1830:] Mr. Edward Clarkson. 217 



frightened out of their wits by the explosion ! Remorse is defined as an 

 hour when 



" Condemnation stares the spirit back." 



Mr. Montgomery is very fond of staring, as we have already shewn in 

 his " millions of eyes" staring up at the conflagration of the world. The 

 above passage will make his readers stare also. A battle is thus por- 

 trayed : 



" The clarions ring, the banners chafe the breeze ; 

 Earth trembles to the haughty-footed steeds, 

 And cannons thunder till the clouds are thrilled; 

 Then comes your hero sprinkled with a shower 

 Of blood !" 



Without questioning the chaste simplicity of this description, we will 

 just beg leave to remind its author, that banners do not usually chafe the 

 breeze ; it is the breeze that chafes the banners. In a similar strain of 

 absurdity, we are assured that wisdom is " templed in the shrines of 

 old ;" i. e. the whole is enclosed in the part. Surely, it should be wis- 

 dom shrined in the temples ! Merchant-vessels Mr. Montgomery 

 describes as, 



" Daunting the winds, and dancing o'er the waves." 

 Of London, we are informed that it is a place 



te of wonderful array of domes, 

 In dusky masses staring at the skies." 



A storm is portrayed as follows : 



ff A thousand thunder-wombs the sky oppress j 

 The sea is waved with glory ! billows heave 

 Their blackness in the wind, and bounding on 

 In vaulting madness, beat the rocky shore, 

 Incessant flaking it with plumy foam !" 



Mercy on us, what an extraordinary storm ! Besides his grammatical 

 blunders, his bombast, and his affectation in coining new phrases and 

 idioms, Mr. Montgomery is very fond of repeating particular expres- 

 sions. This we should not object to, were they not reiterated usque ad 

 nauseam. The words " vision" " tone" and " billow," seem to be 

 his chief favourites. We have them in every possible variety of inflexion, 

 as verb, substantive, participle ; like Panurge's mutton, which was made 

 to answer the turn of beef, lamb, veal, and wild fowl. 



The word " sumptuous" is another of Mr. Montgomery's pet- 

 phrases. Thus we have " sumptuous array" " sumptuous in decay" 

 " sumptuous arts" " sumptuous corn-fields" " sumptuous robes" 

 together with many other " sumptuous" specimens of nonsense which 

 we have neither space nor inclination to enumerate. As a plagiarist, 

 Mr. Montgomery is freer from blame in Satan than in his Omnipresence. 

 Still even here he is not wholly faultless. The hint of his lines on a 

 cathedral (p. 333) is taken from a similar passage in Congreve's Mourn- 

 ing Bride ; while the tersely-expressed sentiment of Porteus in his 

 Seatonian prize poem on Death 



" One murder makes a villain, 

 Millions a hero," 



is paraphrased in this vapid, declamatory style : 



"Mean crimes are branded with avenging scorn, 



While great ones, that should water earth with tears, 

 Oft dazzle condemnation into praise." 

 M,M. New Series. VOL. X. No. 56. 2 E 



