His natural indolence was at times overcome by ambition , but the older he grew the less did he desire promotion .sx Already we have seen , in his letter to Russell , that by 1837 he had lost all wish for a bishopric , and at an earlier date he had begged Lord Holland not to make any exertions on his behalf , as he would steadily refuse an offer .sx At the end of 1832 he wrote to Mrs. Meynell :sx `I have come to the end of my career , and have nothing now to do but to grow old merrily and to die without pain .sx ' The last chapter made it clear that he still had quite a lot to do .sx The present chapter will show that he managed to grow old merrily in spite of .sx pain .sx Unlike the large majority of elderly men , Sydney took a keen interest in the younger generation ; his mind was perpetually fresh and open to new ideas .sx He noted two new and interesting figures in the political world and promptly made their acquaintance .sx One of them , W. E. Gladstone , he met at the house of Henry Hallam in 1833 , found him interested in religion , and talked for some time about the clergy .sx He told Gladstone that the clergy had greatly improved since the last generation , adding , `Whenever you see a man of my age , you may be sure he is a bad clergyman .sx ' In 1844 he read a novel called Coningsby and wished to meet the author .sx A friend arranged a dinner , which included Luttrell , Charles Greville , Lady Morley and Lord Mel-bourne , and Sydney sat next to Benjamin Disraeli .sx The dinner was a great success , Disraeli was completely captivated by Sydney , and Disraeli's wife , Mary Anne , thought Mrs. Sydney a very agreeable person .sx Two foreign politicians were equally delighted with him .sx Daniel Webster , the American Secretary of State and one of the greatest orators in the history of that country , visited London in 1839 and forgot his perorations when Sydney began to speak .sx Francois Guizot , the historian , came to London as French Ambassador in 1840 and marvelled at Sydney's inexhaustible gaiety and .sx optimism , which contrasted strangely with Jeffrey's despondency and disillusionment .sx Sydney used to describe himself when in London as `sub-merged in a Caspian Sea of soup' .sx But he found time to encourage young people who were trying to make a living or earn a reputation .sx In his view the influence of the English aristocracy on literature was oppressive , and though he had hardened himself early and spoken his mind freely before every dunderheaded duke and brainless baron of his time , he felt that it was the duty of writers to support one another in a country where pugilism was glorified and poetry ignored .sx So we find him advertising all the new books that caught his fancy , mentioning them in letters to friends and talking about them wherever he went .sx Kinglake's Eothen , Marryat's Settlers in Canada and Ruskin's Modern Painters were among the books he praised highly on their appearance ; in fact , Ruskin declared that he was the first in the literary circles of London to assert the value of Modern Painters , speaking of it as a work .sx of transcendent talent which would work a complete revolution in the world of taste .sx Unknown musical people were equally sure of his help .sx Writing from Combe Florey in the summer of 1844 , he told Lady Grey :sx 'There is an excellent musical family living in London ; and finding them all ill , and singing flat , I brought them down here for three weeks , where they have grown extremely corpulent , and have returned to London with no other wish than to be transported after this life to this paradise of Combe Florey .sx Their singing is certainly very remarkable , and the little boy , at the age of seven , composes hymns ; I mean sets them to music .sx I have always said that if I were to begin life again I would dedicate it to music ; it is the only cheap and unpunished rapture upon earth .sx ' Sydney wrote to Sir Robert Peel on behalf of a male member of this family and the Prime Minister instantly promised to give the lad a place in some Government office , asking in .sx return `the privilege of renewing the honour' of Sydney's acquaintance .sx He was rather `curious' about Carlyle , but the Chelsea prophet did not frequent `the parallelogram' and they never met .sx Carlyle , however , saw him one day at a distance , shak- ing his great belly and guffawing in the midst of his admirers , and envied his high spirits and good digestion .sx His literary tastes were catholic enough .sx He liked Shakespeare and Milton , but on the whole poetry made little appeal to him and he definitely drew the line at Wordsworth .sx He objected to Jeffrey's attacks on Wordsworth , not because they were unfair but because they were unnecessary - the poet did not deserve them and was not worthy of them .sx Once he publicly confessed his inability to appreciate Wordsworth's poetry .sx `There are some things which must be spiritually discerned,' said a lady .sx Upon which he called her `a sensible woman' , and she considered that he had taken his revenge .sx In view of the fact that he thought Horace Walpole's correspondence `the best wit ever published in the shape of letters' , it is a little surprising that he should have been one of the first Englishmen to hail the genius of Balzac .sx He anticipated the verdict of posterity in thinking the poetry of Samuel Rogers overpraised , and his view of Byron had to wait a century before it found an echo in ours .sx Incidentally , it is noteworthy that the only two people who said anything really unpleasant about Sydney were Byron and George IV .sx At a distance of four generations we may claim the `smug Sydney' of the first and the `profligate parson' of the second to be among the highest compliments ever paid him .sx Instances of his thoughtfulness and generosity to younger authors and journalists were countless .sx We must be content with one .sx In 1832 a Scottish publisher named William Chambers had issued the first number of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal , the pioneer of the cheap popular periodical .sx In 1844 he was staying in Greek Street , Soho .sx One day about noon a carriage drove up to the door ; not a vehicle of the light , modern sort , but an old family coach , drawn by a pair of sleek horses .sx From it there descended an aged gentleman , who , from his shovel hat and black gaiters , was clearly an .sx ecclesiastical dignitary .sx Chambers heard his own name and the name of the visitor mentioned at the door , and then the sound of heavy deliberate footsteps on the antique balustraded stairs .sx He hastened to receive the celebrated clergy-man , who shook hands and said :sx `I heard at Rogers's you were in town , and was resolved to call .sx Let us sit down and have a talk .sx ' They sat by the fire .sx `You are surprised possibly at my visit ?sx ' the canon went on .sx `There is nothing at all strange about it .sx The originator of the Edinburgh Review has come to see the originator of the Edinburgh journal .sx ' Chambers was delighted beyond measure with the good-natured and .sx unceremonious observations of his visitor , who had a lot to say about his collaborators on the Review .sx He spoke with most affection of Horner and referred to Brougham's trustworthiness , vanity and eccentricity .sx Next day Chambers breakfasted with Sydney , and the day after they breakfasted with Rogers `assuredly the most pleasant conversational treat I ever experienced,' wrote Chambers forty years later in the story of his `Life' .sx To the modern reader , unconcerned with the politics of the .sx past , one of the most interesting facts in Sydney's biography is that he started life as the friend of Scott , who loved him in spite of his Whiggish principles , and ended it as the friend of Dickens , who loved him in spite of his Toryish opinions .sx We know what he thought of Scott as a novelist ; he was an admirer from the start and instantly recognised the exceptional merit of Waverley .sx But he was not quite so quick to recognise the genius of Dickens , whose nom-de-plume put him off .sx By September , 1837 , however , he was writing to a friend :sx `Read Boz's Sketches , if you have not already read them .sx I think them written with great power , and that the soul of Hogarth has migrated into the body of Mr. Dickens .sx I had long heard of them , but was deterred by the vulgarity of the name .sx ' A year later he told Sir George Philips :sx `Nickleby is very good .sx I stood out against Mr. Dickens as long as I could , but he has conquered me .sx ' Meanwhile , Dickens had written to the publisher , Longman , .sx that of all the men he had ever heard of and never seen , he had the greatest curiosity to see and the greatest interest to know Sydney Smith .sx By a curious coincidence Dickens was then living in Doughty Street , almost exactly opposite Sydney's first London home .sx A meeting was arranged , and in June , 1839 , Sydney wrote to him :sx 'My dear Sir .sx Nobody more , and more justly , talked of than yourself .sx The Miss Berrys , now at Richmond , live only to become acquainted with you , and have commissioned me to request you to dine with them Friday , the 29th , or Monday , July 1st , to meet a Canon of St. Paul's , the Rector of Combe Florey , and the Vicar of Halberton - all equally well known to you ; to say nothing of other and better people .sx The Miss Berrys and Lady Charlotte Lindsay have not the smallest .sx objection to be put into a Number , but , on the contrary , would be proud of the distinction ; and Lady Charlotte , in particular , you may marry to Newman Noggs .sx Pray come ; it is as much as my place is worth to send them a refusal .sx ' The Miss Berrys referred to in this letter were extremely popular in the London society of those days .sx Horace Walpole , when an old man , had fallen in love with them , and while still in their thirties they had inherited a small fortune from him .sx Though very attractive they had managed to avoid matrimony and when they were both past seventy their house in Curzon Street was a famous social centre .sx Sydney had known them in his early London days and on his annual visits to the capital from Foston had seen a good deal of them .sx They heard him preach in the Palace Chapel of Kensington on several occasions , and in 1810 he helped Mary Berry , who was one year older than her sister Agnes , to prepare the Letters of Madame du Deffand for the press .sx He criticised her Preface pretty freely ; she gratefully adopted all his suggestions and her tranquil reception of his cuttings and slashings earned his praise .sx In course of time he became their `most cherished guest' .sx There was a heartiness and an absence of cant in their drawing-room conversation that appealed .sx strongly to him .sx The blight of Victorianism had not yet .sx infected the freedom of speech in their circle , and he felt thoroughly at home with them .sx In 1837 the Elder Berry ( as he called her ) was seriously ill and Sydney said that if she died he would have to commit suicide :sx `To precipitate myself from the pulpit of Paul was the peculiar mode of destruction on which I had resolved,' he told her when the crisis was over .sx The sisters stayed with him at Combe Florey for five days in August , 1838 , and the familiar footing of their inter-course may be gauged from a letter he wrote on April 6 , 1841 :sx Dear Berries , I dine on Saturday with the good Widow Holland , and blush to say that I have no disposable date before the 26th ; by which time you will , I presume , be plucking gooseberries in the suburban regions of Richmond .sx But think not , 0 Berries !sx that that distance , or any other , of latitude or longitude , shall prevent me from following you , plucking you , and eating you .sx Whatever pleasure men find in the raspberry , in the strawberry , in the coffee-berry , all these pleasures are to my taste concentrated in the May-Fair Berries .sx Ever theirs .sx ' After that dinner with the Berrys the friendship between Sydney and Dickens became stronger with every meeting .sx