C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
James (1775–1839) and Horace (1779–1849) Smith
Smith, James and Horace. Authors of the ‘Rejected Addresses,’ and other excellent humorous compositions; born in London; James born 1775, died 1839; Horace born 1779, died 1849. The managers of the new Drury Lane Theatre, completed in 1812 to replace the burned one, offered a prize for the most suitable opening address; the result was a deluge of such ludicrous rubbish that all had to be rejected, and Byron was commissioned to write one. The brothers Smith conceived the idea of burlesquing the style of leading poets and other men of letters and public notorieties, in a set of pieces purporting to be among the real addresses sent in to the committee but declined. Hence the volume of ‘Rejected Addresses.’ Horace subsequently published many novels and poems, the best-known among them being the ‘Ode to an Egyptian Mummy.’ James was afterwards a well-known diner-out, entertainer, and contributor to periodical literature of his day; his best-known pieces are ‘The Taking of Sebastopol’ and ‘Surnames Go by Contraries.’