The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-19 00:00:00

THE VICTORY.

LITERATURE.

- -
(Fromm tire Atlas.) 1 The Sanctuary : a Companion, in Verse for the
It is done at last -- Sebastopol has fallen, as far as it
.English Prayer Book. By Robert Montgomery,
has been beSieged. The bloody g-arland of victory, hotly 1 M.A., &c. Chapman and Hall.
contested aed dearly bought, adorns the victor's brow. '1
it was only very recently that the " Collected
P
I like to think that, after having whispered his o ' etical Writings" of the Rev. Robert Mont-
, " thanks to God," the first thing every sound English . t
~
4orner were ,iven to the world in a substantial
heart will have done in the proud exultation of national I •v' olumYe of no trifling dimensions.l octavo, compactlyA goodly book
. joy, is to pay the tribute of admiration to the in-
..
many hundred pages imperial domitable valour, undaunted courage, and unremitting 'of
perseverance of those glorious warriors, who, thowTh ; I I°lll-Ae-columned, if we recollect rightly, and
' bound to one dreary spot for about a year, where every s .onaprising between
the ample span from title-
breath they inhaled was thick with the decomposed r a,,,?-,e to analytical-index, a mass of metrical com-
atoms of their fallen brethren, rushed forward across . 1 osition enough to have engaged the literary
heaps of their own dead to plant with firm hand the a tter,tion, and to have satisfied the literary am-
standard of victory on the smouldering ruins of that b itdon of a career twice the length of that already
fated town ! n., oi.,,omplished by Mr. Montgomery. Nevertheless,
I beg to add my humble share to the tribute of he re we have the same author appearing before us
the
universapositive rl admiratiltson
of due to heroism. Whatever be , yer t once more with a new contribution of no in-
drama, so brilliantly closed, whatever regret or blame
. cue usiderable magnitude, a work constructed upon
esust y
may rest attached to the policy that presides over the plan sufficiently extended to build up for its
1 v:
contest, the soldier did nobly his part in obedience to niter, by its aid alone (supposing the scheme of
his country's call, no stain dims the lustre that illu-
tit) o undertaking to have been realised with, to
mines his name ; to him gratitude is duo from his s a y the least of it, merely respectable ability) a
country, glory and honour from all the world. Honour e I..3tinct and extended reputation. In it are corn-
.
(no doubt of it) well deserved as it is, will be freely prised together in one symmetrical whole, very
given to the leaders. May England not forget to be ) 30 arly two hundred (including
the prefatory
grateful to the "nameless demigods." t it; taizas, indeed, exactly 189) separate composi-
Retired as is the place where I write these lines, I '. Eit ms. Constituting, in fact, a regular " litur-
hear the sound of national exultation fill the very air. f fiC lal series of meditative poems"—.designed by
There is something in a nation's joy that commands 1;114 _it author to accompany the public services of
respect. Shame to the sour cynicism that would marl -1-,
''s Lit i Common Prayer Book in due sequence,
at a people's joy. Let them rejoice. They have ag zdine• its text thereby what many doubtless
fairly deserved it by the unwavering devotion with
-,,,, t, ' have desired to obtain, a complete series
which all the anguish and all the sacrifices of this 7 J long
metrical illustrations to the Liturgy of the
trying year have been endured ; let those especially (:)'
(and numerous they are) to whom the tidings of CI arch of England. "The Publishers may pre-
victory will be a message of death, let them open their sly 'no to state," says the advertisement, that pre-
wounded hearts to the bairn of patriotic gratifies- cis ely "such a volume has long been considered a
tion, and accept a consolation to private grief from pub- d.©t :ideratum." Employing the same stereotyped
lie success. ph raseolo,c,ry, it may be here added that the hiatus
However, the first emotions of the nation's joy sub- se.: long observed has been at length filled up in the
siding, reflection will claim its right again. And patriots F. al gliali Church Literature. The book is, there-
ought to feel that the cares of to-morrow have a claim f( )r, e, to be accepted as a boon, and its appearance
on them even amidst the fresh emotions of national re- iir, at the very least, entitled to be here notified
joicings, long waited for, and, forsooth, dearly bought. at
-..te oramol. It is to this reflection of comprehensive patriotism y Already numerous portions of the
that I would address the question : "well, this done, w to
.n; the last four or five years, as anonymous
:k had been issued from the press, at intervals,
what next ?" The fall of Sebastopol derives great im-
drat a
portance from the protracted siege. The war having spa ohnens of what was at length to be avowedly
stood resolved iu this sole enterorise, it became ace omplished by the Rev. Robert Montgomery in
the touch stone of the comparative power of the con- its• present state of completeness—those same frag-
tending parties. The eyes of the world have been m e ntary portions of the work, then only in em-
rivetted on that one dreary spot for a year. Had the La r re, appearing from time to time through the
enterprise failed, the allies would have lost the prestige ct 'i umns of class publications of a religious cha-
of their power. Russia in her turn having resisted the at- IT cter, such for example as the Scottish Eccicsias-
tack for a year without being able to save Sebastopol,suf- ti cal Journal and the Guardian, and the English
fees a hard blow in her prestige ; a blow the harder the c
h'archman. ' Favourabl g
higher that prestige had risen, by the very fact of the p 15,
~.raps of the production (now in its ripened ro-y viewed as these mere
tracted resistance. So far the victory is undoubtedly a very •
en-
great fact. It is a great fact likewise in a tactical point tin sty, and no longer shrouded over by the anony-
of view. True it is, the south of Sebastopol having r no. us) were then, upon the occasion of their original
fallen the very moment the Malakhoff was in the pos- al)p .earance, they cannot fail to secure for them-
session of the besiegers, the recollection forces itself se le -es a more extended and a more deliberately
Oil the mind, that the Malakhoff, the strength of the re Is] )ectful attention, now that the veil concealing
stronghold, did not exist when the siege commenced. th.e:d- authorship has been torn away, and that ac-
This circumstance, coupled with the countless graves cc n Tallied by other poems of a similar kind never
with which the ground there is strewn, might cer- bof ore printed, they are given to the public anew
tainly suggest many a regret. But this does not in the form of their present collective republication.
lessen the tactical merit of the great fact. Things TI a() undertaking, such as it is, had no doubt been
are to be considered not as they ought to have been, in ,a great measure foreshadowed and that more-
but as they were. And the greater the difficulties, the , ,over, very beautifully, by the author of " The
greater the glory of having overcome them. The fall of
Christian. . Year "—a volume that has long enjoyed
Sebastopol is a brilliant feat of arms, and a great tactical
triumph, spreading a lustre of immortality on the heroic a \side celebrity, and one in no way distinguished
armies that achieved it, and adding much glory to the mi- 133 r the unwholesome indications of evanescence. It
litary reputation of England and France, and anew weight was left for Mr. Montgomery, however, to accona-
to the renown of their power. But, after all, the question IA ish at large, in "The Sanctuary," what was
the most important to statesmen and patriots, and to co aly, so to speak, indirectly hinted at by Mr.
Europe in general, is—What will be the permanent po- Keble in his "Christian Year." The admirers
litical results of this victory 1 Whatreal benefit can the of the former need scarcely be reminded
cause of freedom and civilisation expect to derive from mewadays with what eminent success his hand had
it ? Does it contain a satisfactory solution, or any solu- loner since supplied them with a collection of church
Lion at all, of the great problem involved in this contest?
petAry in the shape of the well-known manual of
Is the object of the war attained, or is it not ? What is
& scrod verse (now actually in its sixth edition), en-
sue ? and what is the course they have resolved to
the further course the Allied Powers ought now to pur-
ti,tled "The Christian Life." His latest achieve-
pursue ? n aertt, of a like kind, is altogether of an ampler scope,
These are the questions foremost in importance and avail without detriment to its predecessor, be it
interest. The greater the sacrifice by which the victory s aid, of a more elevated, as it unquestionably is
has been purchased, the more it behoves us to bear in (A' a more ambitious, character. The Publishers
mind that a victory is only worth so much as is the use 'have hinted, we observe by a foot note to their
that we make of it. Kossum. Prospectus or Advertisement, and the suggestion
appears to us peculiarly judicious, that the volume
ME .y probably prove acceptable as a "Devotional
Class-book for Reading and Recitation," or, again,
as a " Sacred Prize Gift in Schools and Families."
A suggestion here referred to by ourselves thus ex-
pressly, for inasmuch as it seems to us to be especi-
ally indicative of the form of the book as a
literary production, and of its general charac:
te ex- as a religious composition. "The Sanctuary,'
b esidos comprehending a variety of miscellaneous
p oems illustrative of the Liturgy of the Church of
England, embraces, under distinctive heads, a
stmes of effusions, relating now to the " Com-
m.-union," now to the " Collects, and Epistles, and
Gospels," now to the "Litany," and now again to
Prayers and Thanksgivings upon several occa-
sions." Separate poems, under the last-mentioned
catogory, have particular reference to the Apostles
—.Peter, Andrew, Thomas, Matthias, Philip,
Jaynes, Simon, James, Jude, Matthew, and Bar-
thiodomew, as well as to the inspired Evangelists
(1 mesides St. Matthew, under his elder title as an
Apostle), Mark, and Luke, and John—strangely,
having altogether uncommemorated in the latter
part of this division the beloved Disciple, whether
considered in his august character as an Apostle,
or as the awful and holy seer of the Apocalypse.
Quoting from the prefatory verses already
spoken of, we may say of the volume here
under consideration that it is expressive, variously,
and by turns, of—
" Dejection's sigh, devotion's tear,
The laud, the rapture, and the groan."
Embellishing as by a metrical paraphrase the deep
significance of the " Amen "—" Doxology "
" :13enedicite "—" Jubilate "—" Cantate "—" Ye-
n-Ito "—" Te Donn " and " Benedictus." It raises
if,;s supplication in tones of music and words of
emotion alike for rain and for fair weather, for
plenty and for pardon, for peace and deliverance,
against wars and tumults, against dearth and
famine. It illustrates, in like manner, the creed,
the collect, the gospel, the epistle, and the offer-
tory. It articulates, sometimes somewhat too
simply for the language of poetry, the thoughts of
the accomplished versifier : as when it is said
(p. 154)

" Man, at most, can human be—
What we want is Deity !"
Singing at other moments, however, with a some-
what more 'melodious' intonation, as iu the
couplet (p. 135) :
" And guardian angels, poised on balanced wing,
Camp round Thy soul and anthem-worship sing :"
or, as again, in the passioned admonition (page
126.)

"Adore
o wwhee,nt
ourhen ,
worldin caioaf te
graves God
!he trod
And scattered blessings bright and fast,
As beams from out the sun aro cast," &c.
Among the more graceful of these meditative
verses, however, are those at page 123, dedicated
especially to " The Epiphany :" beginning--
" Night is the true romance of time
When shaded earth and sky seem blending,
And fancy bears that mystic chime
Seraphic hosts on high are sending
From Ifaipa above to heaven-tuned minds below,
Whose echoing chords receive their raptured overflow.
Oft in the trance of this deep hour
The sightless Dead may hover nigh,
And o'er the Living wield a power,
We feel not, whence, and know not, why :
Past years revive and buried fond ones start
In resurrection-dreams from out the mourning heart !
Thus, laws may be, to man unknown,
Whereby the spirit-world is sway'd,
Whose spells are round a night-scene thrown
In garden, grove, or haunted glade ;
Where gliding Angels to and fro may steal,
On inward errand sent, and wing'd on plumes of zeal.
Moon, star, and silence, kindred three—
Night is the hour when such prevail,
And touch the earth with poesy,
Or, bid our mental vision hail
The power and presence of Diviner Things
Than what coarse day-life views, or common Nature brings.
Now, waves and winds a sabbath keep,
The lull'd Creation seems to pray,
And in the hush of holy sleep
All wild emotions ebb away ;
Calmness of soul and chastity of thought,
Melt through our being's depth, with pure religion fraught.
But, more than Fancy gives to Night
Aro peerless charms which Saints admire;
And they, whose hearts respond aright,
To all her dumb appeals inspire,—
Remember well, what hour Th' Incarnate chose
For supplicating watch, and not for mere repose.
Thou source and subject of all prayer,
Benign Redeemer grant that we,
When hymninr, stand on high declare
That speechless name which shadows Thee,—
Back to our souls Thy mountain-scene recall,
Where Night and Nature heard the
praying Lord of all !"
Scarcely less charming are the stanzas commemo-
rative of " The Innocents' Day," in which tender
acepnotsst,r,o,p,h,
ceosnafersesiandgdrbeasbsee,,
ds,tothtehr, "esakin-etededin
dar-
lings" who "lisped in martyrdom."m eAltoygether,
peculiarlyof
twh onichceanthbeep inbruotmdimenlyt 1
ivhnaotlliuvmeevaaetnerdd9l tplibr3e-i Nn:euil oputamal charmtei o is
. The value—its complete-
ness as an illustration in verse of the Liturgywofl
the national religion. The charm—its melodious
and emotional volubility of poetic language. For
these characteristic merits, "The Sanctuary" will
be especially welcomed by his admirers as another
testimony of the fluent style and fertile resources
of rhetoric, by which Mr. Montgomery's writinus
have hitherto boon so eminently distinguished. c'

Gertrude. By Mrs. Trollope. 3 vols. Hurst and
Blackett.

Although there is a great deal of ingenuity in
the arrangement of this story, it is most probable
that the readers will be disappointed, for there is
no character to attract or interest. Whatever
pyropiktily Way be felt for the heroine at the cow-