1830.] Singular Smith. 173 



seems to sit on the uplifted eyebrows of those who know him well ; and 

 a due degree of information as to his attributes is instilled in a whisper. 

 You need not use a battering-ram to beat into the head of A. that B. is 

 a man of extraordinary genius : tell him that he is so, and he believes 

 you, because you save him the trouble of thinking for himself, an act of 

 ratiocination which most men prefer to have performed for them by 

 deputy: one half the world, indeed, takes its opinion of the other half 

 on trust, and a very wise reliance it is. 



Mr. Smith deserves all the consideration he meets with. I myself 

 have listened to him with much pleasure, particularly on one occasion, 

 when he most ingeniously proved that rats were a dainty fit for a 

 duchess : " Ratisbon : Ion, in French, is good, in English ; rat is bon ; 

 rat is good ; the diet of Ratisbon ; the diet of rat is good : ergo, the rat 

 is proper for the sustenance of man." Mr. S. was so " cheered" as to 

 convince me that it is not impossible for a man to be acknowledged a 

 prophet in his own country. The gist of Mr. Smith's jests is more per- 

 haps in the manner than the matter like the House of Commons' facetia, 

 which are reported to create roars of laughter, but at which I could never 

 laugh, and I have tried very hard. The other day, his " fidus Achates," 

 Simpson, fell overboard from a Margate hoy : when he was recovered 

 by a" thrown-out line, and hauled on board, Smith, placing his hands on 

 his knees, and stooping down so as almost to meet the face of his half- 

 drowned friend, asked him, with a look full of humourous inquisitive- 

 ness, " Wet or dry, Simpson ?" This question, put in his own whim- 

 sical way, convulsed his auditors, poor saturated Simpson included, who 

 laughed, however, somewhat after the manner of a squib let off in a 

 damp state on a rainy fifth of November. 



This brief memoir of Mr. John Smith, and mention of his pursuits, 

 will serve to illustrate the versatility of his genius and the vastness of 

 his acquirements. And now I leave the reader to ask " Who is this 

 Smith r 



CONSTANT'S MEMOIRS OF BUONAPARTE.* 



IF the statesman, the warrior, and the historian feel a higher interest 

 in the perusal of pages devoted to the record of revolutionary commo- 

 tions, sanguinary and ambitious warfare, and acts which posterity will 

 by turns admire and execrate, a class of readers, far more numerous at 

 the present day, will dwell with preference on the lighter episodes 

 which unfold the domestic privacy of the mighty ones of the earth, and 

 reduce the demigods of a stupified people to the proportions of mere 

 mortality. The biographers whom an accidental and favourable posi- 

 tion has enabled more closely to behold the idols of popular worship, 

 may be compared to the high priests of the pagan divinities, who, 

 admitted to the inmost sanctuary, enjoyed the exclusive privilege of 

 recognizing the artifices by which the credulity of the mob was abused. 

 There, however, the similitude ends j the latter, from motives of vile 

 calculation, perpetuating the holy fraud, while the revelations of the 

 former contribute to overthrow both the altar and the god. The intro- 

 ductory pages of Constant promise a rich treat to such as delight to 



* Me'moires de Constant, Premier Valet de Chambre de Napoleon, sur sa Vie Privee, 

 sa Famille, et sa Cour. Vols. lr. 2me. 3me. et 4me. 8vo. Paris, 1830. 



