Sydney Smith"; that he had warmed the Library and rebound the books;
that he had insured the fabric against fire; and had "brought the New River
into the Cathedral by mains." The Verger testified that the monuments had
fallen into a dreadful state of decay and disfigurement, and that there
were "twenty thousand names scratched on the font"; but that now by Mr.
Smith's orders everything had been repaired, cleaned, and set in order.
As regards Sydney Smith's preaching, testimony is equally explicit. He said
of himself, in a letter stating his claims to ecclesiastical preferment, "I
am distinguished as a preacher," and this seems to have been no more than
the truth. George Ticknor, writing in 1835, said that he had heard from
Sydney "by far the best sermon that I have heard in England." Charles
Greville wrote;--"He is very good; manner impressive, voice sonorous and
agreeable: rather familiar, but not offensively so." Mrs, Austin,[113] who
afterwards edited his Letters, writes:--"The choir[114] was densely
filled.... The moment he appeared in the pulpit, all the weight of his
duty, all the authority of his office, were written on his countenance;
and, without a particle of affectation, his whole demeanour bespoke the
gravity of his purpose."
This exactly corresponds with the impression of a listener to his famous
sermon on Toleration, in Bristol Cathedral.
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