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A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Chapter XI
Sydney Smith to Sylvain Van de Weyer, [12 October 1843]
INTRODUCTION & INDEXES
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Author's Preface
Contents
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Index
Editor’s Preface
Letters 1801
Letters 1802
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Letters 1830
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Letters 1834
Letters 1835
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Letters 1843
Letters 1844
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“Dear Van de Weyer,

“Let me explain my share in the proceedings. Between five and six o’clock appeared, in a fly, a grave
MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH.325
person, who denominated himself Octave de la P——, in search of you. I concluded, by the solemnity of his aspect, that he was come to announce the last days of the Belgian monarchy. On the contrary, it was to carry you off to the Castle at Windsor. He could not go from hence, seeing the time of his arrival, till the eleven o’clock train; and as he was resolute to have you, and I believe Madame also, in London by six o’clock tomorrow, we agreed that nothing remained but to proceed to Chippenham in the train, to extract you from Bowood, and to convey you to the Metropolis. I told him he would be most probably shot at Bowood by the watchman; but he declared that his papers were all in order, and to die in the performance of his duty was a glorious death for a Belgian. I wrote a jocular note to send up to your bedside, that you might not be alarmed about your children.

“If Octave de la P—— has perished in the invasion of Bowood, I certify that he died with the deepest admiration of the ever-memorable Belgic revolution.

“Yours very truly,
“Sydney Smith.”
“October 12th, 1843.”