Read Ebook: The Mirror of Literature Amusement and Instruction. Volume 14 No. 407 December 24 1829 by Various

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THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

Cheap Books, we hope, will never be an evil; for, as "the same care and toil that raise a dish of peas at Christmas, would give bread to a whole family during six months;" so the expense of a gay volume at this season will furnish a moderate circle with amusive reading for a twelvemonth. We do not draw this comparison invidiously, but merely to illustrate the advantages of literary economy.

A proportionate Index will guide our accustomed readers to any particular article in the present volume; but for those of shorter acquaintance, a slight reference to its principal points may be useful. Besides, a few of its delights may have been choked by weeds and crosses, and their recollection lost amidst the lights and shadows of busy life.

The zeal of our Correspondents is first entitled to honourable mention; and many of their contributions to these pages must have cost them much time and research; for which we beg them to accept our best thanks.

Owen Feltham would call this "a cart-rope" Preface: therefore, with promises of future exertion, we hope our next Seven Years may be as successful as the past.

MEMOIR OF THOMAS CAMPBELL, ESQ.

Of the subject of this memoir, it has been remarked, "that he has not, that we know of, written one line, which, dying, he could wish to blot." These few words will better illustrate the fitness of Mr. Campbell's portrait for our volume, than a laudatory memoir of many pages. He has not inaptly been styled the Tyrtaeus of modern English poetry, and one of the most chaste and tender as well as original of poets. He owes less than any other British poet to his predecessors and contemporaries. He has lived to see his lines quoted like those of earlier poets in the literature of his day, lisped by children, and sung at public festivals. The war-odes of Campbell have scarcely anything to match them in-the English language for energy and fire, while their condensation and the felicitous selection of their versification are in remarkable harmony. Campbell, in allusion to Cymon, has been said to have "conquered both on land and sea," from his Naval Odes and "Hohenlinden" embracing both scenes of warfare.

Scotland gave birth to Thomas Campbell. He is the son of a second marriage, and was born at Glasgow, in 1777. His father was born in 1710, and was consequently nearly seventy years of age when the poet, his son, was ushered into the world. He was sent early to school, in his native place, and his instructor was Dr. David Alison, a man of great celebrity in the practice of education. He had a method of instruction in the classics purely his own, by which he taught with great facility, and at the same time rejected all harsh discipline, substituting kindness for terror, and alluring rather than compelling the pupil to his duty. Campbell began to write verse when young; and some of his earliest attempts at poetry are yet extant among his friends in Scotland. For his place of education he had a great respect, as well as for the memory of his masters, of whom he always spoke in terms of great affection. He was twelve years old when he quitted school for the University of Glasgow. There he was considered an excellent Latin scholar, and gained high honour by a contest with a candidate twice as old as himself, by which he obtained a bursary. He constantly bore away the prizes, and every fresh success only seemed to stimulate him to more ambitious exertions. In Greek he was considered the foremost student of his age; and some of his translations are said to be superior to any before offered for competition in the University. While there he made poetical paraphrases of the most celebrated Greek poets; of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Aristophanes, which were thought efforts of extraordinary promise. Dr. Millar at that time gave philosophical lectures in Glasgow. He was a highly gifted teacher, and excellent man. His lectures attracted the attention of young Campbell, who became his pupil, and studied with eagerness the principles of sound philosophy; the poet was favoured with the confidence of his teacher, and partook much of his society.

Campbell quitted Glasgow to remove into Argyleshire, where a situation in a family of some note was offered and accepted by him. It was in Argyleshire, among the romantic mountains of the north, that his poetical spirit increased, and the charms of verse took entire possession of his mind. Many persons now alive remember him wandering there alone by the torrent, or over the rugged heights of that wild country, reciting the strains of other poets aloud, or silently composing his own. Several of his pieces which he has rejected in his collected works, are handed about in manuscript in Scotland. We quote one of these wild compositions which has hitherto appeared only in periodical publications.

For a view of this retreat, see the MIRROR No. 337.

DIRGE OF WALLACE.

They lighted a taper at the dead of night, And chanted their holiest hymn; But her brow and her bosom were damp with affright Her eye was all sleepless and dim! And the lady of Elderslie wept for her lord, When a death-watch beat in her lonely room, When her curtain had shook of its own accord; And the raven had flapp'd at her window-board, To tell of her warrior's doom!

Now sing you the death-song, and loudly pray For the soul of my knight so dear; And call me a widow this wretched day, Since the warning of God is here! For night-mare rides on my strangled sleep: The lord of my bosom is doomed to die: His valorous heart they have wounded deep; And the blood-red tears shall his country weep, For Wallace of Elderslie!

Yet knew not his country that ominous hour, Ere the loud matin bell was rung, That a trumpet of death on an English tower Had the dirge of her champion sung! When his dungeon light look'd dim and red On the high-born blood of a martyr slain, No anthem was sung at his holy death-bed; No weeping was there when his bosom bled-- And his heart was rent in twain!

Oh, it was not thus when his oaken spear Was true to that knight forlorn; And the hosts of a thousand were scatter'd like deer, At the blast of the hunter's horn; When he strode on the wreck of each well-fought field With the yellow-hair'd chiefs of his native land; For his lance was not shiver'd on helmet or shield-- And the sword that seem'd fit for Archangel to wield, Was light in his terrible hand!

Yet bleeding and bound, though her Wallace wight For his long-lov'd country die, The bugle ne'er sung to a braver knight Than Wallace of Elderslie! But the day of his glory shall never depart, His head unentomb'd shall with glory be balm'd, From its blood-streaming altar his spirit shall start; Though the raven has fed on his mouldering heart, A nobler was never embalm'd!

This work is in seven handsome library volumes; a new edition was announced two or three years since, but has not yet appeared.

We must now allude to an event in Campbell's life, which will ensure him the gratitude of ages to come: we mean as the originator of the London University. Four years before it was made public, the idea occurred to him, from his habit of visiting the Universities of Germany, and studying their regulations. He communicated it at first to two or three friends, until his ideas upon the subject became matured, when they were made public, and a meeting upon the business convened in London, which Mr. Campbell addressed, and where the establishment of such an institution met the most zealous support. Once in operation, several public men of high talent, headed by Mr. Brougham, lost not a moment in forwarding the great and useful object in view. The undertaking was divided into shares, which were rapidly taken; but Mr. Campbell left the active arrangements to others, and contented himself with attending the committees. With unexampled rapidity the London University has been completed, or nearly so, and Campbell has had the satisfaction of seeing his projected instrument of education almost in full operation in less than three years after he made the scheme public. Although one of the most important, this is not the only public-spirited event of this description, in Mr. Campbell's life; for he was instrumental in the establishment of the Western Literary Institution, in Leicester Square; and at the present time he is, we believe, in conjunction with other eminent literary men, organizing a club to be entitled the Literary Union, whose lists already contain upwards of 300 men of talent, including Sir Walter Scott and all the principal periodical writers of the day.

Still, Mr. Campbell's name does not occur in the List of Council or Professors of the University, in the British Almanac for the present year.

Campbell, as has already been observed, was educated at Glasgow, and received the honour of election as Lord Rector, three successive years, notwithstanding the opposition of the professors, and the excellent individuals who were placed against him; among whom were the late minister Canning, and Sir Walter Scott. The students of Glasgow College considered that the celebrity of the poet, his liberal principles, his being a fellow-townsman, and his attention to their interests, entitled him to the preference.

We are aware of part of the subsequent extract having appeared in vol. xi. of THE MIRROR, but the additional interest which it bears in juxtaposition with this Memoir, induces us to repeat it here.

"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 ; 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."

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.

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."

See MIRROR, No. 257.

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."

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 Alten?tting, 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.

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 , 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.

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.

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