Peter Plymley's Letters And Selected Essays — Sydney Smith

Canon, Sydney Smith (1771-1845) was an English writer and Anglican clergyman. In 1789, he became a scholar of New College, Oxford; took his degree in 1792 and obtained his M. A. in 1796. In 1800, he published his first book, Six Sermons: Preached in Charlotte Street Chapel, Edinburgh. In 1807 Smith published the first installment of his most famous work, Peter Plymley's Letters. It was published as A Letter on the Subject of the Catholics to my Brother Abraham who Lives in the Country, by Peter Plymley. Nine other letters followed before the end of 1808, when they appeared in collected form. One of his most vigorous polemics was A Letter to the Electors Upon the Catholic Question (1826). He was as eager a champion of parliamentary reform as he had been of Catholic emancipation, and one of his best fighting speeches was delivered at Taunton in 1831. His Three Letters to Archdeacon Singleton on the Ecclesiastical Commission (1837-38- 39) and his Petition and Letters on the Repudiation of Debts by the State of Pennsylvania (1843) are two of his best contributions to the Edinburgh Review.