76 JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 

 a farce. It was pretty, but not real and 

 true. He did not feel that way about 

 the sermon he heard Sydney Smith 

 preach: "It was a sermon to me. He 

 made me smile and he made me think 

 deeply. He pleased me at times by 

 painting my foibles with due care, and 

 again I felt the colour come to my cheeks 

 as he portrayed my sins." Later, 

 he met Sydney Smith and his "fair 

 daughter," and heard the latter sing. 

 Afterwards he had a note from the 

 famous divine upon which he remarks : 

 "The man should study economy; he 

 would destroy more paper in a day than 

 Franklin would in a week ; but all great 

 men are more or less eccentric. Walter 

 Scott writes a diminutive hand, very 

 difficult to read, Napoleon a large scrawl- 

 ing one, still more difficult, and Sydney 

 Smith goes up hill all the way with 

 large strides." 



Having decided upon visiting Lon- 

 don, his friends persuaded him to have 



