[84] William Vernon-Harcourt {1789-1871}, father of
Sir William
Vernon-Harcourt, M.P.
[85] Patrick Duigenan (1735-1816), LL.D., M.P. for
the City of Armagh, and
Protestant agitator.
[86] The Yorkshire Gazette for April 12, 1823,
contains a long
letter from “A North
Riding Clergyman,” protesting against the
language used by Sydney Smith.
This clergyman states that the report
of the meeting at Thirsk,
given by the York Herald of March 29, was
“unquestionably by the
Minority themselves.” It “professes
to be a
sketch of what was said and
done at the meeting of the North Riding
Clergy. Then the public
is favoured with three considerable speeches,
filling three close columns
of a newspaper, on the one side; and not
with three lines, nay, not
with one, of anything said on the other
side.... Surely the whole
of the twenty-two clergyman who differed
from the ten were not so astounded
by the eloquence and display of
their opponents as to remain
absolutely speechless.” It is further
said that “on the present
occasion, and after assuring his learned
brethren that he was not going
to inflict upon them a speech, and some
other remarks of similar accuracy,
Mr. Smith immediately harangues
them in a vehement and long
speech; during which, with firm resolve,
it may seem, not to possess
either ‘overheated mind’ or body, he
nearly exhausted the ‘Three
Tuns’ of water,” For this quotation, and
for the date of the meeting,
which had been erroneously stated by
previous writers, I am indebted
to the courtesy of Mr. J.S.R.
Phillips, editor of the Yorkshire
Post.
[87] (1808-1889): became 8th Earl of Carlisle
in 1864 The Rev. Richard
Wilton, Canon of York and
Rector of Londesborough, wrote in 1895:—“My
former venerable friend, the
oldest inhabitant, gave me some graphic
descriptions of Sydney Smith’s
visit to the parish once or twice a
year, and the interest which
was felt in the village when he drove
over from Foston, his other
living, to preach an occasional sermon at
Londesborough. His reading,
and manner in the pulpit, were described
to me as having been ‘bold
and impressive.’ As soon as the sermon was
over, he would hasten out
of the church along with his hearers, and
chat with the farmers about
their turnips, or cattle, or corn-crops,
being anxious to utilize his
scant opportunities of conversing with
his parishioners....
There was until lately living in this parish an
old man aged eighty, who was
proud of telling how he was invited over
to Foston to ‘brew for
Sydney,’ as he affectionately called him.”
[88] Mr. Stuart Reid gives to this curious name the
more impressive form of
Mayelstone.
[89] As Earl Marshal.