and by no means the least hilarious of the
party; Mathews, and sumetiinos his friend and his
brother comedian, Liston ; Theodore Hook ; Edward
Dubois, at that time editor and main support of the
Month! 1/ Mirror ; Leigh Hunt and his brother John ;
John Taylor, the editor of the Sun newspaper;
Horace Twiss ; ^ Barron Field ; John Barnes, who
subsequently became editor for many years of the
Times newspaper ; and some few others.
Hill never inarri(_>d, and finally tuok cliamburs in
James' Street, Adelphi, wherein he resided till his
death.
At last [continues Horace Smith] the pale sum-
moner, who knocks alike at the door of the cottage
and the palace (the Latin original is too hackneyed
for quotation) founfl his way to the book-groaning
third floor in the Adelphi, and it was announced
that poor Tom Hill was dead : The statement was
not universally believed, for ho had lived so long
that many thought it had become, like his inquisitive-
ness, a habit which he could not shake off. For the
last half-century at least, his real age had been a
mystery and a subject of incessant discussion among
his friends, none of wIkmu could coax or cajole him
out of the smallest admission that might throw
light upon the subject. . . . My brother James once
said to him, "The fiict is, Hill, that the register of
your birth was destroyed in the great fire of London,
and you take advantage of that accident to conceal
your real age."
But Hook went much further by suggesting that
' A iieplicw (jf Mri?. SiiMons, ami one of the executors of
her will. He wa.s an eminent Liwyer and politician, and was
Vice-Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He wrote the
Life of Lord Eldon.
A CHRONOLOGICAL MYSTERY 213
he might originally have been one of the little Hills
recorded as skipping in the Psalms. No counter-
statement that might at least reduce him to the level
of Jenkins or old Parr, was ever made by the ruddy
patriarch. Perhaps he did not know his real age —
at all events, he never told it ; nor could others supply
the information which he himself would not or could
not furnish ; for the Maecenas of Queenhithe not
being cttavis edite regihus, like his namesake of Rome,
there were no known relations, dead or living, who
could throw any light upon this chronological
mystery. It has been stated, on what authority I
know not, that he was only eighty-three when he
died.
CHAPTER XX
Horace Smith's Recollections of Charles Mathews and
TkeoJore Hook.
Between Mr. and ]\rrs. Charles Mathews and the
Smiths a cordial and lasting friendship existed,
accentuated in the case of James by most pleiisant
business relations.
Shortly before Mathews left England for America,
Horace wrote to him, expressing himself strongly
against the contemplated trip : —
BrujUon, 1822.
Dear Mathew.s,
Y(ju have no occasion for your friendly f^ar
that I must have been" first knocked (/Mr;;, and then
vj) by a bus or a cab," since I neither called a second
time at Ivy Cottage, nor availed mj'.self of the box
you were .so kind as to reserve for us. In fact, I
knew nothing of the latter friendly arrangement, as
I was compelled to leave London on Friday, antl did
not receive your letter, which was sent after me,
until yesterday. Best thanks, nevertheless, for your
kind intentions; and you may well suppose that I
Would gladly have .seen you "At Home," both
theatrically and domestically, if I could. The mis-
translation you mention is absurd enough ; but one
might ea.sily find twenty worse cases in our highways
214
ADAPTED FROM THE FRENCH 215
and byways ; for the common people have a strange
propensity to adapt foreign words to their own
familiar notions, particularly in the signs of shops
and public-houses. L Aiguille ct Fit (the needle and
thread) after being corrujDted, perhaps in France,
into L'Aigle d Fils, has been faithfully imported by
our haberdashers as the Eagle and Child. Every
one knows the perversion of Boulogne mouth ; and
the arms of one of the city companies suspended
from an inn at Hounslow with the motto of " God
encompasses us" procured for the house the name
of the Goat and Compasses, — a singular conjunc-
tion, which is now actually figured on the signboard
in lieu of the original arms. I have told you (have
I not ?) of Mrs. Lennox's strange blunder in trans-
lating from the French an account of the siege of
Namur, which is equalled, if not surpassed, by one
of those hacks employed by Cave to do into English
Du Halde's Description of China, most Hibernically
fixing an important occurrence to the twenty-first
day of the neiu moon, having confounded the French
words neuvc and neuvidnie.
I should not, perhaps, intrude the opinion, but
since you ask me how I like your friend — as a
companion, I must frankly answer, not over much.
He is ready and fluent, but it seemed to me to be
a quickness of words rather than ideas. Whatever
subject was started, he appeared to think it neces-
sary to be always eloquent, in which, as well as in
some other respects, he reminded me of " that great
man, Mr. Prig, the auctioneer, whose manner Avas so
invariably fine that he had as much to say upon a
ribbon as upon a Raphael."
Your receiving the thanks and applauses of
for not knowing what you ought to have known
touching his benefit, reminds me of an exploit of
my own, when I w^as a boy at school, and was asked
216 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
the Latin for the word " cowardice." Having for-
gotten it, I ventured to say that the Romans had
none ; which was fortunately deemed a hon mot, and
I got praises and a laugh for not knowing my lesson.
80 you really have serious thoughts of crossing the
Atlantic, and picking Brother Jonathan's pocket
of his dollars after you have thrown him into fits of
laughter, and 3'ou speak of the project as calmly as
if you were about to i\y horn a country where you
had been unhappy and unsuccessful, and from people
who did not appreciate you as you deserve. Why,
you Mammonite, what is to become of ns in your
absence ? You will bo making a fortune at our
expense, not that of the Yankees ; and as to any
pleasure in the trip, lay not that flattering unction
to your soul. The voyage, like all other voyages,
must be a monotonous, objectless, occujiationless,
idealess nuisanro ; and how limited must be the
pleasure of land travelling, even in the finest country
in the world, where there are no human, or at least
no civilized associations — nothing to connect the
past with the present ! "What are rocks, forests,
after your first stare of admiration, where there are
no ruins, no local traditions, no historical records to
lift them out of their materiality, by as.sociating
them with the great names and great achievements
of past ages? You remember what Johnson savs
al)out the plains of Marathon and the ruins of lona.
You may get stimulants to patriotism and j)iety in
many other places than these [of the Old World] ;
])ut what elevating refolleotions can y(ni conjure up
in a new C(juntrv ? Johnscjii has given his opinion
on this very subject (and I say ditto to the D(jctor) —
for when some one asked, " Is not America worth
seeing?" he replied, "Yes, sir, but not worth going
to sec!" That vou will make it worth vour while
Jbiancialhj, I don't doubt — that it will answer your
CHARLES MATHEWS THE ELDER 217
expectations in any other respect, I do doubt ; that
you would do much better to remain quietly where
you are, I am quite sure. My wish may be father
to the thought, but that does not invalidate it. I
and mine to thee and thine.
Ever yours,
Horatio Smith.
P.S. — I saw our witty friend, Dubois ^ in London,
who told me an anecdote in which you figured.
W (so said the wag) pressed you to act for his
benefit in the afterpiece at Covent Garden, which
you said you would willingly have done, but that
you were engaged that night to perform in the after-
piece at the English Opera- House, and could not
cut yourself in half. " I don't know that," replied
W , " for I have often seen you act in two jneces."
Is this true ? or is it one of Dubois' own children ? ^
When Mrs. Charles Mathews was collecting
material for her husband's Memoirs, she applied to
James and Horace Smith for any letters of his that
they might have preserved. The result was very
disappointing. James wrote back : —
27, Craven Street, 1837.
My dear Mrs. Mathews,
I have looked among my letters for any
papers I might have retained of your departed and
lamented husband. I have only been able to find
one, which he sent me from America. I forward it
with this.
I have forborne to intrude upon you with con-
dolences on account of your bereavement, looking as
1 At one time editor of the Monthly Mirror; author of
My Pocket-Booh, etc.
^ Memoirs of Charles Mathews, by Mrs. Mathews.
218 JAMES ANT) HORACE SMITH
I do upon such tributes cas useless. You must
permit me, however, upon this occasion, to dilate a
little upon the subject.
Charles Mathews was one of my first theatrical
acquaintances, and (without disparagement to his
brethren of the sock and buskin), I will add, one of
my most valued friends. He was really what the
poet (perhaps a little too warmly) denominates " the
noblest work of God" — an honest man. Whatever
character he might be called upon to assume on the
stage, he never lost sight of his own. This circum-
stance was properly ap})reciated by the WDrld. He
moved in the best circles of society, and was valued
not less for the originality of his talents than for the
excellence of his moral character. His public ad-
mirers and his private friends are equal sufferers
from his premature departure.
Believe me to remain.
Yours with great esteem,
James Smith.
With Horace Mrs. Mathews was even less suc-
cessful, but his reply gives a capital risuvid of
Mathews' excellent qualities. He wrote : —
lirijhton, October 2, 1837.
Dear Mrs. ]\Iathews,
I am both sorry and ashamed to confess that
of the many letters received at various times from
the friend whoso loss I shall nevt-r cease to deplore,
I do not retain a single line in my pos.session.
I am sorry, because it prevents my complying
with your request ; and ashamed, because my con-
scii'ure now reproaches me with not having attached
sufficient importance to his ever pleasant communi-
cation.s. It is some consolation to know that I have
not served him worse than others, the fact being.
'ALAS, POOR YORICK!" 219
that I have always been glad to get rid of letters
as fast as I could. While unanswered, I contemplate
them as accusing angels; I hate them afterwards
for the compunctuous visitings they awakened before
I could summon resolution to reply to them ; and
with this feeling veiled under an affected dislike to
the accumulation of papers, I commit them to the
flames as soon as I can. For my offence in this
instance I ought to stand in the pillory with the
never-sufhciently-to-be-anathematized cook, who
lighted her kitchen fire for several months with
unique old plays taken from a trunk in her master's
library.
"Alas! poorYorick! . . . a fellow of infinite jest,
of most excellent fancy. Where be your gambols
now ? Your songs ? your flashes of merriment that
were wont to set the table in a roar ? " By how
many thousands has this hackneyed quotation been
uttered with reference to Mathews ; but, alas ! how
few can feel it so deeply, so poignantly, so irrecover-
ably, as those who were of his own immediate circle,
and could therefore appreciate the charm of his
society, whether in his moods of inexhaustible
sprightliness, or when the rich stores of his pene-
trating mind were suffered to flow forth in rational
and instructive conversation never long unembel-
lished with some amusing anecdote.
Not only do I find it impossible even now to
reconcile myself to his loss ; but at times, strange as
it may sound, I can hardly believe in its reality.
He was not of an age to justify any anticipation of
such an event ; he seemed so well in health and so
full of glorious glee when I last saw him ; it is so
difficult to imagine that he Avho was all vitality,
who was, as it were, the very life of life, should be
snatched from the convivial circle and consigned to
the cold dumb grave, that one may well be pardoned
220 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
for striving, even against conviction, to avoid the
pang of so heart-withering a thought ! and when
it forces itself upon one's belief, it brings with it
the aggravating reflection that the loss is utterly
irreparable. There was but one Charles Mathews
in the world — there never can be such another !
Mimics, buffoons, jesters, wags, and even admirable
comedians, we shall never want ; but what are the
best of them compared to Jiim ? Hyperion to a
Satyr ! He was the only original imitator I have
ever encountered, for while others satisfied them-
selves with endeavouring to embody their originals,
he made it a study to mcntalizc them. I am obliged
to coin a word, but my meaning is, that while he
surpassed all competitors in the mere mimicry of
externals, he was unique in the subtlety, acuteness,
and truth Avith which he could copy the mind of
his prototype ; extemporizing his moods of thought
with all those finer shadings of the head and heart
that constitute the niceties of individual character.
As this intellectual portraiture demands a much
higher order of talent than corporeal mimicry, so it
is enjoyed with a much more ex(piisite zest by those
who can ap])reciate its diflieulty. Others might
produce the image, and elaborate a faithful likeness,
but Mathews alone held the Promethean torch that
could vivify and animate it. You and I know full
well that in this manner his own suggestions, crea-
tions, and mental mockeries, were the very soul of
his entertainments at the Strand Theatre, although
they were written and methodiztMl by others. For
this the public gave him little credit, any more than
for the extraordinary powers of memory evinced
in the.sc unrivalled performances, Avith their numer-
ous songs, and the ad iihitinn patter between the
versos, very often varied with each enrorr. I re-
member his telling me that in a single week at
MATHEWS IN SCOTLAND 221
Edinburgh he had given as many, I think, as four
different " At Homes," and all without book, note,
or memorandum,— an effort of memory which I
apprehend to be totally without parallel.
A promos to his performances in " Auld Reekie/'
which I visited some years ago, I recollect Sir Walter
Scott mentioned them to me in terms of the highest
admiration, adding expressions of sincere respect and
friendship for the individual apart from all public
and professional claims. Perhaps, there has never
been a comedian who, while he lived in the full
roar of popularity on the stage, was so universally
and so thoroughly respected in private life, as Mr.
Mathews. This it is that has made his loss so
deeply and so widely felt. What numerous friends
he possessed in England, Scotland, Ireland, America,
to say nothing of the community at large, and how
truly we may affirm that in his instance, even more
extensively than in that of Garrick, his death " has
diminished the public stock of harmless pleasure,
and eclipsed the gaiety of nations ! "
Tragedians, it has been observed, are generally
sprightly and jocose, while comedians and profes-
sional jesters not unfrequently sink into dejection
or even confirmed hypochondria — a tendency which
may easily be explained upon the principle of action
and reaction, for the efforts of both classes are very
exhausting, and they can only unbend by taking
an opposite direction to that which has fatigued
them. We may sit in one posture, until, like the
tailor in the pit of Dublin theatre, we are glad to
stand up to rest ourselves. Our minds like our
bodies seek relief in contraries — a fact which is
exemplified in nations as well as individuals. The
habitually vivacious French find relaxation in cold,
stern, unimpassioned classical tragedies ; the taci-
turn melancholy Englishman is solaced by fun, farce,
o o o
JAMES AXD HORACE SMITH
and foolery. I don't think Charles Mathews ex-
hibited in any marked degree this ])rofessi()nal bent
of mind ; but when severed from Ivnnc and his usual
resources, he certainly did seem to require pretty
constant excitement to keep him from stagnating,
as he called it, though I myself liked his quiet moods
not less than his joyous and hilarious ti-iumphs. It
was only the ditfcrence between still and sparkling
champagne. Some like the effervescence more than
the flavour of the wine, others the reverse ; and
Mathews, in his various moods, could charm and
gratify every taste. But if I run on with the list
of his various and high qualifications, I shall never
have done ; and I must, therefore, devote the slip of
paper that remains to the assurance that I am, with
sincere regard, dear Mrs. Mathews,
Yours fiiithfully,
Horatio Smitii.^
Horace Smith, contrasting the wit and humour of
his friend Theodore Hook with that of Charles
^lathews, says : ^ —
Far different was the effect produced by the un-
varied and irrepressible ebullience (A Theodore
Hook's vivacity, which was a manifest exuberance
from the conjunction of rampant animal spirits, a
superabundance of corporeal vitality, a vivid si-nse
of the ludicrous, a con.sciousness of his own un-
])aralleled readiness, and a self-pos.session, not to say
an effrontiTv, that nothing could daunt. Indulging
his natural frolicsomeness rather t(j amuse himself
than others, he was not fastidious about the quality
of his audience, whom he would startle by some out-
rageous horseplay, or practical joke, if he found
• Memoirs of Ch(irle.<i Mufheirs.
' A Greybeard's Gossip about his Literary Acquaintances.
THEODORE HOOK 223
them too stupid for puns, jests, and songs. Thus
you were always sure of him ; he required no pre-
paration, no excitement, he was never out of sorts,
never out of spirits, never unprepared for a sally,
however hazardous.
The century must have been young when I first
met him at the house of the late Nat Middleton
the banker, then living in Charles Street, St. James's
Square. A large dinner-party was assembled, and
before the ladies had withdrawn, the improvisatore
was requested to favour the company with a song ;
his compliance was immediate and unembarrassed,
as if it were an affair of no difficulty ; and the verses,
turning chiefly upon the names of the guests, only
once varied by an allusion to some occurrence of
the moment, were so pointed and sparkling, that I
hesitated not to express my total disbelief in the
possibility of their being extemporaneous, an oj)inion
which some " good-natured friend " repeated to the
singer. " Oh, the unbelieving dog ! " exclaimed the
vocalist. " Tell him if I am called upon again, he
himself shall dictate the subject and the tune, which
of course involves the metre ; but it must be some
common popular air." All this took place, and the
second song proving still more brilliant than the
first, I made a very humble palinode for my mistrust,
and expressed the astonishment and delight with
which his truly wonderful performance had electrified
me. Not without difficulty, however, had I been
enabled to believe my own ears, and several days
elapsed before I had completely recovered from my
bewilderment, for, as an occasional rhymester, I could
well appreciate the difficulty of the achievement.
Some months after this encounter, while on my
way to call upon a friend in Bedford Square, I was
overtaken by so sudden a storm of thunder, lightning,
224 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
and min, that I took shelter in the doonvay of a
house in Charlotte Street, where I had hardly
ensconced myself, when a figure ran helter-skelter
to my side, seeking, as I imagined, the same protec-
tion as myself. It proved, however, to be Thecxlore
Hook, who, after expressing his pleasure at our un-
expected meeting, told me that the house was his
father's, and, opening the door with a latch-key, asked
me to put into the paternal port until the storm
was over; an invitation which I readily accepted,
and was ushered into a small back drawing-room, his
own peculiar sanctum, which an associate of his
thus describes :—" The tables, chairs, mantelpiece,
piano, were all covered with a litter of letters, MS.
nuisic, French plays, notes, tickets, rhyming diction-
arros; and not a seat to be had." Such was his
plight at the time of my induction, with the addition
of a half-finished bottle of wine, of which, after
offering me a glass, he tossed off a large bumper, so
early were sown the seeds of that propen.sity which
gained u})on him so lamentably in after-life ! The
day was sultry, the windcnvs had been left o])on, so
had the piano, at which Hook seated himself, and
looking up at the sky, while he accompanied himself
on the instrument, he sang in rhyme an extempor-
aneous defiance of the still raging storm, in terms so
daring and unmeasured, that while I was surprised
by his cleverness 1 was intinitely ast(junded by his
outrageous audacity. We all know that a thunder-
storm, the merely fortuitous strife of the elements,
is produced by the collision of air-driven clouds;
but the certain destructivencss and uncertain direc-
tion of the death-fraught electric spark, and the
lingering delusion, not unassociated, perha])s, with
our boyi.sh recollecti(ms of the Jupiter Tonans, that
these terrific fulminations are the voice of an
offended deity, are calculated to awaken a feeling of
A SADLER'S WELLS BURLETTA 225
vague solemnity, even in the minds of the most
reckless. Not such, however, was its effect upon
Hook, who, as the storm died away, a result which
he attributed to his own menaces, began to imitate
the retiring thunder on his instrument.
" Are you not afraid of the fate of Salmoneus ? " I
inquired.
" No, but the storm is afraid of me," he replied ;
and at the same time throwing down one of his
gloves as a gauntlet, he sang a challenge to the
clouds, inviting them to return and renew the con-
test, if they were not satisfied with the defeat they
had already sustained.
Let not any one accuse him of intentional pro-
faneness; it was the mere outburst of boisterous
temerity, proceeding from intoxication of animal
spirits, and a desire to astonish his auditor, in which
latter object he certainly succeeded.
Retaining his seat at the piano, after the con-
clusion of his strange escapade, he asked me whether
he should give me an extempore opera scene with
imitations of the principal performers, or a Sadler's
Wells burletta, such as was then currently per-
formed in that suburban theatre. The latter won
my preference, and most complete, as well as enter-
taining, was the performance. The morning song
of Patty the dairymaid, as she sallied forth to milk
her cows, the meeting, and the duet with her rustic
lover, Hodge ; the scolding of the cross old mother
at her staying away so long from the cottage ; her
vindication by the good-tempered father — all given,
music as well as words, in an unpremeditated trio ;
the advent of the squire — his jovial hunting-song —
his dishonourable proposals to Patty, and their
indignant rejection — his quarrel with Hodge, who
upbraids him with his base attempt — his ignomini-
ous retreat, and the marriage of the happy pair,
Q
226 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
announced by a merry peal from the village bells,
were all presented with such a perfect imitation of
the Sadler's Wells libretto, as well as of the cha-
racters introduced, that his promptitude and versa-
tility filled me with an indescribable amazement.
A rollicking buffoonery, and puns, and jests, and
extemporaneous songs, and practical jokes of the
most matchless impudence, were Hook's predominant
characteristics ; but he occasionally indulged a quiet
drollery, not less laughable than his witty flashes.
I once met him at a dinner-i)arty, where his spirit
seemed to be rebuked by the presence of two solenm-
looking elderly noblemen, until, the subject having
turned upon Shakespeare, one of the company ob-
served that the only individual of all his acquaint-
ance who thought that illustrious poet over-rated,
was Perry, of the Moi'ning Chronicle.
" This excites no surprise in me," said Hook, very
gravely. "You must recollect that the bard has
gone out of his way and substituted one beverage
for another, for the express purp(jsc of passing him
by, and showing him a slight."
" Beverage ! Slight ! What can you mean ? "
demanded tw(^ or three voices.
" Why, in that well-known line — 'To suckle fools
and chronicle small beer' — is it not manifest that
he cnight to have written — Chronicle Perry ? "
Sheer as was its absurdity, the address of the
remark, and the dry seriuusness with which it was
propounded, shook the commoners with laughter,
and even elicited a smile from the peers.
Often have I sat upon tenter-hooks for fear of the
consecjuences, while Hook has been playing off his
pranks with an impertinence that could hardly fail
to be detected and resented ; and more than once
have I known him to be indebted to his legs for his
escape. When supping with him one night at the
HOOK AS PREACHER 227
Hummums, he made such a point-blank attack by
mimicry and every species of annoyance upon a
corpulent respectable-looking country gentleman
sitting in the same box, that at length he turned
fiercely round upon his tormentor, exclaiming —
" What the devil do you mean by this impertin-
ence ?
" My dear sir," replied Theodore, blandly, " my
meaning can be explained to your entire satisfaction
if you will allow me to say one word to you at the
door of the coffee-room."
" Well, sir, well," growled the stranger, " I do
expect entire satisfaction, and am ready to hear
what you have got to say."
With which words he stalked to the door, which
he had no sooner reached, than Hook resumed —
" You are to understand, sir, that I have laid a
wager with my friend that I can run to the pit-
entrance of Drury Lane Theatre faster than you
can. Mind, we are to start when I clap my hands ; "
which signal he instantly gave, and took to his heels
with a speed that soon carried him out of sight of
his fat and fuming victim.
By the same safe but not very dignified expedient,
did he extricate himself from a still more perilous
dilemma at Sydenham. One Sunday afternoon, a
party of us were strolling through the village just
as the inhabitants were returning from church, when
Hook, having suddenly turned-down his shirt-collar,
pushed back his curly hair, and assumed a puritanical
look, jumped into an empty cart by the roadside, and
began to hold forth in the whining tones of a field
preacher. Gathering ourselves in front to listen to
him, we formed the nucleus of a congregation,
which presently included a score or two of open-
mouthed labourers and country crones. So enthusi-
astic and so devout were the sham preacher's manner
228 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
and matter, that ho cominanck'd the deep attention
of his audience, until, with a startling change of
voice and look, he jxiurod forth a vollov of loud and
abusive vulgarities, jumped from the cart, and ran
across the fields, pursued by a couple of incensed
rustics, who soon, however, abandoned a chase
which they found to be hopeless. That we might
not be suspected of any participation in this gross
and inexcusable outrage, of which, indeed, all of us
were really innocent, and many of us completely
ashamed, we joined in the fierce indignation of the
bystanders, fully assenting to their ]irediction that
the ])erpetrat()r would inevitably come to be hanged
in this workl, and be provided with particularly
warm (juarters in the next. . . . An absence of
several years from Englan<l, and my subsequent
residence in a provincial town, so completely separ-
ated me from Hook, that though I often heard of
his "sayings and doings," I only caught infrequent
personal glimpses of him. Rumour had a]iprised
me that he had been living to(j fast in a financial
sense ; and his bloated, unhealthy appearance gave
me painful assurance at every fresh interview that
the remark was e(pially applical)le to his social
habits. The last time I hafl the ]tleasur<' of dining
in his company was in the year l.S-iO, at the Lmulm
residence of the late Lady Stepney. At this period
his customary beverage was brandy and cham|»agne
in e<|ual ]>ortions with an infusion of some stimulat-
ing powder, which he generally carried about with
him. A])petite for food set^ned to have nearly
failed him, but In- sought comjjensatioii in clmm-
pagne, and 1 could ])erceive little or uu diminution
of his customary vivarity and his witty .sallies.
Willingly taking his })lace at the piano in the
drawing-room, he connnenccd, "by particular desire
of several persons of distinction," with the favourite
A MISERABLE MERRY-ANDREW 229
mock cathedral chant of" The Little Birds do sing ; "
after which he was prevailed upon to treat us with
an extempore song, which proved as prompt, spark-
ling, and felicitous, as the best effusion of his best
days. In the midst of it, Sir David Wilkie stole
into the room, making his salutations in a whisper,
lest he should disturb the singer, who was so far
from being disconcerted that he immediately intro-
duced him to the company as
" His worthy friend, douce Davy Wilkie,
Who needn't speak so soft and silky,"
since his entrance, instead of interrupting him, had
supplied him with another verse. A minute or two
afterwards, a particle of candlewick fell upon the
arm of Miss B , an incident which the vocalist
instantly seized, by addressing the lady, and de-
claring that it excited no surprise in him whatever —
" Since he knew very well, by his former remarks,
That wherever she went she attracted the sparks."
In this impromptu style, his tumbler being duly
replenished, he continued to delight and astonish
his auditors, until, at the warning of the tell-tale
clock, striking the little hours, they tore themselves
reluctantly away.
Poor, dear, fascinating, mirth-dispensing, body
and m.ind-afflicted Theodore Hook ! From such
scenes, from courtly bowers, and festive halls, and
lordly saloons, where flattery, homage, worship, a
living apotheosis, were lavished upon him by starred
and gartered grandees, jewelled peeresses, bright-
eyed belles, and the elite of the hccm-mondc, the
miserable merry-andrew dragged himself to his vm-
blessed home, utterly exhausted both in frame and
mind, to bewail, in bitter compunction, his ruined
230 JAMES AXD HORACE SMITH
prospects, his ever-increasing embarrassments, liis
waning health, his wasted life, and the felt approaches
of that death which would leave his creditors un-
paid, his children and their mother utterly destitute !
The firework had been played off; it had flashed
and sparklod, and scattered light and cheerfulness
around, delighting all by its evor-changing and ever-
charming forms and hues; and nothing now was
left but the darkened, unsi(2rhtlv frame-work of the
wheel, worn, wasted, and shattered by its own
brilliant gyrations under an artificial and self-con-
suming iuipulsc. A few weeks before the dinner-
l)arty at which I had seen him lioni~inf/ in all his
glory, and ap])arently sharing the hapjiinoss that he
conferred, he had made the following entry in his
diary —
"January 1st, 1840. — To-day another year opens
upon me with a vast load of debt and many
incumbrances. I am suffering under constant
anxiety and depression of spirits, which nobody who
sees me in .society dreams of; but why should I
suffer my own private worries to annoy my friends ? "
He died the next year, and was buried in Fulham
churchyard ; but few nKnirners, and none of an}' rank
or fame, following him to the grave. Not thvy !
More deeply would they have regretted the lo.ss of
a favourite living dog than of their dead lion 1 The
popular ])layer, mountebank, and buHuon had taken
his benefit in the way of invitations, b;ui(|uets, jolJiH-
cations, metropolitan revels, and the run of rural
castles, when a man of genius and pleasantry was
wanted to enliven the dulne.ss of the guests; and
the .sacrificers had now nothing further to do with
or for their victim. No, nor for Iiis victims! the
produce of his books and other effects, about £2500,
having been surrendered to the Cnnvn as the
])nvileged creditor, and his children and their mother
A COSTLY PRANK 231
being thus left penniless, a subscription was opened
for their assistance, to which the King of Hanover
generously transmitted £500, probably in grateful
remembrance of the able assistance he had received
from Hook's pen, when a malignant and groundless
outcry was raised on account of the suicide of Sellis,
His Majesty's German servant. Some of the friends
of the deceased in middle life came forward with
liberal donations ; but few, very few, of those who
had either profited as politicians by Theodore Hook's
zeal and ability, or courted him in their lofty circles
for the fascination of his wit, were found to show
any feeling for his unfortunate offspring.
The practical jokes of Theodore Hook, especially
in the early portion of his career, were sometimes
senseless ; and in these " questionable freaks," as
he dubs them, Horace Smith confessed that he
occasionally participated.
There is a local tradition amongst the oldest in-
habitants of Fulham, that Hook, who was in the
habit of driving about that remote suburb in a
curricle, one evening drew up at the door of the
Golden Lion, a tavern dating back to the time of
Henry VII., and engaged " mine host " in earnest
" horsey " controversy. Presently, leaving his com-
panion to continue the discussion, in which the
landlord, who prided himself upon his knowledge of
horseflesh, had become intensely interested, he
entered the house, and, knowing his way about,
contrived, unperceived, to enter the cellars, where
he deliberately turned on the taps and removed the
spigots from the casks not in use, until the entire
232 JAMES AND HORACE SMTTII
stock of ale and porter was H(j\ving away in .slreanis.
The astonishment and indignation of the owner,
who, after seeing Hook drive away, found his cellar
flooded with malt-liquor, may be imagined ; and a
pretty stiff bill for damages reminded Hook that
" pranks " were sometimes rather costly forms of
amusement.
JAMES SMI I II.
CHAPTER XXI
The personal appearance of James Smith — His habits — His
social circle — His clubs— His love of London — Eevisits Chig-
well school — His last illness and death.
The personal appearance of James Smith was
decidedly striking. In his prime — when Rejected
Addresses was published (1812) — he was considered
to be one of the handsomest men about town. Tall,
straight-limbed, and well-proportioned, blue-eyed,
and fresh complexioned, his hair growing well back
from a noble and intellectual forehead, the manly
beauty of his person was evident, even in the unlovely
dress of that period, with its heavily-lapelled, deep-
cuffed coats, tight-fitting pantaloons, and stiff cravats
that perpetually seemed to threaten apoplexy or
strangulation. His manner was that of a polished
well-bred gentleman, combined with a singular
fascination of address. No one could better appre-
ciate courtesy in others than he who possessed it in a
marked degree. Later in life, depressed and enfeebled
by ill-health, his natural animation somewhat failed
him ; but no amount of suffering could extinguish the
cheerfulness of his countenance when in congenial
society, or dim the merry twinkle in his eyes that
233
•2-M JAMES A^D HORACE SMITH
from long usage had contracted an habitual look of
drollery, ever ready, at the prompting of anything,
animate or inanimate, to find articulate utterance in
some witty saying. Even his painful malady he
made the subject of a now well-known epigram —
The French have taste in all tliey do,
While we are left without ;
Nature to them lias f,'iven (joi'if,
To us has given gout.
He was a confirmed bachelor. His father used
often to expostulate with him, instancing his own
happy experience of matrimony — but in vain. After
one of these attempts to shake his son's resolution,
the good old gentleman made the following entry in
his Journal : —
Sejjtemhcr 4, 1829. — I went with my daughter
Maria in a fly to call upon my son James, in Austin
Friars. The gout has made ravages upon his health
and personal comfort, but his spirits, I understand,
have not much fallen off, I wish that he had taken
to himself a ])rudent wife with good connections and
a sufficiency of fortune to comf(jrt him in his declining
years' This wish I have often expressed to himself
and to his brother Leonard, who also has preferred a
bachelor's life to that of a married man.^
James Smith's celibacy [says Horace] proceeded
rather from t(jt< discursive than too limited an admir-
ation of the sex. To the latest hour of his life, he
exhibited a maiked })reference for the young, the
' Leonard Hubserjuently married a Miss Lane, a West Indian
cousin, and died su<ldenly, January 14th, 1837, leaving no
cliildren.
A CELIBATE 235
intelligent, and the musical ; and never concealed his
dislike of a dinner-party composed exclusively of
males. It will be seen that even in the many hours
of solitude and sickness that threw a shade over the
closing scenes of his life, he does not appear even to
have regretted his bachelorship.
Many were the jokes he made against his unmarried
state, one of which he wrote in his niece's album —
Should I seek Hymen's tie,
As a poet I die —
Ye Benedicts, mourn my distresses !
For wliat little fame
Is annexed to my name
Is derived from Bejected Addresses.
• His habits were most methodical and regular ; but,
the day's labours over, he was ready for any gaiety
and recreation. He almost lived in the theatres, and
the passion that survived all others was his devotion
to the drama. Having excellent judgment, he was
often consulted by actors upon matters of their own
art; and so inMlible was his memory that they
frequently applied to him for the dates of half-
forgotten plays they themselves had figured in.
Being pre-eminently sociable he was a great diner-
out, and, although never a hon vivant^ possessed a
keen appreciation of the niceties of gastronomy, and
was a good judge of wine. So wide was his circle of
acquaintances that no dinner-party of any importance
was considered complete without his lively presence
and amusing conversation.
1 Thougli he was not fastidious , he had a particular aversion
to certain popular dishes, such as venison pasty, ratbit pie,
calves' heatl and bacon, tripe, mutton broth, and mackerel.
23G JAMES AND HORACE .SMITH
His fiivourite salon was that of Lady Blessington,
the beautiful, accomplished, hut wayward leader of
fashion, at Seamore Place, Curzon Street, and at Gore
House, Kensington, where he met all the celebrities
of the day — Thomas Moore, Walter Savage Landor,
Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Samuel Lover, Benjamin
D'Isracli, etc., etc. At these assemblies, crippled as
he was, and forced to wheel himself about in a kind
of invalid chair, he had always something pleasant
and witty to say to everybody, his best Ions mots and
brightest smiles being reserved for his fascinating
hostess.
Perhaps, his most intimate friend was Count
D'Orsay, wlio, he always declared, was unrivalled in
his combination of good sense and gaiety. On one
occasion, James Smith met the Countess Guiccioli at
Gore House, and after dinner they became very
confidential, exchanging reminiscences of Lord Byron,
Shelley, and Leigh Hunt, whom she had met in Italy,
and for the remainder of the evening they enjoyed an
uninterrupted fefc-d-tefc. Shortly afterwarfls, on
setting down James Smith at his house in Craven
Street, D'Orsay remarked, " What was all that
Madame Guiccioli was saying to you just now ?"
" She was telling nic her apartments are in the Rue
de Rivoli.and that if I visited the French capital she
hoped I would ntjt forget her address," replied James.
" What ! It took all that time to say that ! Ah !
Smeeth, you old liumbug ! that won't d<»."
James Smith thus describes a dinner at the future
Lord Lytton's : —
DINING WITH BULWER 237
Saturday, December 23, 1838. — I dined with E.
L. Bulwer, at his new residence in Charles Street,
Berkeley Square, a splendidly and classically-fitted up
mansion. One of the drawing-rooms is a fac-simile
of a chamber which our host visited at Pompeii, —
vases, candelabra, chairs, tables to correspond. He
lighted a perfumed pastille modelled from Mount
Vesuvius. As soon as the cone of the mountain
began to blaze, I fancied myself an inhabitant of the
devoted city ; and, as Pliny the Elder, thus addressed
Bulwer, my supposed nephew —
"Our fate is accomplished, nephew. Hand me
yonder volume ; I shall die as a student in my
vocation. Do you then hasten to take refuge on
board the fleet at Misenum. Yonder cloud of hot
ashes chides thy longer delay. Feel no alarm for
me. I shall live in story. The author of Pclham
will rescue my name from oblivion." Pliny the
younger made me a low bow.
Occasionally James Smith joined the family dinner
parties of his friend and medical attendant. Dr. Paris,i
of Dover Street, Piccadilly, whose eldest son, Mr.
Tom Paris, recalls the f;\ct that in his mother's
drawing-room, James Smith used to sing The Last
Shilling and other humorous songs; "we children,"
he says, " standing round and in a measure held in
check by his commanding presence, and his odd way
of changing from a laugh to a grave expression with
^ Dr. Paris was a physician of considerable eminence, famous
for the extent and accuracy of his chemical knowledge, and for
his popular lectures on Materia Medka. In 1844 he became
President of the Royal College of Physicians, and was annually
re-elected until his death in 1856.
238 JAMES xVND HORACE SMITH
a solemn stare at the young faces still laughing. I
can see him now in my mind's eye."
James Smith Avrote the following lines to his
favourite physician on his birthday : —
Namesake of Helen's favourite boy,
Will) sliunnM the martial fray,
May all your days be days of joy,
Like this, your natal day.
My votive u'lass, not pledj^ed by stealth,
I fill at Bacchus' shrine ;
Ami thus, convivial, drink your health,
Whose skill establish'd mine.
To Mr. Tom Paris he sent the following epi-
gram —
" Ox Tom's First Tail Coat
At the loss of your jacket, Tom, cea.se to repine,
Let some younger Harrow boy nab it.
Your form you have alter'd,and I have changed mine,
We both are the creatures of habit."
At Ivy Cottage, Fulhain, James Smith was the
ever welcome guest of Charles Mathews ; and ho
was frequently to be seen at the hospitable board of
I\Ir. Francis Fladgate, a solicitor, of Essex Street,
Strand. Fladgate, who was a fellow-member of the
Garrick Club, anfl had pronounced dramatic tastes,
lived in an unpretending but very com fort; dili- house
in Bromj)ton, not far from Thurloe Stpiare, whcic he
gave the most delightfully informal little dinners, at
which were present such nun as Planche, Harrison
Ainsworth, the Kembles, Count D'Orsay, and the Rev.
li. If. Baiham, of Ingohlshy Lrgciuh fame, whose
A WITTY SOLICITOR 239
daughter,! from quite an early age, generally went
with her father when he dined out, and has a de-
lightful recollection of the bright conversation and
gaiety that characterized these gatherings.
Fladgate was a most interesting man, his memory
well stored with anecdotes of the older Kean, Kemble,
and other great lights of the stage ; and as recently
as 1888, when Henry Irving produced Macbeth at
the Lyceum, Fladgate gave his friends at the Garrick
a most vivid delineation of how the part had been
acted by the old school, and forcibly described John
Kemble's method of representing the " Stranger."
W. Jordan says that Fladgate was one of the
Sydney Smith species of wits (who are rare), and
was so prolific in piquant sayings that, if all were
remembered, they might fill a volume. When Ellis-
ton was in treaty to become the lessee of Drury Lane
Theatre, he gave way to more than his usual excite-
ments, and, consulting his legal adviser at all hours
in no very proper state, was thus addressed by Flad-
gate — " Hang it, sir, there is no getting through any
business with you, who come to me fresh drunk
every night and stale drunk every morning."
As might be expected from his habits and disposi-
tion, James Smith was what Dr. Johnson said of
Boswell — a " very clubbable man," and belonged to no
less than three clubs, something to be rather proud of
in the first forty years of the present century. In the
year 1800 there existed only about half-a-dozen of
1 Lady E.-A. Bond, widow of the late Princijjal Librarian of
the British Museum.
240 JAMES AND HORACE S.ALITH
these convenient resorts, and at the time of James
Smith's death (1839), there wore but twenty-one,
with which contrast the number contained in the
most recent list of principal London clubs. First of
his clubs in importance was the Athemeum. He wiis
one of the original members whose names appear in
the private printed list, dated 22nd June, 1824, other
members in that year being — The Earl of Aberdeen,
Lord Abinger, Lord Blessington, Sir Francis Burdett,
Thomas Campbell (the poet), Sir Astley Cooper, the
Rt. Hon. John Wilson Croker, Isaac DTsraeli, Henry
Hallam (the historian), Sir Henry Holland, Charles
Kemble, Samuel Rogers (the poet), Horace Twiss,
.1. :\I. Turner, R.A., the Duke of Wellington, Sir A.
Westraacott, R.A., Sir David Wilkie, R.A., Roger
Will)raham, Rev. Thos. Malthus, Dr. Magee, Bishop
of Dublin, the Earl of Mansfield, Charles Mathews,
Thomas Moore (the poet), William Mulready, R.A.,
Viscount Palmerston, Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A.,
C. R. Leslie, R.A., and H.M. Leopold, King of the
Belgians.
In August and September of 1831 private meetings
were held at Drury Lane Theatre, and subsecpiently
at No. 3, Charles Street, to consider the founding of
a new club, to be called after the immortal Garrick,
" for the purpose of bringing together the i)atrons of
the drama and its professors, and also for offering
literary men a rendezvous." I'he jirime movers in
the matter were Sir Andrew Ijuniiird the banker,
Francis Mills, Esq., Samuel J. Arnold, Es(j., Samuel
Beazley, Esq., Loi'd Kinn.iird, the Earl of Mulgrave,
THE GARRICK CLUB 241
and Sir George Warrender, Bart. The first general
meeting was held at Charles Street, when it was
decided that the number of members should be
limited to three hundred, the first hundred to consist
of the founders and their friends ; the second hundred,
of those who might be introduced and guaranteed by
three members ; and the third hundred to be balloted
for in the usual way.
James Smith was among the fortunate second
hundred, and his name was enrolled October 1st, 1831.
Probatt's private hotel. No. 29, King Street, Co vent
Garden 1 — long since demolished — was taken on lease,
and with a few alterations, made sufficiently commo-
dious. It was open for members on the 5th of
February, 1832, and on the 13th an inaugural
dinner was given, when one hundred and eight mem-
bers and friends were present and H.R.H. the Duke
of Sussex occupied the chair. A charmingly appro-
priate song, written by the Rev. R. H. Barham,^
was admirably sung by Braham.
The following is an extract from the list of the
principal members of the Garrick in 1835 : —
The Marquess of Anglesea,K.G.,the Earl of Chester-
field, the Duke of Devonshire, K.G., the Earl of Mul-
grave (President), the Hon. Fulke Greville, Lord
Arthur Hill, Captain Gronow, M.P., the Rev. R. H.
Barham, Thomas Forbes Bentley, John Murray,
Samuel Rogers, Sir John Soane, James Sheridan
^ From King Street, the Club removed to its present house in
Garrick Street.
^ Not, as W. Jerdan relates, by James Smith.
B
242 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Knowles, Richard Brinslcy Sheridan, William Jordan,
F.8.A., Nathaniel and Anthony Rothschild, P. N.
Talfourd (l)arrister), Francis Flad,£?ate (solicitor),
W. M. Thackeray, J. R. Planche'-, Theodore Hook,
Clarkson Stanstield, Charles John Kean, Charles
Kcmble, William Macready, Charles Mathews,
Charles Mayne Young, John Braham, Captain
j\Iarryat, etc., etc.
Of such talented and respectable " good fellows "
was the club composed; yet Frasers Magazine for
November 1834 ^ scurrilously attacked James Smith,
and the members of the club generally, in language
which I reproduce only to show to what depths a
leading periodical could descend in those days : —
There sits James Smith with his feet pressing a
soft cushion, his el1)ows dro})ped by the arms of an
easy chair, his hand resting on a crutch, his hair
departed from his head, his nose tinged with the
colours of the dawn, and his whole man in a state of
that repose which indicates that he has had much
work in his way while .sojourning in this world, and
that, like Falstaff, he is taking his ease in his own
inn, the Garrick — a club of gentlemen which in a
great measure would answer the description given by
that worthy knight r)r his companions in arms, as
being principally composed of " gentlemen of com-
panies, slaves as ragged as Lazarus — discarded, un-
just .serving-men, younger sons of younger brothers,
revolted tapsters and ostlers trade-fallen." Ainong
them sits James Smith, regaling them with joke-s,
which, if they are not (piite so good as FalstaWs, have
at leiust the merit of being as old. . . . But let him
have his praise. His single talent was a good talent,
' Gulknj of Literary Character, No. 54.
"OF THE SMITHS, SMITHISH" 243
and there is no reason why he should wrap it up in a
napkin. We have already alluded to the universal
diffusion of his name among us English folk, and its
trite and ordinary sound in our ears. It is, perhaps,
more congruous on that account with the station
which he has chosen to hold in our literature. His
place there is of the Smiths, Smithish. In his own
magazine essays, it is a favourite pastime to represent
Mr. Deputy Higgs of Norton Folgate apeing the
great, and very much disparaged for the parody. To
Scott, to Southey, to Wordsworth, to Byron, Smith
is what this Norton Folgatian is to the gentlemen of
White's. He is, therefore, well named ; and let him
not repine at his " compellation," as in former days,
when, walking in Oxford Street Avith Wilson Croker,
he observed over a shop door, " Mortimer Percy,
tailor." " Is it not too hard," said James, then fresh
from all the honours of the Rejected Addresses about
him, " that two such grand and aristocratic names
should be the lot of a tailor, while two wits and
gentlemen are moving about the street, afflicted with
the names of Croker and Smith ? "
" No — the name is right — ;
And may the Garrick hail with lond acclaims,
For many a year, the gouty jokes of James."
Among the relics and mementoes preserved at the
Garrick is a crutch-cane, presented to the club
by R. G. Clarke, Esq., in 1855, once the property of
gout-afflicted James Smith, to whom it had been left
by General Phipps, a member of Lord Mulgrave's
family, who had purchased it at Venice,
But James Smith's favourite as well as earliest
club, was the Union in Trafalgar Square, to which he
was elected on the 11th of February, 1823, his proposer
244 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
and seconder being General Phipps and Mr. Pascoe
Grenfell, M.P. This club was founded in 1821, for
politicians of whatever party, mercantile and profes-
sional men, together with what James Smith described
as "gentlemen at large." The army and navy ele-
ment was then more pronounced in the club than it is
at present, and there were more peers of the realm.
Amongst James Smith's contemporaries were Lord
Athlone, Viscount Gage, Viscount Torrington, the Earl
of Buckinghamshire, the Hon. F. Bertie, the Rt. Hon.
W. Huskisson, Sir J. M. Doyle, Sir Henry Rycroft,
Sir T. Hislop, Sir E. Antrobus, Sir J. Fellows, etc.,
etc.
In his latter years, when infirmities were upon
him, James Smith found the Union most convenient,
it being only a couple of hundred yards or so from
Craven Street, a distance that he could just manage
to compass by means of his crutch-sticks. He used
to go there at about three o'clock in the afternoon,
and at six o'clock, when the drawing-room became
deserted, he adjourned to the dining-room, where he
usually dined off haunch of mutton or lamb chftps,
when in .season, restricting himself to a single half-
pint of sherry. Then he would convey himself to the
cozy library on the first fioor, and read until nine,
call for a cup of coffee and a Ijiscuit, continue reading
until eleven, and home to bed.
Craven Street, Strand, is one of those old-fashioned
thoroughfares pecidiar to the locality, which lead to
the river, Xo. 27, where James Smith lived in the
evening of his life, is a three-storeyed house, near the
CRAVEN STREET 245
bottom of the street, on the left-hand side from the
Strand. It has a curious miniature bow- window on
the drawing-room floor, and appears to be unaltered.
This modest establishment was carefully presided
over by a housekeeper, of whom he wrote : —
May, 1838. — Mrs. Glover reminded me on Tuesday,
that on that day she had just been twenty- four years
in my service. What a lapse of time ! How different
was I then from that which I am now ! then a rollick-
ing, lively, fresh-coloured man of the town, running
from dinner to rout, and from tavern to opera ; and
now quiet and contented, with all my social eggs in
one basket. May the basket never break !
Although a confirmed metropolitan in his tastes,
with little or no liking for " grinding the gravel," as
he used to call an excursion out of his beloved London,
he went for many successive summers to Mulgrave
Castle in Yorkshire, on long visits to Earl Mulgrave
(the present Marquis of Normanby's grandfather).
Nearer home, he frequently stayed at Sheen, near
Guildford, at his friend's the Rev. Torre Holme, to
whom he bequeathed his well-known portrait by
Lonsdale, of Berners Street.
For Chigvvell, the scene of his school-days, he
retained a great affection, and after a lapse of fifty
years revisited it, jealously noting every change that
had taken place. He writes —
Strange that a village should survive,
For ten years multiplied by five,
The same in size and figure.
24G JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Knowinf; nor plenty nor distress —
If f'liik-il l)y IdrtuiR', wliy no less?
11' favoureil, why no bigger ? ^
Time had not effaced the image of Nancy, the
pride of Chigwell Row, who so distracted the elder
Chigwellians in church, for Smith took the trouble to
seek her out. He writes : —
I pass the Vicar's white abode
And pondering gain the upward road,
By l)U>y thoughts o'erladen,
To where 'the pride of Chigwell Row'
She lives — a handsome widow now,
As erst a lovely maiden ! ^
Could James Smith resume this life and look in at
his old school, he would find there a "Smith"
dormitory, so called in honour of the authors of
Bcjeded Addresses, and on each side of the library fire-
place he would come face to face with presentments
of himself and his brother Horace. In the Chigwell
Kalcadar, he would, amongst many im])ortant
entries, c<jme acnxss the dates of his birth and
death, also those of his brother. In short, he would
find that it is the tradititm of the school to be " very
proud " of having had a shar^' in the education of the
Smiths, 2>«'* noliile fratrum.
James Smith's patience in suffering was remark-
able. Ill' buic his ever-increasing attacks of gout
with great fortitude, seldom alluding to his malady,
and checking all reference to it on the ])art of others.
Til tlie presence of visitors he tried to tlirow ofV(\cn
* C'hujwdl Revisited. "^ Ibid.
THE LAST ILLNESS 247
the appearance of invalidism. When he required
medical advice, he used to dispatch the following
characteristic bulletin to Dr. Paris.
27, Craven Street.
Feverish! please call upon,
Yoiors truly,
James Smith.
He wovdd not permit even his nearest relations to
nurse him. The faithful Mrs. Glover was the only
person from whom he would accept assistance.
In the early part of 1839 he was seized with acute
influenza, which, combined with a very bad attack of
gout, so completely upset him that his life was
almost despaired of. He recovered, however, for the
time, and joined his brother Horace at Tunbridge
Wells, where, though quite crippled, he seemed to
rally in an extraordinary manner, regaining all the
buoyancy of his youth, singing, jesting, and laughing
with his nieces from morning to night.
Alas ! the candle was only flickering in its socket
prior to extinction. With the last days of the year,
though his pain was much lessened, he knew that he
was approaching his end, which he regarded with
philosophic resignation. As Christmas Day drew
near, he rallied for a short period, and thought him-
self justified in accepting an invitation to dine with
Dr. Paris on that festive occasion ; but in the mean-
time, his malady assumed a fatal form, locating in
the vital organs, and at two o'clock on the morning
of December 24th he quietly passed away in the
sixty-fifth year of his age.
248 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
At his own request, he was buried with the utmost
privacy in the vaults of St. Martin's Church. No
commemoration tablet marks the house where he
died, nor does " storied urn or animated bust " any-
where recall his name. But he is not forgotten ; and
if it be a merit to have added to the world's store of
wit, and to have contributed to the innocent happiness
of hundreds, James Smith lived to some purpose, and
we should "keep his memory green."
CHAPTER XXII
The later literary works of James and Horace Smith.
Apparently contented with the success of his
contributions to the Rejected Addresses, and wanting
all motive for serious effort, James Smith henceforth
produced only what may be regarded as fugitive
pieces.
He contributed to the Neiu MontJdy Magazine from
its commencement in 1821 ; and he composed mis-
cellaneous sketches, etc., in prose and verse, which,
after his death, were brought together and published
by his brother. He also wrote the text for Charles
Mathews' entertainments, the most important of
which were The Trip to France and The Country
Cousin. For these he received the handsome sum
of £1000. They were written in the years 1820 —
1822; but long before, as Mrs. Mathews relates in
her Memoirs of Mr. Charles Matheius, James Smith
had been the collaborator of that gifted comedian.
Says Mrs. Mathews : —
In the course of this winter, 1808, Mr. Mathews
conceived the idea of performing An Entertainment ;
yet, doubting the possibility of one pair of lungs
249
250 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
being cable to furnish strength sufficient fur three
consecutive hours' exertion, " the occasional assist-
ance of Mrs. Mathews in the vocal departnient " was
called in as a iiiako-wcight, and as the entertain-
ment was only intended to be represented in York-
shire, where I had been always received with
])artiality, such an auxiliary was not altogether
insignificant to the end desired.
Our friend, Mr. James Smith, kindly undertook
to write some songs suitable to Mr. ^lathews'
peculiar powers ; and to link together certain de-
scriptions which he had heard him give, of eccentric
characters, manners, and ventriloquy. So excellent
was the whole, that it proved brilliantly successful ;
and this first effort of actor and author, after ten
years became the foundation of that extraordinary
series of At Homes upon which my husband's
great professional reputation was perfected. Among
the songs, llic Mail Coach and JJartholomav Fair,
which Mr. Mathews afterwards sung till all playgoers
were familiar with them, were the most po])ular;
and though introduced so long ago, and on eveiy
possible occasion, they were as full of })oint and
attraction in the year 1818, as if then heard for the
first time. . . . How deejtly my husljand considered
himself t(j be indebted to Mv. Smith for connecting
ami iipplying in .so masterly a manner the matter
which was before him, and for the humorous songs,
written so admirably to display the oi'iginal jxjwers
of the singer, may be imagined. 7'Jic Mail Coach
and Bartholohicw Fair were the first of their chu^s,
and might be said, like the two bags of gold, to be
the fruitful parents of many more, well known to
the jiubiic as belonging peculiarly to Mr. Matliew.s.
For this in\alual)le service Mr. Smith declined
anything like payment, and would at length only
allow my husband to i>reseut him with some trivial
A NOVEL CASE 251
remembrance. Mr, Smith's acknowledgment of this
trifle offers so agreeable an evidence of his liberal
feelings, and his friendship for my husband, that I
cannot resist inserting it here.
" Basinghall Street,
July 8, 1808.
Many thanks, my dear sir, for your present. Your
kindness has caused you to overrate my poor abilities ;
though you do no more than justice to the alacrity
with which I endeavoured to serve one for whoso
private worth and professional talents I entertain so
high an esteem. I barely supplied the outline ;
your initiative skill supplied the colouring and
finish.
Had I leisure for the undertaking, I certainly
should endeavour to exhibit your powers in a more
dramatic form, and transplant my weak pen from
the lecture-room to the stage ; but other avocations
prevent such an attempt.
It is rather a novel case, that the ' pursuit of the
law ' should save a man from damnation.
With best compliments to Mrs. Mathews, believe
me,
Dear sir, very truly yours,
James Smith.
To Charles Mathews, Esq."
Quite different was it with Horace Smith, who,
although he postponed all serious effort until he
retired from business, could not keep his pen quite
idle. The hankering after dramatic fame ever
strong within him, he wrote, in 1813, a five-act
comedy entitled First Impressions, or Trade in the
West; also a farce called The Absent Apothecary,
the fate of which production, he says, effectually
252 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
cured him of his aspiration to become a play-
writer.
The authorship of the former had been carefully
kept from all but his friend, Mr. Barron Field, at
whose chambers he had agreed to dine on the night
of its first representation. Mr. Langsdorff, an attache
of the Bavarian embassy, was present, but he did not
divine the reason for drinking success " to the new
play." After dinner the three went together to
Drury Lane Theatre, and took their places in the
pit.
All went smoothly [says Horace Smith] until the
delivery of a claptrap speech by one of the actors, to
the eftect that money raised in England for a single
charity, often exceeded the revenues of a whole
German principality. " Vot is dat ? " whi.sj)ered
Langsdorff" to the author; " docs he lof at dc Jair-
mans ? den, I shall damn his hlay." Whereupon, in
spite of Field's protestations, he set up a low hiss,
which presently awakened sympathetic though not
very alarming echoes in various ])arts of the house.
Every piaygDor knows that a sound of this sort, like
a snowball, gathers as it rolls, and that even an
individual goose seldom fails to obtain .sympathizing
responses from his own flock. At first no particular
eff't-'ctwas produced, but the unpacitied (Jerman, con-
tinuing to renew the experiment, succeeded at length
in establishing a decided opposition.
The unfortunate author, sitting upon thorn.s, but
endeavouring to look particularly comfortable, when
the fate of the comedy seemed doubtful, sought to
avoid suspicion by venturing now and then on a
"FIRST IMPRESSIONS" 253
gentle sibillation, delivered sotto voce, more in sorrow
than in anger, and with the natural tenderness of a
father correcting his own child. But, as the clamour
became louder, and the failure of the play appeared
more certain, his anxiety to escape detection was
pushed to such nervous excess that he even com-
menced a vociferous cry of " Ojf/ Off!" Presently,
however, a change came over the spirit of the house ;
two or three scenes in succession had won manifest
favour, and when the author, still more excited by
some fresh but very partial signs of disapprobation,
would have renewed the cry which Langsdorff was
ever ready to commence, it was put down by still
louder and more clamorous exclamations of " Silence !
turn them out ! turn them out ! " Peremptory as was
the mandate, the playwright gratefully obeyed it,
and even his German neighbour was compelled to
hold his tongue ; the piece was given out for repeti-
tion without a dissentient voice. It was acted
twenty nights successively, and though possessing
but little merit, it could claim the distinction of
being the first instance (since the days of the
Countess of Macclesfield and Savage) where the
condemnation of the offspring has been eagerly
sought by its own parent.
But Horace Smith was not cured of his craving
for fame as a playwriter, until the following episode
occurred. He was about to bring out a farce, the
great success of which was so confidently predicted
by the performers during the rehearsals, and more
especially by his friend Tom Dibdin, himself an
2.j4 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
experienced dramatist, that the author, in an un-
lucky hour, consented to the insertion of a notice in
the Moi'ning Chronicle, assigning to him the author-
ship of the forthcoming piece, entitled T}(c Absent
Apotlicceiry.
Horace Smith, however, iiad his own misgivings
on the subject. Writing to his friend Horace Twiss,
he says : —
Dear Twiss,
Black Fate hangs o'er me, and the avenging
gods. Will you witness my damnation to-morrow
night, which they desire me to expect ?
I wish you would go, you are a good laugher,
though I do not promise that you ouglit to laugh.
Yours truly,
H. Smith.
Tuesday night.
That he might witness his anticipated triumph in
comfort without being seen, Mr, lljiymcjnd gave him
admission to his own private box at ])rury Ljine,
which adjoined the corner of the two-shilling gallery,
where the playwright took his seat. Frinn the com-
mencement there was a furious contest between the
supporters and the assailants of the new piece ; and
during a lull in the ujjroar, Smith heard a savage-
looking fellow in the gallery clo.se to his elbow,
exclaim to a friend of the .same stamp, " I say. Jack,
if I could get hold of the precious ass that wrote
the rubbish, I'm bles.sed if I wouldn't take and
chuck hiui right over." Not having the lea.st wish
to be thrown overboard by the gallery gods, the
"THE ABSENT APOTHECARY" 255
author quietly left the box and stole down-stairs,
believing that, if discovered, he would be torn in
pieces by the dissentients, so furious had they
become.
On reaching the outside of the theatre, and
finding himself shrouded in friendly darkness, he
felt as if he had just saved his life, and was hasten-
ing away, when an irresistible desire to learn the
fate of his bantling drew his step backwards to the
stage-door. Nobody being there, he crept in, un-
observed, and stealing to the rear of the building
where a solitary lamp just served to make the
darkness visible, stationed himself beneath it,
listening to the loud conflict that agitated the
invisible audience. While thus occupied, two scene-
shifters approached his retreat, and recognizing him,
for they had frequently seen him at the rehearsals,
one said to the other in a pitying and patronizing
tone, " Tell you what, mate ; I shouldn't mind
betting a pot of porter that this here farce looks up
a'ter all."
Far from being consoled by the opinion of these
discriminating critics, the author felt so humiliated
by their commiseration that he again left the
theatre, and betook himself to the coffee-room of
the Hmnmums, where his brother had appointed to
meet him and communicate the final decision of the
audience. Soon did the herald appear, but with a
sinister and flushed expression. The farce had been
most unequivocally condemned !
Next morning, as he was threading his way
2.jG JAMES AND HORACE S:\rTTIT
through unfrequented streets for fear of encountering
any of his acquaintances, his eye glanced upon a
play-bill before which he stood transfixed, for it
announced a second performance of The Absent
Ajyothecary. There it was in huge red letters,
which appeared to grow in size as he rubbed his
eyes and looked again and again. Then he ran to
Golden Square, where lived the stage-manager,
whom he luckily found at home.
" Surely, sir, this must be some dreadful mistake,"
was his ejaculation as soon as he recovered breath
enough for speech.
"No, indeed, my friend, no mistake whatever; all
right, all right."
" All right ! I thought my unf(jrtunate force was
imequivocally condemned last night ? "
"So it was. With all my experience, I have
seldom seen a hostile opinion so very decidedly and
generally expressed."
"In the name of heaven, then, Avhy have you
announced it for repetition ? "
"On that very account; for the public will be so
very indignant at seeing it brought forward again,
that they will come by hundreds to confirm their
sentence — there will be a famous uproar as .soon as
it begins — I shall then go fonvard as manager, and
pledge myself to its withdrawal, and by this means,
you see, we shall be sure of a bumi)cr."
"And .so for your bumper house, for which I don't
get a farthing, I am to undergo a second martyr-
dom ? "
"BRAMBLETYE HOUSE" 257
The manager gave a shrug of the shoulders, not
less significant than Lord Burleigh's celebrated
shake of the head.
Horace Smith took his departure, vowing that he
would never again attempt to write for the stage ;
and he kept his word.
In 1825, when Horace Smith returned from
Versailles, some of his miscellaneous pieces were
collected, and, under the title of Gaieties and
Gravities, were jDublished by Henry Colburn.
After a brief sojourn in London he went to
Tunbridge Wells, where he lived for three years at
Mount Edgcombe Cottage, and wrote Braiiibletye
House, published by Henry Colburn in 1826. In
this historical novel, he availed himself of romantic
incidents connected with the Cromwellian and
Restoration period of English history, and largely
helped in developing a taste for that particular style
in tales of adventure.
It is of course a truism that Sir Walter Scott had
previously, in 1822, introduced it in Feveril of the
Peak, and when Horace Smith forwarded to Scott a
copy of Bramhletye House he modestly admitted that
his intention in writing that book was to follow in
the footsteps of the Master of romance.
Brighton, 5, Hanover Crescent,
July 4, 1826.
Sir,
As I never proposed any other object to
myself, in my novel of Bramhletye House, than to
produce a humble imitation of that style which you
258 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
have so successfully introduced into the department
of literature, I was so far gratified by the sale of the
first two editions, as it proved that I had made some
little approach towards my model. The call for a
third I believe to be mainly attributable to the
generous notice which you condescended to take of
me in the Preface to Woodstock, for which I should
sooner have taken the liberty to address you with
my thanks, but that I waited to request your accept-
ance of a copy. Requesting you to do me the fav(iur
of now accepting it, I have the honour to be, with
the most unfeigned admiration of your talents.
Sir,
Your obliged and obedient humble servant,
Horatio Smith.
Scott, on the other hand, in the Preface to which
Horace Smith alludes, gracefully states that Bram-
hldyc House might, to a certain extent, claim priority
over his o^vn work : —
" Hawks," we say in Scotland, " ought not to i)ick out
hawk's eyes," or live u])on each other's (juarry ; and,
therefore, if I had known that, in its date and in its
characters, this tale was likely to interfere with that
recently published by a distinguished contemporary,
I should uncpiestionably have left Doctor IvDche-
cliffe's manuscri})t in peace for the present season.
But before I was aware of this circumstance, this
little book was half through the press; and I had
only the alternative of avoiding any intentional
imitation by delaying a peru.sal of the contemporary
work in question.
Some accidental collision there must be, when
works of a similar character are finished on the same
general system of historical manners, and the same
SIR WALTER SCOTT 259
historical personages are introduced. Of course, if
such have occurred, I shall be probably the sufferer.
But my intentions have been at least innocent, since
I look on it as one of the advantages attending the
conclusion of Woodstock, that the finishing of my
own task will permit me to have the pleasure of
reading Bramhkfi/e House, from which I have hitherto
conscientiously abstained.
Sir Walter kept his word to the letter; in his
Diary we read : —
25, Pall Mall, Oct. 17, 1826.
I read with interest during my journey. Sir John
Chiverton and Braiiibletyc House. . . . They are
both clever books ; — one in imitation of the days of
chivalry — the other (by Horace Smith, one of the
authors of Rejected Addresses) dated in the time of
the Civil Wars, and introducing historical characters.
Later, in the same Diary, Sir Walter Scott admits,
with amusing naivete, his own undetected sins as
regards crihling, while condemning its undisguised
practice by others.
October, 1826.
Another thing in my favour is that my contem-
poraries steal too openly. Mr. Smith has inserted
in Bramhletye House whole pages from De Foe's Fire
and Plague of London. Steal ! foh ! a fico for the
phrase — Convey, the wise it call ! When I convey
an incident or so, I am at as much pains to avoid
detection as if the offence could be indicted at the
Old Bailey.i
1 Lockhart's Memoirs of the Life of Sir TV. Scott, 1837.
2G0 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
In his excursions about Tunbridge Wells, Horace
Smith came across a ruined mansion in Ashdown
Forest, Sussex, that had been dismantled by Crom-
well's troops. Years afterwards it had been set fire
to by a half-crazy woman; and as there happened to
be an unsuspected store of gunpowder in the cellars,
the house was blo-svn up. Horace Smith took this
spot as the scene of his book, to which it gave the
title, and introduced the incident of the explosion.
The romanticism inseparable from the Elizabethan
and Carolian age always had a peculiar fascination
for him ; and his friend, C}tus Redding, was right in
regarding a visit they paid together to Penshurst as
the determining cause of Horace Smith's adoption
of this interesting style.
Bramhldye House long retained its popularity, and
has frequently been republished. A j^ropos of this
novel, Horace Smith, writing to Mr. S. C. Hall in
reference to a MS. he had sent to the New Monthly
Magazine, says : —
October]!, 1831.
10, ILmover Crescent.
I am sorry you should deem the smallest apob>gy
necessary lor returning my MS., a duty which
every eflitor must occjisionally exercise towards all
his contributors. From my domestic habits and
love of occupation I am always scribbling, often
without due considcraticjn of what I am writing, and
I only wonder that so many of my frivolities have
founrl their way into print. With this feeling, I am
always grateful towards those who save me from
committing myself, and aoquiesce very willingly in
their decisions. In proof of this, I will mention a
A FATHER'S CRITICISM 261
fact of which I am rather proud. Mr. Colburn had
agreed to give me £500 for the first novel I wrote,
and had announced its appearance, when, a mutual
friend who looked over the MS. having expressed
an unfavourable opinion of it, I threw it in the fire,
and wrote Bramhletye, House instead. Let me not
omit to mention, to the credit of Mr. C, that, upon
the unexpected success of that work, he subsequently
presented me with an additional £100.
Yours very truly,
Horatio Smith.
Robert Smith criticized Bramhleh/e House in his
Journal as follows : —
(1829) I have omitted to notice in its proper
place that early in the present year my son Horace
published a little work in three duodecimo volumes,
called Braiiiblctye House, or Cavaliers and Roundheads.
It has hit the public taste, and has had a great run.
For my own part, I do not much relish these
" historical novels," in which truths are so much mixed
up with fiction as to confound the unsuspecting
reader. Besides, Horace has too often erred in
giving to some of his characters the vulgar habit of
swearing, etc., a fault which will not fail to give
offence to serious characters, without having in it
anything to ^j/casc the light and thoughtless. I
have hinted to him my opinion upon this defect ;
though I do not perceive that any of his critical
reviewers have noticed it.
Stimulated by the success of Brarnhletye House,
its author produced in the same year The Tor Hill,
also published by Henry Colburn. This deals with
the Reformation period, and the scene is laid in the
262 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
neighbourhood of Glastonbury Abbey. Although
interesting, it bears traces of hasty writing, and
deserves the verdict pronounced by its author's
father : —
Towards the present month (October), my son
Horace published another book in three volumes
duodecimo, called The Tor Hill. In my opinion, it
comes out too soon after Bramhlctyc House. Authors
should take sufficient time for digesting their plans
and correcting errors. In this respect Horace has
forgotten the advice of his Latin namesake,
Nonuiniqiie prematur in annum. He has not taken
as many months.
There was no second edition of The Tor Hill, but
it was translated into French by Defauconpret of
Paris.
Ptcuhen Apslcy, an historical novel of the time of
James II., followed in 1827 ; and in the course of
the next year came Zillah, a Tale of the Holy City.
They were both brought out by Colburn, and of the
latter work there were two editions and a French
translation.
Horace Smith, in a letter to Cyrus Redding, says
(in the postscript) : —
Will you tell Colburn, when you see him, that
Zillah is the most appropriate name he coilld choose
for my novel ? I find that lady wtus the mother of
Tubal Cain, the first of the Smiths, and, of course,
the founder of my family. Perhajis the circumstance
was in his eye when he })itched upon Zillah.
Zillah is an admirable presentation of ihe nionieii-
tous incidents that occurred at Jerusalem during
"ZILLAH" 263
the three years preceding the capture of the Holy
City by Herod (about 37 B.C.).
It was violently attacked in the Q^iarterly Maga-
zine, and its detractors maintained that it was but
an imitation of Croly's Salathicl. This assertion
was ridiculous, as the two books were written
simultaneously ; but as Salathicl appeared first, the
publication of Zillah was deferred, Horace Smith
remarking in his advertisement —
Considering that the scene is often identical, and
the area nearly so, there are perhaps not so many
coincidences between the two novels as might have
been expected; and though the author of the present
work, willing to avoid any immediate comparison,
still less any appearance of competition, with the
powerful writer of Salathicl, postponed its publica-
tion, he has not thought it necessary to make any
alteration in its pages beyond a few trifling omissions.
After Zillah came The New Forest (1829), a work
dedicated to William Heseltine of Turret House,
Lambeth ; to the following year (1830) belongs
Walter Colyton, a tale of the Revolution of 1688,
the scene being laid near Bridgwater in Somerset.
To 1830 belongs also The Midsummer Medley (a
series of comic tales), and Festivals, Games, and
Amusements, Ancient and Modern, which went
through two editions in England, and one in New
York. In 1882 appeared Talcs of the Early Ages,
and, in 1885, Gale Middleton. The Tin Trumpet,
published under a pseudonym in 1836, was repro-
duced in 1869 by Bradbury, Evans, and Co., with
2G4 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
the author's real name attached by permission of
the family. This, an amusing and well-thought-out
medley, alphabetically arranged, is one of his best
works.
In 1838 came Jane, Lomax, a tale of modem times,
bfised upon the commission of a fraud, on which
James Smith makes the following criticism : —
But there isanother legal objection. Lomax^ was, if
I remember right, appointed executor under the will.
He must in that capacity have possessed the prolate,
and could not make a copy. Again I have my
doubts whether Lomax 's crime wa.s capital. It did
not consist in forging the testator's handwriting, but
in putting before him a false or substituted will for
his signature ; a fraud punishable, perhaps, with
transportation ; but not a forgery. The interest, at
the close, would have been much better worked-up
by a trial at law, or an indictment at the Old Bailey
— Lomax in the dock, trembling as the pr(»ofs
accumulated, and urged to " Hare up " by his indig-
nant helpmate. The will might have been set
aside, and the man from abroad might have married
the virtuous daughter. The wind-uj) with two old
maids is an anti-climax.
People who write works of fiction are not bound
to kuijw the law, but in forming their catastrophes
they should ajtply to those who do. I could have
helped my bnjthcr to as pretty a law sct.'ne as you
shall see on a summer's day.
In LS40 Horace Smith edited Oliver Cromivcll, an
historical novel, wherein the Lonl Protector's por-
trait is drawn, to use the words of the preface, by
' The perpetrator of the fraud.
OTHER WORKS 265
"a friendly hand." His interest in Cromwell had
been greatly increased by the fact of his having
handled and examined the Protector's skull, in the
possession of a medical man whom he knew, who
was not only quite satisfied as to its identity, but
believed — and persuaded Horace Smith to believe —
that it had been blown down from the porch of
Westminster Hall, and picked up by the sentry,
who disposed of it to the Russell family.
In 1841 Horace Smith wrote Tlu Moneyed Man,
or. The Lesson of a Life, which went through two
editions ; and in 1842 he edited Masaniello, an
LListorical Romance. In 1843 he produced Adam,
Broivn, the Merchant, and in 1844 Arthur Arundel,
a TaU of the English Revolution. In the latter year
appeared Lmitations of Celebrated Authors, Charles
Lamb, etc., two of the pieces in the book being by
Horace Smith. In 1845 he penned his last work,
Love and Mesmerism; and in 1846 his Poetical
Works, collected for the first time, were published
in two volumes.^
Although best known as a writer of prose fiction,
Horace Smith established a reputation as an able,
graceful, and above all, a natural poet. His verse is
remarkable for variety in style and subject, and, as
one might expect, is tinctured by a tendency to the
humorous. He excelled in the class of versification
midway between the serious and the comic, of which
1 Amarynthus the Nympholet, a Pastoral Drama, with other
Poem, (1821), has been mentioned in the notice of Shelley,
Chap. XV.
2GG JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
his Address to a Mummy in Bclzoni's Uxhibition is a
good example.
One of the stanzas runs thus : —
Perchance that very hand now pinioned flat,
Has hob-a-nobbed with Pharaoh, glass to glass ;
Or dropp'd a half-penny in Homer's hat ;
Or dolf'd thine own to let Queen Dido pass ;
Or held, by Solomon's own invitiition,
A torch at the great temple's dedication.
His life-long friendship with Campbell aroused
his deepest feelings on the occasion of the poet's
funeral in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey,
when the pall was held by six noblemen, and noted
men of every shade of varying opinions stood round
the grave.
Thus sings Horace Smith of Campbell's burial : —
Around his grave in radiant brotherhood,
As it to form a halo o'er his head,
Not few of England's master-spirits stood,
Bards, artists, sages, reverently led
To waive each SL-paniting plea
Of sect, clime, party, and degree,
All honouring him on whom Nature all honours
shed.
Altogether, in prose and verse, Horace Smith
published more than fifty volumes.
CHAPTER XXIII
1826—1849
Brighton in the "twenties," "thirties," and "forties" —
Horace Smith at Brighton.
Most of Horace Smith's novels were written at
Brighton, where, after leaving Tunbridge Wells in
1826, he resided until his death.
He could hardly have made a better selection
than Brighton, for, until the railway from London
began to bring down visitors by thousands and tens
of thousands, it was a delightfully quiet place, yet
justly boasting of society as bright and interesting
as any to be found throughout the kingdom. In the
season (summer) there was a fair amount of gaiety :
public balls and assemblies ; breakfast, tea, and
card-parties ; performances at the theatre ; bands of
music on the Steine ; everywhere liveliness suffi-
cient to compensate for the comparative dulness of
the town during the rest of the year.
The city man of to-day, comfortably breakfasting
in the Pullman car, as the train conveys him from
Brighton to the scene of his work at the rate of
some five-and-forty miles an hour, finds it hard to
267
268 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
realize that, not so very long ago, such a thing was
an unheard-of possibility. A couple of hours at
the outside now takes him from his sea-side home
to his city office, and ten shillings covers the cost
of a first-class return ticket.
In 1827 private travelling was a luxury, and
when old Robert Smith drove his wife down from
Wandsworth to Brighton to see his son Horace, the
expenses on the road there and back amounted to
not less than £20 10s. Sd.} and, as they slept at
Crawley, the journey occupied about twenty-four
hours each way. Few persons could afford cither
this expenditure or this delay. The coach was much
quicker, but slow enough from our point of view ;
and even the Government contract speed with John
Palmer in 183G for the mails was but six miles
an hour, subsequently increased to ten and a half.
Nevertheless, during the " twenties," " thirties,'' and
"forties," there were many admirably appointed,
well-horsed, and well-driven private coaches that
did the distance from Brighton to the Metropolis in
five or six hours along good roads, and, so far as it
was possible, the service was perfect. It must have
been well patronized, as sixteen coaches ran daily
throughout the year, and it is recorded with pride
that, on one day in October 1833, nearly five hundred
visitors arrived by these popular conveyances.
The average fiire, fifteen .shillings (inside passen-
gers), seems low, but to this were added numerous
' The charge of nii uncnmfijrtahle post-chaise was about
two .shillings per mile with many extras.
FROM LONDON TO BRIGHTON 269
tips, the cost of hackney-coaches to and from the
point of arrival and departure, and last, but not least,
the expense of eating and drinking — a necessity,
as the start was usually at seven or eight o'clock in
the morning. Good opportunity was afforded for re-
freshment at " The Cock," Sutton, Croydon, Reigate,
Crawley, and Hand-Cross, when excellent ginger-
bread, and Hollands that had not always been inter-
viewed by the Excise, could be had. At Staplefield
Common — a few miles nearer Brighton — a grand
halt as a rule was called for a more substantial
repast, which generally took the form of rabbit-
pudding. Mrs. Glasse (1765) does not give any
recipe for this famous local delicacy, although she
mentions various strange meat puddings, one being
composed of salt-pork, and another of a mixture of
sheep's liver chopped up fine with suet, sweet herbs,
nutmeg, pepper, and anchovy.^
Soon after he went to Brighton, Horace Smith be-
came the tenant of No. 10, Hanover Crescent, a group
of two-storeyed houses, facing the Level, and close to
where the road to Lewes begins. The crescent stood
in what was in those days the most northerly
suburb of the town, and was almost rural. To the
east and north were the open downs, unbuilt upon,
and the walk to the sea-front by way of the Level
^ I am able to give, for tlie benefit of my lady-readers, the
following recipe for mutton-pudding: — Use the short bones
from the neck, or what is commonly called the skirting. Add
mushrooms, when in season, a sweet crust, and boil in basin.
Sometimes a rahbit is put with the mutton.
270 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
and the North Steine might, without much exag-
geration, have been described as " countrified."
At that time there existed no sea-wall, Marine
Parade, Junction Parade, Madeira Road, ur King's
Road in the well-kept form we know. There were
no tastefully-laid-out gardens or marine lawns ; the
Pavilion was a royal residence, and the grounds were
strictly private and inaccessible ; therefore, the Chain
Pier was the favourite place for promenaders,
Arundel Terrace, Kemp Town, was the ultima
thule of Brighton in the east. To the west, the old
battery, with its flagstaff, cannons, and pyramids of
shot, was a conspicuous object, and always attracted
the young folks. About half-a-mile beyond, Bruns-
wick Square, or, at the furthest, Adelaide Crescent
and Palmyra Sqtiare, marked the western boundary
of Brighton proper. From the fields to the north of
the Square might be seen, a mile or so off, the out-
lying village of Hove, the intervening space dotted
with fanns and a few houses. Neither Cliftonville
nor Prestonville harl been thought of by the most
speculative of builders. St. Peter's Church on the
Level was approaching completion and consecration.
The Royal York w;xs the fashionable hotel ; the
Albion had not long been opened ; the Old Ship,
and the New Ship adjoining, were flourishing con-
cerns ; but the famous old Castle Tavern had been
pulled down a few years before. Huge caravan-
saries, such as the Metropole and the Grand, were
unknown.
The population of Brighton was about 40,000, and
THE BRIGHTON "M.C." 271
its vast extension, especially towards the setting sun,
was a thing of the future ; yet who shall say that
some prophet, regarded by his friends as a harmless
lunatic, did not foresee with the eye of faith the
" Queen of English watering-places " spread out
beyond even its present limits, embracing Portslade,
Southwick, and intervening open spaces, until the
river Adur at New Shoreham alone checked the
advance of brick and mortar ?
In those pre-railway days (i. e. ante 1841), when
everybody knew everybody, there were many in-
teresting and original characters to be found at
Brighton. First in importance, perhaps, was the
Master of the Ceremonies, who, for the modest
salary of £1000 a-year, presided at all the fashion-
able balls given at the Old Ship. Lieut.-Colonel
John Eld had been appointed, in 1828, to this
responsible post, and held it until his death in 1855,
when the office of M.C. was abolished. He used to
keep a book at the Libraries (as did also Dickens's
immortal Angelo Cyrus Bantam, Esq., M.C. of Bath),
in which the residents and visitors, who aspired to
be fashionable, were supposed to enter their names.
In the case of strangers, a formal introduction to
the M.C. gave them an entree to all entertainments
over which he held sway. But customs were already
quickly changing. Lady patronesses with " vouchers "
supplanted this method of introduction ; and, by the
time the railway appeared, Colonel Eld's duties had
become nominal. He was a singular man, and as
he walked down the parade in his characteristic
272 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
dress, of which a well-starched neck-cloth was a
prominent feature, he looked, as he probably felt
himself to be, " master," not only of the " cere-
monies," but, potentially, of all Brighton.
Though not a resident. Sir St. Vincent Cotton,
the prince of amateur whips, was as well known as
anybody. He was a Cambridgeshire baronet, and a
descendant of Cotton, the collector of MSS. He
lost two fortunes at the gambling-table, inherited a
third, and settled down at Madingley Hall, near
Cambridge. His coach, the " Age," its horses and
its fittings, were unique ; even the horse-cloths were
edged with broad silver lace !
One of the hahiUUs of Bedford's Club House on
the South Parade on the Steine, carried on by a
Mr. Wiick, formerly in the establishment of the
Prince Regent, was General Sir William Keir Grant,
an old traveller and thorough man of the world, who
had lo.st his right arm in a duel. He was overflowing
with curious anecdotes and traveller's tales. Once
he called upon a newly-married couple on their
return from their honeymoon trip to Italy, and
asked the fair but inexperienced bride how she liked
Venice. " I was very much delighted," she rcplicri,
"but, to be sure, we timed our arrival most unluckily,
fur, only fancy, the place was Hooded all the week
we were there, and we had to go about in a
boat ! "
Of Brighton clergymen (barring the Rev. F. \\ .
Robertson), the two Andersons, James and Robert,
were perhaps the most notable. Robert Anderson
A WELL-INFORMED NEWSPAPER 273
was of a very shy, retiring disposition, and his staid,
still demeanour did little to betray the strong under-
current of humour in his character. He loved to
relate the ipllowing anecdote. It appears he had
occasion to superintend the outside repairs of his
chapel, when, amongst other improvements, a coat-
ing of mastic had been applied with good effect.
One of his churchwardens, a highly respectable but
rather illiterate individual, was much struck by the
improved appearance of the frontage, and in a most
impressive and eulogistic manner, thus expressed
himself: — " I'll tell you what, Mr. Anderson, now that
you have finished masticating your chapel, I shall
follow your example, and masticate my house ! "
Local journalism was well represented by Mr.
William Fleet, for whom Horace Smith always had
a sincere regard. Mr. Fleet was the proprietor and
editor of the Brighton Herald, founded in 1806 as
the advocate of rational liberal principles. In its
youth it was distinguished as the paper jjar excel-
lence for its quickness in making known to the pub-
lic some of the most important events in European
history. The Herald was the first to proclaim the
escape of Napoleon from Elba. The news of the
French Revolution of 1830 was received by the
Herald in advance of all other journals ; and " slips "
were forwarded from its office to the London Times
the same night. Eighteen years later, the earliest
announcement of Louis Philippe's arrival at New-
haven as a fugitive, was made by this well-informed
paper.
T
274 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
As regards professional men, Brighton was always
well supplied, and in 1849 there must have been
quite seventy-five physicians, etc., in practice, many
of them eminently skilful.
Of solicitors there were not many, Brighton being
a non-litigious town.
Art was represented by Sir Martin A. Shee, who,
in 1850, was President of the Royal Academy.
In characters in the humbler walks of life Brighton
was rich, and to Horace Smith they formed a con-
stant and amusing study.
Male "bathers" and female "dippers" — successors
of the Smoaker brothers, Mrs. Cobby, and Martha
Gunn, queen of the bathing-machines — still exi.sted,
and did a roaring trade in the season. The bathing-
women, in (juaint costume, continued the practice of
presenting their cards to visitors arriving by coach
at Castle Square.
Mr. Matthews, the pier-master, was a well-known
figure ; and everybody who used the Pier made the
acquaintance of the Rattys,^?tVc, m^rc, djille (originals
of the type that Dickens sketched), who were in
rough weather frequently washed out of their rooms
at the toll-house, always to return, however, with
renewed energy to minister to the wants of their
patrons and friends.
Then there was "Jonathan," the celebrated
billiard-player, who used to exhibit his skill in one
of the streets leading from the ]\Iarine Parade to
James Street, where, too, could generally be seen
a curious well-dressed little man, who went by the
BRIGHTON "ORIGINALS" 275
soubriquet of "Badger" — why, no one seemed to
know.
In a small cottage standing on a common, midway
between Kemp Town and Eastern Terrace, dwelt a
singular character named Murray, who, because of
his reticence concerning his early career, was as-
sumed to have been a smuggler. He did a splendid
business in the sale of agate, pebbles, and all those
curios with which a visitor returning from the sea-
side deemed it the correct thing to load himself
Everybody in Brighton knew Sake Deen Mahomed,
a native of the East, who introduced into the town
the art of shampooing. His private baths were
largely patronized, and his fame was enshrined in
verse by James Smith, and in prose by Horace.
The former, in an Ode to Ifahomet, the Brighton
Shampooer, thus addresses him : —
thou dark sage, whose vapour bath
Makes muscular as his of Gath
Limbs erst relax'd and limber ;
Whose herbs, like those of Jason's mate,
The wither'd leg of seventy -eight —
Convert to stout hiee timber,
Sprung, doubtless from Abdallah's son.
Thy miracles thy sire' s outrun,
Thy cures his deaths outnumber ;
His coffin soars 'twixt heav'n and earth,
But thou, within that narrow berth.
Immortal, ne'er shall slumber.^
Lastly, among other "originals" at Brighton, I
will single out a vendor of brandy-balls, who, clad in
spotless white, and wearing a kind of fez which
1 He lived to be a centenarian.
276 JAMES AND HORACE SMTTII
enhanced his Jewish u])pearance, with a lung curl of
black hair plastered down on each side of his face,
used to perambulate the quieter squares and terraces
every evening at dusk, singing in a melodious voice
of the mysterious confection, which, it may be pre-
sumed, was of home manufacture. He was a con-
stant source of wonderment, especially to young
children.
As early as 1830, the hourgcois element had begun
to show itself amongst the visitors to Brighton.
Horace Smith, describing the visit of a certain Clio
Grub, puff provider fur Warner's blacking, tells us
that
To Brigliton he went and secured a retreat
In the ]iebble-lniilt liouse of a narrow back street,
AVith a starinf; bow-window to let him explore
What was passing in either bow-window next door.
And he represents the civic visitant to Brighton as
singing—
On the Downs you are like an old jacket
Hunf,' uji in the suiisbine to dry ;
In the town you are all in a racket,
With doukcy-cart, wliiskey, and fly.
AVe have seen the Chain-Pier, Devil's Dyke,
The Chalybeate Sjirin},', Rottin-^'dean,
An<l the I{<ivai i'agodu, how like
Those bedaub'd on a tea-board or screen !
But it is James SiiiiLJi who has left us the best
description of a London tradesman's experience in a
Brighton lodging-hou.se of that period. It is contained
in a letter supposed to be written by the " cit.'s "
daughter, Louisa Thompson, to a friend in London: —
A LOCAL LODGING-HOUSE 277
We have got a nice lodging in North Street, com-
manding a romantic view of all the passengers inside
and out, as they alight from the New York Safety-
Coach. All the beauty and fashion of Brighton pass
our door. Munden ^ went by yesterday leaning on his
stick, and Incledon ^ this morning. The latter talks
of leaving us, because Mr. Munn, of the Golden Cross
Inn here, would not let him amuse the Royal Catch
and Glee Club, by singing all the parts in Glorious
Aiwllo. Mr. Munn offered him either treble, second,
or bass, but the veteran determined to have all or
none. If we do not return with a stock of health,
which, properly invested, shall last us for life, it will
be no fault of papa's. Before it is well daylight, he
thumps at our chamber-doors with his stick, and
calls out, " Come girls, come girls, nobody lies a-bed
at the sea-side." No sooner are we down than he
Avalks us off up the East Cliff as hard as we can
trot, and in the course of our walk is sure to en-
counter three or four fat, red-faced men of his
acquaintance (all papa's acquaintance are fat and
red-faced); and when the elderly worthies have
arrived opposite the Snake Houses, they stand
open-mouthed to catch the sea-air, for all the world
as if they were singing Come if you dare to those
horrid Roman Catholics, the French, on the opposite
coast, at a place they call Dip, because people go
there to bathe. . . . Papa asked young Withers to
dine with us to-day. He drove up in such a dash-
ing fly ! The dinner was very bad ; a sprawling bit
of bacon upon a tumbled bed of greens ; two gigantic
antediluvian fowls, bedaubed with parsley and butter,
a brace of soles that perished from original inability
to flounder into the ark, and the fossil remains of a
dead sirloin of beef I had no appetite, and had
1 The actor. ^ -pj^^ well-known singer.
278 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
just impressed our visitor with a notice of tlir fk-li-
cacy of my stomach, when Mrs. Anderson bawled out
from the bottom of the table, " Sir, you should have
seen her at luncheon peg away at the prawns ! "
Horace Smith seldom let slip an opportunity to
recommend to his friends the watering-place ho
found so congenial.
Writing to Charles Mathews in 1828 from Han-
over Crescent, ho says : —
Don't protend to be indifferent to excitement, you
know you cannot live without it. Almost all pro-
fessors (like the house-painters and chimney-
sweepere) have their own peculiar diseases, the his-
trionic malady being an insatiable craving for
stimulants of some sort, and the mt)st successful
performers being generally the most subject to the
complaint. I have elsewhere said : —
Tliat if one toleraMe pa^'e appears
In Folly's volume, 'tis the actor's leaf,
"Wlio dries his own l)y drawiiii,' others' tears,
And rai.sin;^ present niirlli makes glad his future years.
But this must have been said for the sake of the
rhyme, for my reason know well enough that, even
if it wure true us to tragedians (which I doubt), the
comic actor generally sixddcns himself by enlivening
others, a fact which has been abundantly confinned
from the day of the celebrated Italian Jiuffouc down
to our own. This may seem rather hard, as he
reverses the fate of many a poet, Avho dies to live,
while the performer —
His life ft flash, his meinory a dream,
Oblivious, downward drops in Lethe'a stream,
BRIGHTON IN THE SEASON 279
as soon as ever the breath is out of his body. You
must recollect, amico mio, that he has his apotheosis
while he is living, and a glorious one it is. Take,
for instance, " Mathews at Home " ; his theatre
crowded to the ceiling, himself the focus of thou-
sands of riveted eyes, and holding such an absolute
power of fascination over the passions of his audi-
ence that at a single bidding they shall either melt
into tears or burst into roars of irrepressible laughter,
while the whole building seems to vibrate with their
tumultuous applause. Is not this an apotheosis ?
and is there any mortal society, or resource, that
will not appear stale, flat, and unprofitable, after
such a deification ? This is the feeling, coupled
with the lassitude occasioned by over-exertion, both
mental and bodily, that creates the craving for
stimulants, which the sufferers have too often sought
in the bottle, the dice-box, or in reckless dissipation.
How natural, I had almost said how venial, is the
mistake, and yet how little indulgence does the
public evince even for errors of its own creation.
We are like weak mothers, who spoil their children
and then whip them for being spoilt. ... It is the
want of this hobby that makes you so fidgety and
nervous when you are absent from home ; and
Brighton only finds more favour in your eyes than
other places, because it is more gay and stimulant,
and offers more numerous substitutes for the museum.
How often have I heard you exclaim, "There is
nothing out of London like Brighton in the season.
The whole town is a fair. If I lean out of my
window at the Old Ship, I nod or chat to every fifth
man that passes. If I mount my little white nag,
and ride from Kemp Town to Brunswick Terrace,
I am sure of half-a-dozen invitations to dinner.
This I call enjoying life. ..."
280 JA.MES AND HORACE SMITH
Writing to Mathews in the same year, Horace
Smith says : —
Our fiery friend, " the Copper Captain," saw
you last Wednesday, told you he was coming to
Brighton, and yet you neither charged him with
message or missive for me. How is this ^ Are yuu
in a pet with my last letter ? with my last letter
wherein I took you sharply to task for asserting that
you did not require excitement more than other
men ? Luckily, you were never sulky — to little
fumes and peevish outbreaks you will hardly deny
yuur liability ; but as these never last longer than
" one with moderate haste may count a hundred,"
do let me hear fi'om you soon, " if thou lovest me,
Hal."
To put you in good humour again, I must tell you
that Mahommed yesterday pointed out to a friend of
mine a susj)ended crutch, which he averred to have
been yours, and that he had enabled you to throw it
away by shamj)ooing you ! There I if this assertion
of your rest(jred e(juigravity does not restore your
equanimity, nothing will ! So don't get into a
passion, or you never will get out.
The following is a letter, on the subject of his
novel, Walter Colyton, to his old friend, Thomas Hill
(see Chapter XIX.) : —
Brijhtun, \U(k M,tixh, 1830.
.Mv DEAR Hill,
I have nut had any further proof to send uji
till to-day, or I should have soont-r written to thauk
you for your negotiation with Mr. Jientley, whose
letter enclosing a note at four months date, came to
hand only this morning. Of course I clo.sed with
"MY YOUNG FOLKS" 281
them, but I certainly thought they ought not to
have grudged me a trifling addition, hearing as I
did, and from no doubtful authority either, that they
gave others £500 a volume. However, I am satis-
tied, and if the work succeeds tolerably, I suppose
they will do something better for me next time.
With renewed thanks for your kindness, I am.
My dear Hill,
Yours very truly,
HOKATIO SmITH.1
Thomas Hill, Esq.,
1, James Street, Adelphi.
A few days afterwards, he writes to Mrs. Heseltine^
in quite a different vein : —
Brighton, 10, Hanover Orescent,
22nd March, 1830.
My dear Mrs. Heseltine,
Pray don't let my young folks interfere with
any of your arrangements, but as all times will be
equally convenient for my father to receive them, I
beg you will send them away whenever it suits you.
In return for inflicting two brats upon you, I have
two favours to request — wizzard: — To prevent Eliza's
head from entirely reposing on her knees, I am pro-
vided with a sharp pitchfork, which every now and
then I dig in pretty deep under her chin, and to
compel her to practice her shakes of a morning, to
which she has an utter repugnance, I am obliged to
stand over her with a cudgel and occasionally fell
her to the earth. If you will perform for me these
truly parental offices, I can only say that I shall be
most happy to return them fourfold upon Amy
whenever she comes to see us. Sending an agoniz-
ing pinch to all the children, Mrs. Cole, and Miss
1 Bodleian Library MSS. • 2 Chapter XII.
282 JAME8 AND HORACE SMITH
Heseltine, and bogging you to accept the same for
yourself, I am,
Dear Mrs. Heseltine,
Yours very truly,
Horatio Smith.
To Mr. S. C. Hall, he writes :—
Brighton, 10, Hanover Crescent,
27id December, 1835.
My dear Sir,
Altho' my temporary absence from home may
in some degree plead my excuse, yet I take shame
to myself for not having sooner thanked you and
Mrs. Hall for the Amulet^ and its companion, a
present which was the more acceptable both to me
and Rosalind because we had somehow fancied that
you had talk'd of discontinuing the Wurks. Both
are very delightful books, and I sincerely hope that
this year's sale may answer your expectations, and
ensure their continuance.
Mrs. Abdy's copy was immediately forwarded to
her. Altho' I trust that Mrs. Hall will never again
have the plea of Rheumatism for visiting Brighton,
I shall be delighted to tind that some other motive
may bring you both back to us, and I can answer
that my petticoat inmates will be not less gratified
than my.self.
At this season we could make up some plea.sant
parties, but at all times you and Mrs. Hall will be
most welcome to me and mine.
Yours very truly,
Horatio Smith.
P.S. — If you can put your hand on a long-winded
' A kind of Chri.stmas annual, beautifully illustrated, issued
from 1826 to 1830.
CAVENDISH PLACE 283
poem I sent some months ago for the JSf. M. Mag.,
entitled The Jeivs at Babylon, please return or de-
stroy it. It is about to appear in another form.^
In Brighton, as in all watering-places, the tide of
fashion set in westward, and, about the year 1840,
Horace Smith's " feminine surroundings " induced
him to remove from Hanover Crescent to Cavendish
Place — now the centre of the four-mile sea-front, the
glory of Brighton and Hove.
Their house, No. 12, is to be found a little way up
on the right-hand side, as you approach it from the
King's Road. There is a fine view of the sea from
its crescent-shaped windows ; and, with its old-
fashioned casement, it looks as it may have done any
time during the last three-quarters of a century.
Here the Smiths loved to entertain their friends,
and delighted in planning amusements for them — a
ride on the Downs, an excursion to Devil's Dyke,
Rottingdean, or to the castle at Bramber, to Old
Shoreham with its fine Norman church, and to quiet
little Lancing beyond.
Their Sunday afternoon receptions, when the
representatives of art, letters, and science fore-
gathered, were " the most rooted institutions in
Brighton after the Chain Pier" —
"Wlien each by turn was guide to each,
And Fancy light from Fancy caught —
And Thought leapt out to wed with Thought
Ere Thought could wed iti?elf with Speech.
1 Bodleian Library MSS.
284 JAMES AND 1101 1 ACE 8M1TII
So notoriously hospitable were the Smiths that
ni>t <>]\\\ the celebrated men and women of the day
resident in Brighton — and there were many — but
all visitoi-s of note found their way to the table of
Horace Smith.
Amongst his congenial fellow-townsmen were
Cai)tain James Morier, traveller and novelist, the
author of Hajji Baha of ItijMhaii, etc. ; Dr. Mantell,
the geologist ; Mr. Moses Ricardo, scientist and
Avorking-man's friend ; Mr. and i\Irs. JMontefiore ;
Charles Young, the actor (who had retired to
Brighton) ; Captain and Mrs. Heaviside, Avell-known
in fashionable circles, and residing in Brunswick
8(|uare ; the Rounds, of Brunswick Terrace ; J. J.
Masquerier, the painter of Za IJclle Alliance, which,
together with his portraits of Miss O'Niel and Miss
Mellon, are in the collection of the Baroness Burdett-
Coutts.
Amongst the Brighton visitors who were made
free of No. 12 were Samuel Rogers; Sydney Smith ;
Dr. Lardner, an eminent scientific man, and editor
of the Enoirhqxrdia which bears his name ; Charles
Kean, the actor, between whom and Jbjrace Smith
there existed much sym})athy and warmest friend-
ship; Copley Fielding, the water-colour painter of
land-scapes ; Julian Fane, ])oot and diplomatist (then
fjuite a young man); II. T. Buckle, the historian
of civilizaticju ; Maoaulay ; J'rofcssor Owen; Jesse;
Harrison Ainsworth ; Dickens, and Thackeray.
Of the last named, Rosalind Smith used to relate
how one day he jjopped in, and flinging himself
THACKERAY 285
down on a couch with an expression of great despair,
implored the " girls " to tell him a " nursery tale,"
" anything however trivial," to divert his mind and
help to remove his anxiety, for he had (as was cus-
tomary with him when in Brighton) put off his
monthly contribution to a certain periodical, until
but a couple of days were left for the work. Rosa-
lind says that their nonsense comforted him, that
he went away from Cavendish Place " like a giant
refreshed with new wine," and accomplished his task
easily, though nobody had a sight of him in the
meantime.
As to the origin of Pendennis, Herman Merivale
tells the following story : — " Such a Brightonian as
Thackeray was led naturally to his frequenting their
rooms (the Smiths'). It was to them that he con-
fided how he was bound to produce the opening
chapters of Pendennis within a few days, and had no
plot and no idea wherewith to start one. Shade of
Trollope, how shocking ! So then and there, they
told him a true anecdote of Brighton life. ' That
will do,' said he, and went home and began the
novel which, afterwards, in defiance of all the laws of
self-respecting composition, developed into a work
which has its merits still. In return for the favour,
he christened his heroine Laura, after a younger
sister.
"It may be imagined with what interest the story
was followed. . . . When first he visited the ladies
after it was finished, the original Laura received him
indignantly. ' I'll never speak to you again, Mr.
286 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Thackeray; you knew I always meant to marry
Warrington.' In the same spirit, spoke Lady
Rockminster, when she accepted the young couple —
' It is all very well, but I should have preferred
"Bluebeard"' (her name for Warrington), which
proves to my mind that ladies do not always know
what is good for them.
" Worth recording, too, is the story of Thackeray
going to see the Miss Smiths when he was about to
give his George the Fourth lecture in the town, and
expressing his relief that it was not to be in the
Pavilion as at first proposed — ' I didn't like,' he
said, ' the idea of abusing a man in his (jwn house.' "^
Of Charles Kean's fether a characteristic story
was related to Horace Smith by a tradesman whose
memory went back to the days when travellers in
china and glass used to come with samples all the
way to Kent and Sussex from Staffordsliire, in their
" carriage and pair." One of these commercials, he
said, happening to meet Edmund Kean at Maid-
stone, challenged him to drink as much brandy-and-
water hot as he could himself The traveller,
sea.soned ve.ssel though he was, succumbed to the
twenty-sixth tumbler, but Kean just managed the
twenty-seventh, and won the wager !
Horace Smith had always been a great admirer of
the celebrated actress. Miss Mellon, and when he
met her as the Duchess of St. Albans at Brighton
after a lapse of many years, he penned some stanzas
to her, beginning : —
' Life iif jr. M. Thackeray, by Merivale and Marzials.
AN ACTRESS-DUCHESS 287
Lady ! that sweet and cordial voice,
Unalter'd since I heard it last,
Hath made my weaken'd heart rejoice
With recollections of the past.
Her rare qualifications were summed up thus : —
The lively wit without alloy,
The mind acute, the spirit's flow —
The kindly heart that welcomes joy.
Yet melts at every tale of woe.
These honours which thou ne'er can'st waive,
These that no monarch could decree.
Prove that 'twas Nature's self who gave
Thy Patent of Nobility.
Every winter at the beginning of the season, the
Duchess came to St. Albans House, Brighton, to the
joy of all, for she was the most liberal patroness of
the tradespeople, the benefactress of the poor, and
the disburser of unbounded hospitality to the upper
classes. She used to hold what she called omnium
gatJicrums, at each one of which, it is said, the oil
and candle bill usually amounted to £20 — a large
sum in those days.
She was a woman (in appearance fat and some-
what red-faced) whom exaltation in rank could not
spoil or wean from simplicity of habits.
After one of her gorgeous festivities, whereat all
the delicacies of the season were profusely provided,
when the guests had left, she turned to her sole
remaining companion, and said, " Now I'm going
to enjoy myself," and sat down in an unceremo-
nious manner to a cold chicken and a bottle of
stout.
Later on, the Smiths were fortunate in their
288 JAMES AND HORACE .S.^fTTH
friendship with the Duchess's heiress, Miss Burdett-
Coutts (now the Baroness), who, when at Brighton,
always calls upon Horace Smith's eldest and only
surviving daughter, to talk over the memories of
the past. The Smiths were her frequent guests in
London, and Masquerier's excellent portrait of
Horace Smith (which forms one of the illustrations
of this volume) hangs ujDon the walls of Hi illy Lodge,
Highgatc.
The Rev. F. W. Robertson, the great preacher of
Trinity Chapel, I mention last of all, because he
did not arrive at Brighton till 1847, not long before
Horace Smith died, Avhom he had consequently few
opportunities of meeting. His first sermon there
was a memorable one ; his text : " The Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we
preach Christ crucified," etc. As the Rev. Stopford
Brooke says — " It at once awoke criticism and in-
terest. As his peculiar views developed themselves,
many of the old congregation left the church. Their
places were rapidly filled up. Thoughtful and eager-
minded men came in by degrees from all parts of
Brighton, attracted not only by his earnest elofjuence,
but by his original thought and clever reasoning."
Amongst these was Horace Smith, who was in
fullest touch with the broad and enlightened views
on religion and })olitic8 that characterized the fam-
ous preacher, and, had he lived but a few years
longer, he might have been the means of helping to
stem the torrent of cruel and unjust sectarian perse-
cution that awaited Robertson.
LOVE AND PHILOSOPHY 289
The man who in the past had stood by the side of
the greatly misunderstood Shelley would most surely
have undertaken the same noble office for the
maligned incumbent of Trinity Chapel.
For some time before this period, Brighton society
had become exceedingly gay, and at all brilliant
functions, public and private, the daughters of
Horace Smith were conspicuous — Eliza, the eldest,
notoriously witty and amusing ; Rosalind, the beau-
tiful, overburdened with eligible offers of marriage,
though dying unmarried in 1893 ; and Laura, the
youngest, who married Mr. John Round, of West
Bergholt, Essex, and died in 1864.
One of the most striking of the gay assemblies at
that time, was a fancy dress ball, at which Dr.
Lardner appeared as a courtier, and the lovely Mrs.
Heaviside as a dame dc cour of the Louis XVI.
period, both attracting much attention. Unfor-
tunately, the charms of his fair partner in the dance
proved too much for the philosophy of the learned
professor, and he fled with her via London to
Paris, whither they were followed by the outraged
husband. A sound horse-whipping of the culprit
and a duel (without serious result) are said to have
followed, with ultimately a divorce in the House of
Lords.
This regrettable affair to a certain extent broke
up the pleasant " inner circle " which had led the
fashion in Brighton, and of which the Horace
Smiths were such prominent members.
I must not close this sketch of Brighton and its
u
290 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
association with Horace Smith, without expressing
my indebtedness to Mr. Charles Fleet, Mr. D.
Burchell Friend, Mr. John Haines, and other towns-
men, for many valuable facts relating to the past
history of the flourishing and ever popular water-
ing-place in which they reside.
HORACF: SMITH.
CHAPTER XXIY
The declining years of Horace Smith's life — His last illness
and death — His personal appearance, tastes, opinions, character
and disposition — The end.
At the close of the year 1840, Cyrus Redding,
resuming his correspondence with Horace Smith
after a lapse of many years, noticed that his hand-
writing " varied considerably from the very neat
text it had before displayed," which he regarded as
an evidence of failing health.
The following year, Horace Smith had a severe
attack of laryngitis, and on his recovery wrote the
following letter to one of his sisters : —
Brighton, lOth October, 1841.
My dear Adelaide,
I know that Maria is rather prone to make
mountains of molehills, and, lest you should suppose
that I was going to give you all the slip, I think it
right to let you know that I am proceeding very
favourably, that I am again downstairs, and mean to
be better than ever in a very few days. It was an
attack of acute inflammation in the Larynx, owing
to a cold, and came on so suddenly in the night, as
to be very alarming from its ajDpearance, and feeling
of suffocation ; but we soon got a medicine man who
291
292 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
bled me till I fainted, and when I recover'd I had
recover'd ray voice, and breathed with perfect ease !
Unluckily a bad cough supervened which threw me
l)afk, but that yielded to active remedies and further
reduction; and here I am nearly as well as ever,
though not looking quite so rosy in the gills.
My imprisonment comes at an unlucky moment,
the place being full of friends whose society I was
anxious to enjoy, particularly that of Sir Charles and
Lady ^Morgan, and Lady"^ Stepney. Old Lady
Holland, who has got Byham House just opposite,
and who always had a romantic attachment to me
(!!!), keeps us su])plied with game and all sorts of
goody-goodies, but I cannot n(jw partake in them or
join her parties, which I regret, as the last I joined
was a very delightful one. All the world has been
here ; but the railroad is getting so completely out
of vogue, that I suspect we shall soon lose many of
our visitants.
All unite in kindest regards to yourself and Gom,^
with,
Dear Adelaide,
Yours ati'ectionately,
Horatio Smith.
From this time, his inclination, as well as his
capacity, fc^r literary labour sensibly declined. It
was the evening of his life, and thenceforth he did
little beyond writing a couple of novels, editing a
romance, gathering t<jgether scattered poetical works,
and contributing some entertaining biographical
narratives to the New Monthly Magazine. But his
life was never an iflle one ; it was one scene of active
benevolence and thoughtfulne-ss for the pleasure and
* Ikr husband, Mr. Gompcrtz.
"OUR DEAR VICTORIA" 293
happiness of others. The Mechanics' Institution,
the Literary Society, the Mantellian Institution, and
Phillips' School of Science, never lacked his help
in any possible way towards their advancement.
His services were always at the disposal of the
charities ; and when the Savings' Bank became
seriously involved, he put forth his energies during
the investigation that followed, to such an extent
as to still further impair his health.
He used to take his family up to London for the
early season, when they generally occupied a fur-
nished house, No. 16, Cumberland Street, Regent's
Park. His daughters indulged in a perpetual round
of gaiety. They met all the celebrities of the day,
and were rather awed once, so they declared, at
finding themselves in the presence of no fewer than
" five real live editors " !
Visits to town were varied by trips to Harrogate,
Bath, Tunbridge Wells, and Cheltenham. From the
latter place, Horace Smith sent his niece, Maria
Abdy, the following Address to the Queen, which
had excessively tickled his fancy. It was got up by
some few deaf and dumb young men (residents of
Cheltenham) after the attempt upon Her Majesty's
life by Edward Oxford —
Cheltenham, I5th June, 1840.
Our dear Victoria,
We hope you will not be angry with us
for sending you a letter. We think you were very
frightened. All the deaf and dumb are very very
displeased with the Edward Oxford. We love you
294 JAMES AND IIOILVCE SMTTII
very much because you are a fine young Lady
Sovereign. We were very much hap]\y on your
birthday. A gentleman gave us some cakes, ginger
pop, oranges, lemonade, and nice things. We drank
your Majesty's very good health. We cannot drink
beer, ale, wine, brandy, gin, rum, porter, etc., etc.,
two of us are teetotallers. We think you like Prince
Albert very much. He is a very handsome young
gentleman. We all love him too much. He came
from Germany. He wears very nice mustachios.
He is an officer soldier. We saw his picture in the
booksellers' windows. We are very thnnkfid to God
because he did not let the wicked villain kill you.
The English ladies and gentlemen are all rejoice
about it. We all love the Queen and the Lords and
fine gentlemen M.P.'s. We pray for you every
Sunday at church. We hope you will be very
religious young lady, and say your prayers every
morning and night, and read the Bible, and go to
heaven when you die.
Your very loyal deaf and dumb.
To the same niece he wrote a letter in which he
expresses his inability to perpetrate any more
rhymes : —
Bri(jhton, 12 Cftvndish Place,
1th March, 184G.
Many thanks, my dear ^Tira, for your vcryaccopt-
able Volume, from the perusal of which I antici])ate
great pleasure, especially as a great proporticm of
thf poems will be new to mo. You seem to write
with greater fluency and fioility than ever, and must
find it a very charming resource, to say nothing of
the position which it gives you among the honoured
Lady writers of England. At my age I can hardly
expect the Muse to smile upon my advances, and my
TO MIRA AND CLARA 295
only inspiration in the composition of the Murderer's
Confession was the struggle with such an unmanage-
able metre.
At present I feel as if I should never perpetrate
any more rhymes, but I am collecting all my former
offences in two little volumes, which I will send you
when the procrastinating Mr. Colburn thinks fit to
bring them out.
I don't see Gulliver, but shall certainly extend his
travels to Brighton, that I may read the pieces you
mention.
Mrs. Bib's Bahy, in Punch, is very inferior to Mrs.
Caudle, and cannot go on, I should think, much
longer. We became very intimate with Ainsworth
and his family, who passed the winter here, and gave
a great many very gay parties.
Of Shirley Brooks I know nothing. Like that of
Mademoiselle Mars, his name may be a nom de giievre.
Mrs. Alaric Attila ! I never ! but I believe it's perfectly
correct that when a person once ask'd her husband
" What's your name ? " Echo answered — ' Watts ! '
Please tell Mamma that Beavan lately sent me
for perusal the Draught of a 50-folio document, to
be signed on distributing my father's money !
Heaven knows when the original will be completed !
I never pretend to understand Law proceedings.
Your affectionate Uncle,
Horatio Smith.
In a letter to his sister Clara, he confesses that
old age is creeping upon him : —
Brighton, 12 Cavendish Place,
23rcl July, 1846.
Many thanks, my dear Clara, for your kind invita-
tion, of which I would gladly avail myself, but that
I really feel much too rheumatical and too sciatical
296 JAMES AND HORACE 8MITH
to sleep out at this season of the year. In the
spring I shall again be running up to L(nKlon, and
if you will then give me leave, I shall have much
pleasure in taking a dinner and a bed at your house.
£ litre nous, I am feeling very old, and I am afraid of
giving any excuse to the ailments that assailed me
last winter.
When you see me, you will hardly know me, so
very venerable have I become. My saucy girls (I
am dreadfully chicken-pecked) say that if I did but
l(jok a few years younger I should look exactly like
my father! Then my beak has assumed the colour
of Aurora's fingers, and I am often overheard sorrow-
fully exclaiming —
Alas ! — how luckless is my lot !
My nose is red — my books are not !
Notwithstanding all which calamitous circumstances,
I am, with th(,' united loves of my darling wife and
mv dad-Houtincj daufjhters,
My dear Clara,
Affectionately yours,
Horatio Smith.
The year LS-iO opened with severe weather, and
much sickness was prevalent ; but Horace Smith
wrote in excellent spirits to his sister Adelaide, the
letter being almost the last she ever received from
him : —
Brii/hton, 12 Cnvendinh Place,
1th Jiinuiinj, 1849.
My dkau Adelaide,
I confi'SH myself to be a most unnatural
brother in having sufTer'd the new year to become
a week old without having written to wish you and
E[thraiiii many happy returns : but I know you are
"MY SEVENTIETH YEAR" 297
both benevolent mortals, and will forgive a transgres-
sion for which so quick an apology is oifer'd. There !
isn't that prettily said, and won't you kiss and make
it up ? Tho' I haven't written to you, however,
we often hear of you from various quarters, and I
have been glad to learn that in a season of unusual
sickness, you have both escaped without any very
serious visitation. Long may we continue to receive
equally favourable statements !
Pour nous autres, as the French say (why can't
the fools speak English, like men ?) we are as well
as old age and sharp weather will allow. My wife,
God bless her ! wears exceedingly well — never very
strong, but always bustling, cheerful, and affectionate,
nor have / any cause of complaint, considering that
I have now entered my seventieth year ! Occasional
menaces of Gout, but no actual visit — little bilious
attacks, and bothering cramps at night, form the
whole summary of my ailments, slight enough when
I add that in general I sleep like a top, and that my
spirits have no defect but that of being rather boyish
for my advanced years.
My girls have not been very robust latterly, but
they are seldom so well at this season of frequent
Balls and late hours. People really seem to seek
them out from all quarters, and invite them to every
gay party. The Duke of Devonshire has just arrived,
but there are so many nobs now in Brighton that we
S7iobs can hardly expect to be invited this year to
his Balls. We have got acquainted with the
Moores, and with Lady Harriet thro' a Mr. Cole,
who is, I believe, one of your neighbours. The
Abdys have gone home. Maria is rather better
than usual, but looking like the grandmother of
Methuselah !
Adieu, beauty ! not only as 2vas but as is, for hand-
some is as handsome does. Accept for yourself and
298 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
Ephraini our united cand most cordial love, and
believe me ever
Your affectionate brother,
Horatio Smith.
Unfortunately the " menaces of gout " were much
more serious than he thought. Later in the year,
the family took a house at Tunbridge Wells, No. 6
Calverley Park, very charming, and in a most
sequestered and beautiful part of the town, with
private grounds and prettily laid-out gardens, where,
so far as surroundings were concerned, peace and
tranquillity reigned. But they had not long been
there when alarming symptoms began to be ap-
parent in Horace Smith's health. The inherited
gout, hitherto dormant in his system, developed it.sclf
in the form of serious heart-troubles. Hissufterings
became very acute, but he met his approaching
end with great resignation and serenity, even on his
death-bed seeking to comfort his agonized wife and
family. On the 12th of July, 1849, in the seventieth
year of his age, Horace Smith passed into the unseen
world, all that was mortal of him being laid to rest
in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church. "He
died, as he had lived, loving and beloved, full of
trust, joy, and hope."
In personal ajip.'aranoe, Horace Smith closely
resembled his brother James, at any rate in early
years, and in the beautiful drawing by Harlow (which
forms the frontispiece to Mr. Murray's 1833 edition
of Rejected Addresses) it is difficult to distinguish the
one from the other.
RELIGIOUS VIEWS 299
Horace Smith had a particularly finely-formed
head, likened by one of his friends to that of Socrates.
He was tall and handsome, with a manly figure in-
clining to the robust. He had blue eyes, and regular
features usually in repose, but moved to animation
when anything amusing or good was said ; his dis-
cernment of humour, though more latent than that
of James, was none the less keen. Frankness was
stamped upon his countenance, and his general bear-
ing was cordial, displaying much gentleness, but
without the slightest trace of effeminacy or weakness.
As might be expected from the influences brought
to bear upon him in childhood,^ as well as from the
mature conviction of his manhood, he was no friend
either to Episcopalianism or to Sacerdotalism. He
described bishops as " Protestant cardinals," and the
system which they represent, as "a plethora of
dignities and wealth, combined with an atrophy of
merits and followers, which could never be symp-
toms of longevity in any Church, however firmly
it may seem to be established." Consistently, there-
fore, he disapproved of the alliance of Church with
State, which he designated an " unscriptural union."
Of the Romish priesthood, he had but a poor opinion ;
and on the subject of their celibacy he felt strongly,
defining it as " a vow by which the priesthood in
some countries swear to content themselves with the
wives of other people ! " On the other hand, he had
a great horror of Protestant fanaticism — " the
daughter of ignorance and the mother of infidelity "
1 See Chapter IV.
300 JAMES AND HORACE SMITII
— especially in the matter of strict Sabbath observ-
ance. Missions he did nut approve of at all, as he
considered that the missionary should begin by
improving the temporal condition of the heathen,
and that it was woi-se than useless to start by teach-
ing the five points of Calvinism to barbarians un-
able to count their five fingers. Uniformity in
religion he judged to be unobtainable. With intoler-
ance he had no patience whatever, always quoting
Pope's well-known lines —
" For modes of faith kt zealous bigots fight ;
His can't be wrong whose life i.s in the right."
He advocated the total abolition of compulsory
confessions of creed or faith, and the Test Acts he
utterly condemned. The Reformation, he said, was
not a struggle for religious freedom, but for Protest-
ant intolerance instead of Catholic intolerance, and
the struggle of moflfrn Christians should be for
emancipation from all intolerance.
" The right of examining what we ought to believe
is the foundation of Protestantism, anfl to deny it is
to revert to the Popish claim of infallibility."
In short, Horace Smith's religious views were the
broadest — r)f the Maurice and Kingsley type ; and
he firmly believed that there was a Providence ever
watching over the destiny of mankind, but not a
particidar Providence for fanatics.
Death he beautifully defined as "the sleeping
partner of Life, a change of existence." "Why"
[said he] "should a long be less pleasant than a
POLITICAL VIEWS 301
short sleep ? Post-natal cannot differ from ante-
natal unconsciousness ; we were dead before we
lived. Ceasing to exist is only returning to our
former state, spcaJcing always in reference to this
world."
In politics he was what we should call a Liberal-
Conservative ; though in his day he would more
likely have been dubbed a Radical — even a Revolu-
tionist, by most of the old high and dry Tory party.
He was an intense admirer of Lord Brougham, and
an out-and-out Reformer. He advocated the ballot,
and delivered a speech at Brighton in favour of it.
James Smith did not at all approve of this, and
wrote to a friend, saying that Horace " had better
abstain from politics altogether. It is his business
as an author to please all parties." Horace believed
in the elevation of the working-classes, and the aboli-
tion of the newspaper tax. He condemned the Poor
Laws, and designated the Game Laws barbarous
enactments. He disapproved of the privileges of
either Peers or M.P.'s. He considered Public
Opinion irresistible, and had firm faith in a po-pidar
government, which he compared to a pyramid, the
firmest and most enduring of all forms.
His opinions on most subjects were marked by
enlightenment. On the matter of education he held
rather peculiar views ; to him it appeared a game of
cross-purposes, in which useless classics were taught
at great expense in our public schools, and rapidly
forgotten in after life. Of collegiate training he had
a poor opinion ; " the whole system," he said, " is a
302 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
specimen of the moral, as some of their structures
are of the architectural, Gothic."
He had no respect for ancestry, " a pedigree
being," he declared, "generally the boast of those
who had nothing else to vaunt ; " thus he dis-
approved of primogeniture as being equally opposed
to nature, reason, morality, and sound policy.
With that particular cant of art which substitutes
a blind reverence for the painter — provided he be
dead — for a judicious admiration of his paintings, he
had no s\'nipathy.
English law was to hiui merely hocus-pocus and
chicanery ; and lawyers, he said, " generally knew too
much of law to have a very clear perception of
justice."
War and military glory he held to be, the former
an act of national madness, an irrational act confined
to rational beings; and the latter, the sharing with
plague, pestilence, and famine, the honour of destroy-
ing one's own species.
He had the greatest abhorrence of the grosser
excesses of life, gluttony, drunkenness, swearing, etc.
As a philosopher he was supremely optimistic.
Human happiness, he tiiDUght, must be constantly
augmenting; and the habit of exaggerating the
misery of mankind was in his eyes a species of
imj)iety, as being an <)ljli()ue reflection on the
benevolence of the Deity, while despondency was
sheer ingratitude to Heaven.
Contentment was to him the best opulence ; and
of money, although more indispensable now than in
PET AVERSIONS 303
the days of the Greek philosophers, he used to say
that " a wise man would have it in his head rather
than his heart," but that poverty to the generous-
minded, desirous of relieving the wants of others,
was the greatest of evils.
On the subject of his own j^rofession, he was full
of good sense. " Literary fame," he explained, was
" being partially known to-day, and universally for-
gotten to-morrow. It was more easily caught than
kept. If you do nothing, you are forgotten ; and if
you write, and fail, your former success is thrown in
your teeth. He who has a reputation to maintain
has a wild beast in his house, which he must con-
stantly feed, or it will feed upon him."
Some of Horace Smith's aversions were very dis-
tinctive. For instance, he greatly disliked the
practice of smoking and snuff-taking. To all forms
of fishing and angling he had the keenest antipathy,
going so far as to call an angler " a fish butcher, a
piscatorial assassin." Clubs he disliked, as being
founded upon selfishness and the cause of much
unhappiness between married people. All who wore
eye-glasses, except for the purpose of improving
their sight, he called coxcombs. Country cousins
he looked upon as periodical bores, who, " because
they happened to have some of your own blood in
their veins, think that they may inflict the whole of
their bodies upon you during their stay in town."
Although he lived for years by the sea, he could
never be brought to admire it, though he gave it
his profound respect. He said he did not care to
304 JAMES AND HORACE SMITH
dwell upon the subject, even with his pen. He was
particularly fund of rational conversation, though he
detested mere argument on any topic. He main-
tained that Englishwomen were, in general, much
better conversationalists than Englishmen were.
In his habits he was regularity personified.
Punctually as the clock struck ten at night, unless
visitors were present, he would retire, no matter
what he was at the moment engaged upon. Day
after day at Brighton he used, at a certain hour, to
walk from his residence to Tupper's and Lucombe's
Libraries, on the Old Steine ; and afterAvards, if the
weather suited, would take a constitutional on the
Grand Parade or the Chain Pier. In fact, he was
decidedly methodical in all his actions.
In his dress he was particularly neat. He had no
petty vices. In eating and drinking he was strictly
moderate; in the former, his tastes rather tended
towards the refinement of the French cuisine than
to the prevailing solid diet of Englishmen. ■
He had a curious weakness for destroying all
letters, however important ; he looked upon them,
when unanswered, as accusing angels, and he hated
them, when replied to, as reminding him of his short-
comings. He loved trees, fiowers, and gardens ; the
songs of birds delighted him. Music to him was a
Divine voice. Drawing he thought, with Goethe,
was one of the most moral nf all accomplishments.
For all animals, particularly for cats, he had the
greatest tenderness and sympathy. His love of
children was most marked; he always went out of
THACKERAY'S TRIBUTE 305
his way to amuse and entertain them, and they were
quite fascinated by his really wonderful power of
story-telling and mimicry. No wonder, therefore,
that his popularity with all young people was
immense.
Mrs. E, M. Ward, the well-known artist, retains
an affectionate remembrance of this characteristic,
and the delight that was caused in their home when
" Uncle Horace " was expected. His arrival was the
signal for a merry-making. Taking the children
on his knees, he regaled them with fairy tales in
extempore verse.
As Mr. S. C. Hall has said : — " Horace Smith was
emphatically a good man; of large sympathy and
charity, generous in giving even beyond his means,
eminent for rectitude in all the affairs and relations
of life, and I never heard him utter an injurious
word of any one of his contemporaries, though our
usual talk concerned them."
Horace Smith was, indeed, eminently lovable.
Few could appreciate this somewhat rare quality
better than Thackeray, who thus sums up the
character of his friend : — " That good, serene old man,
who went out of the world in charity with all in it,
and having shown through his life, as far as I know
it, quite a delightful love of God's works and
creatures — a true, loyal. Christian man."
INDEX
Abdy, Maeia, 180-182, 293-295
Absent Apothecary, The, 252, 254-
257
Adam Broivn, 265
Alfred House Academy, 50-52
Anderson, the Rev. James, 272-
273
the Rev. Robert, 272-273
Arthur Arurulel, 265
Athenaeum Club, 240
" Badger," of Brighton, 275
Banks, Sir Joseph, 68, 69, 71
Barham, the Rev. R. H., 238, 239
Bartholoineio Fair, 250
Beavan, Henry, 184, 295
Blessington, Lady, 120, 236
Bond, Lady E. A., 239
Brambletye House, 257-262
Brighton, 267-290
Brighton Herald, The, 273
Burdett-Coutts, the Baroness, 288
Burford, Peter Thomas, 42-44
Burgess, Hugh, 183
Busby, Dr. Thomas, 108, 110
Byron, Lord, 106, 107, 117, 176,
177
Cadell, Alderman, 83, 115
Elizabeth, 183
Joanna, 183
Rosa, 183
Sophia, 183
Thomas, 83, 115, 116, 184
Campbell, Thomas, 118, 266
Chigwell School, 42-47
Chig^vell Village, 48, 245, 246
Christie, Mr., 152, 153
City Halls, 81, 82
City, the (1800 to 1810), 88, 89
Cobby, Mrs.. 274
Cotton, Sir St. Vincent, 272
Country Cousin, The, 249
Covent Garden Theatre, Destruc-
tion of, 99
Cumberland, Richard, 97, 98
Curran, 77
Dodson, Clara, 129-132, 157-160,
295, 296
D'Orsay, Count, 120, 236
Drury Lane Theatre, Addresses for
re-opening of, 104-106 ; some
of the, 105-108
Destruction of, 99-102
New, the, 102-103
Re-building, Plans for, 102
Re-opening of, 106-108
Du Barry, Mdme., 17, 18, 20
Eld, Lieut, -Col., 271, 272
EUiston, Mr., 107
Family Story, A, 78, 79
Festivals, Games, and Amuse-
ments, 264
Field, Barron, 199, 252
First Imijressions, 252, 253
Fleet, Charles, 290
— — William, 273
Fraser's Magazine, 242, 243
Friend, D. Burchell, 290
308
INDEX
Fladgate, Francis 238 239
Ford, Miss, 133
Gaieties cnul Gravities, 257
Gale, Middlcton, 264
Garrick Club, the, 240-244
David, 25, 26 ; Mrs., 107
George III., 72, 84
Gompertz, Adelaide, 291, 292,
296-298
Gordon Kiots, Lord George, 29-33
Gunu, Martha, 274
Haines, John, 290
Hall, S. C, 119, 260, 261, 282,
283, 285, 305; Mrs., 181, 182
Harsnett, Archbishop, 43, 46
Heaviside, Mrs., 284, 289
Heseltiuc,"\Villiam,124-128;Mrs.,
281, 282
Highgate Tunnel, the, 93-95
Tlie, or Secret Arch, 95-97
Hill, Thomas, 134, 135, 208-213,
280, 281
Hook, Theodore, 120, 222-232
Hunt, Holman, 133, 134
Hunt, Leigh, 167
Imitations of Celebrated AiUJwrs,
265
Introduction, 1, 2
Jane Loitiax, 264, 265
Jesse, Edward, 189, 190
Johnson, Dr., 40
"Jonathan," Brighton, 274
Kcan, Charles, 121, 284
Etlmund, 121, 286
Keats, John, 134-137, 151, 155
Kcir Grant, Sir William, 272
Kemble, John, 74
Lang, Andrfw, 153, 154
Lardner, Dr., 284, 289
Li-man, Hfiiry, 183
Lotteiies, State, 82, 83
Louis XV., 16-21
XVI., 54, 56
Love arid Mesmerism, 265
Lytton, Lord, 120, 236, 237
Magnus, Harry, 129
Mail Coach, The, 250
Marie Antoinette, 54-56
MasanicUo, 265
Mansfield, Lord, 40
Mathews, Charles, 188, 189, 214-
222, 238, 249-251, 278-280
Mrs., 217-222
ilatthews, Mr., 274
Midsummer Medley, The, 264
Miller, John, 95, 98, 116
Monei/ed Man, The, 265
Mul'a-ave, Earl of, 91, 145, 245
ilurray (Brighton), 275
Mr. John, 115, 116, 118
"Nancy" of Chig\vell, 47, 246
New College, Hackney, 49, 50
New Forest, Tlic, 263
Oliver Cromwell, 265
Oliver, "William, 183
Ordnance, Board of, 140-148
Parliamentary Election and,
144, 145
Paoli, "General," 21, 22
Paris, 13-15, 5-3-60, 157-161
Dr., 237, 238, 247
Tom, 237, 238
Patriotism in City, 72, 73
Perceval, the Hon. Spencer, 83,
90, 91
"Perdita" Robinson, 7
Poetical ll'orks, 265
Ratty Family, the, 274
Redding, Cyrus, 162-166, 260,
262, 263, 291
Rejected Addre8.ses, the Real, 104-
108
Kejictcd Addresses, The, JI array,
Mr. John, and, 115, 116, 118
Publication of, 114, 115, 116
Reviews of, 117, 118
Some of, 111-114
INDEX
309
Rejected Addresses, written, How
they came to be, 109, 110
Rennie, John, 93
RcAihen Apsley, 262
Robertson, the Rev. F. W., 272,
273, 288, 289
Round, John, 289
Eunmvay, The, 79, 80
St. Albans, Duchess of, 286-288
St. James' Palace, Fire at, 99
Sake Deen Mahomed, 275, 280
Scott, John, 152, 153
Sir Walter, 111, 112, 199-
204, 257-260
Shee, Sir Martin A., 274
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 136-152,
154-156, 161, 167-177
Shenstone, the Poet, 70, 71
Smith, Clara, 129
Smith, Eliza (Tizey), 123, 124,
157, 289
Smith, Horace, Absent Apothecary,
The, 252, 254-257
■- Adam Broivn, 265
Alfred House Academy, at,
52
Ambition, his Literary, 122
Anecdotes of his brother
James, his, 187-189
■ Arthur Arundel, 265
Aversions of, 803, 304
Birth of, 28
Bramhletyc House, 257-262
Brighton, at, 269, 278-286,
288-290, 292, 293; friends,
his, 283, 284
Campbell, Thomas, his verses
on, 266
Character and disposition of.
39, 89, 119, 122, 126, 139, 151,
156, 157, 284, 288, 289, 293,
299, 300-305
Chig^vell School, at, 42-48, 52
Childhood of, 38-41
Children of, 123, 124, 156,
157, 284-286, 289
City counting-house, Clerk
m, 71 ; early associations with
the, 36, 37 ; merchant in the,
87-90 ; retires from business in,
156, 157 ; stockbroker in the,
92, 124-128
Smith, Horace, Death of, 298
Drama, his connection with
the, 97-99
Education of, 42-48, 52
Family Story, A, 78, 79
■ Festivals, Games and Amuse-
ments, 264
— Field, Barron, and, 199, 252
First Imirressions, 252, 253
— Fulham, at Elysium Row,
133, 134
— Gaieties and Gravities, 257
— Gale Middlcton, 264
Hall, S. C, and, 119, 282,
283, 285, 305
— - Heseltine, Mrs., and, 281,
282 ; William, and, 124-128
— — Highgate Tunnel, or Secret
Arch, The, 95-97
Hill, Thomas, and, 134, 135,
280, 281 ; his personal recollec-
tions of, 208-213
— Hook, Theodore, his personal
recollections of, 222-232
Humour in prose and verse.
his, 194-198, 266, 276
— Illness, his last, 298
hnitations of Celebrated
Authors, 265
Ja7ie Lomax, 264, 265
Kean, Charles, and, 121, 284
— =• Keats, entertains, 134-136
Kuightsbridge, at, 122, 123
Lang, Andrew, and, 153, 154
Letters to Abdy, Maria, 294,
295; to Dodson, Clara, 129-
132, 157-160, 295, 296 ; to
Gompertz, Adelaide, 291, 292,
296-298; to Hall, S. C,
260, 261, 282, 283 ; to Hesel-
tine, Mrs., 281, 282 ; to Hill,
Thomas, 280, 281 ; to Mathews,
Charles, 214-217, 278-280 ; to
Mathews, Charles, Mrs., 217-
222 ; to Redding, Cyrus, 162-
310
INDEX
166; to Shelley, 150-152, 155,
156, 161 ; Twiss, Horace, 254
Smith, Horace, Literary, ilraniatic
and social circle, his, 119-121,
283, 284 ; works, his earliest,
78-80 ; Ins later, 251-266
London and elsewhere, trips
to, 293
Lore and Mesmerism, 265
Marriage, his, 122 ; his
second, 132, 133
Masanicllo, 265
Mfithews, Charles, and, 214,
216, 217, 278-280 ; his personal
recollections of, 214, 222 ; Mrs.,
and, 217-222
— Midsummer Medley, The, 264
— MoiHijrd Man, The, 265
— New Forest, The, 263
— Oliver Cromwell, 265
Opinions on Social and Politi-
cal subjects, etc., his, 300-303
Paris, at, 157-161
Personal ai)pearance of, 298,
299
— Poeticnl Works, 265
— Popularity witii the gentler
sex, his, 122
llcjected Addresses, and, 99,
103, 105, 109-112, 114-118, 122
Reuben Apsley, '262
J!unnu-(iy, The, 79, 80
St. Albans, Duchess of, and,
286-288
Lines on the, 287
Scott, John, Duel, and, 152-
154
Sir Walter, his personal
recollections of, 199-204
Slielley, Percy Jiysslie, and.
136-139,149-152,154-156,161,
167, 168 ; his personal recollec-
tions of, 167-177
— Soutliey, Robert, liis per-
sonal reeoUeelions of, 204-208
— Stock-Exchange, and, 124-
128
— Talcs of tlic Early Ages,
264
Smitli, Horace, Thackeray, "\V. M.,
and, 284-286
Tin Trumpet, Tlie., 264
Tor Hill, Tlic, 262
Trevanion, 80
Tunbridgo "Wells, at, 257,
260, 298
Twiss, Horace, and, 254
Versailles, at, 162-167
IValter C'oh/ton, 263
Zillah, 26-i 263
Smith, Horatio Shakespeare. 123
124, 157
Smith, James, Alfred House
Academy, at, 50-52
Ambition, his want of, 122
Articled to his father, 65
Athen.'euin Club, elected
member of the, 240
Attorney, admitted as an, 72
Barham, the Kev. R. H., and.
238, 239
— Barlhulomcw Fair, 250
— Birth of, 24
Blessington, Lady, and, 120,
236
— Bons-mots, etc., his, 193, 194
I'ook-keejiing classes, at-
tends, 52
— l)urford, Peter Thomas, and.
43, 44
— Cliaracter and disposition of,
39, 43, 44, 46, 48, 147, 186-
188, 233-237, 246-248
— Chigwell, Revisits, 245, 246
Scliool, at, 42-48
— Childhood of, 38-41
— City, his early association
witli tlie, 36, 37
— Club-life, his, 239-245
— Country Cousin, The, 249
— Craven St., Strand, at, 27,
245, 247, 248
— Dartnioutli, at, 69
— Death, liis narrow escape
from, 62, 63
— Dealii of, 247, 248
D'Orsay, Count, and, 120,
236
INDEX
311
Smith, James, Drama, his connec-
tion with the, 97-99
Education of, 42-52
Fame, literary, liis ilhistra-
tion of the ephemeral nature of,
121
Fladgate, Francis, and, 238,
239
243
France, in, 60, 61
Fraser's Magazine, and, 242,
— Garrick Club, elected mem-
ber of, 241
— Gravesend, etc., at, 68
— Habits, his daily, 235
— Housekeeper, his, 245, 247
— Humorous compositions by,
190, 191, 276-278
— Illness, his last, 247, 248
Isle of Thanet, in the, 69,
70
Wight, in the, 68
— Jane Lomax, his criticism of,
264, 265
Jesse, Edward, and, 189, 190
— Johnson, Dr., and, 40
— " Leasowes," at, 70, 71
— Legal profession, his respect
for the, 187, 188
Letter to Mrs. Mathews, his,
217, 218
Lewes, at, 71
Literary and dramatic circle,
his, 120, 121
Works, his earliest, 80,
81 ; his later (other tliau Re-
jected Addresses), 249, 250
London, his love of, 245
■ Lytton, Lord, and, 120, 236,
237
Mail Coach, The, 250
Mathews, Charles, and, 188,
189, 238 ; Mrs., and, 217, 218
Mansfield, Lord Chief Jus-
tice, and, 40
Matrimony, his indifference
to, 122, 234, 235
Mulgrave, Earl of, and, 91,
145, 245
Smith, James, "Nancy " of Chig-
well, and, 47, 246
New College, Hackney, at,
49, 50
■ Ordnance Board Solicitor,
appointed joint-assistant to, 90,
91 ; sole assistant to, 145-148
— Oxford, at, 71
Paris, Dr., and, 237, 238,
247 ; his letter to, 247
Tom, and, 237, 238
Perceval, Hon. Spencer, dines
with, 83
Personal appearance of, 233,
234
— Popularity with the gentler
sex, his, 122
— Eejected Addresses, and, 99,
109-118, 121, 122
— Scotland, in, 65-67
Social circle, his, 119-121,
235-239
— TrijJ to France, A, 249
Union Club, elected member
of the, 244
Versification, his, 44, 45,
47-49, 51, 187, 191-193, 238,
275
Smith, Laura, 285, 286, 289
Smith, Leonard, 26, 42, 52, 234
Smith, Maria, 24
Smith, Robert, attorney, admitted
as an, 22
Articled to an, 10, 11
Austin Friars, at, 92
Banks, Sir Joseph, and, 68,
69
Basinghall St., at, 36, 81
Birth and parentage of, 2
Board of Ordnance, his ap-
pointment to, 34 ; retirement
from, 145, 146
■ Brambletye House, and, 261,
262
■ Brighton, at, 268
■ Cambridge, at, 87
Chantilly, at, 15
Compiegne, at, 16-21
Dartmouth, at, 69
312
INDEX
Smith, Robert, Death, his narrow
escapes from, 32, 33, 62, 63
Death of, 185
Declining years of, 178, 180-
185
Du Bany, Madame, sees, 17,
18, 20
Education of, 3-5
Fen Court, at, 23
Frederick's Place, Old Jewry,
at, 27
— Freemason's Hall, at, 26
— Garrick, David, and, 25, 26
Attends last appearance
of, 26
Gordon Riots, and the, 29-34
Gravesend, etc., at, 68
Hanway, Mr., and, 25
— Ireland, in, 73-77
Lslc of Thanet, in, 69, 70
Wiglit, in, 68
— London, early life in, 11, 12
First journey to, 7, 10
— Louis XV., sees, 16-21
XVI. and Marie Antoin-
ette, sees, 54-56
— "Leasowcs," at, 70, 71
— Lewes, at, 71
— Liverpool, at, 67, 68
Marriage, his, 22-24
His second, 86, 87
— Mulgrave, Karl of, and, 91
Old Jewry, at, 35
Oxford, at, 71
Paoli, General, mci'ts, 21, 22
Paris, at, 14, 15, 53-61
Patriotism, and, 72, 73
"Pcrdita" Robinson, meets.
Philanthroi)y, his, 24, 25
Recollections, liis larly, 3,
4,7
Hesidences after retirement,
hia, 178
Royal Society, elected Fellow
of the, 71
Smith, Robert, St. Paul's, at, 72
Scotland, in, 65-67
Society of Antii^uaries, elect-
ed Fellow of, 35
- Arts, elected Fellow of,
73
— State Lotteries, and, 83
— Tor Hill, The, and, 262
— Versification, his, 5, 6, 179-
183, 185
— West Indies, goes to, 34, 35
— Wife, death of his, 84, 85
second, 184
Mrs., 22-24, 84, 85
Mrs. (the second), 86,87, 184
Smith, Rosalind, 156, 284, 289
Smith, Sophia, 26, 83
Smoaker, The Bros., 274
Soutliey, Robert, 1 1 2, 1 13, 204-208
Tahx of the Edrlii Aqcs, 264
Thackeray, W. M., 284-286, 305
Tin Trumjhi; Th^, 264
Tor Hill, T/u:, 262
Trcvanion, 80, 132
Trip to Paris, The, 249
Twiss, Horace, 254
Union Club, The, 244, 245
Versailles, Horace Smith at, 162-
167
Victoria, Queen, curious address
to, 293, 294
U'alkr Cohiton, 263, 280, 281
War.l, CliaVles William, 98, 99,
105, 109, 110, 116
K. M., R.A., 133, 181
Mr.s.,305
Wellington, Dukeof, 145, 146
White, Henry Kirke, 87
Young, the Rev. Julian, 189, 190
Zillah, 262, 263
Hichard Clay Jc Son*, LimiUd, London <k Bungay.
UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
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