Chapter 2

"They who know Mr. Campbell only as the author of _Gertrude of Wyoming_ and the _Pleasures of Hope,_ would not suspect him to be a merry companion, overflowing with humour and anecdote, and any thing but fastidious. These Scotch poets have always something in reserve: it is the only point in which the major part of them resemble their countrymen. The mistaken character which the lady formed of Thomson from his _Seasons_ is well known. He let part of the secret out in his _Castle of Indolence;_ and the more he let out, the more honour he did to the simplicity and cordiality of the poet's nature, though not always to the elegance of it. Allan Ramsay knew his friends Gay and Somerville as well in their writings, as he did when he came to be personally acquainted with them; but Allan, who had bustled up from a barber's shop into a bookseller's, was 'a cunning shaver;' and nobody would have guessed the author of the _Gentle Shepherd_ to be penurious. Let none suppose that any insinuation to that effect is intended against Mr. Campbell: he is one of the few men whom I could at any time walk half-a-dozen miles through the snow to spend an afternoon with; and I could no more do this with a penurious man than I could with a sulky one. I know but of one fault he has, besides an extreme cautiousness in his writings; and that one is national, a matter of words, and amply overpaid by a stream of conversation, lively, piquant, and liberal--not the less interesting for occasionally betraying an intimacy with pain, and for a high and somewhat strained tone of voice, like a man speaking with suspended breath, and in the habit of subduing his feelings. No man, I should guess, feels more kindly towards his fellow-creatures, or takes less credit for it. When he indulges in doubt and sarcasm, and speaks contemptuously of things in general, he does it, partly, no doubt, out of actual dissatisfaction, but more perhaps than he suspects, out of a fear of being thought weak and sensitive--which is a blind that the best men very commonly practise. Mr. Campbell professes to be hopeless and sarcastic, and takes pains all the while to set up an university.

"When I first saw this eminent person, he gave me the idea of a French Virgil: not that he is like a Frenchman, much less the French translator of Virgil. I found him as handsome as the Abbé Delille is said to have been ugly. But he seemed to me to embody a Frenchman's ideal notion of the Latin poet; something a little more cut and dry than I had looked for; compact and elegant, critical and acute, with a consciousness of authorship upon him; a taste over-anxious not to commit itself, and refining and diminishing nature as in a drawing-room mirror. This fancy was strengthened in the course of conversation, by his expatiating on the greatness of Racine. I think he had a volume of the French Tragedian in his hand. His skull was sharply cut and fine; with plenty, according to the phrenologists, both of the reflective and amative organs; and his poetry will bear them out. For a lettered solitude and a bridal properly got up, both according to law and luxury, commend us to the lovely _Gertrude of Wyoming_. His face and person were rather on a small scale; his features regular; his eye lively and penetrating; and when he spoke, dimples played about his mouth, which nevertheless had something restrained and close in it. Some gentle puritan seemed to have crossed the breed, and to have left a stamp on his face, such as we often see in the female Scotch face rather than the male. But he appeared not at all grateful for this; and when his critiques and his Virgilianism were over, very unlike a puritan he talked! He seemed to spite his restrictions; and out of the natural largeness of his sympathy with things high and low, to break at once out of Delille's Virgil into Cotton's, like a boy let loose from school. When I have the pleasure of hearing him now, I forget his Virgilianisms, and think only of the delightful companion, the unaffected philanthropist, and the creator of a beauty worth all the heroines in Racine.

"Mr. Campbell has tasted pretty sharply of the good and ill of the present state of society, and for a book-man has beheld strange sights. He witnessed a battle in Germany from the top of a convent (on which battle he has written a noble ode); and he saw the French cavalry enter a town, wiping their bloody swords on the horses' manes. Not long ago he was in Germany again, I believe to purchase books; for in addition to his classical scholarship, and his other languages, he is a reader of German. The readers there, among whom he is popular, both for his poetry and his love of freedom, crowded about him with affectionate zeal; and they gave him, what he does not dislike, a good dinner. There is one of our writers who has more fame than he; but not one who enjoys a fame equally wide, and without drawback. Like many of the great men in Germany, Schiller, Wieland, and others, he has not scrupled to become editor of a magazine; and his name alone has given it among all circles a recommendation of the greatest value, and such as makes it a grace to write under him.

"I have since been unable to help wishing, perhaps not very wisely, that Mr. Campbell would be a little less careful and fastidious in what he did for the public; for, after all, an author may reasonably be supposed to do best that which he is most inclined to do. It is our business to be grateful for what a poet sets before us, rather than to be wishing that his peaches were nectarines, or his Falernian Champagne. Mr. Campbell, as an author, is all for refinement and classicality, not, however, without a great deal of pathos and luxurious fancy."

Mr. Campbell's literary labours are perhaps too well known and estimated to require from us any thing more than a rapid enumeration of the most popular, as supplementary to this brief memoir. In his studies he exhibits great fondness for recondite subjects; and will frequently spend days in minute investigations into languages, which, in the result, are of little moment. But his ever-delightful theme is Greece, her arts, and literature. There he is at home: it was his earliest, and will, probably, be his latest study. There is no branch of poetry or history which has reached us from the "mother of arts" with which he is not familiar. He has severely criticised Mitford for his singular praise of the Lacedaemonians at the expense of the Athenians, and his preference of their barbarous laws to the legislation of the latter people. His lectures on Greek Poetry have appeared, in parts, in the _New Monthly Magazine_. He has also published _Annals of Great Britain, from the Accession of George III. to the Peace of Amiens_; and is the author of several articles on Poetry and Belles Lettres in the _Edinburgh Encyclopoedia_.

Among his poetical works, the minor pieces display considerably more energy than those of greater length. The _Pleasures of Hope_ is entitled to rank as a British classic; and his _Gertrude_ is perhaps one of the most chaste and delicate poems in the language. His fugitive pieces are more extensively known. Some of them rouse us like the notes of a war trumpet, and have become exceedingly popular; which every one who has heard the deep rolling voice of Braham or Phillips in _Hohenlinden_, will attest. Neither can we forget the beautiful _Valedictory Stanzas_ to John Kemble, at the farewell dinner to that illustrious actor. Another piece, _the Last Man_, is indeed fine--and worthy of Byron. Of Campbell's attachment to his native country we have already spoken, but as a finely-wrought specimen of this amiable passion we subjoin a brief poem:

LINES WRITTEN ON VISITING A SCENE IN ARGYLESHIRE.

At the silence of twilight's contemplative hour, I have mused in a sorrowful mood, On the wind-shaken weeds that embosom the bower, Where the home of my forefathers stood. All ruin'd and wild is their roofless abode, And lonely the dark raven's sheltering tree: And travell'd by few is the grass-cover'd road, Where the hunter of deer and the warrior trode To his hills that encircle the sea.

Yet wandering I found on my ruinous walk, By the dial-stone aged and green, One rose of the wilderness left on its stalk, To mark where a garden had been. Like a brotherless hermit, the last of its race, All wild in the silence of nature, it drew, From each wandering sun-beam, a lonely embrace For the night-weed and thorn overshadow'd the place, Where the flower of my forefathers grew.

Sweet bud of the wilderness! emblem of all That remains in this desolate heart! The fabric of bliss to its centre may fall, But patience shall never depart! Though the wilds of enchantment, all vernal and bright, In the days of delusion by fancy combined With the vanishing phantoms of love and delight, Abandon my soul, like a dream of the night, And leave but a desert behind.

Be hush'd, my dark spirit! For wisdom condemns When the faint and the feeble deplore; Be strong as the rock of the ocean that stems A thousand wild waves on the shore! Through the perils of chance, and the scowl of disdain, May thy front be unalter'd, thy courage elate! Yea! even the name I have worshipp'd in vain Shall awake not the sigh of remembrance again: To bear is to conquer our fate.

Of a similar description are his "Lines on revisiting a Scottish River."[6]

[6] See MIRROR, No. 257.

Mr. Campbell contributes but little to the pages of the New Monthly Magazine: still, what he writes is excellent, and as we uniformly transfer his pieces to the _Mirror_, we need not recapitulate them. The fame of Campbell, however, rests on his early productions, which, though not numerous, are so correct, and have been so fastidiously revised, that while they remain as standards of purity in the English tongue, they sufficiently explain why their author's compositions are so limited in number, "since he who wrote so correctly could not be expected to write much." His Poetical pieces have lately been collected, and published in two elegant library volumes, with a portrait esteemed as an extremely good likeness.

A contemporary critic, speaking of the superiority of Campbell's minor effusions, when compared with his larger efforts, observes, "His genius, like the beautiful rays of light that illumine our atmosphere, genial and delightful as they are when expanded, are yet without power in producing any active or immediate effect. In their natural expansions they sparkle to be sure, and sweetly shine; but it is only when condensed, and brought to bear upon a limited space or solitary object, that they acquire the power to melt, to burn, or to communicate their fire to the object they are in contact with." Another writer says, "In common with every lover of poetry, we regret that his works are so few; though, when a man has written enough to achieve immortality, he cannot be said to have trifled away his life. Mr. Campbell's poetry will find its way wherever the English language shall be spoken, and will be admired wherever it is known."

* * * * *

INDEX TO VOL. XIV.

* * * * *

Abad and Ada, a Tale, 404. Abydos, Siege of, 58. Aeolipile, The, 102. Agreeableness, 155. Alexander the Great, 22. American Aloe, 296. American Poetess, Memoir of, 340. Amulet, The, 331. ANECDOTE GALLERY, The, 123--158--191--254--427. Anniversary, by A.A. Watts, 423. Annuals for 1830, 221--275--322 to 336, 369 to 384. Antwerp Cathedral, Visit to, 286. Apsley House, 33--50. Argonaut, or Nautilus, 40. Arnott's Elements of Physics, 430. Autobiography of a Landaulet, 300--350.

Bachelor's Revenge, 245. Bagley Wood Gipsies, 19. Battle of Bannockburn, 442. Bees, 439. Bees' Nests, 217. Best's Personal Memorials, 427. Bewick, the Engraver, 39--173--426. Birds, Colours of the Eggs of, 438. Bishops' Sleeves, 205. Bittern, American, 297. Black Lady of Altenötting, 251. Blarney Castle described, 273. Boileau to his Gardener, 51. Bologna, Leaning Towers of, 369. Brimham Rocks, Lines on, 196. British Sea Songs, 297. British Artists, Lives of, 52. British Institution, The, 277--358. Brussels in 1829, 303. Burleigh House, Northampton, 290. Burmese Boat Races, 269. Butterflies, Changes of, 381. Byron, Lord, and Sir W. Scott, 109.

Calculating Child at Palermo, 290. Camelopard, or Giraffe, 264. Campbell, T., Lines by, 154. Canterbury Cathedral, 20. Card, The, 339. Castle in the Air, 331. Cats and Kittens, 243--307--360. Chameleons, antipathy to black, 439. Charles II., Escape of, 100. Chestnut-tree, Large, 408. Christmas Day last, 433. City, a new one, 104. City feast, 164. Clifton described, 177--309. Coast Blockade Men, 84. Cobbett's Corn, 77--87. Cochineal Insect, 217--408. Coffee-room Character, 219. Colosseum, The, 431. Comic Annual, The, 374. Constantinople, 130--245. CONTEMPORARY TRAVELLER, 134--149, 260--278. Co-operative Societies, and Home Colonies, 425. COSMOPOLITE, The, 20--36--69--214. Cosmoramas and Dioramas, 430. Confession, The, a Sketch, 335. Cruise of H.M.S. Torch, 366. Cuckoo, The, 39. Curtius, a Dramatic Sketch, 357.

Dan Dann'ly, Sir, 189. Davy, Sir H., Lines on, 69--116. Derwentwater, 152. Devereux, Sir William, 15. Dial, curious one at Whitehall, described, 345. Diet of various nations, 20--36. Drama, Notes on the, 201. Dress, Note on, 223. Driving Deer in Cheshire, 101. Drury Lane, ancient, 291. Duke's Theatre, Dorset Gardens, 209. Durham House, Strand, 82. Dugong, The, 439.

Eagles, mode of destroying, 381. "Eating Mutton cold," 19. Eddystone Lighthouse, 123. Edie Ochiltree, 294. Egyptian Justice, 309. Eliza von Mansfield, a Ballad, 428. Emigrants, Lines to, 154. Emigration to New South Wales, 362. Emmanuel, the, 377. Epitaph in Butleigh Church, 12. Equanimity (from Horace), 259. Ettrick Shepherd and Sir W. Scott, 74. Etymological Curiosities, 357. Exercise, Air, and Sleep, Notes on, 211.

Fair Fanariote, a Tale, 9. Fashionable Novels, 302. Favourite, Recollections of a, 236. Fearful Prospect, 429. FINE ARTS, 277--358--403. Flying Dragon, the, 217. Forget-me-not, the, 379. Franklin's Grave, 7. Friends of the Dead, 35. Friendship's Offering, 325. Fruits, English, described, 197.

Gardens, Gleanings on, 419. Gas Lights, 248. GATHERER, the, in each No. Gem, the, 321. Genoese Customs, 178. Geographical Discoveries, 313. Germans and Germany, 311. Glammis Castle, Scotland, 225. Goose, eating the, 221. Gothic Architecture, Notes on, 403. Graysteil, a Ballad, 68. Grecian Flies, or Spongers, 420. Greece, Lines on, 99. Greeks, the Modern, 376. Grosvenor Gallery, Park Lane, 242. Guineas and Sovereigns, 304. Gurney's Steam Carriage, 194. Guy Mannering, 89.

Hackney Coaches, 6. Hampton Court Palace, 97--116. Heads, English, 263. Head Wager, 89. Healths, pledging, 197. Hearthstone, the, a Tale, 118. Heathen Mythology, Lines on, 30. Hebrew Poets, 107. Hood's Comic Annual, 374. Hood's Epping Hunt, 232. Hopkinsonian Joke, 31.

I'd be an Alderman, 408. I'd be a Parody, 97--116. Idiot, the, an Anecdote, 263. Illustrious Follies, 124. Incident at Fondi, 213. Incledon, Recollections of, 236. Indian Sultana in Paris, 7. Indigo, Cultivation of, 56. Ingratitude, Lines on, 51. Insects, History of, 347. Insect, Lines to an, 149. Iris, the, 384. Irish Independence, 136. Iron Plate, new, 13. Isabel, a Story, 358. Ivy, Varieties of, 120.

Jack Jones, the Recruit, 412. Jenkins, Henry, 242. Jersey, recent Tour in, 260--278. Jews, History of the, 105. Juvenile Forget-me-not, 269, 383. Juvenile Keepsake, 412. Juvenile Poetess, Memoir of, 343.

Keepsake, the, 372. Kemble, John, and Miss Owenson, 93. King's Evil, Touching for, 437.

Landon, Miss, Poetry by, 267. Landscape Annual, the, 370. La Perouse, Note on, 207. Laing, Major, Death of, 219. Lardner's Cyclopedia, 442. Lay from Home, 115. Libertine's Confession, 59. Liberty, on, 214. Life, Duration of, 174. Limoeiro, at Lisbon, described, 337. Lines in an Album, 100. ---- by Miss Mitford, 124. ---- to ------------, 308. Lion-eating and Hanging, 8. Lion's Roar, the, 290. Literary Problem, 178. -------- Souvenir, 334--371. Living, good and bad, 89. Lost Lamb, 447. Localities, chapter on, 146--226. Locke, Lord King's Life of, 12. Lone Graves, the, 18. London, Lines on, 154. ------ View of, 249. Lord Mayor's Day, Lines on, 350. Love, a Ballad, 12--68. Lucifer, a Tale, 325. Lucretia Davidson, Memoir of, 340.

Mahomet and his Mistress, 339. Major's Love Adventure, 285. MANNERS and CUSTOMS, 38--101--178--197--231--311--375. Mantis, or Walking Leaf, 306. Margate described, 141. Maria Gray, a Ballad, 173. Masaniello, character of, 153. Mercer's Hull and Old Cheapside, 17. Milan Cathedral described, 2. Minstrel Ballad, 100. Minstrels and Music Licenses, 418. Mocha Coffee, 47. Mole, the, 281--297--360. Moncrieff's Poems, 23. Monkish Verses translated, 163. Mont Blanc, ascent of, 71. Months, Saxon Names for, 232. Morgan, Lady, 382. Mozart, Youth of, 254--265. Murat, death of, 83.

NATURALIST, The, 4--39--86--120--174--217--281--297--306--381--438. Nautilus, Lines on, 180. New York, 249. New Year's Gift, 293. Ney, Marshal, Memoir of, 420. Night in a Sedan Chair, 183. NOTES OF A READER, 6--46--61--71--93--120--152--186--220--247--297 --347--360--423. NOVELIST, The, 9--58--89--118--213--244--358--404.

Oaks, Superstition against felling, 375. Observatory at Greenwich, 401. Old Man's Story, The, 283. OLD POETS, 4--140--271--407. Once Ancient, 85. Opium-eating in Turkey, 270. Out of Season, a Lament, 291. Oyster catching Mice, &c., 87.

Palestine described, 107. Paley, Recollections of, 158. Paraphrase on Heber, 181. Pendrills, Family of, 35. Periodical Literature, 440. Peru, Adventure in, 230. Phillips', Sir R., Personal Tour, 377. Physiognomy of Houses, 100. Plantagenets, Last of the, 46. Planters, Royal, 73. Pool's Hole, Derbyshire, 19. Poor, Laws for the, 299. Pope's Temple at Hagley, 49. Popular Philosophy, 430. Proverbs, Old, illustrated, 133. Provincial Reputation, 409. Psalmody, Improved, 114--370. Punch, How to Make, 8. Pursuit of Knowledge, 108--138.

Quadrupeds and Birds feeding Shell-fish, 4.

Red Indians, Journey in search of, 134--149. Regent's Park, 12. RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS, 11--76--163--246--308--437. River, Lines to a, 254. Rosamond, Fair, Portrait of, 86. Royal Exchange, The original, 257. Ruined Well, Stanzas, 372. Rustic Amusements, 3.

St. Dunstan's, Fleet-street, 145--243. St. Peter's Church, Pimlico, 113. St. Sepulchre's Bell, 259. Saline Lake in India, 13. Sea-side Mayor, 231. Sea Pens, Cuts of, 281. Seasons, Sonnets on, 210. Season in Town, 30. Select Biography, 340. Shakspeare's Brooch, 201--372. Sheffield, Picture of, 377--413. Sighmon Dumps, 169--420. SELECTOR, The, 13--22--40--52--105--136--156--197--232--267--283--442. Shumla described, 186. Siamese Twins, Account of, 353. Singing Psalms, 375. Sion House, Isleworth, 161. Sisters of Charity, 69. SKETCH BOOK, The, 24--74--100-169. Skimington Riding, 183--231--235--375. Skying a Copper, by Hood, 280. Sleep, Curious facts on, 229. Soda Water, Dr. Paris, on, 69. Southern African Letter, 315. Southey, Dr., 61--426. Sparrow, Address of, 148--403. Spiders, 439. SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY, 12--56-108--185--206--282--313. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, 12--29--45--59--77--87--109--124--141 --155--173--189--219--237--251--263--300--315--366--382--408--428--440. Spirit of the Storm, 235. Splendid Annual, The, 24. Spring Tides, 418. Staubbach, Falls of the, 369. Starfish, Branched, 307. Stone, Ancient, at Carmarthen, 20. Stone, Crosses and Pillars, 247. Storm raising, 38. Sussex Cottages, 6. Southwell Church, 168. Stratford, Lord, Letter of, 246. Superstition, Cure for, 383.

Taylor Bird, Nest of, 120. Temple New Buildings, 417. Theatres, Ancient and modern, 202. Thief, The general, 372. Time, Lines on, 214. Tomb, Enigma on, 214--292. Topographer, The, 309. Touching for the Evil, 308. Toyman is abroad, 45--60. Tunbridge Wells in 1748, 65. Turkey, Note on, 222. Twin Sisters, 402. Tyre, Ancient, 15--115.

Unicorn, The, 142.

Veil, Origin of the, 103--181. Verona described, 321. Vidocq, Memoirs of, 13--40--156--164. Vine, Lines on, 214. Virgil's Tomb, Description of, 432. Voltaire at Ferney, 81--191.

Watchman's Lament, 88. Waterloo, Battle of, 268. Watling Street, Ancient, 34. Whitehall, Curious Dial at, 345. Whitehall, Paintings at the Banquetting House, 436. Winchester, Sonnet on, 258. Wreck on a Coral Reef, 373.

Young Lady's Book, 445.

Zaragoza, Fall of, 436. Zoological Gardens, 264. Zoological Keepsake, 447. Zoological Society, 13--57. Zoological Work, New, 86.

* * * * *

LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.

VOL. XIV.

* * * * *

_PORTRAIT OF THOMAS CAMPBELL, ESQ._

ENGRAVED ON STEEL.

Milan Cathedral. Mercers' Hall, Cheapside. Apsley House. Argonaut, or Paper Nautilus. Pope's Temple, at Hagley. Tunbridge Wells in 1748. Voltaire's Chateau, at Ferney. Hampton Court. Plan for a New City. St. Peter's Church, Pimlico. Nest of the Taylor Bird. Constantinople. St. Dunstan's, Fleet-street. Sion House. Southwell Church. Clifton. Guruoy's Steam Carriage. Shakspeare's Brooch. Duke's Theatre, Dorset Gardens. Flying Dragon. Glammis Castle. Grosvenor Gallery, Park-lane. Royal Exchange (the Original). Blarney Castle, Cork. Sea Pens. Burleigh, Northamptonshire. Mantis, or Walking Leaf. Branched Star-fish. Verona. The Limoeiro, at Lisbon. Curious Dial. Siamese Twins. Fall of the Staubbach. Leaning Towers at Bologna. Meeting a Settler. Breaking-up no Holiday. Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Cochineal Insect and Plant. New Buildings, Inner Temple. Virgil's Tomb.