Robert Smith

“ My great-uncle snatched the clasp-knife from the belt of the helmsman, a splay-footed Easterling, whose flat, gap-toothed face had remained impassive during all the excitement since Martin's warning shout had announced the storm's approach.
"Give me that rope, Robert," he exclaimed. "I am a fool to stand talking. Here, Peter!"
He flung the Dutchman a length of it.
"Bind Mistress Moira to those ringbolts—and best knot her to yourself as well. She'll not be able to stand alone. Aid me with this fellow here, Robert. We must tie him to the wheel." ”

“ The Restoration of the Gospel I.
A RELIGIOUS REVIVAL.
The Smiths little thought when they moved in 1818 to the township of Manchester, that their name would soon become known for good or for ill the world over. The years before had been years of honor and distinction in the community where they had lived. Robert Smith—the first of the family in America—had emigrated from England in the year 1638; and for four generations his posterity lived in the little town of Topsfield, [A] Massachusetts. They tilled the soil with faithfulness and prospered, and were respected by their neighbors. ”

“ To a neighbour and a bencher of the inn, Robert Smith, he explained, when challenged to account for his conduct, that ‘he was then writing a pamphlet proving Jesus Christ an impostor.’ A few days later he was removed to the house of Sir Jonathan Miles at Hoxton, where he died of paralysis of the brain on 23 Sept. ”

“ SMITH, SAMUEL (1584–1662?) , ejected divine, born near Dudley about 1584, was the son of a clergyman. In the beginning of 1603 he entered St. Mary Hall, Oxford, as a batler, but left the university without a degree. He was presented to the living of Prittlewell in Essex on 30 Nov. 1615 by Robert, lord Rich [see under Rich, Penelope, Lady Rich] . On the outbreak of the civil war Smith retired to London for safety, and identified himself with the presbyterians. ”

“ He laughed ruefully, and raised his hail for granny.
"Ho, Goody! Goody, hast lain abed all day! Here are two hungry forest-runners will eat your kitchen bare."
Granny tripped into the hall, a mug of bitter ale in either hand.
"I heard what you said, and Master Harry's answer," she rebuked him. "Think shame on yourself, Robert, to hint that he would hesitate before peril—and you sending him into it, too," she added somewhat illogically, I thought. "Now, do both of you drain these. 'Twill wash the taste of the streets and taverns from your mouths." ”

“ On his release he retired into private life.
[172] Robert Percy Smith (1770–1845) , better known as ‘Bobus’ Smith. He was the eldest son of Robert Smith, and Maria Ollier, the daughter of a French refugee. He was at Eton with Lord Holland, and continued from that time in the closest friendship and intimacy with him. He was appointed Advocate-General of Bengal, by Lord Lansdown’s influence, in 1803, and remained seven years in India. He entered Parliament in 1812, but never took much part in the debates. ”

“ And shoving Smith violently away he galloped after the cherry-colored car, caught it, swung himself aboard, and sank triumphant and breathless into the transverse seat behind that occupied by a wicker basket, a filmy summer frock, a big, white straw hat, and--a girl--the most amazingly pretty girl he had ever laid eyes on. After him, headlong, like a distracted chicken, rushed Smith and alighted beside him, panting, menacing. ”

“ Smith sauntered out to the terrace, looked at the sky, sniffed the roses, and sat down in the shadow of a cherry tree, cocking his feet up and resting his novel on his knees. Several hours later, aroused by the mellow clash of harness and noise of wheels, he looked out over the terrace wall just in time to catch a glimpse of the victoria of his neighbour, gold and green livery, strawberry roans, flashing wheels and all; and quite alone under her brilliant sunshade, the dark-haired girl whom Kingsbury had decided to marry as soon as he could arrange to fall in love with her. ”

“ His uncle, Robert Douglas of Strathendry, and three of his uncle's sons were military officers, and so was his cousin, Captain Skene, the laird of the neighbouring estate of Pitlour. Colonel Patrick Ross, a distinguished officer of the times, was also a relation, but on which side I do not know. His mother herself was from first to last the heart of Smith's life. He being an only child, and she an only parent, they had been all in all to one another during his infancy and boyhood, and after he was full of years and honours her presence was the same shelter to him as it was when a boy. ”

“ I said. "I will do what you ask for the maid's sake—if Peter is willing."
"Ja," assented Peter.
Murray caught my hand in a quick, firm clasp.
"Good!" he cried. "'Twill be the first o' many times we stand shoulder to shoulder. Ah, Robert, I ha' dreamed a splendid dream, and any man who helps in its achievement will not have lived in vain. We'll take this gold and build an avenue of victories for the king's ride to Whitehall. What will we not do? We'll rouse the claymores from the hills! We'll carry the Irish Brigade to London town! ”

“ Martin assured him. "—— my eyes for a —— —— —— and all the Twelve Apostles, blast 'em for a —— —— lot of —— —— ——."
"A pungent fellow, Martin!" commented my great-uncle, recrossing the deck. "But we must play our little comedy here. You, chevalier, are cast for the Anguished Parent. I am the Aged Libertine. Peter is the Mute with the bowstring—be gentle, Peter. Robert—humph! I scarce know how to describe your rôle, Robert. You, shall we say, are to be Youth? Ah, yes! Youth, immortal, selfish, impulsive, acquisitive, mendacious——"
Colonel O'Donnell regarded him as if he had lost his sanity. ”

“ We'll ride high, Robert—aye, with the highest!"
He broke off short, and the glow in his eyes charred out.
"'Tis not a bad vision for a wicked old man to dream; eh, boy? Remember it when you hear the crowds a-cheering us in the Strand."
Almost he made me believe him, this outlaw of the sea. But Peter broke the spell.
"Me, I don't beliefe in dreams," yawned the Dutchman. "Neen."
Murray glared at him.
"What you believe is of little account, Corlaer," he said curtly, and strode from the cabin. ”

“ I answered. "It left me no appetite for food."
"Regrettable," he returned sadly. "Life is a hard business, Robert, as you have yet to learn. Mercy is as often as not a mistaken policy, a vice as much as a virtue. Silver, has the lookout sighted any vessel?"
"Not a sail since we cleared Sandy Hook, sir," the one-legged man answered briskly. ”

“ If we are to believe Sir Robert Gordon, the enemy of the Earl of Caithness, there was a secret passage from his lordship’s bedroom into the Gote, where Smith was often heard working by night, and at last Caithness, Sutherland, and Orkney were found full of false coin, both silver and gold. On Sir Robert’s representation of the case, a commission was given to him by the Privy Council to apprehend Smith and bring him to Edinburgh. ”

“ The sound of wheels again broke the thread of his sleepy meditation; their dog-cart was at the gate; and presently he perceived Kingsbury, hatted and gloved to perfection, get in, take the reins from the coachman, loop his whip, assume the posture popularly attributed to pupils of Howlett, and go whirling away through the lazy sunshine of a perfect Belgian afternoon.
"The beast has lunched without me," muttered Smith, yawning and looking at his watch. Then he got up, stretched, tinkled the bell, and when the doll-faced maid arrived, requested an omelet à la Semois and a bottle of claret. ”

“ The public curiosity is greatly excited; and if Smith can decipher the hieroglyphics on the plates, he will do more towards throwing light on the early history of this continent than any man now living. [3]
In a communication to the "Times and Seasons" (Nauvoo, Illinois) , the following testimony concerning the discovery was given:
On the 16th of April last, a respectable merchant, by the name of Robert Wiley, commenced digging in a large mound near this place: He excavated to the depth of ten feet and came to rock. About that time the rain began to fall, and he abandoned the work. ”

“ Smith retired to his room to bathe, clothed himself in snowy linen and fresh tennis flannels, and descended again, book under his arm, to saunter forth through heavy tangles of cinnamon-tinted Flemish roses and great sweet-scented peonies, musing on love and fate.
"Kingsbury and his theories! The Countess of Semois will think him crazy. She'll think us both crazy! And I am not sure that we're not; youth is madness; half the world is lunatic! ”

“ William Hunter, John Home, Robert Adam the architect, and Sir Gilbert Elliot. Indeed, though men like Goldsmith, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Garrick, and Richard Cumberland were members, it was predominantly a Scotch club, and both Carlyle and Richard Cumberland say an extremely agreeable one. But during his residence at this period in London Smith was in 1775 admitted to the membership [Pg 268] of a much more famous club, the Literary Club of Johnson and Burke and Reynolds at the Turk's Head in Gerrard Street, and he no doubt attended their fortnightly dinners. ”

“ It may be added that in Smith's time the Snell foundation yielded five exhibitions of £40 a year each, tenable for eleven years.
Of Smith's friends among his fellow-students at Glasgow, no names have been preserved for us except those already mentioned, Professor Matthew Stewart, and Dr. Maclaine, the embassy chaplain at the Hague. He continued on a footing of great intimacy with Stewart, whom, as we have seen, he considered to be, after Robert Simson, the greatest mathematician of his time, and he seems to have enjoyed occasional opportunities of renewing his acquaintance with Dr. ”

“ I gibed. "'Tis simply a question of using him to your best advantage."
"Yes and no, Robert," he retorted coolly. "As you grow older you will learn that as naught is wholly bad neither is it wholly good."
A step clumped in the companionway, and Martin stuck his grizzled head in the cabin.
"Last o' the —— —— ruddy-boys is comin' aboard, sir," he said. "What course will ye set?" ”

“ But Smith had seen them at Ghost Lake Inn. One of them was Sard.
Quintana's gang had arrived at Clinch's dump.
A moment later Clinch came through the pantry and kitchen and out onto the rear porch where Smith was washing glasses in a tub filled from an ever-flowing spring.
"I'm a-going to get supper," he said to Eve. "There'll be twenty-three plates." And to Smith: "Hal — you help Eve wait on the table. And if anybody acts up rough you slam him on the jaw — don' argue, don't wait — just slam him good, and I'll come on the hop."
"Who are the strangers, dad?" asked Eve. ”

“ Brown stood balancing himself on the gutter's edge, pale, rapt, uttering incoherent prophecy concerning the advent of a car not yet visible anywhere in the immediate metropolitan vista.
"Old man," began Smith with emotion, "I think you had better come very quietly somewhere with me. ”

“ So he of the bowler was marched along a series of pegs indicating the subterranean drain, and set down in the court of the castle.
"Good heavens!" exclaimed the Lady Alene. "We can't leave him here! They will know him by his bowler hat!"
"No," said Smith gloomily, "we can't leave him here. But what can we do? If he runs out they'll fire at him by platoons."
"Couldn't they miss him?" pleaded the girl. ”

“ By Heaven, Smith, I'm going to write a volume on this."
"Oh, you're going to write about it."
"I am."
"And then what?" asked Smith taking the newspaper from Kingsbury and opening it.
"What then? Why—why, some of us ought to give our country an example. I'm willing to do it—when I have time——"
"Here's your chance, then," urged Smith, studying the society column. "Here's all about the charity [Pg 283] bazar at Semois-les-Bains this afternoon. The Countess sells dolls there. Our Ambassador will be on hand, and you can meet her easily enough. ”

“ In this profound crypt a small iron door and a few stone steps ascending permitted her access to the vacant lot which the janitor had forbidden Smith to enter. And here she was accustomed to sit in the long, rank grass under a big ailantus tree, writing for the fashion papers, to which she contributed such predigested pabulum as the weak-minded might assimilate. In this manner she paid for lodging, board, and almond cream.
Meanwhile, she was growing shyer and more formal with Smith when they chanced to meet on stairs or landing. ”

“ After a long while she dropped her tired shoulders back against the trunk of the Tree of Dreams, reclining there inert, blue eyes brooding in vacancy.
Meanwhile, Smith had locked up his room, gone home for the first time in two months, telephoned for a stateroom on the Western Limited, and sent for Kerns, who presently arrived in an electric cab.
"I'm going to Illinois," said Smith, "to-night."
"The nation must know of this," insisted Kerns; "let me telegraph for fireworks."
"There'll be fireworks," observed Smith—"fireworks to burn, presently. I'm going to get married to a working girl." ”

“ Robison's account of, 336; appointed Smith's literary executor, 434 Blair, Dr. Hugh, his indebtedness to Smith's lectures on rhetoric, 32; his preaching, 420; Smith on, 421 Blank verse, Smith on, 35 Bogle, Robert, of Daldowie, 418 Bogle, Robert, of Shettleston, promoter of Glasgow theatre, 79 Bonar, James, on Smith's manifesto of 1755, 65; Smith's library, 327 Bonnet, Charles, of Geneva, friendship with Smith, 191 Bordeaux, Smith at, 179; condition of people, 180 Boswell, James, Smith's teaching on blank verse, 35 ”