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Smith, Sydney
1771-1845, English clergyman, writer, and wit, ordained in the Church of England in 1794. In 1798 he went as a tutor to Edinburgh, where he studied medicine, occasionally preached, and with Jeffrey and others founded (1802) the Edinburgh Review. His brilliant contributions were a strong factor in the periodical's success. Moving to London in 1803, Smith lectured on moral philosophy at the Royal Institution and became a well-known figure in literary society. His
“Peter Plymley”
letters (published anonymously in 1807-8) in defense of Catholic Emancipation were the first of his many appeals for religious toleration. In 1809 he moved to Yorkshire, where he had been given a living of £500 a year. There he also acted as magistrate and village doctor. He went to a parish in Somerset in 1829; in 1831 he was given a residentiary canonry at St. Paul's. Smith's religion was strong and of a practical nature. A lover of justice and truth, he was a life-long defender of the oppressed. His failure to rise higher in the church is attributed to his wide reputation as a master of wit and satire. He is placed among the premier English wits and has been compared to Swift and to Voltaire.
Bibliography: See his works (4 vol., 1839-40); his letters (ed. by N. Smith, 2 vol., 1953); selections from his writings (ed. by W. H. Auden, 1956); memoir by his daughter, Lady Holland (2 vol., 1855); biographies by G. W. Russell (1905, repr. 1971), H. Pearson (1934, repr. 1971), G. W. Bullett (1951, repr. 1971), and A. Bell (1980).
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