[175b] Her maiden name was Pybus; they were married in 1799 or 1800.
[175c] Sydney Smith believed (i., p. 403) that “one of the Duke of Wellington’s earliest victories was at Eton, over” Sydney’s “eldest brother Bobus.”
[176a] The remark was allowable since Robert was singularly handsome (i., p. 4).
[176b] I gather that the fellowship was but £100 per annum.
[177a] Francis Jeffrey, afterwards Lord Jeffrey, 1773–1850, was the son of a high Tory, but personally a Liberal. He is described as being healthy though diminutive. Sydney Smith makes jokes about his stature: e.g., 3rd September 1809, “Are we to see you? (a difficult thing at all times to do).” In character he is described as “nervous, sensitive, and tender.” Sydney wrote to him in 1806:—If “you could be alarmed into the semblance of modesty you would charm everybody; but remember my joke against you about the moon;—‘D---n the solar system! bad light—planets too distant—pestered with comets—feeble contrivance;—could make a better with great ease.’”
[177b] Horner, Francis (1778–1817), called to the Bar in 1807, and was through the influence of Lord Carrington returned for the borough of Wendover. He was a man of sound judgment and unassuming manners, of scrupulous integrity, and great amiability of character. He was a correct and forcible speaker, and though without the gift of humour, exercised a remarkable influence in the House of Commons, owing to his personal character. He was one of the original founders of the Edinburgh Review, the other two being Jeffrey and Sydney Smith.
[178a] The closely allied name, Sabelina, occurs in Sir N. Moore’s History of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, vol. i., p. 64.
[178b] It was said (i., p. 138) that the King, who had been reading Sydney’s Edinburgh Review articles, remarked that he was a very clever fellow but would never be a bishop.
[183] It appears (i., p. 282) that he felt deeply the fact that he had not been offered a Bishopric, though he had made up his mind to refuse it. Lord Melbourne is said to have much regretted not having made a bishop of Sydney.
[185] Sydney wrote of Macaulay: “I always prophesied his greatness from the first moment I saw him, then a very young and unknown man, on the Northern Circuit.” His enemies might say he talked rather too much, “but now he has occasional flashes of silence, that make his conversation perfectly delightful” (i., p. 415).