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STRANGFORD, VISCOUNT

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 983 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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STRANGFORD, See also:VISCOUNT , an •Irish See also:title held by the See also:family of Smythe, from 1625, when it was conferred upon See also:Sir See also:Thomas Smythe (d. 1635) of Ostenhanger and See also:Ashford, See also:Kent, until 1869, when it became See also:extinct. From Sir Thomas the title passed down to his descendant, See also:Percy See also:Clinton See also:Sydney Smythe (178o-1855), who succeeded his See also:father, Lionel, as 6th viscount in 1801. Entering the See also:diplomatic service in 18o2, Smythe represented his See also:country at See also:Lisbon, in See also:Brazil, at See also:Stockholm, See also:Constantinople and St See also:Petersburg, and in 1825 he was created a peer of the See also:United See also:Kingdom as See also:Baron See also:Penshurst. He had See also:literary tastes, and in 1803 published Poems from the Portuguese of See also:Camoens, with Remarks and Notes, See also:Byron at this See also:time describing him as " Hibernian Strangford "; he died on the 29th of May 1855. His eldest son See also:George See also:Augustus See also:Frederick Percy Sydney Smythe (1818-1857), who now became the 7th viscount, was associated with Disraeli and See also:Lord See also:John See also:Manners in the conduct of the " See also:Young See also:England " party. He entered See also:parliament in 1841, and was under-secretary for foregin affairs in 1845-1846, losing his seat at See also:Canterbury in 1852. In 1852 he fought a See also:duel at See also:Weybridge with See also:Colonel Frederick See also:Romilly (1810-1887), the last encounter of this See also:kind in England. Like his father, Smythe had literary tastes, and he is thought to be the See also:original of Disraeli's Coningsby. In 1844 he wrote Historic Fancies, a collection of poems and essays, and his novel Angelo See also:Pisani was published posthumously, with a memoir of the author in 1875. As a journalist he wrote in the See also:Morning See also:Chronicle. He died on the 23rd of See also:November 1857, and was succeeded by his See also:brother Percy Ellen Frederick See also:William Sydney Smythe (1826-1869) as 8th viscount.

See also:

Born at St Petersburg on the 26th of November 1826, during all his earlier years Percy Smythe was nearly See also:blind, in See also:con-sequence, it was believed, of his See also:mother having suffered very See also:great hardships on a See also:journey up the Baltic in wintry See also:weather shortly before his See also:birth. His See also:health through See also:life was very delicate, but did not prevent his showing quite See also:early most remarkable See also:powers of mind. His See also:education was begun at See also:Harrow, whence he went to Merton See also:College, See also:Oxford. From the very first he gave proofs of extraordinary ability as a linguist, and was nominated by the See also:vice-See also:chancellor of Oxford in 1845 a student-attache at Constantinople. A very interesting See also:account of his colleagues, more especially of Mr Almerick See also:Wood, who was a See also:man of phenomenal capacity, was written by him later in life, and is to be found in the two volumes of his collected essays published by his widow. While at Constantinople, where he served under Lord See also:Stratford de Redcliffe, Percy Smythe gained a mastery not only of See also:Turkish and its dialects, but of almost every See also:form of See also:modern See also:Greek, from the See also:language of the literati of See also:Athens to the least Hellenized Romaic. Before he went to the See also:East he had a large knowledge both of See also:Persian and Arabic, but until his duties led him to study the past, See also:present and future of the See also:sultan's See also:empire he had given no See also:attention to the See also:tongues which he well described as those of the See also:international See also:rabble in and around the See also:Balkan See also:peninsula. He made, while in the East, a careful study of these, and was the first See also:English-man to see that the Bulgarians were much more likely than the Servians to come to the front as the See also:Ottoman See also:power declined. He avowed himself a Liberal in English politics, and those with whom he chiefly lived were Liberals; but he was not an See also:anti-Turk, as so many Liberals afterwards became. Onsucceeding to the See also:peerage in 1857 he did not abandon the East, but lived on at Constantinople for several years, immersed in See also:Oriental studies. At length, however, he returned to England and began to write a great See also:deal, sometimes in the Saturday See also:Review, sometimes in the Quarterly, and much in the See also:Pall Mall See also:Gazette. A rather severe review in the first of these See also:organs of the See also:Egyptian Sepulchres and Syrian Shrines of Emily See also:Anne See also:Beaufort (d.

1887) led to a result not very usual—the See also:

marriage of the reviewer and' of the authoress. One of the most interesting papers Lord Strangford ever wrote was the last See also:chapter in his wife's See also:book on the Eastern Shores of the Adriatic. That chapter was entitled " See also:Chaos," and was the first of his writings which made him widely known amongst careful students of See also:foreign politics. From that time forward everything that he wrote was watched with intense See also:interest, and even when it was See also:anonymous there was not the slightest difficulty in recognizing his See also:style, for it was unlike any other. He died in See also:London on the 9th of See also:January 1869, when his titles became extinct. A Selection from the Writings of Viscount Strangford on See also:Political, See also:Geographical and Social Subjects was edited by his widow and published in 1869. His Original Letters and Papers upon See also:Philology and Kindred Subjects were also edited by See also:Lady Strangford (1878). See E. B. de See also:Fonblanque, Lives of the Lords Strangford through Ten Generations (1877).

End of Article: STRANGFORD, VISCOUNT

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