Fraser's Magazine to the Imperial*. Many others have laboured hard to shew the venomous potency of their criticisms; but it would be mercy to let them rest in oblivion, distinguished as they are for nought but their intrinsic want of preponderance, when weighed against the all but uniform decision of the town and provincial press. The warring influences are probably as unequally matched as those which contended on the plains of Illium; but the feeble may, at least, show fight' in both cases, incited by the god of poetry on the one side, and the goddess of science and criticism on the other. The Edinburgh Literary Journal, reviewing Satan, says, that

* Among other contrasts I might have opposed the Edinburgh Literary Gazette to the Dublin Literary Gazette, but without calling into question their relative talents, this would only uselessly enlarge the field of inquiry. It is not for the sake of giving undue importance to Fraser's Magazine and the Edinburgh Literary Journal, that I confine myself in this section of my subject to them, but because, first, they are really the most talented of all Montgomery's assailants; second, they concentrate all the charges which the others bring against him, and thereby save me the trouble, and the reader the irksomeness, of a devious chase after various literary insects, which, after all, it might be deemed unmanly to crush; for

Who breaks a butterfly upon the wheel?

Again; these two periodicals are appealed to by their friends, with shouts of triumph, as the most able and triumphant of Mr. Montgomery's adversaries—as, in short, settling the question. It is to be hoped that the other minor reviewers and magazine-writers who have attacked him, will be so polite as to permit my marshalling their more light-armed squad of reasonings under these Coriphæi. Of a few, not wishing to speak ill of the dead, I shall say nothing. It would be still more cruel to express harshness against some which are even now suffering the pangs, and emitting the death-rattle of departing life; or against others, whose hopelessly suspended animation no effort of any Humane Society could restore.

Mr. Montgomery's sins are bast.'

vagueness and bomThe critic admits that some parts of Mr. Montgomery's poetry are 'decidedly above par;' and that he has, beyond a doubt, a portion of the divine afflatus; he extracts some noble passages, Byron at Rome,' and the Dying Painter;' and he sums up his view by affirming, that Mr. Robert Montgomery is to be classed among the minor aspirants for poetical reputation,'-a boon imparted, doubtless, as a favor, but conveying, in fact, a terrible sentence: for, as Horace says, neither gods nor men can tolerate poetical mediocrity; and to be classed among

The mob of gentlemen who write with ease,

is a favor which individuals of far less intellectual calibre than Mr. Robert Montgomery, preferring utter obscurity, would (howbeit, good-humouredly and with polite thanks) repel. Such a repudiation would be echoed, I apprehend, by a larger number of well-read and well-judging, though not scribbling persons, than the horn-blowers of this age of inflated pretence would give credit for being in existence. The coteries have little knowledge of the limitless worlds of thinking intensity which exist beyond the narrow boundaries of their little twinkling orbits. Pas même Académicien, is a self-denying boast, which multitudes of vigilant, but silent, unswayed and unswayable critics would glory in sharing with Piron.

The opinion of the Edinburgh Literary Journal has been stated. Hear now the opposite testimony of the

London Literary Gazette—a testimony of undoubted superiority, derived from talent, influence, the experience resulting from a long and prosperous career, and the responsibility adhering to success *.

"To aim at the highest honours of literature and the highest flight of genius, is an attempt in which even to fail would be a proud distinction. But Mr. Montgomery has displayed wonderful powers; and if he has sunk at all, it has been beneath the overwhelming magnitude and sublimity of his subject. Can we doubt that our illustrations will greatly exalt the already high reputation of the youthful author?"

What the nature of that reputation is, in the opinion of the editor, may be seen in the following extract from his review of the Omnipresence.

We have no hesitation in ranking The Omnipresence of the Deity in the very highest class of English sacred poesy. It reflects a new lustre on the name of Montgomery; and well deserves the utmost favour, both of religious and poetical readers. He has the soul to attempt, and the capacity to reach, the nobler, the noblest, inspirations of the Muse. On our part,

* The cool judgment, sagacious tact, unpurchaseable truth, and manly force of the Times, have been equally enlisted in Mr. Montgomery's favor with the Horatian playfulness and searching keenness of this literary periodical, of which it is but just to add (especially with reference to several years past), that as it never allows political considerations to colour or misdirect its critiques, so the most microscopic of jealous scrutiny cannot detect in them a proprietary influence -a great praise, when its great proprietary stake and connexions are considered.

eye

we are free to say, that in this effusion, Mr. Montgomery, yet a very young man, has attained a pitch of excellence far beyond what even his warmest friends could have anticipated within so short a period. It is indeed a magnificent and sublime composition; and if there are still to be detected some of the critical imperfections incident to early years, they are infinitely more than atoned for by the beauty and genius of the whole.'

6

Proceed we now to the next pair of literary duellists, whose battle is to preserve or snatch away his godcreated arms from our new poetical Patroclus, or to descry where the unfitting Achillean panoply may "let in Fate.' Frazer's Town and Country Magazine, in the midst of many vague and vaguely-ordered objections, accuses Mr. Montgomery of running after, and catching hold of thinly-scattered ideas.' 'Now,' adds the critic, this last is evident in all Mr. Montgomery's writings; and he has come forward a half-educated young man, and one, consequently, but crudely constructed in his mind, to speak to us, and instruct us in the high duties enjoined us by our religion-the high themes of revelation, of first sin, of atonement, of redemption, and a future life.'

On the other hand, the Imperial Magazine, conducted by an editor not less excellent as a moral writer, than impartial and discriminating as a critic, and moreover, not anonymous, says :—

and natural, his feelings impassioned, indignant, and humane; his accusations against Britons more than merited, and his lines dignified, glowing, and harmonious. His description of India is full of vigour. Her mountains, capabilities, and the superstitions of her inhabitants, are encircled with wreaths of poetic laurels. Ancient Rome rises before us in hoary grandeur, and the mind is awakened to pensive reflection, on contrasting her former with her present degraded state.'

The editor then quotes lines which he pronounces to be majestic' and awful;' others as marked by felicitous composition;' others as distinguished by inimitable pathos;' and he sums up his analysis with these words :

This poem embraces a vast fund of materials, which are at once diversified and important. The sentiments are bold, masculine, and energetic. The language is always harmonious, frequently elegant, and sometimes sublime. It is a work which genius, may be proud to own, and one which will augment, rather than diminish, the author's reputation.'

Having submitted this extraordinary collision to the reader, I may be permitted to add, that in order not to distract and tire his attention, I have refrained from widening the sphere and deepening the shadows of the contrast, by not bringing the Omnipresence, as well as Satan, into the arena, and by limiting the tilters to four. After this he will probably agree with