Prince Smith, Mrs Auguste (Sommerbrod), prob. I Miss Prince Smith l. John Prince Smith, 1774?–1822, law reporter (D.N.B.), was survived by a son and a daughter. If the Office Book designation "Miss" is correct, the contributor was the daughter of John Prince Smith.

      It is probable, however, that the "Miss" should read "Mrs." In that event the contributor was the wife of John Prince Smith the younger, 1809–1874, political economist (D.N.B.). Smith the younger was born and educated in England; went to Germany as a young man; there became leader of the Free Trade party and member of the Reichstag. Wrote, in German, various works on economic policy, international trade, monetary practices; translated into English a German treatise on political economy. In 1846 married Auguste Sommerbrod, daughter of a Berlin banker.
       "Adventures of a Translation" [II, 56–58. Oct. 12, 1850] deals with Elisabeth von Arnim's Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde. The contributor's strictures on high import duties and on the customs regulations that kept the book from the English reading public indicate that, like Smith the younger, she favoured free trade. Occasional instances of incorrect tense sequence and unidiomatic word order give the impression that the contributor was not a native speaker of English. She does refer to English as "our language" and to London docks as "our London docks"; she may have assumed English nationality in writingg for an English periodical in which her article would appear anonymously.
       Payment for the article, which consists largely of quotation, was little more than half the standard rate. The Office Book memorandum reads: "paid to Mr. Davenport Francis" (not identified).

Author: Anne Lohrli; © University of Toronto Press, 1971