Mr. Irving's preaching; he is, indeed, a very great and effectual workman. I am glad to observe that he regards the old and pure models, not merely the ancient ones, but also the fine pulpit orators and divines of this country, which are as a mine of precious ore. Can you obtain a pew for Lady Jersey next Sunday, or the Sunday after?

I am, MY DEAR SIR, yours truly,

HENRY BROUGHAM..

TO PETER LAURIE, Esq. Sheriff Elect,

66

Regent's Park.

In further alluding to his work, it is observed 'After bestowing every praise that is due to his thoughts that breathe, and words that burn," which they so eminently merit, even the warmest of his admirers,-who may be competent to give a literary opinion,-must feel compelled to admit that there are others, where confusion is " worse confounded" in many of his metaphors; and that though he may have drawn from the "wells of purest English undefiled," the stream has become woefully polluted in its progress. The entire work, indeed, betrays innumerable evidences of haste and carelessness, which our very sincere respect for Mr. Irving, induces us to wish had been guarded against by a longer delay in its publication.'

One objection made by the Editor is, that 'in describing the Happiness of Heaven,' Mr. Irving expressly mentions "new connubial ties" as an enhancement of the eternal bliss of that abode, where our Saviour has himself told us "there shall be neither marrying nor giving in marriage." This is, however, a most unhappy criticism, for the church is compared to a Bride, and we read of the marriage supper of the Lamb, to which, no doubt, Mr. Irving merely makes a spiritual allusion.

articulate. The tones are at one moment unmeaningly measured and sepulchral-the next, as inappropriately raised to the highest pitch of ecstatic fervour.'

'His gesture is equally defective in dignity and propriety. It is angular, irregular, and violent. In many passages intended to be argumentative or persuasive, his hands were going through petty and vulgar evolutions, as if he were attempting to explain by signs the method of effecting some common mechanical operation.'

The movements of his countenance were to the full as infelicitous as his attitude and gesture. Instead of a natural play of features, instead of "looks commercing with the skies," we had forced, anomalous, and at times, quite terrific contortions.'

'We have read Mr. Irving's book. It was no slight task, but we positively have read it through. It now and then evinces some power; more however, in the way of phrase, and in the accumulation of forcible common-places, than in original conception but on the whole, we regard it as an imprudent publication, and, considered with reference to its main object, which has been very pompously announced, the conversion or exposure of the intellectual classes, as an utter failure. The author appears to us to be a man of a capacity a little above mediocrity. He is, we doubt not, thoroughly versed in the theological doctrines of his church; for this is a matter on which we do not presume to pronounce. His reading among popular English authors seems to have been tolerably extensive. We also give him credit for the most genuine zeal, notwithstanding the unnecessary tone of exaggeration and defiance with which it is accompanied—but here our commendations His taste is vicious in the extreme.

must cease.

His style is at once coarse and flashy. It is, in truth, the strangest jumble we have ever encountered. There is no single term by which it can be described. He announces his preference for the models in the days of Milton, but he writes the language of no age. The phraseology of different centuries is often pressed into the service of a single period. We have some quaint turn from the times of Sir Thomas More, puritanical compounds that flourished under Cromwell, followed by a cavalcade of gaudy epithets, bringing down the diction to the day of publication. His affectation of antiquated words is excessive, and quite beneath the dignity of a christian preacher. Mr. Irving should recollect that wot and wis and ween, and do and doth and hath, upon the latter of which he so delights to ring the changes, are all matters of convention, having nothing in life to do with the objects of his ministry-that there is no charity in giving refuge to a discarded expletive-no glory in raising a departed monosyllable from the dead. His style has another grand defect. It is grievously incorrect. When he comes to imagery his mind is in a mist.'

To conclude our remarks upon Mr. Irving and his oratory, we do not hesitate to assert that he has altogether mistaken the extent of his powers, and the taste and spirit of the age before which it has been his lot to display them. He might have done in the days of Knox-proffers of martyrdom and flaming invectives were in those times provoked, and were, therefore, natural and laudable -now, they are unnecessary, and, for that reason, ridiculous. But it is Mr. Irving's fate, when he gets upon a favorite topic, to throw aside the im portant fact, that he is living and exhorting in the year 1823, and in the metropolis of England.

He is far fitter to be a Missionary among semibarbarous tribes, than an enforcer of doctrines that are already familiar to his hearers; or he would do excellently well as a reclaimer of a horde or banditti in some alpine scene. There, amidst the waving of pines, and rustling of foliage, with rocks and hills and cataracts, and a wilder audience around him, his towering stature, vehement action, and clanging tones, would be in perfect keeping. His terrific descriptions of a sinner's doom would touch the stubborn consciences of his lawless flock. His copious tautology and gaudy imagery would be welcomed by their rude fancies as the most captivating eloquence. To them, his exaggeration would be energy-his fury, the majesty of an inspired intellect-but in these countries his coming has been a couple of centuries too late. We understand that he has been called " 'an eloquent barbarian:" it would have been more correct to say that his was barbarous oratory."

The MONTHLY MAGAZINE. "The public mind has been much divided respecting the oratorical merits of Mr. Irving. Witlings have ridiculed the manner, and critics have condemned the style of his compositions; but thousands have flocked to listen to his discourses, and have read them in their closets with increased devotion. There must be some cause for all this; and the cause seems to be, the apparent sincerity of his faith in the doctrines which he inculcates, joined to the fearless, fervid, and independent manner in which he urges his tremendous denunciations. To judge fairly of Mr. Irving's compositions, the critic must be partially inspired by that enthusiasm which appears to have guided his pen. To an ear that is unattuned to the harmony of numbers,