SMI 



SMI 



lifh opera of " The Fairies," in which Giradagni and Frafi 

 performed the principal parts, had a confiderable run ; but 

 it was never revived ; nor did the airs penetrate into Vaux- 

 hall, Ranelagh, Mary-le-bone, private concerts, or private 

 families, like thofe of Arne's Comus, or Boyce's Chaplet, 

 after having been heard at the theatres. 



Smith, Father, or, as the Germans write his name, 

 Schmidt, brought over with him from Germany, of which 

 country he was a native, two nephews, Gerard and Ber- 

 nard, as afTiftants ; and to diftinguifh him from thefe, as 

 well as to exprefs the reverence due to his abilities, which 

 placed him at the head of his profeflion, he was called Father 

 Smith. During the grand rebellion, molt of the organs in 

 the kingdom having been deftroyed, or llolen out of the 

 churches, at the reftoration a fufficient number of workmen 

 for the immediate fupply of cathedrals and parifh churches, 

 with organs, not being found in our own country, it was 

 thought expedient to invite foreign builders of known abi- 

 lities to fettle among us ; and the premiums offered on this 

 occafion brought over the fubjeft of our article and Harris. 

 The firft organ which Smith engaged to build for this 

 country was for the royal chapel at Whitehall, which, being 

 liaftily put together, did not quite fulfil the expeftations of 

 thofe who were able to judge of its excellence. An organ 

 is fo operofe, complicated, and comprehenfive a piece of 

 irechanifm, that to render it complete in tone, touch, va- 

 riety, and power, exclufive of the external beauty and ma- 

 jefty of its form and appearance, is perhaps one of the 

 greateft efforts of human ingenuity and contrivance. It 

 was probably from fome fuch early failure, that this ad- 

 mirable workman determined never to engage to build an 

 organ upon fhort notice, nor for fuch a price as would 

 oblige him to deliver it in a ftate of lefs perfection than ho 

 wifhed. And we hive been affurcd by Snetzler, and by 

 the immediate defcendants of thofe who have converfed with 

 father Smith, and feen him work, that he was fo particularly 

 careful in the choice of his wood, as never to ufe any that 

 had the lead knot or flaw in it ; and fo tender of his reputa- 

 tion, as never to wafte his time in trying to mend a bad 

 pipe, either of wood or metal ; fo that when he came to 

 voice a pipe, if it had any radical defeft, he inltantly threw 

 it away, and made another. This, in a great meafure, ac- 

 counts for the equality and fweetnefs of his ftops, as well as 

 the foundnef; of his pipes, to this day. 



Smith had not been many months here, before Harris 

 arrived from France, with his fon Rene Renatus, an in- 

 genious and aftive young man, to whom he had confided all 

 the fecrets of his art. However, they met with but little 

 encouragement at firft, as Dallans and Smith had the chief 

 bufinefs of the kingdom ; but upon the deceafe of Dallans, 

 who died while he was building an organ for the old church 

 at Greenwich, 1672, and of the elder Harris, who did not 

 long furvive him, the younger became a very formidable 

 rival to Smith. 



For the contention between thefe eminent artilts, at the 

 time of erefting the admirable organ which ftill Hands in 

 the Temple church, fee Burney's Hift. of Mufic, vol. iii. 



P- 437- 



Smith, Theodore, a modern and pleafing compofer of 

 natural and eafy mufic. He was a native of Germany, and 

 publilhed at Berlin, at 1780, three different fets of fonatas 

 a quatre main, three in each fet ; and in 1782, fix con- 

 certos for the harpfichord. Though a native of Germany, 

 he refided fo long in England as to be fufRciently acquaint- 

 ed with our language to pubhfh, befides various mufical 

 compofitions, a Mufical Direflory, printed by Welcker in 

 1778, 3n elementary work of confiderable merit for its ar- 



rangement and clear explanation of the firft rudiments of a 

 player on keyed-inftrurnents. 



Smith, in Geography, a county of America, in the dif- 

 trift of Well Tenneffee, containing 1 1,649 inhabitants. — 

 Alfo, a townfliip of Pennfylvania, in the county of Wafh- 

 ington, containing 1646 inhabitants. 



Smith's Inlet, a bay on the weft coaft of North America, 

 the entrance of which is nearly clofed by rocky ifles. From 

 the entrance into the inlet, whofe north point lies from its 

 fouth point N. 20 E. about a league diftant, it was found 

 to extend nearly in an eaft direftion about fix leagues ; here 

 it takes a turn to the N.E., and terminates in N. lat. 51° 

 24'. E. long. 232° 47I'. About three leagues within the 

 entrance, the rocks and ifles terminated, and the inlet con- 

 trafted to a general breadth of about half a milcj though in 

 fome places it was near twice that diftance from fhore to 

 fhore ; both of which were formed by high rocky precipices 

 covered with wood. About half way up the canal a village 

 of the natives was difcovered, fuppofed to contain 200 or 

 240 perfons. This was built upon a detached rock, con- 

 nefted with the main by a platform, and cwnltrufted for de- 

 fence. A great number of its inhabitants, in about thirty 

 canoes, vifited captain Vancouver's party, and allured them 

 in various ways to vifit their habitations. They offered the 

 fl<ins of the fea-otter, and other animals, to barter ; and be- 

 fides promifes of refrefhment, made figns, not eafily mif- 

 underltood, that the female part of their fociety would take 

 pleafure in their company. The entrance is in N. lat. ci" 

 20'. E. long. 232° 12'. 



Smith's IJland, a fmall ifland near the eafl coaft of An- 

 tigua. — Alfo, a fmall ifland in the Atlantic, near the coafl 

 of Virginia ; part of a clufter coUeftively called " Smith's 

 Iflands." N. lat. 37= ij'- W. long. 75° 52'.— Alfo, a 

 large and lofty ifland in the South Pacific ocean, difcovered 

 by lieutenant Ball, commander of the Supply, in 1790. 

 S. lat. 9° 44'. E. long. 161° 54'. 



Smith's Point, a cape on the coaft of Virginia, forming- 

 the fouthern limit of the Potomack river. N. lat. 37° 54'. 

 Smith's River. See Staunton. 



Smith's Sound, a bay on the eaft coaft of Newfoundland, 

 bounded by Cape Bonavifta. 



SMITHERY, a fmilh's (hop ; alfo the art of a fmith, 

 by which iron is wrought into any fhape by means of fire, 

 hammering, fihng, &c. 



SMITHFIELD, in Geography, a fmall poft-town of 

 Virginia, on Pagan creek, which difcharges itfelf into 

 James river, in the Ifle of Wight county ; 85 miles S.E. of 

 Richmond. The creek is navigable for veffels of 20 tons. — 

 Alfo, a poft-town, and the capital of Johnfon county, in 

 North Carolina, on the eaft fide of Neus river, on a beautiful 

 plain, about 100 miles N.W. of Newburn. In the centre 

 of the town is an Indian burying-place, once in the form 

 of a cone, 16 feet high, 30 feet in diameter, but its height 

 is now reduced to five or fix feet. — Alfo, a town of Jef- 

 ferfon county, in the ftate of Ohio, containing 1228 in- 

 habitants — Alfo, a townihip of New York, in Madifon 

 county, bounded north by Lenox, eaft by Augulla in 

 Oneida county, fouth by Eaton and Nelfon, and weft by 

 Cazenovia ; erefted in 1807 from Cazenovia, and about 

 12 miles eaft and weft, and 5 north and fouth. The prin- 

 cipal part of this traft was leafed of the Oneida Indians 

 by Peter Smith, 1794, and purchafed by the ftate in 1795'. 

 The foil is of a fuperior quality, and the whole traft is one 

 of the beft in the ftate. It is amply irrigated by fmall 

 ftreams, and alio by the main branch of the Chenango 

 river, itfelf a branch of the Sufquehanna. This town is 

 principally fettled by emigrants from the eaftern ftates, and 

 8 comprifea 



