Mr. Edward Clarhson. 203 



to break a 'silence which, God knows ! we would most willingly have 

 preserved. 



The first poems which Mr. Montgomery published, and the memory 

 of which his critic has most unwisely revived, were two satires, entitled 

 The Age Reviewed, and The Puffiad. The former, Mr. Clarkson com- 

 pares in " its fierce vituperation to Juvenal, and in its style to Young ;" 

 the latter he asserts may be likened to some of " the lighter censures of 

 Horace in its playful range, and in its mock heroism to the Dunciad." 

 He adds, that ' ' it is pointed and epigrammatic ; the wit is sharp, and 

 the thought is weighty, but, like Young, it plays chiefly on the surface of 

 action" The idea of weighty thought playing on the surface of action, 

 reminds us of a leaden bullet playing on the surface of the water ! 

 " The verse," he goes on to say, ft is terse, and the imagery and meta- 

 phors are appropriately adapted to the subject." Of the Age Review ed> 

 the same discriminating critic assures us, that in ' ' the denouncing inten- 

 sity and fiery energy of the sentiments which gild its somewhat dislocated 

 fragments, and in the eloquium canorum of its full-toned and flowing ver- 

 sification, it bears away the palm from Lord Byron's English Bards." 

 This is high praise ; let us see how it is borne out. The following 

 extracts, taken indiscriminately from the Age Reviewed and the Puffiad, 

 will enable the reader to judge for himself. They are put forth by 

 Mr. Clarkson himself, in justification of the above opinions. Alluding 

 to foreigners, Mr. Montgomery says, 



" f Woe,' cries Britannia, sovereign of the sea, 

 e How sinecures and Germans plunder me ; 

 Wet-nurse for aliens and their toading trains, 

 I waste my mint and desolate my plains ; 

 While beastly eunuchs, if they twirl and squall, 

 Pipe on the stage, or straddle at a ball/ " 



Of politicians, he observes, 



" Yes, every blockhead born to clean the mews, 

 To patch our breeches, and to mend our shoes, 

 Cocks his pert eye, uplifts his pompous brow, 

 And dubs himself a politician now. 

 Go, dip your nasty quills in Grub Street mire, 

 Traduce for malice, and lampoon for hire. 

 Cling 1 to the cursed columns that ye scrawl, 

 Like bloated beetles on a slime-licked wall." 



The expressions " beastly eunuchs" " cocks his eye" " patch our 

 breeches" tf straddle at a ball" are certainly uncommonly like Young 

 and Horace, the former especially ! 



Of a country gentleman in the House of Commons, Mr. Mont- 

 gomery gives a singularly Byronian portrait, to say nothing of its 

 elegance : 



" Hark, how his leathern lungs, like bellows pant, 

 Heave the big speech, and puff it out in cant; 

 See how he licks his tooth and screws his eye, 

 And twists and twirls his thumb he can't tell why. 

 Like Pythia perched upon a Delphic stool, 

 He writhes and wriggles till his mouth is full, 

 And then unloads a heap of stubborn stuff, 

 Till coughs proclaim the House has had enough ; 

 Then down he sits with aching sides and bonds, 

 Just like a hog convulsed with grunts and groans" l_^ 



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