1 824.] Philosophy of Contemporay 



Holif Alliance, Rhymes on the Itoad, 

 ^c. S)C. by Thomas Brown the Younger, 

 secretary of the Poco-curante Society, 

 and author of the " Fudge Family" and 

 the "Two-penny Post-bag," is of a 

 nature to re-introdiice, in varied forms, 

 several of the sentiments expressed in 

 the discussion of the first ; but the 

 reviewer, as if aware of the danger of 

 monotony, has chiefly and judiciously 

 directed his eye to those parts of the 

 publication which otfered a scope for 

 a diilcront class of observations. Work- 

 ing on this principle, — the principle of 

 Jiovelly, — he has preferred to go into 

 the discussion, Whether a poetical 

 mind is adapted to ilic task of deep 

 investigation ; and soon, very soon, 

 comes to the conclusion, that poetry 

 and logic are inimical to each other; 

 that a warm imagination and a solid 

 judgment are irreconcilable; in a 

 word, that verse and ratiocination are 

 so far from having between them any 

 Ihiug consentaneous, any natural alli- 

 ance, that no effort of art can force 

 them into a junction. This dictum of 

 the critic is, however, we must say, 

 only partially true. 



In the third article, For the Oracles 

 of God, Four Orations, for Judgment to 

 come, an Arn;ument, in nine parts, by 

 the Rev. Edward Irving, m.a. we meet 

 with many just and judicious observa- 

 tions, couched in neat, clear, and 

 sometimes truly energetic, language. 

 By tlie Westminster reviewer credit 

 is given to Mr. Irving for considerable 

 talents; but he is not allowed so to 

 Iiavc exercised them as to secure the 

 end proposed by his labours. He is 

 charged with having employed the 

 language cf censure where he should 

 have used persuasion ; of irritating, 

 where it should have been his policy 

 to sooth ; and of creating hostility, 

 where he ought to have conciliated 

 Xricndsliip. It is acknowledged, that, 

 in whatever he says or prints, ho may 

 Ijc in earnest ; but it is insisted upon, 

 that he has missed his way ; that, in 

 sparing neither novelists nor moralists, 

 neither poets nor preachers, he has 

 been somewhat more cpurageims than 

 j)olilic. "Let it not be ^supposed, 

 (says tiic reviewer,) that, in making 

 these remarks, we are finding fault 

 with liie independence of thought, and 

 the fearlessness of speech, wliich so 

 hlrongly (characterise Mr. living. On 

 the contrary, we are ready to give 

 Jiim the tiibute of our admiration for 



•y Crilicism, No. XXXVI. 131 



his holdness, — qualified, nevertheless, 

 by many doubts as to the extent of 

 his discretion." As if extending to 

 the orator his belief of the impossibi- 

 lity that a poet should be also a 

 reasoner, the Westminster is averse to 

 the allowing Mr. Irving any credit on 

 this score of his argumentation. la 

 his opinion, the preacher's logic and 

 metaphysics form his feeblest preten- 

 sions to fame. That he is master of 

 much genuine eloquence, — that he 

 possesses a key to the human bosom, 

 — that the recess of the passions is 

 always open to his magical approach ; 

 and that where he drops upon paper 

 his golden thoughts, or pours into the 

 ears tlye Iwnied oratory of his lips, 

 there persuasion commands and plea- 

 sure rewards obedience, he is ready 

 to acknowledge ; but still perseveres 

 in denying him the more exalted en- 

 dowment of irresistible reasoning. If 

 he utterly condemns some passages in 

 Mr. Irving's publication as "despe- 

 rately bad," he is careful to quote 

 others in proof of the occasional 

 power and beauty of his style ; and is 

 no less zealous to defend his tiUe to 

 literary reputation, to the utmost ex- 

 tent of that title, than he is to point out 

 blemishes, as warning spots to future 

 labourers in the same vineyard. If lie 

 speaks of "the bombast, the foolish 

 quaiiitnesses, the puerile conceits, and 

 the lame and incongruous figures, in 

 which this volume abounds, and which 

 have been laid before the public in 

 every possible shape," he does not 

 omit to subjoin the eulogy claimed by 

 the excellence of the superior pas- 

 sages ; or, using a metaphor of his 

 own, to " select the pearls from the 

 grosser matter in which they are im- 

 bedded." But, notwithstanding this 

 favourable opinion, our critic thinks 

 "that there is much to be feared, as 

 well as to bo hoped, for Mr. Irving'* 

 reputation." We cannot but enter- 

 tain a similar apprehension. When 

 the pormanent basis of reason is want- 

 ing, the superstructure, however beau- 

 tiful, cannot be durable. Many of the 

 most striking passages in this volume 

 arc so heterogeneous, — so shining in 

 their ))remises, yet self-contradictory 

 in their deductions, that there is 

 scarcely a boy at Westminster, or 

 Merchant 'I'aylors', who would not 

 det(;ct their inconsistency. 



The Iburth article in this fir.st Num- 



laer of the Westminster is Chri;tomalhin, 



a publi- 



