BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. THE subjects of the following Memoir were the sons of Robert Smith, an eminent legal practitioner of London, who held for many years the office of Solicitor to the Ordnance. JAMES SMITH was born on the 10th of February, 1775; and HORACE SMITH on the 31st of December, 1779. The elder son was educated by the Reverend Mr. Burford at Chigwell, in Essex, was articled to his father on leaving school, and finally succeeded to his professional business and his appointment of Solicitor to the Ordnance. Horace received the same education as his brother, became a member of the Stock Exchange in London, acquired a fortune, and retired with his family to Brighton. For nearly half a century they were both distinguished in London society for their social accomplishments, and their clever contributions to the literature of the period. Horace Smith entered active life as a clerk in a merchant's counting-house, where he was more attentive to light literature and the drama than to bills of exchange, invoices, and charterparties. His first literary effort was a short poem lamenting the decay of public taste in theatrical exhibitions, and the encouragement given to dumb shows, to the neglect of such sterling productions as the West-Indian and The Jew; to the author of which comedies he dedicated his effusion, and forwarded it to him by the post, with his own name and address. The communication brought to the counting-house an old gentleman of distinguished appearance, whose large and profusely powdered head was flanked with cannon curls, and endorsed with a substantial pig-tail; his corbeau-colored suit was of antique cut, and he bore a golden-headed cane. This apparition inquired for Mr. Smith. We have two of that name," replied the nearest clerk, "which of them do you want?" "I want Mr. Smith, the poet." The clerk was astounded at such a demand, and the grave master petulantly exclaimed, "We have no poet here, sir"—and resumed his writing. The poor culprit, unable to deny his identity, jumped from his tall stool, and hurried into the ante-room the unwelcome visitor, who announced himself as Mr. Cumberland. Such was the introduction of Horace Smith to the celebrated dramatist. It led to an acquaintance and intimacy with the two brothers. The first literary work in which the young poets assisted with their veteran friend, was the Pic Nic newspaper, established in 1802 by Colonel Greville, for the double purpose of vindicating certain amateur theatricals which he had given in conjunction with M. Texier, and of checking the scandalous personalities with which some of the newspapers were assailing the aristocracy. The other principal contributors were Sir James Bland Burgess, Monsieur Peltier, Mr. Croker, Mr. J. C. Herries, Mr. Bedford, and Mr. Combe; all of them writing gratuitously except the last-named gentleman, who was the editor, and who had long been living in the rules of the King's Bench. Of the party thus engaged in the conduct of an obscure and short-lived periodical, several became afterwards eminent. Herries, then a clerk in the Treasury, rose to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr. Croker, after attaining the important post of Secretary of the Admiralty, was a clever contributor to the Quarterly Review. Peltier was made notorious by his trial for a libel on the First Consul Bonaparte, in which Mackintosh gained his early forensic laurels. Colonel Greville was a gay and fashionable man, a modification of Sir Harry Wildair, and it may well be supposed that the Pic Nic, with gratuitous contributors, and an editor within the rules, struggled with a sickly and precarious existence. So the colonel dismissed the whole corps editorial at one of their weekly meetings, with the announcement that he had engaged a young Irishman of surpassing talent, who would undertake for a sum equal to Combe's honorarium, to get up and edit the whole paper. Saying this, he left the room, and returned with Mr. John Wilson Croker, who, being thus "trotted out," was bent upon showing his paces to the best advantage. His conversational powers were even then of a very high order, and he exhibited them with all the ardor and copiousness of an aspiring Hibernian. Cumberland, buttoning up his coat, preserved a sullen silence BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. xi until he had left the room. "Well," said Greville, "what do you think of my new friend? He talks a good deal, I must confess, but he talks well." "Half of that is true," replied the dramatist, and departed in dudgeon. The young Irishman did not revive the Pic Nic, and it was soon merged in the Cabinet, to which Rogers and Sir Thomas Lawrence were occasional contributors, with the old corps of the Pic Nic reinstated. But the Cabinet disappeared in 1803, and in 1809 was published the first number of the London Review, "conducted by Richard Cumberland." In this work the names of the authors were prefixed to their articles, a novelty that did not take with the public. The brothers Smith lent their aid to their friend, but his journal survived only to the second number. At the instance of its projector, they also wrote several of the prefaces to a new edition of Bell's British Theatre, published about this time under the sanction of Mr. Cumberland's name. The distinguished editor, who honoured both parties with his friendship, was pleased in having them for his coadjutors; and they were naturally flattered in being thought worthy of his pref erence. Mr. Cumberland died in 1811, and when Horace Smith last saw him he was much altered and attenuated, his white hair hanging over his ears in thin flakes, his figure stooping, his countenance haggard. It was during the early period of his acquaintance with Cumberland that Horace first tried his hand at a romance, producing one, according to the taste of the times, full of monks, monsters, trap-doors, and spectres. This he submitted to his friend, and it was returned with an unfavourable verdict. The author immediately burned it. "You showed talent, my dear boy," said the dramatist, "in writing that work, but you have evinced much more in committing it to the flames." - From the year 1807 to 1810, James Smith was a constant contributor to the Monthly Mirror, then the property of Thomas Hill, Esq., at whose cottage, at Sydenham, himself and his brother were frequent guests. This was a favourite resort of the poets, wits, artists, and actors of the time; and their merry-makings brought together many whose names will live long in the literature of England. A symposium at Hill's was quite as memorable an affair as a breakfast at Rogers's, though an entirely different style of entertainment. At the Sydenham gatherings the brothers Smith used to recite a dialogue written by themselves, a farrago of nonsense, abounding in solecisms and absurdities, yet so far approximating to a sensible discourse as to mislead a careless or obtuse listener. As it was gravely delivered, the interlocutors appeared to be deeply interested, and at times excited; and as "true no-meaning puzzles more than wit," it became difficult to discover that the whole was a piece of solemn Tom-foolery. Hill's habitual guests were too sharp-witted to be themselves entrapped, but the hoax was reserved for the embarrassment or amusement of the occasional visitors. In the Monthly Mirror originally appeared the poetical imitations entitled Horace in London, which were subsequently published in a single volume by Mr. Miller, who purchased half the copyright of the Rejected Addresses. Both brothers contributed to those parodies of the Roman bard; but the larger portion, distinguished by the letter J., was from the pen of James. Possessing but a fugitive interest, though sometimes the Latin text was ingeniously adapted to the characters and occurrences of the passing hour, these papers, in their collected form, had but a limited sale. They were re-published in this country on their original appearance, but the allusions in them have become obscure, and their merit would hardly justify their reproduction with the notes necessary to make them generally understood. Most of the particulars connected with the first appearance of the Rejected Addresses will be found in the preface to the eighteenth edition. This little volume appeared on the re-opening of the Drury Lane Theatre, in October, 1812, the idea having been casually started by Mr. Ward, secretary to the theatre, exactly six weeks before the first night of performance. Eagerly adopting the suggestion, James and his brother lost not a moment in carrying it into execution. It was arranged what authors they should respectively imitate. Horace left London on a visit to Cheltenham, executed his portion of the task, and returned to town a few days before the opening, when each submitted his papers to the other, for any omissions or improvements that might appear requisite. These, however, seldom exceeded verbal alterations, or the addition of a few lines. James furnished the imitations of Wordsworth, Southey, Coleridge, Crabbe, Cobbett, and numbers 14, 16, 18, 19, and 20. He supplied also the first |