[7] It is curious that the date and place of Sydney
Smith’s ordination as
Deacon cannot be traced.
He would naturally have been ordained at
Salisbury by John Douglas,
Bishop of Sarum; but there is a gap in that
prelate’s Register of
Ordinations between 1791 and 1796. He may have
been ordained on Letters Dimissory
in some other diocese. He was
raised to the Priesthood in
Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, on the
22nd of May 1796 by Edward
Smallwell, Bishop of Oxford; being
described as Fellow of New
College, and B.A.
For the foregoing facts I
am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. A.R.
Malden, Registrar of the Diocese
of Salisbury, and Mr. J.A. Davenport,
Registrar of the Diocese of
Oxford.
[8] Quoted by Mr. Stuart Reid.
[9] (1735-1811).
[10] (1745-1833.)
[11] (1734-1826.)
[12] “At the commencement of the nineteenth
century, the Sunday-school had
become a part of the regular
organization of almost every well-worked
parish. It was then a
far more serious affair than it is now, for,
where there was no week-day
school, it supplied secular as well as
religious instruction to the
children. In fact, the Sunday-school took
up a considerable part of
the day,”—J.H. OVERTON, The
English
Church in the Nineteenth Century.
[13] Grandfather of Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, M.P.
[14] James Gregory (1753-1821), Professor of Medicine.
[15] Joseph Black (1728-1799), Professor of Chemistry.
[16] (1757-1839.)
[17] (1777-1819). Son of the 10th Duke of Somerset.
[18] Henry Dundas (1742-1811), Lord Advocate, created
Viscount Melville in
1802.
CHAPTER II
THE EDINBURGH REVIEW—LONDON—“MORAL PHILOSOPHY”—PREFERMENT
We now approach what was perhaps the most important event in Sydney Smith’s life, and this was the foundation of the Edinburgh Review. Writing in 1839, and looking back upon the struggles of his early manhood, he thus described the circumstances in which the Review originated:—
“Among the first persons with whom I became acquainted [in Edinburgh] were Lord Jeffrey, Lord Murray (late Lord Advocate for Scotland), and Lord Brougham; all of them maintaining opinions upon political subjects a little too liberal for the dynasty of Dundas, then exercising supreme power over the northern division of the Island.
“One day we happened to meet in the eighth or ninth story or flat in Buccleugh Place, the elevated residence of the then Mr. Jeffrey. I proposed that we should set up a Review; this was acceded to with acclamation. I was appointed Editor, and remained long enough in Edinburgh to edit the first number of the Edinburgh Review. The motto I proposed for the Review was—
“‘Tenui musam, meditamur avena.’