1722–1771

Introduction

portrait
Wikimedia Commons

Creative Commons License

Born: Ap­ril 11, 1722, Ship­burn, Kent, Eng­land.

Died: May 21, 1771, King’s Bench pri­son, Lon­don, Eng­land.

Pseudonym: Ma­ry Mid­night.

Biography

Smart was edu­cat­ed at Pem­broke Hall, Cam­bridge (BA 1747), where he won the Sea­ton­i­an prize for five years (four years in suc­cess­ion).

He moved to Lon­don in 1753, and gave some at­ten­tion to li­te­ra­ture, but ne­glect­ing both his fi­nanc­es and his health, he be­came poor and in­sane, and ended up in debt­or’s pri­son.

Smart was a ma­jor con­trib­u­tor to two po­pu­lar ma­ga­zines and a friend to cul­tur­al icons like Sam­uel John­son and Hen­ry Field­ing. A high church An­gli­can, he was wide­ly known through­out London.

Works

Sources

Lyrics

  1. Awake, Arise, Lift Up Your Voice
  2. Celestial King, Our Spi­rits Lie
  3. Father of Light, Con­duct My Feet
  4. Folly Builds High up­on the Sand
  5. He Shall the Brok­en Heart Re­pair
  6. Hearken to the An­them Glo­ri­ous
  7. I Sing of God, the World He Made
  8. Let Men of High Con­ceit and Zeal
  9. Now’s the Time for Mirth and Play
  10. O Most Migh­ty, O Most Ho­ly
  11. O Queen of Vir­tues, Whose Sweet Pow’r
  12. To God, with the Lamb and the Dove
  13. We Sing of God, the Migh­ty Source
  14. Welcome, Bless­èd, Hea­ven­ly Stran­ger
  15. Where Is This Stu­pen­dous Stran­ger?
  16. Where Shall I Then Thy Spi­rit Shun?

Help Needed

If you know Smart’s bu­ri­al place,