men enough to attend thee?""Yea," quoth the old woman, "and more than enough! I say to one-go, and he runs; to another-come hither, fellow and the varlet falls down on his knees; and, in short, all things go on so abominably smooth, that my heart is bursting for something to spite me, and pick a quarrel withal!" LONDON BEGGARS. Ninety-nine out of every hundred of London beggars, have been ascertained to be impostors; and a curious account is exhibited of the various artifices by which they impose on the charitable. Great numbers subsist by writing begging letters: the Mendicity Society last year received 2,968 letters of this description for investigation, of which 1,680 were from new applicants. Of 40,000 beggars who presented themselves to this Society, the cases of only 806 were plausible enough to merit inquiry; and of this number only 237 were entitled to and received relief. Half of the mendicity and vagrancy is ascribed to the vast influx of the lower Irish, who not only depress the English laborer in competing with him for employment, but, from their semi-barbarous habits, tend to debase his manners and character. For want of a better system of passing Irish paupers, the expense of conveying them to Liverpool is greater than the charge for an inside passage in the mail. Many of the Irish who appear utterly destitute in the streets, have been found, on examination, to have several pounds sewed up in their clothes; and they frequently remit sums collected in this country, through the means of agents in London, for the payment of their rents in Ireland. BAD WRITING. His letters put me in mind of tumult and anarchy; there is sedition in every sentence; syllable has no longer any confidence in syllable, but dissolves its connexion as preferring an alliance with the succeedig word. A page of his epistle looks like the floor of a garden-house, covered with old, crooked nails, which have just been released from a century's durance in a brick wall. I cannot cast my eyes on his character without being religious. This is the only good effect I have derived from his writings: he brings into my mind the resurrection, and paints the tumultuous resuscitation of awakened men with a pencil of masterly confusion. I am fully convinced of one thing, either that he or his pen is intoxicated when he writes to me, for his letters seem to have borrowed the reel of wine, and stagger from one corner of the sheet to the other. They remind me of Lord Chatham's administration, lying together heads and points in one truckle-bed.-Dr. Parr. OPINION OF THE PRESS, ON CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. An estimate has been given of the opinions of the public press of England, Scotland, and Ireland, upon the subject of concessions, from which it appears that the number in favor of the late measure is 107; against it, 87 and neutral 44. The majority is principally found in the metropolis and the leading manufacturing and commercial towns, while the minority is scattered over distant districts, and through the lesser. PRIZE FOR COLORED LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES. The French Société d'Encouragement has proposed that two thousand francs be given to the inventor of a certain and economical method for colored printing in lithography. The conditions required are, that the method shall be reduced to practice by the inventor in such a manner, 1stly, as to furnish at least a thousand impressions of one subject, either complete, or so far advanced (in case the work shall demand a fine finish), that the coloring of the plates may be effected at a slight expense; 2ndly, that the results shall be less expensive, without being less perfect, than those which are furnished by the printing in color on copper. The society do not exact, that the operation shall be confined to the use of a single stone; but they require an exact description of the process, an estimate of the expense, as well as specimens of different plates. The prize will be determined in the course of the second half-year of 1830. The memoirs and proofs to be sent in before the 1st of May of the same year. SOUTH AMERICAN MANNERS. Whether it be the romantic novelty of many places in South America, the salubrity of the climate, the free unrestrained intercourse of the more polished classes, or whether there be some undefinable charm in that state of society which has not passed beyond a certain point of civilization, certain it is that few foreigners have resided for any length of time in Chile, Peru, or in the principal towns of the Pampas, without feeling an ardent desire to revisit them. In this number might be named several European naval officers who have served in the Pacific, and who have expressed these sentiments, although they move in the very highest circles of England and France. Countries which have not reached the utmost pitch of refinement have their peculiar attractions, as well as the most highly polished nations; but, to the casual resident, the former offers many advantages unattainable in Europe. The virtue of hospitality, exiled by luxury and refinement, exhibits itself in the New World under such noble and endearing forms, as would almost tempt the philosopher, as well as the weary traveller, to dread the approach of the factitious civilization that would banish it. COAL MINES IN SPAIN. The Company of the Guadalquivir having endeavored to ascertain that the coal mines of the Asturias could supply them with twenty thousand tons per annum, the intendant of that principality replied, that it would not only contract to furnish them with the required quantity at the rate of 14s. per ton, inclusive of the expense of ship ment, but that the stores of this article which nature had provided, were so considerable, and the facility of extracting it so great, that the Asturias were capable of providing coals for the entire consumption of Europe dur ing an unlimited term of years. He adds, that the whole soil is one immense mass of carbonaceous matter. CHANNELS OF TRADE-ENGLAND AND FRANCE. England possesses 30,000 miles of roads, nearly 4000 miles of canals, and above 300 miles of railways: whereas the territory of France, which is more than twice as extensive, does not afford above 45,000 miles of roads, 1500 miles of canals, and 114 miles of railways, of which latter, seventyeight are still in course of completion. NEW WORKS. Mr. Hood, the author of Whims and Oddities, has a new work in the press, entitled Epping Hunt. It describes the adventures of a worthy citizen who joins the Easter Hunt, and is to be illustrated with several engravings on wood, after the designs of George Cruikshank. Pelham has been translated into German, and published at Aix-laChapelle, by Major Richard. The same gentleman also published a translation of Almack's Revisited, and has just finished a translation of the Disowned. the author of "Pelham," there is In "Devereux," the new novel by historian may read it for its acsufficient variety for every reader : the the philosopher for its acute and encurate and animated social painting, lightened views, the man of the world for its keen and lively sarcasm, while the poet will no less enjoy the imagination which sheds over parts a beauty of a superior order. Mr. E. H. Barker, editor of the English edition of Professor Anthon's improved Lempriere, announces his intention to reprint in Parts, at stated periods, Dr. Webster's American Dictionary of the English language. OF THE ENGLISH MAGAZINES. THIRD SERIES.] BOSTON, SEPTEMBER 15, 1829. [VOL. 2, No. 12. SKETCHES OF CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS, STATESMEN, &c. No. XI.-MR. ROBERT MONTGOMERY. Few works within the compass of modern literature have excited in the minds of the reading portion of the community a deeper or more general interest, than a poem on "The Omnipresence of the Deity," for which the public are indebted to the pen of Mr. Robert Montgomery. In the space of sixteen months no less than eight editions of this work have issued from the press; and of his "Universal Prayer, &c." a more recent poem, three editions have been published in little more than six months. To readers who have been charmed with the emanations of Mr. Montgomery's genius, the contour and lineaments of his countenance cannot fail to be pleasing. Under this impression we have had the portrait, which ornaments this number, engraven for the Atheneum. It is copied from an English one, which is executed in a masterly style by Thomson, and said to be a correct likeness. It is accompanied by a brief biographical sketch, the particulars of which, though scanty, have been derived from authentic sources. Of one whose career in literature has been as short as it has been successful and fortunate, little perhaps can be said of any interest to veterans who have been through life engaged in similar pursuits. It is, however, always pleasing to trace the development of intellect under all ages and circumstances, and to gather facts which tend to illustrate the mental character; and therefore, without any further prefatory remarks, we shall lay before the reader the few particulars we have been able to collect. His Mr. ROBERT MONTGOMERY✶ was born at Bath, in the year 1807. father was a gentleman of Irish extraction, of honorable and ancient descent, but somewhat unfortunate as to the inheritance of family property. The father of the elder Montgomery, and grandfather of the youthful poet, was, we have been given to understand, a brother to General Montgomery, whose exploits rendered him conspicuous during the American war, and whose name is enrolled with those of other heroes, who distinguished themselves during that eventful period. The poet's grandfather was a merchant, who, amidst his speculations, was by his relation deprived of a large fortune, which his family ought to have enjoyed. This disaster occasioned great distress amongst its several branches, and made sad havoc in their destinies and hopes. *Not to be confounded with the amiable James Montgomery, author of " Greenland," "The World before the Flood," ," "The Pelican Island," &c. &c. 56 ATHENEUM, VOL. 2, 3d series. Our poet's mother was the daughter of a gentleman originally bred to the law. He was the descendant of a highly respectable family in Hampshire, and though a man of unassuming and retiring habits, was highly esteemed by all who knew him, as an orator, a theologian, and a mathematician. Robert Montgomery, after receiving an excellent classical education, was for a season destined for some profession, and at one time was desirous of entering Magdalen Hall, to prepare himself for the church. While this was in contemplation, like many of his youthful compeers he produced numerous scraps of poetry, some of which were not very remarkable either for harmony of numbers or profundity of thought, while others were distinguished by various degrees of merit. With some of these detached and fugitive pieces, the author's first appearance was in the pages of the Imperial Magazine. This circumstance was not without its influence on his future resolutions to attempt a more elevated flight on the Parnassian hills. There can be little doubt that many, at this early age, have written pieces far superior to those of our author, who, as they advanced in years, were never able to acquire poetical fame, or literary reputation. The early notice which their productions obtained, vanished as they advanced to maturity. Those, on the contrary, composed by Mr. Montgomery, excited at first little or no attention, while the lapse of a few years, ripening to maturity the fertility of his genius, has placed him on an eminence which the most fortunate bards have been proud to occupy. The phenomena of the human mind puzzle prognostication as well as deceive it, and we must wait the arrival of more light than philosophy or reason now possesses, before we can hope to unfold its latent mysteries. The first avowed and decisive attempt of Mr. M. to appear before the public in the character of an author, was in a weekly periodical, entitled "The Inspector," which consisted of essays, fragments, sketches, and effusions of various kinds, though uniformly of a moral and useful tendency. This hebdomadal pamphlet first started in his native city, under his immediate superintendence, and was sold at threepence per number. Here it continued for six months; but the atmosphere of Bath not being congenial to its constitution, it was removed to London, where, though cherished by its parent, and assisted by some able literary physicians, its illness increased, and, after languishing for a season, it gave up the ghost. Our author being now in London, and the occasion of his coming having been discontinued, some new effort for the exercise of his talents became necessary, not merely for the acquirement of fame, but for what, to bards as well as others, has a still more imperious claim. Thus circumstanced, he laid the foundation of a severe and biting satire, entitled, "The Age reviewed," which, accompanied with a spirited political dialogue, entitled, "The Runaways," came before the public in an octavo volume, in the month of June, 1827. The literary stir which its birth excited, plainly indicated that it was not destined to drop stillborn from the press. Literary Gazette it was condemned in language of no common severity, the writer of the article having embodied in his invective nearly all the harshest terms of reproach which the English nomenclature could afford. Of this unqualified condemnation, the true cause may perhaps be found in some sarcastic lines on the editor, which occur in the satire, and to which were appended a note by no means calculated to mitigate the irritation which they could hardly fail to excite, and which issued in the castigation to which we have alluded. By other journals, however, it was praised as a work of no common merit. By the As a satire, it is strong, active, galling, and every where full of vigor. Viewing it as an edge-tool, we can scarcely dare to touch it without cut ting our fingers : as a serpent, it bites with severity whatever comes within its reach; and wherever we trace its progress, the effects of its stings are always left behind. Young, ardent, and enthusiastic, the author, hurried on by the energies of his muse, unfortunately discharged his arrows against numerous individuals, without that due discrimination of character, which, as the friend of virtue and morals, he ought always to have kept in view. We do not, however, charge him with having been actuated by any malignant motives, towards those whose zeal and peculiarities have procured them a gibbet in his pages; but we feel assured that in a future edition his discretion will find ample opportunities of expunging offensive passages, and of directing the whole force of his satirical energy into a channel where it may subserve the cause of virtue, and benefit mankind. From among a motley swarm, who in various ways have made themselves notorious, the author in this pointed satire has selected two, whose characters, in the following lines, he thus forcibly delineates : "Now for the apex of polluted souls, No shame subdues, no reverence controls,Puff'd into pertness, pand'ring to the time, Two pinnacles of blasphemy and crime;Come, godless, blushless, England's vilest pair, Blots on her land, and pestful to the air,C and T!* may each kindred name Be linked to one eternity of shame! "First, thou, the cap'ring coxcomb of the two, With head upshooting from thy coat of blue,- To foam thy foulness at the throne of God?- To growl thy dogmas, and pervert the blind? Till even infant tongues shall lisp thee, vile,' And Britons hoot thee from their tainted isle! "The base we've had, of every kind and hue, close, ! The bloody, lech'rous, and unnatʼral too- verse, Hung on the gibbet of a nation's curse!" Mr. Montgomery having by this satire rendered himself conspicuous as an author, turned his attention to another subject encircled on every side with dignity, solemnity, and awe, and in January, 1828, produced his celebrated poem on "The Omnipresence of the Deity." This was a bold and daring attempt. The universe in all its magnificence and beauty lay before him; spirit and matter, human feelings and celestial intelligences, offered themselves to his contemplation, and he was at liberty to range through every grade of conceivable existence. Of his mental and poetical vigor for this arduous undertaking, no one who had read his satire could justly entertain a doubt; but with many it was somewhat questionable if he could ascend that elevated region with a becoming grace, and sustain his Thou lead'st the barking bull-dogs of thy train, flight while soaring in the empire of infinity, and contemplating the attri In mean and native brutishness of mind, * Probably Messrs. Carlyle and Taylor, who, we believe, belong to that class of " travelling preachers" of which the United States contain an active member in the person of a celebrated female. |