Characteristics of Sydney Smith [pp. 545-549]

CHARACTERISTICS OF SYDNEY SMITH.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SYDNEY SMITH.
BY CHARLES NORDHOFF.
HE Reverend Sydney Smith was born in the
year 1771, of a good family; was, with one
of his three brothers, Courtenay, early sent to
Winchester school, where he distinguished himself, became captain of the school, and made, as
he says, "above ten thousand Latin verses;"
then, after perfecting himself in French, finished
his collegiate course at Oxford, where he obtained
a fellowship. He wished to study for the bar,
but had not sufficient means, and after nearly
going out to China as supercargo of a vessel, reluctantly made up his mind to enter the Churchthe refuge for most of England's impoverished
gentry.
It has often been said that Sydney should have
been a lawyer rather than a clergyman; and that
his vocation did not fit him, nor he it. I believe
this to be a great mistake. Doubtless he had
admirable qualities for a lawyer, and would have
distinguished himself at the bar. His individual
success in life would have been greater-but he
would have done less good-would have had
fewer and lesser chances to do battle for the right
there than in his place as a clergyman-would
have been assailed by greater temptations to
worldliness, have had fewer restraints-and restraint his uproarious spirit needed-and, if he
had early attained independence, which would
doubtless have been the case had he been a lawyer, he would, perhaps, have become indolent-at
any rate have needed the constant sting of almost poverty to urge him on to action, and to the
development of his best powers.
Because he was naturally a wit, and naturally
looked at things as commonplace stupid people
do not, he has been accused of being unministerial. As though to laug,h and cause others to
laugh at evil were wrong; as though to see
clearly, think strongly, and speak unreservedly
on those abuses which, from long standing, have
become potent in society, were either improper or
injudicious for one who, as God's minister, is
commanded to "bear witness against" sins of all
kinds. Henry Ward Beecher-whose genius is
much akin to Sydney Smith's-labors under the
same imputation. Beecher, too, would be a successful lawyer. Beecher is-Smith was —in his
most proper place in the pulpit. Both men would
have lost much of their influence for good any
where else. Both would have taken somewhat
their tone from their surroundings. Both needed
the safeguards of the ministerial position to direct
and keep in bounds those rampant spirits which
VOL. XVII.-35
are as powerful for evil as for good, and which,
like a shot from a cannon, accomplish their utmost good only when pointed in the proper direction.
Then, somehow, dullness is come to be the prerogative of the pulpit. A dull man is a safe
man (?., and will not hurt the feelings of his
parishioners. Dullness, too, is associated with
profundity-has been, I suppose, ever since the
owl became the pet bird of Minerva. Sydney
Smith well says himself, in one of his lectures
on moral philosophy*-than which there is no
more interesting or more common-sense treatise
on the subject in the language-that "there is an
association in men's minds between dullness and
wisdom, amusement and folly, which has a very
powerful influence in decision upon character,
and is not overcome without considerable difficulty. The reason is that the outward signs of a
dull man and a wise man are the same, and so
are the outward signs of a frivolous man and a
witty man; and we are not to expect that the
majority will be disposed to look to much more
than the outward sign. I believe the fact to be
that wit is very seldom the only eminent quality
in the mind of any man; it is commonly accompanied by many other talents of every description, and ought to be considered as a strong evidence of a fertile and superior understanding."
And then, further, when. speaking of great men:
"The meaning of an extraordinary man is that
he is eight men, not one man; that he has as
much wit as if he had no sense, and as much
sense as if he had no wit; that his conduct is as
judicious as if he were the dullest of human
beings, and his imagination as brilliant as if he
were irretrievably ruined. But when wit is
combined with sense and information; when it is
softened by benevolence and restrained by strong
principle; when it is in the hands of a man who
can use it and despise it, who can be witty, and
something much better than witty, who loves
honor, justice, decency, good-nature, morality,
and religion ten thousand times better than wit;
wit is then a beautiful part of our nature..
Man could direct his ways by plain reason, and,
support his life by tasteless food; but God has
given us wit, and flavor, and laughter, and perfumes to enliven the days of man's pilgrimage,
and to charm his pained steps over the burning
marl."
Is not this true? And is it not this kind of
wit which men unthinkingly try to bar out from
*Elementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy, by Sydney Smith, A. M. New York: Harper & Brothers.
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