ce is rich and silvery, not 'harsh and
crabbed,' but

'Musical as is Apollo's lute;'

and so indeed it ought, for Baptist Noel rarely concludes his sermons
within an hour. If his eloquence be compared to that of a stream, it
must be that of no mountain country, but of peaceful plains, of one of
which it may be said that

'through delicious meads
The murmuring stream its winding water leads.'

He is remarkably fluent; his sentences are particularly smooth and well
constructed, and his voice gently modulated: of action, he can be said
scarcely to have any. Baptist Noel is a thorough Englishman in this
respect.

As a thinker, he has been more remarkable for his freedom and candour
than for his consistency and depth. He has always held, in the main,
what are called Evangelical views, but his views have not always been on
all matters the same. At one time he was an opponent of Millenarian
views--he then became strenuous in their favour--now he has returned to
his original opinions, and opposes them as warmly as before. He acted a
similar part with reference to the British and Foreign Bible Society, and
his amiable little tract, on the Unity of the Church, was considered very
inconsistent, by Churchmen and Dissenters alike, with his position as a
minister of the Establishment.

As a writer Mr. Noel's principal work has been that on the Union of
Church and State, in which he justified, at considerable length, his
secession from the Establishment. He has also published an account of a
tour in Ireland, to which he was sent on a visit of inspection by the
Whigs a few years since; and he has also written a little poetry, some of
which has found its way into print. It is hardly necessary to say that
it is of that common character which it is said neither gods nor men
allow.

To many, Mr. Noel's whole career as a Churchman was very offensive. They
had no idea of a clergyman of the Church of England standing on the same
platform with a Dissenting brother. I believe, by his conduct, Baptist
Noel drew down upon himself more than one Episcopal rebuke; and,
therefore, few were surprised when the time came when he burst the bonds
that had long held him, and became the minister of the Baptist church,
John Street, Bedford Row--a church formed by the Rev. John Harrington
Evans, like Mr. Noel, originally a clergyman of the Establishment. Still
the effort was a bold one. By such a step he had nothing