Now! Then! Sydney Smith describes for Edward Davenport the view from his rectory at Foston (Ryedale)

10 February 1821: Sydney Smith describes for Edward Davenport the view from his rectory at Foston (Ryedale)

Saba Holland and Sydney Smith. 1855. A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, Vol. 2. Ed. Sarah Austin. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. Get it:

Excerpt

I have taken lodgings in York for myself and family during the assizes, to enable them to stare out of the window, there being nothing visible where we live but crows. Mrs Fry, the liberty woman, is in York. There are several Scotch families staying there. No bad place for change, cheapness, and comparative warmth.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations

Comment

Is Mrs. F Elizabeth Fry? If so, there are various other references, e.g. an undated letter to Lady Mary Bennett:

I am glad you liked what I said of Mrs. Fry. She is very unpopular with the clergy: examples of living, active virtue disturb our repose, and give birth to distressing comparisons: we long to burn her alive.

Then, perhaps she is Fanny Trollope, the subsequent anti-slavery campaigner.

To Lady Grey from Foston, 27 March 1821:

We have been at the Assizes at York for three weeks, where there is always a great deal of dancing and provincial joy.

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Original

[Letter to Edward Davenport written from Foston] I have taken lodgings in York for myself and family during the Assizes, to enable them to stare out of the window, there being nothing visible where we live but crows.

Mrs. F___, the liberty woman, is in York. There are several Scotch families staying there. No bad place for change, cheapness, and comparative warmth.

66 words.