SMITH, SYDNEY (1771-1845).—­Miscellaneous writer, b. at Woodford, Essex, the s. of a gentleman of independent means, and ed. at Winchester and Oxf., took orders 1794, becoming curate of Amesbury.  He came to Edinburgh as tutor to a gentleman’s s., was introduced to the circle of brilliant young Whigs there, and assisted in founding the Edinburgh Review.  He then went to London, where he was for a time preacher at the Foundling Hospital, and lectured on moral philosophy at the Royal Institution.  His brilliant wit and general ability made him a favourite in society, while by his power of clear and cogent argument he exercised a strong influence on the course of politics.  His Plymley Letters did much to advance the cause of Catholic emancipation.  He received various preferments, and became a canon of St. Paul’s.  In politics he was a Whig, in his Church views an Erastian; and in the defence of his principles he was honest and courageous.  Though not remarkable for religious devotion he was a hard-working and, according to his lights, useful country parson.  By the death of a younger brother he in his later years came into a considerable fortune.

SMITH, WALTER CHALMERS (1824-1908).—­B. in Aberdeen and ed. there and at Edin., was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland at Orwell, Glasgow, and Edinburgh successively, a distinguished preacher and a man of kindly nature and catholic sympathies.  He attained considerable reputation as a poet.  Among his works are The Bishop’s Walk (1861), Olrig Grange (1872), Hilda among the Broken Gods (1878), Raban (1880), Kildrostan (1884), and A Heretic (1890).  Some of these were written under the names of “Orwell” and Hermann Kunst.  He received the degrees of D.D. and LL.D.

SMITH, SIR WILLIAM (1813-1893).—­Lexicographer, ed. at Univ.  Coll., London, was a contributor to the Penny Magazine and compiled or ed. many useful works of reference, including Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1842), and dictionaries of the Bible, of Christian Antiquities, and Christian Biography, etc., also various school series and educational handbooks, including The Classical Dictionary.  He held various academical degrees, including Ph.D. of Leipsic, and was knighted in 1892.

SMITH, WILLIAM ROBERTSON (1846-1894).—­Theologian and Semitic scholar, s. of the Free Church minister of Keig, Aberdeenshire, studied for the ministry of that Church.  In 1870 he was appointed Prof. of Hebrew, etc., in its coll. at Aberdeen, a position which he had to resign on account of his advanced critical views.  He became joint ed. of The Encyclopaedia Britannica, and in 1883 Prof. of Arabic at Camb.  S. was a man of brilliant and versatile talents, a mathematician as well as a scholar, somewhat uncompromising and aggressive in the exposition and defence of his views.  His works include The Old Testament in the Jewish Church (1881), and The Religion of the Semites (1889).