Thy place is void!-Oh! none on earth, This crowded earth, may so remain, Save that which souls of loftiest birth Leave, when they part, their brighter home to gain.

Another leaf ere now hath sprung

On the green stem which once was thine; -When shall another strain be sung Like His, whose dust hath made the spot a shrine !

H.

ORATIONS, &c. BY THE REV. EDWARD IRVING.*
(Lond. Mag. August.)

THE author of this work is certainly
an extraordinary man. We un-
derstand that when he came to London,
about the autumn of last year, he was
so completely unknown to fame, and so
little was expected from him, that the
Caledonian church, where he preaches,
mustered for some time not more than
fifty persons; and now, to judge from
the numbers who flock to hear him,
his congregation would fill St. Paul's.
Nor is this the only remarkable circum-
stance attending his career,-his popu-
larity is among the highest class: the
aristocracy are his mob. The most
distinguished members of Parliament,
cabinet ministers, peers, peeresses, and
princes of the blood, crowd to his little
church with as much eagerness, as if
they thought him in possession of the
"Deflagrator" for making diamonds;
or, shall we be more charitable, and
suppose that they come to him for the
pearl of great price? We have noticed
also amongst his auditors another class,
whose appearance there equally sur-
prised us, we mean the professed lite-
rati of this age,-men whose fastidious
taste and pride of conscious talent are
conceived to stand in the way of their
attendance on public worship. Whence
is it, we naturally ask, that Mr. Irving
has obtained his influence over multi-
tudes, in general so much beyond the
sphere of the popular preacher ? and
what will be the effect of his preaching,
on the intellectual and the fashionable
world?

His manner, his figure, his style of preaching, are all so uncommon, that these, doubtless, must come in for a share of the honour attending on his unexampled success. The novelty too of the doctrines which he delivers adds not a little to the attraction, for

that they are new to many of his congregation we have no doubt. Whether they will take fast hold of the hearts of the neophytes, as freshly imbibed knowledge generally does, we confess we have our doubts; but it is something to have gained so fair an opportunity of making an impression.

It has been gravely lamented by some peculiar people zealous of good deeds, that, among all the societies so excellently designed to benefit the age by the diffusion of religious instruction, no one has been established to convey to the rich, and the highly cultivated, the knowledge of the truths of the gospel. "We have the warrant of Scripture," it was said, "for the lost con dition they are in, and for the difficulty they will have to enter the kingdom of heaven; and yet no steps are taken for their rescue. We see with our own eyes their melancholy situation, too plainly evidenced by Sunday parties, and other external signs of Sabbath breaking; but there is no man to be found so bold as to arrest their attention, and attempt to bring them under Christian discipline." The inferior orders saw and lamented this, and shook their heads. applying to Mrs. Hannah More, for a series of moral and religious tracts adapted to the refined capacity of the great-others recommended the printing of the Homilies, with beautiful wood-cuts, at the Lee Priory Press, for one guinea each-limiting the number of copies, and destroying the cuts,but both these designs fell to the ground, upon an old Quaker observing, that one man might lead a horse to the water, but all the men in the parish could not make him drink he said the books might be sold, but he was sure

Some proposed

For the Oracles of God, four Orations, For Judgment to come, an Argument in nine Parts. By the Rev. Edward Irving, M.A. Minister of the Caledonian Church, Hatter Garden. London, 1823.

they would not be read. It was then thought advisable to beguile the rich souls into better thoughts by a translation of some parts of Scripture into fashionable phrase and elegant poetry,

-Ut pueris olim dant crustula blandi Doctores,

and accordingly Lord Byron wrote his Hebrew Melodies; Mr. Moore his Loves of the Angels, Mr. Milman the Fall of Jerusalem, &c. The lyric measure was tried, because it had succeeded so well in Sir Walter Scott's poems, and the refined ear was accustomed to it the form of a drama was adopted, and thought admirable, as it would seem so like reading a play. Religious novels were produced in abundance and even the Great Unknown came flying abroad, scattering texts of Scripture everywhere, and mixing them up with all kinds of relishing, confectionery to make them palatable, and if possible, introduce them without suspicion of their beneficial tendency. But all would not do, and the great world were beginning to see through the trick, and to relapse into indifference, when suddenly Mr. Irving came like a missionary into these dark regions, and astonished all ears with the nature of his communications. Mr. Irving evidently takes this view of his own character and situation. He considers himself, in some degree, like John the Baptist, sent to call the great people of a great city to repentance. Many of his discourses, when delivered from the pulpit, so much fa vour this idea as to make the thought enter irresistibly into the mind of his audience. His lofty look and stern voice encourage such an impression: severity appears to suit his character, and his strong language loses nothing of its force by his deep and passionate

earnestness.

In his delivery, he times his utter ance to the ear better, we think, than any orator we have before heard; his words come out just as fast as they can be agreeably collected and understood; he neither overruns our attention nor fails to keep it occupied; in this illustrating the well-expressed conceit of Ben Jonson :

If you pour a glut of water upon a bottle, it receives little of it; but with a funnel,

and by degrees, you shall fill many of them, and spill little of your own; to their capacity they will receive and be full.

In person, Mr. Irving is very much above the common size. He has a manly countenance, and abundance of long black hair; if he were to allow his beard to grow, the painters would ask no better model for the head of an apostle. His action is free, and generally good; but of late, we thought, less natural than at first; and we miss an emphatic raising of the right arm, which was before very frequent with him; it reminded us of a line in Burns, for the sake of which we must quote the whole verse :

Nae mercy then for airn or steel;
The brawnie, banie, ploughman chiel
Brings hard o'er hip, with sturdy wheel
The strong fore-hammer,

Till block and stiddy ring and reel,
Wi' noisome clamour.

This was a natural action, and had a
good effect, from appearing to be in-
considerately adopted.

With science in no common degree, well conversant with history, ancient and modern, and, to judge from the conduct of his argument, a good mathematician, Mr. Irving also possesses a fine imagination, and a full flow of language anything but common-place.Having all these requisites, he comes near to Cicero's definition of a complete orator; but that which chiefly distinguishes him from other preachers. is the freedom of his censures, the liberality of his eulogies, and the wide range which he allows himself to take while speaking on a religious subject.

Apparently disdaining to owe his reputation to any high gifts of oratory alone, Mr. Irving has no sooner preached his sermons than he throws them before the public, to be cut up without mercy, if they are found unworthy of that favour with which they had been heard. This is candour, we had almost said, in the extreme; but it affords good evidence, nevertheless, of conscious power; nor has he made a wrong estimate of his ability, as the following extracts will prove:

[ON THE BIBLE.]

When God uttereth his voice, says the Psalmist, coals of fire are kindled; the hills melt down like wax, the earth quakes, and

the constant picture of beauty and contentment, possessed with a constant sense of felicity, utters forth his Maker's praise, or if he utters not, museth it with expressive silence.-(p. 382-385)

The tongue shall be eloquent to disclose all its burning emotions, no longer labouring and panting for utterance. And a new organization of body for joining and mixing affections may be invented, more quiet homes for partaking it undisturbed, and [THE CHARACTER OF MR. WORDSWORTH.] more sequestered retreats for barring out There is one man in these realms who the invasion of other affairs. Oh! what hath addressed himself to such a godlike scenes of social life I fancy to myself in the life, and dwelt alone amidst the grand and settlements of the blessed, one day of which lovely scenes of nature, and the deep, unI would not barter against the greatness fathomable secrecies of human thought. and glory of an Alexander or a Cæsar. Would to heaven it were allowed to others What new friendships-what new connu- to do likewise! And he hath been rewardbial ties what urgency of well-doing-ed with many new cogitations of nature what promotion of good-what elevation of and of nature's God; and he hath heard, the whole sphere in which we dwell! till in the stillness of his retreat many new every thing smile in "Eden's first bloom," voices of his conscious spirit-all which he and the angels of light, as they come and hath sung in harmonious numbers. But, go, tarry with innocent rapture over the mark the Epicurean soul of this degraded enjoyment of every happy fair. Ah! they age! They have frowned on him; they will come, but with no weak sinfulness like have spit on him; they have grossly abused those three lately sung of by no holy him. The masters of this critical generatongue; they will come to creatures sinless tion (like generation, like masters!) have as themselves, and help forward the mirth raised the hue and cry against him; the and rejoicing of all the people. And the literary and sentimental world which is Lord God himself shall walk amongst us, as their sounding-board, hath reverberated it; he did of old in the midst of the garden. and every reptile who can retail an opinion His Spirit shall be in us, and all heaven in print, hath spread it, and given his repushall be revealed upon us. tation a shock, from which it is slowly recovering.-All for what? For making Nature and his own bosom his home, and daring to sing of the simple but sublime truths which were revealed to him; for daring to be free in his manner of uttering genuine feeling and depicting natural beauty, and grafting thereon devout and solemn contemplations of God —(p. 504.)

God only knows what great powers he hath of creating happiness and joy. For, this world your sceptic poets make such idolatry of, 'tis a waste-howling wilderness compared with what the Lord our God shall furnish out. That city of our God and the Lamb, whose stream was crystal, whose wall was jasper, and her buildings molten gold, whose twelve gates were each a silvery pearl-doth not so far outshine those dingy, smoky, clayey dwellings of men, as shall that new earth outshine the fairest region which the sun hath ever beheld in his

circuit since the birth of time.

But there is a depraved taste in man, which delights in strife and struggle; a fellness of spirit, which joys in fire and sword; and a serpent mockery, which cannot look upon innocent peace without a smile of scorn, or a ravenous lust to mar it. And out of this fund of bitterness come forth those epithets of derision which they pour upon the innocent images of heaven. They laugh at the celebration of the Almighty's praise as a heartless service-not understanding that which they make themselves merry withal. The harp which the righteous tune in heaven, is their heart full of glad and harmonious emotions. The song which they sing, is the knowledge of things which the soul coveteth after now, but faintly perceiveth. The troubled fountain of human understanding hath become clear as crystal, they know even as they are known. Wherever they look abroad, they perceive wisdom and glory-within, they feel order and happiness-in every countenance they read benignity and love. God is glorified in all his outward works, and inthroned in the inward parts of every living thing and man being ravished with

[THE MODERN BRAVO.]

And here first, I would try these flush and flashy spirits with their own weapons, and play a little with them at their own game. They do but prate about their exploits at fighting, drinking, and death-despising. I can tell them of those who fought with savage beasts; yea, of maidens, who durst enter as coolly as a modern bully into the ring, to take their chance with infuriated beasts of prey; and I can tell them of those who drank the molten lead as cheerfully as they do the juice of the grape, and handled the red fire, and played with the bickering flames as gaily as they do with love's dimples or woman's amorous tresses. And what do they talk of war? Have they forgot Cromwell's ironband, who made their chivalry to skip ? or the Scots Cameronians, who seven times, with their Christian chief, received the thanks of Marlborough, that first of English captains? or Gustavus of the North, whose camp sung Psalms in every tent It is not so long, that they should forget Nelson's Methodists, who were the most trusted of that hero's crew. Poor men, they know nothing who do not know out of their country's history, who it was that set at nought the wilfulness of Henry VIII. and the sharp rage of the virgin Queen against liberty, and bore the black cruelty of her popish sister; and presented the petition of rights,

and the bill of rights, and the claim of forgiven; and admiration is not so rights. Was it chivalry? was it blind generous a passion that it can hold out bravery? No; these second-rate qualities may do for a pitched field, or a fenced long against offended pride or wounded ring; but when it comes to death or liberty, vanity. His popularity as a preacher death or virtue, death or religion, they wax must decline. The tide will ebb in the dubious, generally bow their necks under hardship, or turn their backs for a bait of and those who are now the most eager same rapid degree that it has flowed; honour, or a mess of solid and substantial for his praise will then be the loudest meat. This chivalry and brutal bravery can fight if you feed them well and bribe in his censure; they will be ashamed them well, or set them well on edge; but of their excessive passion to hear him in the midst of hunger and nakedness, and and will endeavour to find revenge in want and persecution, in the day of a country's direst need, they are cowardly, ridicule. Still, when detraction has treacherous, and of no avail. done its utmost, this volume will remain an indestructible memorial of the Author's extraordinary powers.

Oh these topers, these gamesters, these idle revellers, these hardened death-despisers! they are a nation's disgrace, a nation's downfall. They devour the seed of virtue in the land; they feed on virginity, and modesty, and truth. They grow great in crime, and hold a hot war with the men of peace. They sink themselves in debt; they cover their families with disgrace; they are their country's shame. And will they talk about being their country's crown, and her rock of defence? They have in them a courage of a kind such as Catiline and his conspirators had. They will plunge in blood for crowns and gaudy honours, or, like the bolder animals, they will set on with brutal courage, and, like all animals, they will lift up an arm of defence against those who do them harm. But their soul

is consumed with wantonness, and their steadfast principles are dethroned by error; their very frames, their bones and sinews, are effeminated and degraded by vice and dissolute indulgences.-(p. 527-528 )

That there are many passages inferior to these we are not such blind admirers of Mr. Irving as not to perceive, and we disapprove of some as they deserve; but to challenge the public attention to them, as if it were a great thing to have discovered any faults in a man so famous, is to pay him too high a compliment. He must, of course, have many imperfections, but these we shall leave his hearers and readers to find out at their leisure, or to learn from the host of critics by whom he will be assailed, for it will be strange indeed if he be suffered to go on unmolested in his course. He cannot expect it; and, perhaps, he does not wish to be spared. By the readiness he shows to begin the attack, he invites hostility, and she will take him at his word: all parties then will be against him; for each will find in him something which cannot be excused or 9 ATHENEUM VOL. 14.

We have sometimes wondered what would have been the effect of Mr. Irving's eloquence had he appeared as a private gentleman, at a public meeting, in support of some popular cause; or as a Member of Parliament, pleading for reform, or for the improvement of Ireland, or against the aggressions and machinations of the Holy Alliance, which sooner or later will make a tough attempt to overturn the independence and liberty of England. What a spiritstirring orator he would have been! How willingly then we should have put up with a little inflated diction, while every heart yearned to deliver itself from the pain of unprofitable agitation, in planning some bold design, or in the achievement of some meritorious enterprise. He would have been equal to Peter the Hermit, in setting all Christendom in motion to undertake a glorious act of deliverance: but, unless we are much mistaken, Mr. Irving would try rather to deliver a nation from slavery, deeming the mind of man the truly Holy Land, than to encourage a crusade for the recovery of some senseless earth from the possession of the infidels. It is easy to see in the watching eyes, and implicit brows which now surround him, that he would have found numerous and faithful followers and co-adjutors. But when all this feeling is excited, and there is no external foe to combat,-when they are in a spirit to call down fire from Heaven to consume the enemies of the truth,--and each man is told that the sin in his own heart is its greatest enemy-what is to be expect