1830.] Mr, Edward Clarkson. 219 



so needs the go-cart and penny-trumpet of puffing to help and 

 cheer it along. Mr. Montgomery is not devoid of fancy ; he has 

 feeling sometimes, occasionally even richness of language ; and assuredly, 

 as we have shown, a talent for describing such scenes as may happen 

 to make an impression on his mind. But he cannot grapple with such 

 mighty subjects as the Deity or the Devil. They are far far above his 

 reach. It is not for the dwarf to presume to bend the bow of Ulysses. 



We will close this long, and it has been to us painful, criticism with 

 an anecdote which we hope the " modern Milton" will not think be- 

 neath his notice. It can do him no harm, and may possibly be produc- 

 tive of good. In the old days of Greece, there dwelt near Elis a vain 

 but rather talented young mechanic named Salmoneus, who fancying that 

 he had some taste for the sublime, took it into his head one day that by 

 an art peculiar to himself, he could rival the thunders of the Olympian 

 Jupiter. Accordingly, he built a brazen bridge, over which, at night- 

 fall, he went clattering along in a brazen chariot, shouting and bawling 

 at the very top of a voice which was by no means like a zephyr, either 

 in tone or quality. For a while the trick passed unnoticed ; it was even 

 applauded by some dull blockheads, one of whom wrote a pamphlet to 

 prove that Salmoneus was a genuine Jupiter ; but coming at length to 

 the ears of the local authorities, they instituted a strict inquiry, detected 

 the absurd imposture, and the mock-thunderer, despite his brass, of 

 which it has been shown that he had plenty, was at once brought 

 down to his fitting level, and made, for at least two seasons, the public 

 laughing-stock of the city ! 



THE BOWER ; A VAUXHALL VIEW. 



WE do not mean by " The Bower," that summer sanctuary, that 

 sylvan asylum, that cool sequestered seat, where, shadowed from the 

 heat of the sun, screened from observing eyes, and refreshed by the 

 gentle odours emitted by every trailing leaf, the mind loveth at the 

 golden periods of the year to luxuriate forgetting the cares and tasks 

 of the world in a quiet leisure and a happy oblivion. Pleasantly might 

 destiny so ordain it could we dilate upon that hallowed retreat, the 

 temple of love and youth, wherein vows are paid, and sighs (which are 

 as syllables in love's vocabulary) bespeak the sympathizing spirit, when 

 thy dictionary, Dr. Johnson, would be utterly inadequate : ^that 

 secluded study, whereto the student, enamoured of the Muse, directs 

 his lonely step at morn or eve composing melodies that will be to him 

 as a monument, communing with the silent spirit of some favourite 

 book, or finding a library even in the leaves that fall or wave around 

 him. But it is not for us to speak of these things ; they are fruits 

 whereof we are forbidden to pluck. The Bower that we allude to, is 

 not that wherein hearts and promises are sometimes broken, which birds 

 delight to haunt, and bards to describe. No, it is merely a human 

 being, a living bower an acquaintance most probably of the reader's;- 

 we mean, in short the Master of the Ceremonies at Vauxhall Gardens ! 



Spirit of farce and fun, come not upon our pen ! Keep thou at a 

 serious distance lest the dignity of our subject be lessened by thy 

 levity. We would be accurate, not extravagant, in our portrait ; for the 

 original must be known to many. Few that have visited Vauxhall, lofty 

 or vulgar, in the days of its splendour or its gloom, but have seen him 

 arrayed in his glory. " Oh !" saith the anticipating reader, " I think I 

 know whom you allude to. Does he not wear a sable suit, of Warren- 



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