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A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1835
Sydney Smith to Lady Grey, 11 September 1835
INTRODUCTION & INDEXES
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
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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
Letters 1803
Letters 1804
Letters 1805
Letters 1806
Letters 1807
Letters 1808
Letters 1809
Letters 1810
Letters 1811
Letters 1812
Letters 1813
Letters 1814
Letters 1815
Letters 1816
Letters 1817
Letters 1818
Letters 1819
Letters 1820
Letters 1821
Letters 1822
Letters 1823
Letters 1824
Letters 1825
Letters 1826
Letters 1827
Letters 1828
Letters 1829
Letters 1830
Letters 1831
Letters 1832
Letters 1833
Letters 1834
Letters 1835
Letters 1836
Letters 1837
Letters 1838
Letters 1839
Letters 1840
Letters 1841
Letters 1842
Letters 1843
Letters 1844
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Combe Florey, Sept. 11th, 1835.
My dear Lady Grey,

Your letter gave me great pleasure—the pleasure of being cared about by old and good friends, and the pleasure of seeing that they know I care about them. Lord Grey has met with that reception which every honest and right-minded man felt to be his due. If I had never known him, and lived in the north, I should have come out to wave my bonnet as he passed. He may depend upon it he has played a great part in English history, and that the best part of the English people entertain for him the most profound respect. And now, for the rest of life, let him trifle and lounge, and do everything which may be agreeable to him, and drink as much wine as he dare, and not be too severe in criticizing himself.

We have had Scarlett and Denman here: the former, an old friend of mine; Denman everybody likes.

I don’t know whether you have the same joy, but I am heartily glad the fine weather is over; it totally prevented me from taking exercise, and therefore, from being as well as I otherwise should have been. Lord and Lady John Russell came here on Monday. On the 22nd I go to 25, Lower Brook-street, and on the 28th we go to Paris for a month,—Mrs. Sydney, and Mr. and Mrs. Hibbert, and myself. I have not the least wish to see Paris again, but go to show it to
372MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH.
Mrs. Sydney. I think every wife has a right to insist upon seeing Paris. It would give me some pleasure to talk with the King of France for half an hour.

We all (I take it for granted) rejoice at the wise decision of the Government. They would have lost character if they had given up the Bill, and embroiled the country for an object so trifling. O’Connell’s letter to the Duke of Wellington is dreadfully scurrilous, but there are in it some distressing truths. The state of America will help the Tories, and diffuse a horror of mobs.

I have (heat excepted) spent an agreeable summer with my two daughters and all their families,—seven grandchildren. It will give me great pleasure to hear that Lord Grey and you have been and are well and happy.

Sydney Smith.