S M I S M O 179 present. In 1838 he was appointed one of the commis- sioners to select building stone for the new Houses of Parliament. The last years of his life were spent at Hackness (of which he made a good geological map), near Scarborough, and in the latter town. His usually robust health failed in 1839, and on 28th August of that year he died at Northampton. He once said he was born on the Oolite, and should wish to be buried on it ; and so he was, at Northampton. His Mrmoirs by Professor John Phillips appeared in 1844. SMITH, WILLIAM HENRY (1808-1872), best known as the author of Thorndale, is one of those thinkers and students whose work, whilst scarcely recognized in their own day and soon all but overlooked in the larger per- spective of history, is yet of real value for an appreciation of the intellectual character of the time. The literary pro- duction of which Thorndale is the most representative example affords a moral countenance to contemporary workers in philosophy which is invaluable, but which for obvious reasons can never be exactly appraised. With a fine and reflective, rather than robust and active, intel- ligence, Smith deals suggestively in the form of conversa- tion which he adopts in Thorndale and in his later book Gravenhurst with the problem of good and evil, with materialism and idealism, with most of the subtle modern perplexities in the interaction of religion, philosophy, and science. But his more exact contributions to thought, such as the Discourse on the Ethics of the School of Paley and the Essays on Knowing and Feeling, do not work out anything like a complete system, and are somewhat lacking in intellectual grip. Smith also wrote several books of verse and two plays, one of which, Athelwo'd, was produced by Macready in 1842. Much graceful reflexion and a true feeling for nature are found in his verse, but it lacks energy. Smith spent a serene uneventful life, chiefly in the studious seclusion which he loved, but which must have tended to foster the inactive tendencies that led him to call himself playfully in his latter days "the snail." He was born at Hammersmith in 1 808 in comfortable sur- roundings, his father being a retired merchant ; his mother was of German extraction, with a vein of mysticism, which is worth noticing in view of the son's metaphysical tend- encies. He was sent in 1821 to Glasgow, where Byron's poetry and Scottish metaphysics seem to have had most influence upon him. Then he entered a lawyer's office, in which he remained for five years. His first writings ap- peared in the Literary Gazette and in the Athenaeum, to which he contributed under the name of " Wool-gatherer," attracting some attention by the delicacy and finish of his style. His ambition was at the outset chiefly poetical, however, and, when his first book appeared and was almost completely ignored, he dug a grave and buried the unsold copies in a fit of Byronic despondency. Ernesto, a philo- sophical romance, also belongs to this early period. In 1836 he wrote for the Quarterly fieview, and in 1839 he formed a connexion with BlacTewood's Magazine, which lasted for thirty years, during the latter part of which he acted as its philosophical critic. In 1846 a visit to Italy led to the writing of a tale entitled Mildred, which was too purely reflective to be successful. In 1851 he declined the chair of moral philosophy at Edinburgh, having determined a year or two previously to retire to the English Lake district, there to study in seclusion. There he completed Thorndale, which was published in 1857. Gravenhurst appeared in 1862 ; a second edition contained a memoir of the author by his wife. He died at Brighton on 28th March 1872. SMITH, SIB WILLIAM SIDNEY (1764-1840), English admiral, was the second son of Captain John Smith of the Guards, and was born at Westminster on 21st July 1764. He entered the navy, according to his own account, "at the beginning of the American War," being only about eleven years of age. For his bravery under Rodney in the action near Cape St Vincent in January 1780, he was on 25th September appointed lieutenant of the " Alcide." After serving in the actions against the French fought by Graves off Chesapeake in 1781 and by Rodney at the Leeward Islands in 1782, he was on 6th May of the latter year promoted to be commander of the " Fury " sloop, and on 18th October advanced to the rank of captain. His ship having been paid off in the beginning of 1784, he spent two years in France and afterwards visited Spain. From 1790 to 1792 he was employed in advising the king of Sweden in the war with Russia, receiving for his services the honour of knighthood. After his return to England he was sent on a mission to Constantinople, and, having joined Lord Hood at Toulon from Smyrna in December 1793, he burnt the enemy's ships and arsenal. In the following years he cleared the Channel of French privateers; but, having with the boats of his squadron boarded in Havre-de-Grace harbour a lugger which was driven by the tide above the French forts, he was on 19th April 1796 compelled to surrender and sent a prisoner to Paris. By means of forged orders for his removal to another prison he made his escape from the Temple, and, crossing the Channel in a small skiff picked up at Havre, arrived in London on 8th May 1798. In Octo- ber he was sent as plenipotentiary to Constantinople. Learning of Buonaparte's approach to St Jean d'Acre, he hastened to its relief, and on 16th March 1799 captured the enemy's flotilla, after which he successfully defended the town against several furious attacks of the French, compel- ling Napoleon on 20th May to raise the siege and retreat in disorder, leaving all his artillery behind. For this bril- liant exploit he received the special thanks of' the Houses of Parliament and was awarded an annuity of 1000. Subsequently he co-operated with Abercromby, under whom he served as brigadier-general at the battle of Aboukir, where he was wounded. On his return to England he was in 1802 elected M.P. for the city of Rochester. In March 1803 he was commissioned to watch the preparations of the French for an invasion of England. Having on 9th Novem- ber 1805 been promoted to be rear-admiral of the blue, he was in the following January despatched on secret ser- vice for the protection of Sicily and Naples. He relieved Gaeta and captured Capri, but on 25th January 1807 received orders to proceed to Malta, whence he joined Sir John Duckworth, who was sent to act against the Turks. On 7th February, with the rear division of the squadron, he destroyed the Turkish fleet and spiked the batteries off Abydos. In November following he was sent to blockade the Tagus and was mainly instrumental in embarking the Portuguese prince regent and royal family and sending them under safe protection to Rio de Janeiro, after which he was sent as commander-in-chief to the coast of South America. On 31st July 1810 he was made vice-admiral of the blue and on 18th July 1812 was despatched as second in command under Sir Edward PelleAv to the Mediterranean, but the expedition was uneventful. His term of active service practically closed in 1814. He was made K.C.B. in 1815 and in 1821 admiral. The later years of his life were spent at Paris, where he died on 26th May 1840. See Barrow's Life of Admiral Sir TV. S. Smith, 2 vols., 1848. SMOKE ABATEMENT. The nuisance created by coal History, smoke seems to have been recognized in London as early as the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; but it is only in more modern times that the question has come to be regarded as one of real practical importance, and even yet it is far from receiving that general attention which it demands.
