fishing: it is a light, volatile, dissipated pursuit. But ground-bait, with a good steady float that never bobs without a bite, is an occupation for a bishop, and in no ways interferes with sermon-making." He once discovered some tench in a pond at Sandhill Park (a seat of the Lethbridges close to Combe Florey) and kept the secret till he had caught every one of them (an exploit requiring several days), when he loudly triumphed over the fisherman of the family. Writing to Lady Grey, he says: "his [John Grey's] refusal of the living of Sunbury convinces me that he is not fond of gudgeon-fishing. I had figured to myself, you and Lord Grey, and myself, engaged in that occupation upon the river

Thames."

DINNER-TABLE CONVERSATION.

"Eloquence," says Bolingbroke, "must flow like a stream that is fed by an abundant spring, and not sprout forth a little frothy water on some gaudy day, and remain dry the rest of the year." So must humour, and Sydney Smith's was so fed; yet it was seldom overpowering, and never exhausting, except by the prolonged fits of laughter which it provoked. Although in one of his letters already quoted he calls himself a diner-out, he had none of the prescriptive attributes of that now happily almost extinct tribe. He had no notion of talking for display. He talked because Le could not help it; because his spirits were excited, and his mind was full. He consciously or unconsciously, too, abided by Lord Chesterfield's rule, "Pay your own reckoning, but do not treat the whole company; This being one of the very few cases in which people do not care to be treated, every one being fully convinced that he has wherewithal to pay." His favourite maxim (copied from Swift) was "Take as many half-minutes as you can get, but never talk more than half a minute without pausing and giving others an opportunity to strike in." He vowed that Buchon, a clever and amiable man of letters, who talked on the opposite principle, was the identical Frenchman who murmured as he was anxiously watching a rival, "S'il crache ou tousse, il est perdu." Far from being jealous of competition, he was always anxious to dine in company with men who were able and entitled to hold their own; and he was never pleasanter than when some guest of con

MEDICAL PRACTICE.

451

genial turn of mind assisted him to keep up the ball. On the occasion of the first attempt to bring him and Theodore Hook together, the late Mr. Lockhart arrived with the information, that Hook was priming himself (as was his wont), at the Athenæum Club, with a tumbler or two of hot punch. "Oh," exclaimed Sydney, "if it comes to that, let us start fair. When Mr. Hook is announced, announce Mr. Smith's Punch." When they did meet, they contracted a mutual liking, and Sydney ran on with his usual flow and felicity; but poor Hook had arrived at that period of his life when his wonderful powers required a greater amount of stimulants than could be decently imbibed at an ordinary London dinner with a clergyman.

A SCOTCH GARDENER.

WHEN he stopped to give directions to his servants or labourers he was well worth listening to. On it being pointed out to him that his gardener was tearing off too many of the leaves of a vine, he told him to desist. The man, a Scotchman, looked unconvinced. "Now, understand me," he continued; "you are probably right, but I don't wish you to do what is right; and as it is my vine, and there are no moral laws for pruning, you may as well do as I wish."

MEDICAL PRACTICE.

SIR HENRY HOLLAND's high authority is adduced in favour of Sydney's medical knowledge; but we have our doubts whether the health of either Foston or Combe Florey was improved by the indulgence of his hobby in this particular. A composition of bluepill which he was glad to "dart into the intestines" of any luckless wight whom he could induce to swallow it, sometimes operated in a manner which he had not anticipated. One morning, at Combe Florey, a regular practitioner from Taunton, who had been going his weekly round and was considerately employed to overlook the serious cases, came in with rather a long face, and stated that an elderly woman, who had been taking the pill during several consecutive nights for the lumbago, complained that her gums were sore, and he therefore advised the discontinuance of it. A London

visitor, who had tried it once, began to titter; and Sydney, after attempting a weak apology for his practice, heartily joined in the laugh, exclaiming: "What a story you will make of this, when you next breakfast with Rogers, and how he and Luttrell will triumph in it!"

A BISHOP'S COURTSHIP.

SOME one asked if the Bishop of was going to marry. "Perhaps he may-yet how can a bishop marry? How can he flirt? The most he can say is, 'I will see you in the vestry after service. "

TITHES.

It is an atrocious way of paying the clergy. The custom of tithe in kind will seem incredible to our posterity; no one will believe in the ramiferous priest officiating in the cornfield.

ILLUSIONS.

We naturally lose illusions as we get older, like teeth; bat there is no Cartwright to fit a new set into our understandings. I have, alas! only one illusion left, and that is the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Apologue of the Village, 307.
Apostolical Succession, 446.
Argillaceous Immortality, 398.
Articles, the, and the Muses, 446.
Assumptions, 448.

Athenæum, London, quoted, 396.
Aurungzebe, 240.

Austin, Sarah, Edits Correspondence,
10; Notice of Smith's Preaching, 98.

Aversions and Arguments, 412.

Ballot, the, 68.

Banks, Sir Joseph, 172.

Bentham, Jeremy, 160; Book of Fal-
lacies, 162.

Berkeley, Hon. G. F., 119
Bernard, Sir Thomas, Notices of, 30,

35.

Bible, Beauty of the Style of, 423.
Bishop, a Real, 375.

Sacrifice of, on a Railroad, 350.

Bishop's Courtship, 452.

Bishops, Advice to, 331.

and Patronage, 329.

Saturday Night, 337.

Blair, Hugh, 22.

Blessington, Lady, Conversations,

quoted, 443.
Blind, the, 263.
Bloomfield, Bishop, 65.
Bluecoat Theory, 412.
Blue-stockings, 424.
Bobus Smith, see Robert.
Body, of the, 278.

Bombarding the Asiatics, 410.

Booked, 447.
Bore, a, 412.

Borough System, the, 318.

Botany Bay, Description of, 157-159.
Bourne, Sturges, 305.
Breakfast, a, 409.

Brougham, Henry, 19; Ed. Review,

Barham, R. H., Diary of, quoted, 101, 27; the Court of Chancery, 320.

Byron, Lord, Notice of "The Exo-D'Epinay, Madame, 154-156.

diad," 24; of Lady Holland, 89; No- De Quincey, Notice of Robert Smith,

tices of Smith in his Poems, 93; 436.

Campanero, the, 168.

Campbell, Thomas, Anecdotes of, 22,
89; Lochiel, quoted, 221.
Canning, George, 10, 160; his Para-
sites, 301; Character of, 309.

Canvas-Back Ducks, 433.
Carlisle, Lord, Notice of Robert Smith,

14; Notice of, 52;
Carlyle, Thomas, 92.
Castlereagh, Lord, 160.
Cathedral Revenue Bill, 329.
Catholic Church Question, 363-378;

see Peter Plymley.

Catholic Toleration, &c., 41-3; 64.
Caucus, 185.

Caution, in Use of Talent, 214.
Ceylon, Inhabitants of, 111.

12.

De Stael, Madame, Delphine, 113.
Diary, Reflections from, 292-4.
Dickens, Charles, Letters to, 407-9.
Digestion and the Virtues, 404.
Dinner in the Country, 420.
Dinner Table Conversation, 450.
Discussing, Habit of, 203.
Disputant, A, 446.
Dogs, 421, 430.

Dome of St. Paul's, 434.
Dort, Chronicle of, 332.
Doubling the Cape, 445.
Doyle, Dr., 367.

Dress and Beauty, 424.
Drunkenness, 289.
Dunces, 448.

Dwight, Timothy, 187.

Channing, Dr., Sermon preached at Dying Speeches, 415.

St. Paul's, 33.

Charades, 233.

Cheerfulness, of, 282.

Chemistry, 135.

Chesterfield, Lord, quoted, 450.
Childhood, Sensibility of, 418.

Chimney-Sweepers, 159.
Christian Charity, 261.
Church in Danger, 299.
Claphamites, the, 301.
Classes of Society, 431.
Classical Education, 121-131.
Club Life, 38.

Cobbett, Notice of Netheravon, 18.
Combe Florey, Life at, 61-63.
Common Sense for 1810, 46.
Commons, House of, 425.
Composition, 426.

Conquerors, Use of, 157.
Conversational Cook, 445.
Conversation and Books, 212.
Conversation, Educated, 150.
Cool of the Evening, 447.

Copleston, Bishop of Llandaff, Reply
to Ed. Review, 45; Smith's Reply
to, 131-136; Letters of Ward, 440.

Cork, Lady, 429.

Country House, 431.

Courage in the Use of Talent, 201.

Cranzius and Ernesti, 124, 132.

Crashaw, Epigram of, 221.

Crowe, Mrs., Letter to, 410.

Edinburgh, Visit to, 398.

Edinburgh Review, Early History of,

25; Attack on Oxford, 45; Pas

sages from, 107-194.

Edinburgh Society, 19.

Edmonton, Living of, 67.

Education, Classical, 121-131.

Female, 136-154.
Popular, 274-5.

Elephant, Anecdote of, 243.

Ellis, George, 309.
Emulation, 207.

England in an Invasion, 304.
Erin go Bragh, 366.
Erskine, Lord, Anecdote of, 39.
Essays and Sketches, 278-296.
Everett, Edward, 72; Letter on, 415.
Facts and Figures, 426.

Fagging System, 16.

Fallacies, 283-5.

False Quantities, 115.

Fearon, H. B., 185.

Female Education, 136-154.
Fireplaces, 423.
Foolometer, a, 337.
Foston-le-Clay, 47-57.

Fox, C. J., Saying of, 337.

Fragment on the Irish Roman Catho

lic Church, 363-378.

Franklin, Benjamin, 62, 315.

Fraser's Gallery of Portraits, 94.

Crumpet's Ascent to St. Paul's, 333. Frere, John Hookham, 10.

Curates, 338, 340, 341.

Delphine, Analysis of 113.

Demerara, 168.

Magazine cited, 119, 436.

Friendship, of, 281.

Friendship, 433.

Fuller, Dr. Thomas, 102, 259.