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...