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    CRITICAL NOTICES.

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    Untitled Article

    Art . V . — The Omnipresence of the Deityi a Poem . By Robert Montgomery . London : Maunder , Newgate Street . Pp . 196 . 7 * . 6 d * Mr . R . Montgomery ' s poem opens with the following spirited passage , which , contrary to the usual practice of Reviewers , we shall beg the reader to peruse before attending to any remarks upon the work .

    " Thou Uncreate , Unseen , and Undenn'd , Source of all life , and fountain of the mind ; Pervading Spirit , whom no eye can trace , Felt through all time , and working in all space , — Imagination cannot paint the spot , Around , beneath , above , where Thou

    art not ! Before the glad stars hymn'd to newborn earth , Or young creation revell'd in its birth , Thy Spirit mov'd upon the pregnant deep , Unchain'd the waveless waters from their sleep , Bade Time ' s majestic wings to be unfurl'd » And out of darkness drew the

    breathing World . Ere matter form'd at thy creative tone Thou wert ! Omnific , endless , and alone : In thine own essence , all that was to be—Sublime , unfathomable Deity ! Thou said ' st—and lo ! a universe was born , And light flash'd from Thee , for its birth-day morn !

    * * * * * * The splendour of thy presence who can see ? Man cannot live , O God ! and look on thee . Eternal lightnings wrap thy rainbow'd throne , And seraphs shudder at thy dreadful tone .

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    And who could trace thine unrestricted course Though Fancy follow'd with immortal force ? There ' s not a flow ' r that ' s fondled by the breeze , There ' s not a fruit that beautifies the

    trees , There ' s uot a particle in sea or air , But Nature owns thy plastic influence there . With partial gaze , still be it mine to

    see How all is fill'd and vivified by Thee . Upon thy mirror—earth ' s majestic view , To paint thy presence , and to feel it too . " In these lawless and self-willed days of poetry , it should be some praise to an author that he has endeavoured ( and mostly succeeded in the attempt ) to write regular , even , and , generally speaking ,

    pleasant verse ; but , more than this , Mr . R . Montgomery has produced a poem , which , though not of the first order , will be read with pleasure and improvement by a large class whom it is worth while to please . There are some faults which are to be particularly regretted , because they do uot arise out of any exuberance of imagination apparently , but rather from an injudicious selection of words ; as , where speaking of the plumy tribes , he says , ( in the active sense , ) they

    " played their gleamy pinions on the air . " We have also " lustre-weaving wave , " and " ramping winds that sweep Their bristled pinions on the darken ed deep . "

    These are errors m taste which attention to our best and most faultless models might correct ; but it is the misfortune of the day that a sort of dashing boldness is sure to gain attention and some degree of popularity , and that when , in any individual case , it has done this , the author is generally too much elated by praise afterwards to correct his faults . Thus classical elegance and refinement of language are becoming very rare amongst us * It would not be easy to

    Critical Notices.

    CRITICAL NOTICES .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1828, page 261, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2559/page/45/