During the residence of Campbell at Sydenham, there were several individuals in that village who were fond of inviting literary men to their tables, and were conspicuous for their conviviality. Numerous choice spirits used to meet together there, and among them was Campbell. The repartee and Scottish descent and considerable personal beauty, | ther than wit with which they are seasoned. Of but of whom he was deprived by death in 1828. all the natives of Scotland, however, he has least His residence was at Sydenham, and the entire of the patois of the country in his delivery, which neighbourhood of that pleasant village reckoned is surprising, when it is considered he was above itself in the circle of his friends; nor did he quit twenty-one years of age before he quitted it, and his rural retreat until, in 1821, literary pursuits de-shows how accurately he must have attuned his manded his residence in the metropolis. It was ear to the English pronunciation early in life. at Sydenham, in a house looking towards the re- Besides his knowledge of the Latin and Greek servoir, that the poet produced his greatest work, languages, Campbell is a good German scholar, « Gertrude of Wyoming," written in the Spen- has acquired a considerable knowledge of Hebrew, serian stanza. It is a simple Indian tale, but the and speaks French fluently. tenderness and beauty of the thoughts and expressions are scarcely equalled, certainly not surpassed, in any English poet. The speech of Outalissi seems to have furnished Byron with a hint for the style and form of several of his stories. About the same time Campbell was appointed professor of poetry in the Royal Institution, where he de-joke were exchanged, and many a practical trick livered lectures, which have since been published. He also undertook the editorship of selections from the British poets, intended as specimens of each, and accompanied with critical remarks, extending to several volumes. These remarks show the erudition of the author, but they also proclaim that fastidiousness of taste and singular sensitiveness regarding all he publishes, which is so distinguishing a characteristic of this poet. He re-into the pleasantries of the time, and many an fines, and re-refines, until his sentences appear to have lost connection with each other in his anxiety to render them as perfect as possible. played off which now forms the burden of an after-dinner story wherever the various individuals then present are scattered. Many of these have been since distinguished in the literary world; among them were the facetious brothers, the Smiths, James and Horace, Theodore Hook, and others; but it appears Campbell was behind none of them in the zest with which he entered anecdote is recorded of him on these occasions, to which some biographer will doubtless do justice hereafter. Soon after the publication of his Selections he In 1824 Campbell published his « Theodric, a again visited Germany, and spent some time in Domestic Tale," the least popular of his works. Vienna, where he acquired a considerable know- Many pieces of great merit came out in the same ledge of the Austrian court and its manners, and volume, among which are the « Lines to J. P. Kemclosely observed that unrelaxing despotism by ble,» and those entitled the « Last Man." The which it governs. He remained long at Bonn, fame of Campbell, however, must rest on his prewhere his friend, A. W. Schlegel, resides, and vious publications, which, though not numerous, passed his time in cultivating the intimacy of are so correct, and were so fastidiously revised other literary men there. Leaving his son under that, while they remain as standards of purity in the care of a tutor in Bonn University, Campbell the English tongue, they sufficiently explain why returned to England in 1820, to undertake the their author's compositions are so limited in numeditorship of the New Monthly Magazine, a pub-ber, « since he who wrote so correctly could not lication which speedily came into extensive cir- be expected to write much. » culation, and, with Blackwood's Magazine, which espouses the opposite side in politics, takes the lead in English mensual literature. To the New Monthly Magazine Campbell has contributed little, indeed nothing more than is before the public with his name. He is slow, and even idle in his habits of business. To fix his attention closely for any considerable time to literary labour is a difficult thing, and composition seems rather a task than a pleasure, since the fire of his youth has cooled. He is fond of the society of his friends, and of the social hour; his stock of anecdotes and stories, which is extensive, is often displayed on these occasions, but it is humour ra By his marriage Campbell had two sons. One of them died before attaining his twentieth year; the other while at Bonn, where, as already observed, he was placed for his education, exhibited symptoms of an erring mind, which, on his return to England soon afterwards, ripened into mental derangement of the milder species. This disease, it is probable, he inherited on his mother's side, as on his father's no symptoms of it had ever been shown. After several years passed in this way, during which the mental disease cousiderably relaxed, so that young Campbell became wholly inoffensive, his father received him into his house. The effects of such a sight upon a mind of the most exquisite sensibility, like the poet's, may be readily imagined; it was, at times, a source of the keenest suffering. exhibits great fondness for recondite subjects; We must now allude to an event in Campbell's life, which will cause him the gratitude of millions of unborn hearts, and the benefits of which are incalculable. It is to Campbell that England owes the London University. Four years before it was made public the idea struck his mind, from having been in the habit of visiting the universities of Germany, and studying their regulations. He communicated it at first to two or three friends only, until his ideas upon the subject became mature, when they were made public, and a meeting upon the business convened in London, which Mr Campbell addressed, and where the establish- the New Monthly Magazine. He also published ment of such an institution met the most zealous « Annals of Great Britain from the accession of support. Once in operation, the men of the city, George the Third to the Peace of Amiens; and headed by Mr Brougham, lost not a moment in is the author of several articles on Poetry and advancing the great and useful object in view. Belles-Lettres in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia. In The undertaking was divided into shares, which addition to the profits derived from these literary were rapidly taken. Mr Brougham took the lead-labours, our Poet enjoys a pension from Governing part, and addressed the various meetings on ment, supposed to have been granted to him for the subject. Mr Campbell, ill fitted for steady writing political paragraphs in an evening paper, exertion, seems to have left the active arrange- in support of Lord Grenville's administration. ments to others better qualified for them by habits Campbell was, as has been before observed, of business, and contented himself with attend-educated at Glasgow, and received the honour of ing the committees. With a rapidity unexampled election for Lord Rector, three successive years, the London University has been completed; and notwithstanding the opposition of the professors Campbell has had the satisfaction of seeing his and the excellent individuals who were placed projected instrument of education in full opera-against him; among whom were the late minister tion in less than three years after he made the Canning and Sir Walter Scott. The students of scheme public. In person, Campbell is below the middle stature, well made, but slender. His features indicate great sensibility, and that fastidiousness for `which he is remarkable in every thing he undertakes. His eyes are large, peculiarly striking, and of a deep blue colour, his nose aquiline, his expression generally saturnine. He has long worn a peruke, but the natural colour of his hair is dark. His step is light, but firm; and he appears to possess much more energy of constitution than men of fifty-two, who have been studious in their habits, exhibit in general. His time for study is mostly during the stillness of night, when he can be wholly abstracted from external objects. He Glasgow College considered that the celebrity of the poet, his liberal principles, his being a fellowtownsman and his attention to their interests, entitled him to the preference. Finally, Campbell has all the characteristics of the genus irritabile about him. He is the creature of impulses, and often does things upon the spur of the moment, which upon reflection he recals. He is remarkable for absence of mind; is charitable and kind in his disposition, but of quick temper: his amusements are few, the friend and conversation only. His heart is perhaps one of the best that beats in a human bosom; it is, in effect, that which should belong to the poet of Gertrude,» his favourite personification. THE POETICAL WORKS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL. The Pleasures of Hope. IN TWO PARTS. PART I. ANALYSIS. THE Poem opens with a comparison between the beauty of remote objects in a landscape, and those ideal scenes of felicity which the imagination delights to contemplate the influence of anticipation upon the other passions is next delineated-an allusion is made to the well-known fiction in Pagan tradition, that, when all the guardian deities of mankind abandoned the world, Hope alone was left behind-the consolations of this passion in situations of danger and distress-the seaman on his watch-the soldier marching into battleallusion to the interesting adventures of Byron. The inspiration of Hope, as it actuates the efforts of genius, whether in the department of science, or of taste-domestic felicity, how intimately connected with views of future happiness-picture of a mother watching her infant when asleep-pictures of the prisoner, the maniac, and the wanderer, From the consolations of individual misery, a transition is made to prospects of political improvement in the future state of society-the wide field that is yet open for the progress of humanizing arts among uncivilized nations-from these views of amelioration of society, and the extension of liberty and truth over despotic and barbarous countries, by a melancholy contrast of ideas, we are led to reflect upon the hard fate of a brave people recently conspicuous in their struggles for independence-description of the capture of Warsaw, of the last contest of the oppressors and the oppressed, and the massacre of the Polish patriots at the bridge of Prague apostrophe to the self-interested enemies of human improvement-the wrongs of Africa-the barbarous policy of Europeans in India-prophecy in the Hindoo mythology of the expected descent of the Deity to redress the miseries of their race, and to take vengeance on the violators of justice and mercy. Ar summer eve, when Heaven's ethereal bow Spans with bright arch the glittering hills below, Why to yon mountain turns the musing eye, Whose sunbright summit mingles with the sky? What potent spirit guides the raptured eye To pierce the shades of dim futurity? Can Wisdom lend, with all her heav'nly pow'r, The pledge of Joy's anticipated hour? Ah, no! she darkly sees the fate of manHer dim horizon bounded to a span; Or, if she hold an image to the view, T is Nature pictured too severely true. With thee, sweet HOPE! resides the heavenly light, That pours remotest rapture on the sight: Thine is the charm of Life's bewilder'd way, That calls each slumbering passion into play. Waked by thy touch, I see the sister band, On tiptoe watching, start at thy command, And fly where'er thy mandate bids them steer, To Pleasure's path, or Glory's bright career. Primeval HOPE, the Aönian Muses say, When Man and Nature mourn'd their first decay; When every form of death, and every woe, Shot from malignant stars to earth below; When Murder bared her arm, and rampant War Yoked the red dragons of her iron car; When Peace and Mercy, banish'd from the plain, Sprung on the viewless winds to Heav'n again; All, all forsook the friendless guilty mind, But HOPE, the charmer, linger'd still behind. Thus, while Elijah's burning wheels prepare From Carmel's heights to sweep the fields of air, The prophet's mantle, ere his flight began, Dropt on the world-a sacred gift to man. Auspicious HOPE! in thy sweet garden grow Wreaths for each toil, a charm for every woe; Won by their sweets, in Nature's languid hour, Angel of life! thy glittering wings explore Earth's loneliest bounds, and Ocean's wildest shore. Lo! to the wintry winds the pilot yields His bark, careering o'er unfathom'd fields; Now on Atlantic waves he rides afar, Where Andes, giant of the western star, With meteor-standard to the winds unfurl'd, Looks from his throne of clouds o'er half the world! Now far he sweeps, where scarce a summer smiles On Behring's rocks, or Greenland's naked isles: Cold on his midnight watch the breezes blow, From wastes that slumber in eternal snow; And waft, across the wave's tumultuous roar, The wolf's long howl from Oonalaska's shore. Poor child of danger, nursling of the storm, Sad are the woes that wreck thy manly form! Rocks, waves, and winds, the shatter'd bark delay; Thy heart is sad, thy home is far away. But HOPE can here her moonlight vigils keep, And sing to charm the spirit of the deep: Swift as yon streamer lights the starry pole, Her visions warm the watchman's pensive soul; His native hills that rise in happier climes, The grot that heard his song of other times, His cottage home, his bark of slender sail, His glassy lake, and broomwood-blossom'd vale, Rush on his thought; he sweeps before the wind, Treads the loved shore he sigh'd to leave behind; Meets at each step a friend's familiar face, And flies at last to Helen's long embrace; Wipes from her cheek the rapture-speaking tear, And clasps, with many a sigh, his children dear! While, long neglected, but at length caress'd, His faithful dog salutes the smiling guest, Points to the master's eyes (where'er they roam) His wistful face, and whines a welcome home. Friend of the brave! in peril's darkest hour, Intrepid Virtue looks to thee for power; To thee the heart its trembling homage yields, On stormy floods, and carnage-cover'd fields, When front to front the banner'd hosts combine, Halt ere they close, and form the dreadful line. When all is still on Death's devoted soil, The march-worn soldier mingles for the toil; As rings his glittering tube, he lifts on high The dauntless brow, and spirit-speaking eye, Hails in his heart the triumph yet to come, And hears thy stormy music in the drum! And such thy strength-inspiring aid that bore The hardy Byron to his native shore-(1) In horrid climes, where Chiloe's tempests sweep To wake each joyless morn, and search again Congenial HOPE! thy passion-kindling power, How bright, how strong, in youth's untroubled hour! On yon proud height, with Genius hand in hand, I see thee light, and wave thy golden wand. Go, child of Heav'n! (thy winged words proclaim) 'T is thine to search the boundless fields of fame! Lo! Newton, priest of nature, shines afar, Scans the wide world, and numbers ev'ry star! Wilt thou, with him, mysterious rites apply, And watch the shrine with wonder-beaming eye! Yes, thou shalt mark, with magic art profound, The speed of light, the circling march of sound; With Franklin Grasp the lightning's fiery wing, Or yield the lyre of Heav'n another string. (3) vesper When Venus, throned in clouds of rosy hue, Flings from her golden urn the dew, And bids fond man her glimmering noon employ, Sacred to love, and walks of tender joy; A milder mood the goddess shall recall, And soft as dew thy tones of music fall; While Beauty's deeply-pictured smiles impart A pang more dear than pleasure to the heartWarm as thy sighs shall flow the Lesbian strain, And plead in Beauty's ear, nor plead in vain. . Or wilt thou Orphean hymns more sacred deem, And steep thy song in Mercy's mellow stream? To pensive drops the radiant eye beguile― For Beauty's tears are lovelier than her smile;On Nature's throbbing anguish pour relief? And teach impassion'd souls the joy of grief? Yes; to thy tongue shall seraph words be given, And power on earth to plead the cause of Heaven; The proud, the cold untroubled heart of stone, That never mused on sorrow but its own, Unlocks a generous store at thy command, Like Horeb's rocks beneath the prophet's hand. (6) The living lumber of his kindred earth, Charm'd into soul, receives a second birth, Feels thy dread power another heart afford, Whose passion-touch'd harmonious strings accord True as the circling spheres to Nature's plan; And man, the brother, lives the friend of man. Bright as the pillar rose at Heaven's command, Propitious Power! when rankling cares annoy Their woes, their wishes, and their hearts the same- Tell, that while Love's spontaneous smile endears Lo! at the couch where infant beauty sleeps, Her silent watch the mournful mother keeps; She, while the lovely babe unconscious lies, Smiles on her slumbering child with pensive eyes, And weaves a song of melancholy joy " Sleep, image of thy father, sleep, my boy: In form and soul; but, ah! more blest than he! And chase the world's ungenerous scorn away. And say, when summon'd from the world and thee So speaks affection, ere the infant eye Or cons his murmuring task beneath her care, Where is the troubled heart, consign'd to share Chide not his peace, proud Reason! nor destroy peace, Oft when yon moon has climb'd the midnight sky, And the lone sea-bird wakes its wildest cry, |