BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE
No. CCCLXXVI. FEBRUARY, 1847. VOL. LXI.
CONTENTS.
- MEMOIR OF THE LATE JOHN WILLIAM SMITH, OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW.
- MODERN ITALIAN HISTORY.
- FRENCH PLAYERS AND PLAYHOUSES.
- THE REIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND.
- MILDRED: A TALE
- THE EARLY TAKEN.
- A RIDE TO MAGNESIA.
- DIRECT TAXATION.
- FOOTNOTES.
MEMOIR OF THE LATE JOHN WILLIAM SMITH, OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW.
BY SAMUEL WARREN, OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW.
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,
Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears,
And slits the thin-spun life.
Milton.—Lycidas.
The name of John William Smith, barrister-at-law, of the Inner Temple,now appears, possibly for the first time, before nineteen-twentieths ofthe readers of Blackwood's Magazine. It is that, however, of aremarkable and eminent man, just cut off in his prime, before he hadcompleted his thirty-seventh year: having as yet lain little more than atwelvemonth in his grave, to which he had been borne by a few of hissorrowful and admiring friends, on the 24th of December, 1845. Anothereminent member of the English bar, Sir William Follett, belonging to thesame Inn of Court, and also cut off in the prime of life, whileglittering in the zenith of his celebrity and success, had been buriedonly five months previously. I[1] endeavoured to give the readers ofthis Magazine, in January 1846, some account of the character of thatdistinguished person; and Mr. Smith, learning that I was engaged uponthe task, with morbid anxiety repeatedly begged me to show him what Iwas writing, up to within a few weeks of his own decease: a request withwhich, for reasons which will become obvious to the reader of thissketch, I declined to comply. With Sir William Follett's name all theworld is acquainted: yet I venture to think that the name of JohnWilliam Smith has greater claims upon the attention of readers ofbiography. His character and career will, it is believed, be foundpermanently and intrinsically interesting,—at once affecting,inspiriting, and admonitory. He fell a martyr to intense study, just asthat competent and severe body of judges, the English bench and bar, hadrecognised his eminent talents and acquirements, and the shining andsubstantial rewards of unremitting exertion were beginning to beshowered upon him.[Pg 130] He came to the bar almost totally unknown, and wasdestitute of any advantages of person, voice, or manner. His soul,however, was noble, his feelings were refined and exalted; and, when hedeparted from the scene of intense excitement and rivalry into which hislot had been cast, those who had enjoyed the best opportunities forforming a true judgment of him, knew not whether more to admire hismoral excellence or his intellectual eminence, which shone the more