Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/833

Rh the Military History of Prince Eugene and tJte Duke of Marlborough, and soon after contributed several important articles to the Ancient Universal History. In 1742 and 1744 appeared the Lives of the British Admirals, in 4 vols., a popular work which has been continued by other authors. Besides contributing to the Biographia Britan- nica and Dodsley s Preceptor, he published a work on The Present State of Europe, consisting of a series of papers which had appeared in the Museum. He also wrote the histories of the Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, French, Swedish, Danish, and Ostend settlements in the East Indies, and the histories of Spain, Portugal, Algarve, Navarre, and France, from the time of Clovis till 1656, for the Modern Universal History. At the request of Lord Bute, he published a vindication of the Peace of Paris concluded in 1763, embodying in it a descriptive and historical account of the New Sugar Islands in the West Indies. By the king he was appointed agent for the provinces of Georgia in 1755. His last and most elaborate work, Political Survey of Britain, 2 vols. 4to, was published in 1744, and greatly increased the author s reputation. Campbell died Decem ber 28, 1775. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Glasgow in 1745.  CAMPBELL, (1777-1844). This distinguished poet was a cadet of the respectable family of Campbell of Kirnan, in Argyllshire. Owing to the straitened circumstances of his father, who had settled in Glasgow and been unfortunate in business, young Campbell was obliged, while attending college, to have recourse to private teaching as a tutor. Notwithstanding the amount of additional labour thus entailed, he made rapid progress in his studies, and attained considerable distinction at the university over which it was his fortune, in after years, to preside. He very early gave proofs of his aptitude for literary composition, especially in the department of poetry ; and so strong was his addiction to these pursuits, that he could not bring himself seriously to adopt the choice of a profession. From private tuition, which is at best an irksome drudgery, he recoiled after a short trial. Neither law, physic, nor divinity had any attractions for him ; nor is it probable that he ever would have risen to eminence in a regular profession, owing to a constitutional sensitiveness almost morbid, and a want of resolute energy. We are told by his friend arid biographer Dr Beattie that &quot; the imagina tive faculty had been so unremittingly cultivated that circumstances, trifling in themselves, had acquired undue influence over his mind, and been rendered formidable by an exaggeration of which he was at the moment unconscious. Hence various difficulties, which industry might have over come, assumed to his eye the appearance of insurmountable obstacles. Without resolution to persevere, or philosophy to submit to the force of necessity, he drew from everything around him, with morbid ingenuity, some melancholy presage of the future. He was dissatisfied with himself, chilled by the world s neglect, and greatly hurt by the apathy of friends who had extolled his merits, but left him to pine in obscurity.&quot; Campbell was not a man who could have successfully struggled with the world. Fortunately for him, his genius was such as to ensure an early recognition. We find him at the age of twenty in Edinburgh, attending lectures at the university, soliciting employment from the booksellers, and not unknown to a circle of young men then resident in the Scottish metropolis, whose names have become historical. Among those were Walter Scott, Henry Brougham, Francis Jeffrey, Dr Thomas Brown, John Leyden, and James Grahame, the author of the Sallath. He also became acquainted with Dr Robert Anderson, editor of a collection of the British poets, a man of extreme enthusiasm and kindliness of disposition, who early appreciated the remarkable powers of Campbell, and encouraged him to proceed in his literary career. In 1799 his poem, The Pleasures of Hope, was published. Probably there is no parallel instance of literary success so instantaneously achieved by a first effort ; nor was that owing to novelty of design on the part of the authr, or the caprice of the public. For considerably more than half a century the poem has maintained, nay, increased its popularity. During that time the public has adopted and abandoned many favourites names once famous and in every mouth have gradually become forgotten and unregarded poetical works of greater pretension, which were once considered as masterpieces of genius and inspira tion, have fallen into neglect ; but this poem by the boy Campbell remains a universal favourite. It is not much to say that it is, without any exception, the finest didactic poem in the English language. Even those who are not admirers of didactic poetry are forced to admit its charm ; and the uttermost objection that criticism can make appears to be a certain vagueness, which, after all, is inseparable from the nature of the subject and the necessary plan of the composition. The delicacy of the thoughts, the beauty of the imagery, the occasional power of pathos, the extra ordinary felicity of the language, and the wonderful harmony of the versification, distinguish the Pleasures of Hope from any poem which has been written before or since, and entitle it to a very high place as an original work of genius. It is as original and characteristic of its author as is the Deserted Village of Goldsmith, with which it has been frequently, but surely improperly compared. Gold smith s poem affects us by its simplicity and truth. Campbell s, it must be owned, is much more florid and ornamented ; but how exquisite is the taste of the ornament ! The literary and the private histories of an author are inseparable. In order to comprehend the one we must have recourse to the other. The first success of Campbell brought him fame, but not fortune. He had disposed of the copyright of the Pleasures of Hope, by his original bargain with the publishers, for a sum certainly moderate, which, however, probably exceeded his expectations at the time. He was, moreover, very kindly treated, for he received a considerable unstipulated allowance for each new edition, which circumstance ought to have deterred him from uttering certain diatribes against &quot; the trade,&quot; in which he was afterwards rather prone to indulge. The fact is that he did not know how to make use of his success. Instead of availing himself of the reputation which he had so worthily and decisively won, and applying himself to a new effort, he went abroad without any determinate aim ; was perfectly wretched on the Continent, where he had no friends, and was sorely embarrassed for want of means ; and began to write fugitive poetry for the London journals. On his return to Britain he had ample opportunity of bettering his condition. With a name such as his, a moderate amount of exertion would have secured him not only a competence but comparative affluence ; but indolence, perhaps the result of timidity, had grown upon him. Campbell never could adapt himself even to the profession of literature, which, precarious though it be, is not without its prizes. In that profession, as in all others, the requisites for success are steadiness, punctuality, and perseverance ; but Campbell possessed none of them. The publishers were ready, and offered to give him lucrative employment, nor was he at all backward in accepting their offers ; but when the period for performance arrived he had literally done nothing. In extraordinary contrast to him stands Scott, who seemed simply to will in order to conceive and execute. Campbell had many bright conceptions, but he could not apply himself to the work. Of course he lost repute with the men who alone can intervene between an 