The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-03-29 00:00:00

The memoir I i

in question is well written. The• review of eastern news is a

complete recital of all that is takin
" The Memoirs of a Griffin—

.ce in that quarter.

are amusing, and the ," Diary

of a Surgeon" is full of anecdote and pleasant recollections.
A paper entitled " Sketches of the Overland Journey," de-
tails the particulars of a visit to Mount Sinai. The author,

who rejoices in the name of " Sn
have enjoyed himself. He gi

does not appear to

but a lachrymose account of

his excursion

leetions of the Burmese War'

are valuable as matters of history. The communication
respecting the " Affg,han Expedition" puts the affair in its
true light. The opinions of the writer are well deserving of
consideration. Taken altogether, this month's number is
particularly worth attention.

Luther, a Poem. By Robert Montgomery, M.A., Author
of the " Omnipresence of the Deity," &c. London :
Francis Baisler, 124, Oxford-street.
The name and fame of the reverend author of " Luther"
are too well known to the world to require that we should

enter here into any examination, or express any opinion, of
his peculiar genius. That Mr. Montgomery is a poet, and a
gifted one, the reading public has long ago been constrained
to acknowledge. The popularity which his past productions
have enjoyed—notwithstanding the circumstance that the
peculiar and lofty ground which his genius has chosen to
tread is not one which the searcher after the empty breath of
fame, merely. would have sought--is a sufficient voucher that
his mind and his imagination are of a sterling order, and that
be possesses in no ordinary degree " the vision and the fa-
culty divine." And yet we are compelled to express our
conviction that the lover of poetry—the reader who has flown
to the perusal of " Luther" as to that of a finished poem—
will lay it down with feelings something akin to disappoint-
ment. The impression formed upon the mind of such a one,
however much he may admire the beauties which are scat-
tered through it, will be, that it is not such an effort as
is calculated of itself to stamp its author as a poet—a mas-
ter of his ennobled and ennobling art. " Luther" is not, in
fact, a porn—a whole. Though filled with the riches of the
poet's soul—glittering with priceless gems, and displaying
throughout great depth of thought and imagination, conveyed
in impassioned and occasionally gorgeous language—it wants
that entireness and plan which have ever been regarded as
the characteristics necessary to constitute a great work. We
say this in no disparagement to Mr. Montgomery's eminent
ability ; we have no inclination to drag into sight mere artis-
tical deficiencies; but it is essential to the due preservation
of the established reputation of the poet, that his present
effort should be viewed as what it is in reality—a series of
pictures illustrative of the life and character of our great
Reformer—and not as a poem of the same class as his former
efforts, "The Omnipresence of the Deity," " The Messiah,"
and " Satan."

Viewed in this character, we are fully warranted in accord-
ing to " Luther" our unqualified admiration. In the effort
to place before the public the career of this illustrious and
wonderful man, Mr. Montgomery has been eminently suc-
cessful ; and the Christian world and, above all, the Protes-
tant world, owe to him for this noble effort a debt of grati-
tude which we trust it will not be slow to repay. In the
course of his performance of the work which he has under-
taken, he has not only " married to immortal verse
career of the great apostle of the Reformation, but he has
shown that he possesses reach and strength of mind to appre-
ciate both the character of that extraordinary man and the
magnitude of the great work itself, which, under the divine
prompting, it was his fate to be the instrument of achieving
for the eternal happiness of mankind.
We shall endeavour to place before our readers a few spe-
cimens of the style in which Mr. Montgomery has executed
his task ; and first we extract a description of the appearance
of Luther on the memorable occasion of the Diet of Worms.
But, there he stands I—in superhuman calm
Concenter'd and sublime: round him, pomp
And blaze imperial ; haughty eyes, and tongues
Whose tones are tyranny, in vain attempt
The heaven-born quiet of his soul to more ' •
Crown'd with the grace of everlasting truth
A more than monarch among kings be stood :
And, while without the ever-deep'ning mass
Of murm'ring thousands on the windows watch'd
The torchlight gleaming through the crimson'd glass
Of that throng'd ball, where TRUTH on trial was,
Seldom on earth did ever sun go down,
Or evening mantle o'er a grander scene.
There, priests and barons, counts and dukes were met,
Landgraves and margraves, earls, electors, knights,
And Charles the Splendid, in the burning pride
Of princely youth, Empires at his feet
And there—the Miner's Son, to match them all!
With black robe belted round his manly waist,
Before that bar august be stood serene,
By self dominion reining down his soul.
Melancthon wept, and Spalatinus gazed
With breathless wonder on that wondrous Man ;
While, mute and motionless, a grim array
Of priests and monks, in combination dire,
On Luther fasten'd their most blood-hound gaze
Of bigotry : but not one rippling thought disturb'd
The calm of heaven on his commanding face.
Meek, but majestic—simple, but sublime
In aspect, thus he braved the awe of Rome
With brow unshrinking, and with eyes that tlash'd
As if the spirit in each glance were sbeath'd.
And then, with voice that seem'd a soul in sound
Made audible, he pled the Almighty's cause
In words almighty as the cause he pled,
THE BIBLE'S !—God's religion, not the priest's,
By craft invented, and by lucre saved.
For this, life, limb and liberty he vow'd
To sacrifice ; though earth and hell might rage,
Not pope, nor canon, council nor decree,
Would shake him ; from the throne of that resolve,
By fiend nor angel would his heart be laurl'd ;
Truth and his Conscience would together fight,
The world 'gainst them—and they against the world !
And then, with eyeballs flashing intellectual fire,
Full in the face of that assembly roll'd
The fearless Monk those ever famous words—
" God help me! Here I stand alone. Amen!"
And let all ages that " Amex " repeat,
For it is worthy ; angels might the word
Have echoed, and th' eternal arches rung
A response, as it roll'd from Luther's lip,
Solemn and deep, and with stupendous fate
Attended,—since The Truth was then uplift,
The Cross defended, and the Bible crown'd
With vict'ry ; when alone the Monk of God
Rallied his spirit into high resolve,
And 'gainst the Pope, the Devil, and The World,
Terror, and time, and man's ingratitude,
Fearless as Stephen, like a rnattyr stood,—
Firm as The Rocx on which his faith was built.
In a different style from this powerful and yet not over-
ornate description is the following chaste and beautiful pas-
sage upon the mood of Luther whilst confined in the fortress
of Wartburg :

But Nature hath her sad and silent moods,
Her solemn counterparts to serious man ;
And oft, at sunset, when pale autumn sighed
Like a lone spirit, wailing through the woods
Of Wartburg, Luther mourn'd 'mid falling leaves
And flowers dejected, till the dew-fall 'gan
To whiten round him, and his boding mind
Took from the season types of sadd'ning power ;
But most at midnight, when the moon array'd
The inspiration of her pallid beam
O'er plain and mountain, from his harrow'd sleep
The exile rose, and through the window-grate
Of his high turret, o'er the woods and dew-white fields,
And cold earth slumb'ring in the glassy air.
Gazed in tranced thought, through many a tongueless hour;
Or, rapt in dreams, his radient eyeballs roll'd
Theirdreams, glance of awe along the glowing heavens,
(That Scripture bright, whose syllables are stars !)
And from those orbs, oracularly bright,
Drew meanings holy, intimations high,
And truths beyond astronomy to preach
;
For inlon worlds by POWER UNSEEN upheld,
There shined a
secured,—
Inshield
symbol of the Church secured,—
mercy d, yet by myst'ry saved.
Again, in the •
srit-stirring and noble chapter entitled the
Rome,
Destinies of we are presented with the following elo-
quent aspiration
Oh, for for a Luther, withhis dreadless eye,
And voice by Scripture eloquently loud,
To front the brazen Antichrist,
eit and face
The Vatican: with all its v
Its marshalld doctrines, andl array,
Its lies
it)this plann'd !
By jargon polish'd and by jeste-•
less Rome,
So might we bare the heart of
yrecoil'd;
And rouse brave England's execrating voice
Till back the priesthood to her dpeaiu
While Pope and Pop'ry, with a
And scared by Scripture, might for eveetnrit shrink
To coward gloom, to convents, and to cells—
Hooted by Nature, and by freemen hurl'd
At once from Virtue's and from Reason's throne
Ob, that our protest were as bravely deep,
As toned with inspiration, and as strong
As saints and martyrs sent in olden time
From their deep hearts against the MAN OP SIN,—
Mocker of Christ, and murderer of souls !
Ob, that in light, from flames where Ridley died,
Or Cranmer suffer'd ins is burning death,
The Church of Englanwould her hist'ry read,
And ponder, as she read with eye of prayer,
Till in that light her lethargy awoke,
And rising, like a giant from a sleep
Enchanted, back the Romish chain would fall
Dissever'd, from her limbs of glory dash'd
In horror; then again that trumpet cry,
That battle-voice magnanimously bold,
The tocsin of a nation's truthful mind
By Heaven excited, would once more be heard,
Like moral thunder, round the Seven-hi:l'd Seat
Of Antichrist, in peels of dauntless ---
41 No PEACE WITH ROME, TILL. H

power-

JAKES PEACE

WITH GOD

70IE LATE ACCIDENT AT WOMIMLILL'S ..AIENAGEILIE

Mt.'Martin, the unfortuhatt
drekirully lacerated by the
,at Vlid dent fair, Stamford
Ittfee,4 of his wounds

sentleman Whose arm was so
tiger in Wointwell's menagerie,
, expired last Sititcday from the

REDUCTION IN THE PRICE OF BEEP.-At Tewkesbury,
en Tuesday last, beef was reported VA. per lb. lower, and at
Bristol business was nearly at a stand-still, great numbers of
cattle being driven back unsaid. The Sun calculates that
the ministerial tariff will have the effect of permanently
lowering the price of butchers' meat full twopence per pound,
sand seeing that the present average price is but 6d. per lb.,
101.6 argues a reduction of 33 per cent. At Hyde, on Satur-
•3a'. Irish pork was retailed to the consumer at 4d. per lb.