Twelve Miles From a Lemon: Selected Writings and Sayings of Sydney Smith

There are those who say that the Reverend Sydney Smith ought to be made a saint of the Church of England. There are those who say that he jested away his chances of a mitre. There are those who simply read him and laugh. Sydney Smith was not only a humorist. He was a respected clergyman who worked steadily for Roman Catholic emancipation despite his own staunch Anglicanism. In 1802 he helped to found The Edinburgh Review, which became one of the most powerful journals in Britain. Lord Macaulay referred to him as The Smith of Smiths. Jane Austen is thought to have based Henry Tilner in Northanger Abbey on him. G. K. Chesterton was another of his admirers. This book gathers together a selection of Smith's own writings together with extracts from his daughter's biography of him. Arranged thematically, the passages deal with Home and Abroad, Politics, Social Evils, Education, Religion, and Health and Happiness. As well as Sydney's renowned wit, the collection enshrines the wisdom of a man of enormous common sense and the preaching of an eloquent orator. We discover the sloth, who 'moves suspended, rests suspended, sleeps suspended, and passes his life in suspense - like a young clergyman distantly related to a bishop'. We meet the bishop who deserved to be preached to death by wild curates. But most of all, we enjoy the company of a man determined that as long as I can possibly avoid it I will never be unhappy. The amusing defender of our faith described a friend's idea of heaven as eating pate de foie gras to the sound of trumpets. His present-day admirers may disagree, finding their ideal of heaven in reading this wonderfully entertaining book.

About the Author :
Norman Taylor was born in 1926, and educated at Bolton School. From 1944 to 1946 he served as an officer in the R.N.V.R. A scholar of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, he read history before going to Cuddesdon College, Oxford to prepare for ordination. He served his title at the parish church of Clitheroe in Blackburn diocese. For fifteen years he was Rector of Little Wilbraham in Ely diocese, before becoming Chaplain of St. Faith's School, Cambridge, and finally, honorary assistant priest of Chesterton Parish Church. He now lives in retirement in Lyme Regis, and serves on the Salisbury branch committee of the Prayer Book Society. He has also compiled the highly successful For Services Rendered: An Anthology in Thanksgiving for the Book of Common Prayer, also published by The Lutterworth Press. After serving as an officer in the Black Watch regiment Alan Hankinson worked for the BBC and ITV. He is now a full-time writer with several books about mountaineering to his credit. His most recent works are biographies of William Howard Russell, war correspondent of the Times, and the climber Geoffrey Winthrop Young. Norman Taylor was born in 1926, and educated at Bolton School. From 1944 to 1946 he served as an officer in the R.N.V.R. A scholar of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, he read history before going to Cuddesdon College, Oxford to prepare for ordination. He served his title at the parish church of Clitheroe in Blackburn diocese. For fifteen years he was Rector of Little Wilbraham in Ely diocese, before becoming Chaplain of St. Faith's School, Cambridge, and finally, honorary assistant priest of Chesterton Parish Church. He now lives in retirement in Lyme Regis, and serves on the Salisbury branch committee of the Prayer Book Society. He has also compiled the highly successful For Services Rendered: An Anthology in Thanksgiving for the Book of Common Prayer, also published by The Lutterworth Press. After serving as an officer in the Black Watch regiment Alan Hankinson worked for the BBC and ITV. He is now a full-time writer with several books about mountaineering to his credit. His most recent works are biographies of William Howard Russell, war correspondent of the Times, and the climber Geoffrey Winthrop Young.