Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/399

 Meanwhile, Campbell began to rise above adverse circumstances. In 1805 his second son, Alison, was born, and in the same year, with Fox and Lords Holland and Minto as prime movers, he received a crown pension of 200l. The same year was marked by a very profitable subscription edition of his poems, suggested by Francis Horner. In 1809 ‘Gertrude of Wyoming’ appeared, and, despite manifest shortcomings, its gentle pathos and its general elegance and finish of style obtained for it a warm welcome. It was in a conversation with Washington Irving that Scott (Life, iv. 93), speaking of the beauties of ‘Gertrude,’ gave his famous explanation of Campbell's limited poetical achievement in proportion to his undoubted powers and promise. ‘He is afraid,’ said he, ‘of the shadow that his own fame casts before him.’ A new edition of the poem was speedily called for, and appeared, together with the sweet and touching ‘O'Connor's Child,’ which is probably the most artistic of Campbell's works. In 1810 his son Alison died of scarlet fever, and the poet's correspondence for some time gives evidence of overwhelming grief. After he had rallied, he prepared a course of lectures for the Royal Institution. These lectures on poetry, notwithstanding their technical and archaic character, were a decided success. The scheme was a splendid and comprehensive one, but too vast for one man to complete. It is not surprising, therefore, that a whimsical genius like Campbell should have suddenly broken away from the subject, after having done little more than make a vigorous beginning. Still, detached portions of what he says on Hebrew and Greek verse (in the lectures as rewritten for the ‘New Monthly Magazine’) have special value, and will always attract students of the art of poetry.

On the fall of Napoleon in 1814, Campbell spent two months in Paris, where he was much affected by what he saw, and made new friends in the elder Schlegel, Baron Cuvier, and others. In 1815 a legacy of over 4,000l. fell to him, on the death of Mr. MacArthur Stewart of Ascog, and the legal business connected with the bequest took him to Edinburgh and Glasgow, where he spent a pleasant holiday among old friends. The next two years found him busy with his ‘Specimens of the British Poets,’ at length in a fair way to be published by Murray. The work, in seven volumes, actually appeared in 1819, when Campbell, by the invitation of Roscoe, was delivering his revised Royal Institution lectures at Liverpool and Birmingham. The essay on poetry which precedes the ‘Specimens’ is a notable contribution to criticism, and the lives are succinct, pithy, and fairly accurate, though such a writer is inevitably weak in minor details. He is specially hard on Euphuism, and it is curious that one of his most severe thrusts is made at Vaughan, to whom he probably owes the charming vision of ‘the world's grey fathers’ in his own ‘Rainbow.’ The most valuable portions of the essay are those on Milton and Pope, which, together with such concise and lucid writing as the critical sections of the lives of Goldsmith and Cowper, show that Campbell was master of controversial and expository prose. Despite Miss Mitford's merrymaking, in one of her letters, over the length of time spent in preparing the ‘Specimens,’ students cannot but be grateful for them as they stand. The illustrative extracts are not always fortunate, but this is due to the editor's desire for freshness rather than to any lack of taste or judgment.

Subsequently Campbell's literary work was of inferior quality. Colburn (24 May 1820) engaged him to edit the ‘New Monthly Magazine,’ at a salary of 500l. Previous to entering on his duties he spent about six months on the continent. He was at Rotterdam, Bonn (where he was entertained by the Schlegels and others), Ratisbon, and Vienna, and was back in London in November. To be nearer his work he left Sydenham with regret, and settled in London. The insanity of his surviving child, which suddenly became manifest at this time, was a grievous blow to him. His ‘Theodric,’ an unequal and extravagant domestic tale, appeared in November 1824, and about the same time he began to agitate for a London university, the conception of which had occurred to him on his late continental tour. To forward this scheme he paid (September 1825) a special visit to the university of Berlin. His plans were taken up and matured by Brougham, Hume, and others, and he was fond of recurring to the accomplished fact of the London University as ‘the only important event in his life's little history.’ His interest in education and his eminence as an author were recognised by the students of Glasgow University, who elected him lord rector three times in succession (1826–9), the third time over no less formidable a rival than Sir Walter Scott. Mrs. Campbell's death, in 1828, was an incalculable loss to an unmethodical man like Campbell, who was never quite himself afterwards. As an editor of a periodical he was not a success (although he secured the assistance of eminent writers), and but for the strenuous action of his coadjutor, Cyrus Redding, and the gentle, orderly assistance of Mrs. Campbell, it is possible that he would not have