Lincoln CoUege, Oxford, where he secured his A.B. in 1833, and A.M. in 1838. He took holy orders in 1835 ; became curate of Whittington, subsequently (1836) re- moved to London as minister of Percy Street Episcopal Chapel ; afterwards went to Glasgow, where he preached for four years, but returned to London, and resumed func- tions at Percy Street Chapel in 1843, and there preach- ed until his death, December 3, 1855. Montgomery's works comprise a large number of volumes in prose and verse, on themes more or less sacred. He is best known by his poem The Omnipresence of the Deity (1828), which has passed through twenty -eight editions, and The Christian Life : a Manual of Sacred Veise (1848, 12mo ; 6th edition, 1853, 24mo). The former of these provoked unusual severity of criticism — even lord Macaulaj' un- mercifully poured his invectives against it : " His works have received more enthusiastic praise, and have deserved more unmixed contempt, than any which, as far as our knowledge extends, have appeared within the last three or four years. . . . The circulation of this ^vriter's poetry has been greater than that of Southey's Roderick, and beyond all comparison greater than that of Gary's Dante, or of the best works of Coleridge" (Ma- caulay. Essays, i, 257, 265-7, 269, 276). Nevertheless, as has been well said, the book must have pleased, or people would not have bought it in the face of such un- favorable comments. It must be stated also that the work on its appearance met with the high commenda- tions of those illustrious writers, Southey, WUson, Ali- son, and Sharon Turner. Montgomery's Christian Life was generally commended ; and some Anglican writers, were most enthusiastic in its praise. The Church of England Quarterly (April 9, 1849, No. 50, p. 286) pro- nounced it " far superior to anything else from the au- thor; and, of all the uninspired collections of religious poetry which any poet has ever produced in any Church or age or country, there is none which, in our opinion, can venture a comparison — intellectual or poetical — with Montgomery's Christian Life.'' A writer in the Scottish Magazine goes even further: " To eulogize this divine noio as a successfid Christian poet would be to offer an indignity to all who have the slightest knowl- edge of what is passing in the literary world. His Omnipi-esence long ago stamped him as one of our great- est poets. . . . We must, however, express our honest conviction that the present volume manifests higher and more intrinsic beauties and excellences than any one of his previous poetic works. And what ^vill very much enhance it in the opinion of all true Churchmen is the fact that it is a thoroughly Chu7rh volume — breathing and inculcating her scriptural and catholic verities, exhibiting her in the thrilling and beautiful expression of a fond and sacred mother, who lovingly cares and unweariedly provides for the spiritual wants and comforts of her children. While all these poems are fraught with deep truth and lofty sentiments, por- traying in poetical form the Church's creed and char- acter, the duties and dangers, the hopes and fears, the faults, privileges, and final destinies of a believer in the religion of Christ, . . . we must declare that we have not read anything more beautiful and heavenly, more elo- quent and pathetic, than the poems on 'Baptism,' 'Vis- itation of the Sick,' ' Burial of the Dead,' ' Commina- tion,' and the 'Eucharist.' Nothing like this volume has appeared since the 'Christian Year,' whether we consider its style and tone, its sentiments, the variety of its metres, or the harmony of its verse. It is a 'Voice of the Church,' a kind of second 'Christian Year.' " A list of all his works is given by AUibone (Diet, of Brit, and Amer. Auth. ii, 1348-9). We have room only for mention of his other religious works. Of those in verse : A Universal Prayer, Death, Heaven, Hell (1828, 4to, and often) -.—Satan : or Intellect without God (1830) -.—The Messiah (1832) :— Luther ; or the Ideal of the Reformation (18i2) -.—The Sacred Gift: a Series of Meditations vpon Scripture Subjects (184:2) •. — The Sanctuary: a Companion in Verse for the English Pray-
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er-book (1855). Of those in prose : The Gospel in Ad- 1 vance of the Age: a Homily for the Times, with an In- troduction on the Spirit of the Bible and the Spirit of the Arje (1st ed. 18-17 ; 3d ed. revised and rearranged, with additional matter, etc., 1848, and often since) -.—The Ideal of the Emjlish Church {\H\b) -.—Christ our All in A II (1845) •.—Eiijht Sermons: beiny Rejlective Discourses on some Important Texts (1843,8vo) -.—The Great Salva- tion, and our Sin in Neglecting it: a Religious Essay, in Three Parts (1846) —The Scottish Church, the English Schismatics (1846 ; 3d ed. with documentary evidence, 1847, 12mo). A collected edition of his poetical works (in 6 vols. 8vo) was published m 1839-40, and his Chris- tian Poetry, by Ed. Farr, in 1854 (12mo). vSclections from them were also made under the title, Religion and Poetry, with an Introductory Essay hy Archer Gurney (1847, 8vo) ; and Lyia Christiana (1851, 32mo). See Eraser's Magazine, i, 95, 721 ; iv, G72 ; Westm. Rev. xii, 355 ; Lond. Month. Rev. cxvii, 30 ; exxi, 313 ; Black- wood's Magazine, xxiii, 751-71 ; xxvi, 241 sq.; Lond. Gentleman's Mag. 1856, pt. i, 313; [Lond.] AthencEum, 1832, p. 348 ; South. Qu. Rev. ii, 290 ; N. Y. Lit. and Theol. Review, i, (jH8 ; Breen, Mod. Eng. Lit. : its Blemishes and Defects (1857), p. 206 ; Koenen, Voorloziiig over den En- gelschen Dichter Rob. Montgomery (Amst. 1 853, 8 vo) ; and the excellent and very full article in AUibone's Diet, of Brit, and Amer. Auth. s. v. (J. H. W.)