Ode to the Earl of Northumberland on his being appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,’ 1764, 4to. 17. ‘A poetical translation of the Poems of Phædrus, with the appendix of Gudius,’ 1765, 12mo. 18. ‘Translation of the Psalms of David,’ 1765, 4to. 19. ‘The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, done into verse,’ 1768, 8vo. 20. ‘Abimelech: an Oratorio’ [1768], 4to. Posthumously was issued: 21. ‘Poems of the late Christopher Smart,’ 2 vols., Reading, 1791, 16mo.
Liberal selections of Smart's poems are given in Anderson's ‘Poets of Great Britain’ (vol. xi.), Sanford's ‘British Poets’ (xxx.), Park's ‘British Poets’ (suppl. v.), Pratt's ‘Cabinet of British Poetry’ (v.), and Gilfillan's ‘Specimens of the less known British Poets’ (3 vols. 1860). Chalmers in 1810, in vol. xvi. of his ‘English Poets,’ gave a life of Smart and a selection from his works; but omitted the ‘Song to David,’ which he regretted his inability to recover, though from a sample obtained from the pages of the ‘Monthly Magazine’ he attributes to it much grandeur. Smart's successful prize poems are included in ‘Musæ Seatonianæ’ (Cambridge, 1772).
[The existing memoirs of Smart are extremely meagre and inaccurate, by far the most adequate being the brief sketch in the Encyclopædia Britannica (9th edit.). Following the imperfect memoir prefixed to the collective edition of 1791 (written by Smart's kinsman, Christopher Hunter [q. v.]), nearly all the lives give the year of his death as 1770, instead of 1771. Some important supplementary information is deduced from the Memoirs of Dr. Burney, 1832, pp. 205, 280; Burney's Early Diary, i. 24, 127 sq.; Gray's Works, ed. Gosse, ii. 161 sq.; Boswell's Life of Johnson, ed. Hill, i. 306, ii. 454; F. B. Falkiner's Pedigree of the Falkiner Family, p. 36; Gosse's Gossip in a Library (collecting some new facts from Cambridge); and information from C. E. Searle, esq., of Pembroke College. See also Smart's Works and British Museum Catalogue, s.v. Midnight, Mary; Lord Woodhouselee's Essay on Translation, 1813, p. 99; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. v. 809, 819; Nicoll and Wise's Lit. Anecd. of the Nineteenth Century, i. 521; Baker's Biogr. Dram. 1812, i. 673; Nathan Drake's Essays, 1810, vol. ii. passim; Brydges's Censura Lit. vii. 430; Notes and Queries, 6th ser. xi. 32; Welsh's Bookseller of the Last Century; Disraeli's Miscellanies of Literature, p. 226; Georgian Era, iii. 346–7; Forster's Goldsmith, passim; Hutchinson's Men of Kent, p. 126; Napier's Johnsoniana (1884), pp. 185–6; Taylor's Records (1832), ii. 408; Ward's English Poets, iii. 351; Quarterly Review, xi. 496; Guardian, 2 Aug. 1879; Pall Mall Gazette, 18 and 20 Jan. 1887; Chambers's Cyclopædia of English Literature; Palgrave's Treasury of Sacred Song; Halkett and Laing's Dict. of Pseud. Lit.; Watt's Biblioth. Brit.; Shipbourne parish register, by the courtesy of the Rev. A. G. K. Simpson; notes kindly supplied by Frederick Cowslade, esq., of Reading, great-great-grandson of the poet.]
SMART, Sir GEORGE THOMAS (1776–1867), musician and orchestral conductor, born in London on 10 May 1776, was the son of George Smart, a music-seller, and his wife Ann (born Embrey). He began his musical career as a chorister at the Chapel Royal, St. James's, and learnt music at various times from Ayrton, Dupuis. J. B. Cramer, and Arnold. He sang at the first Handel commemoration festival at Westminster Abbey, 1784, and conducted the last there in 1834. At fifteen he left the choir and became organist to St. James's Chapel, Hampstead Road; he often played the violin in Salomon's band, and taught singing. In 1811 Smart visited Dublin to conduct a series of concerts, and was knighted by the Duke of Richmond, lord lieutenant of Ireland. In 1813 he became an original member of the Philharmonic Society, for which he often conducted. For thirteen years (1813–25) he was conductor of the city concerts and the Lent oratorios, at which in 1814 he produced for the first time in England Beethoven's ‘Mount of Olives’ in his own arrangement. In 1822 Smart became joint organist of the Chapel Royal, St. James's, and afterwards went to Vienna to consult Beethoven as to the correct tempi of the movements of his symphonies. On his return he was appointed musical director of Covent Garden under Charles Kemble. With Kemble he subsequently visited Weber in Germany. They induced that composer to come to England and produce a new opera, ‘Oberon,’ there. Weber died in Smart's house in Great Portland Street, on 3 June 1826; and Smart was mainly instrumental in erecting the Weber statue in Dresden. In 1824 Smart conducted the first Norwich festival, and in 1836 he produced for the first time in England Mendelssohn's ‘St. Paul’ at Liverpool. Two years later he became composer to the Chapel Royal, and conducted the music at the funeral of George IV, and at the coronations of William IV and Queen Victoria. In course of time Smart was conductor of nearly all the principal provincial festivals, and was presented with the freedom of Dublin and Norwich in recognition of his musical attainments. He was a life governor of the Norwich Great Hospital, and was grand organist of the ‘Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons.’ He was much sought after as a teacher of singing almost to the end of his days. Smart died at Bedford Square on 23 Feb. 1867, and was buried at
