Smith was a successful businessman, rising to become a member of the stock exchange in the 1810s. He moved in literary circles
and wrote novels and plays and was a regular
contributor to the Monthly Mirror. He also wrote, with his brother James, parodies of a series of rejected odes that were invtied to mark the reopening of
Drury Lane
after the 1809 fire. Rejected Addresses, or, The New Theatrum poetarum (1812) contained parodies of
Thomas Moore, Matthew Lewis, and Walter Scott
and established the fame of the brothers. He met John Keats, and Percy Shelley at
Leigh Hunt's house in 1816 and became close to Shelley: a competition between the two produced 'Ozymandius' and he acted as
Shelley's agent when he was abroad.
The identification can be confirmed by the entry for 19 June 1821 where Horace appears with Leonard Smith, his elder brother.
