Smith spent the long vacation of 1844 with his brothers and sisters in
Ireland. They were shocked at his appearance, and affectionately
implored him not to return to England, or attempt to resume his
professional duties; but in vain. While staying in Ireland, he regretted
the fast flight of time, evidently clinging to the society of his
brothers and sisters, to the latter of whom he was most devotedly
attached; but bleak, bitter, blighting November saw him again
established at the Temple, and fairly over head and ears in the business
of the commencing term. He attended the courts as usual; went out in the
evenings to arbitrations and consultations as of old; dined also at the
Garrick as before, and sat up as late at nights as ever. We all sighed
at this deplorable infatuation; but what could we do? He was a man of
inflexible will, and a peculiar idiosyncracy. Remonstrance and entreaty,
from the first useless, at length evidently became only irritating. Not
a judge on the bench, nor a member of the bar, but regretted to see him
persist in attending the courts; where he sat and stood, indeed, a
piteous spectacle. He resolved on going the Spring Circuit in 1845,
being retained in some of the heaviest cases tried there. Shortly before
this, the friend already referred to resolved to perform the painful
duty of telling him, that in his physician's opinion there was not a ray
of hope for his recovery; a communication which he received with perfect
calmness and fortitude. To his brother's entreaties, about the month of
June, that he would either go abroad, accompanied by one of his brothers
or sisters, or allow the latter to come and live with him, in a house a
little removed from town, he steadily turned a deaf ear. He evidently
knew that it was useless; and spoke of his desperate state as calmly as
he would have done in referring to the case of a mere stranger. It is
believed that his sole reason for refusing to permit his sister to come
over, was his fond and tender regard for her--a reluctance to permit her
to witness him waste away, injuring in vain her own health and spirits.