Twelve Miles from a Lemon: Selected Writings and Sayings of Sydney Smith

by Sydney Smith, Alan Hankinson (Compiler), Norman Taylor (Compiler)

There are those who say that the Reverend Sydney Smith ought to be made a saint of the Church of England. There are those who say that he jested away his chances of a mitre. There are those who simply read him and laugh. Sydney Smith was not only a humorist. He was a respected clergyman who worked steadily for Roman Catholic emancipation despite his own staunch Anglicanism. In 1802 he helped to found The Edinburgh Review, which became one of the most powerful journals in Britain. Lord Macaulay referred to him as 'The Smith of Smiths'. Jane Austen is thought to have based Henry Tilner in Northanger Abbey on him. G. K. Chesterton was another of his admirers. This book gathers together a selection of Smith's own writings together with extracts from his daughter's biography of him. Arranged thematically, the passages deal with Home and Abroad, Politics, Social Evils, Education, Religion, and Health and Happiness. As well as Sydney's renowned wit, the collection enshrines the wisdom of a man of enormous common sense and the preaching of an eloquent orator. We discover the sloth, who 'moves suspended, rests suspended, sleeps suspended, and passes his life in suspense - like a young clergyman distantly related to a bishop.' We meet the bishop who 'deserved to be preached to death by wild curates.' But most of all, we enjoy the company of a man determined that 'as long as I can possibly avoid it I will never be unhappy.' The 'amusing defender of our faith' described a friend's idea of heaven as 'eating patC de foie gras to the sound of trumpets.' His present-day admirers may disagree, finding their ideal of heaven in reading this wonderfully entertaining book. Read an Extract from the Introduction here.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published December 11, 1996

About the author

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Sydney Smith was an English Anglican clergyman, essayist, and public intellectual celebrated for his brilliant wit, humane outlook, and lively prose. Born in Essex to a mercurial merchant father and a mother of Huguenot descent, he was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, where he distinguished himself for both scholarship and personality. Ordained in 1796, he combined energetic parish work with wide intellectual interests, soon gaining attention as a preacher of unusual humor and clarity. After moving to Edinburgh in 1798 as a tutor, he helped found the influential Edinburgh Review in 1802 and remained one of its most admired contributors for decades, shaping liberal opinion with essays that blended moral seriousness and comic flair. Settling later in London, he lectured at the Royal Institution, advocated progressive causes such as Catholic emancipation, parliamentary reform, the abolition of slavery, and the education of women, and became a central figure in Whig society. Though his outspoken views limited ecclesiastical advancement, he served faithfully in rural parishes, winning deep affection from parishioners while continuing to write and speak on public issues. Smith’s reputation as one of the great conversationalists of his age endured through his sermons, essays, pamphlets, and countless anecdotes attributed to him. Remembered as much for his humane common sense as for his humor, he left a lasting mark on nineteenth-century British intellectual life and remains one of the most quoted clerical writers in English literature.