author
Sydney Smith
1771–1845
Best remembered for his sparkling wit, this English clergyman also used essays and sermons to push for practical reform. He helped launch the influential Edinburgh Review and became one of the most admired public voices of his day.
1 Audiobook
Peter Plymley's Letters, and Selected Essays
by Sydney Smith
About the author
Born in Woodford, Essex, on June 3, 1771, Sydney Smith was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, and was ordained in the Church of England. Although he became famous for his humor, he was also a serious preacher, lecturer, and working parish priest whose writing reached far beyond the pulpit.
Smith helped found the Edinburgh Review, one of the great literary and political journals of the early 19th century, and his essays made him a lively force in public debate. He was especially known for arguing in favor of parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation, combining common sense with a sharp, memorable style that made even serious issues feel vivid and readable.
Later in life he held church posts in Yorkshire, Bristol, and finally at St Paul's Cathedral in London, where he served as a canon. He died on February 22, 1845, but his reputation endured not only because he was funny, but because he used that wit in the service of clear thinking, sympathy, and reform.