The Editor of _The Albion_, in noticing the republication by the
Harpers of the very interesting Life and Letters of Thomas Campbell,
by Dr. Beattie, has the following observations upon Mr. Irving's
introductory letter:
"WASHINGTON IRVING, at the request of the publishers, contributed a
very interesting letter to themselves, directing public notice to the
value of this edition. He pays also a hearty and deserved tribute,
not only to the genius of Campbell, but to his many excellencies and
kindly specialities of character. The author of "Hohenlinden," and the
"Battle of the Baltic" stands in need of no man's praise as a lyric
poet--but this sort of testimony to his private worth is grateful
and well-timed. Here is an interesting passage from Mr. Irving's
introductory communication. He is alluding to Campbell's fame and
position, when he himself first made Campbell's acquaintance in
England.
"'I had considered the early productions of Campbell as
brilliant indications of a genius yet to be developed, and
trusted that, during the long interval which had elapsed,
he had been preparing something to fulfill the public
expectation; I was greatly disappointed, therefore, to find
that, as yet, he had contemplated no great and sustained
effort. My disappointment in this respect was shared
by others, who took the same interest in his fame, and
entertained the same idea of his capacity. 'There he is
cooped up in Sydenham,' said a great Edinburgh critic to me,
'simmering his brains to serve up a little dish of poetry,
instead of pouring out a whole caldron.'
"'Scott, too, who took a cordial delight in Campbell's poetry,
expressed himself to the same effect. 'What a pity is it,'
said he to me 'that Campbell does not give full sweep to his
genius. He has wings that would bear him up to the skies, and
he does now and then spread them grandly, but folds them up
again and resumes his perch, as if afraid to launch away. The
fact is, he is a bugbear to himself. The brightness of his
early success is a detriment to all his future efforts. _He is
afraid of the shadow that his own fame casts before him_.'
"'Little was Scott aware at the time that he, in truth, was
a 'bugbear' to Campbell. This I infer from an observation of
Mrs. Campbell's in reply to an expression of regret on my part
that her husband did not attempt something on a grand Scale.
'It is unfortunate for Campbell,' said she, 'that he lives in
the same age with Scott and Byron.' I asked why. 'Oh,' said
she, 'they write so much and so rapidly. Now Campbell writes
slowly, and it takes him some time to get under way; and just
as he has fairly begun, out comes one of their poems, that
sets the world agog and quite daunts him, so that he throws by
his pen in despair.'
"'I pointed out the essential difference in their kinds of
poetry, and the qualities which insured perpetuity to that of
her husband. 'You can't persuade Campbell of that,' said she.
'He is apt to undervalue his own works, and to consider his
own lights put out, whenever they come blazing out with their
great torches.'
"'I repeated the conversation to Scott sometime afterward,
and it drew forth a characteristic comment. 'Pooh!' said he,
good-humoredly, 'how can Campbell mistake the matter so
much. Poetry goes by quality, not by bulk. My poems are mere
cairngorms, wrought up, perhaps, with a cunning hand, and may
pass well in the market as long as cairngorms are the fashion;
but they are mere Scotch pebbles after all; now Tom Campbell's
are real diamonds, and diamonds of the first water.'"
"The foregoing is new to us, and full of a double interest. It is
followed, however, by a statement, that needs a word of explanation.
Mr. Irving says:
"'I have not time at present to furnish personal anecdotes of
my intercourse with Campbell, neither does it afford any of a
striking nature. Though extending over a number of years, it
was never very intimate. His residence in the country, and
my own long intervals of absence on the continent, rendered
our meetings few and far between. To tell the truth, I was
not much drawn to Campbell, having taken up a wrong notion
concerning him, from seeing him at times when his mind was
ill at ease, and preyed upon by secret griefs. I thought
him disposed to be querulous and captious, and had heard his
apparent discontent attributed to jealous repining at the
success of his poetical contemporaries. In a word, I knew
little of him but what might be learned in the casual
intercourse of general society; whereas it required the close
communion of confidential friendship, to sound the depth of
his character and know the treasures of excellence hidden
beneath its surface. Beside, he was dogged for years
by certain malignant scribblers, who took a pleasure in
misrepresenting all his actions, and holding him up in an
absurd and disparaging point of view. In what hostility
originated I do not know, but it must have given much
annoyance to his sensitive mind, and may have affected
his popularity. I know not to what else to attribute a
circumstance to which I was a witness during my last visit to
England. It was at an annual dinner of the Literary Fund, at
which Prince Albert presided, and where was collected much
of the prominent talent of the kingdom. In the course of
the evening Campbell rose to make a speech. I had not seen
him for years, and his appearance showed the effect of age
and ill-health; _it was evident, also, that his mind was
obfuscated by the wine he had been drinking_. He was confused
and tedious in his remarks; still, there was nothing but
what one would have thought would have been received with
indulgence, if not deference, from a veteran of his fame and
standing; a living classic. On the contrary, to my surprise, I
soon observed signs of impatience in the company; the poet was
repeatedly interrupted by coughs and discordant sounds, and
as often endeavored to proceed; the noise at length became
intolerable, and he was absolutely clamored down, sinking
into his chair overwhelmed and disconcerted. I could not have
thought such treatment possible to such a person at such a
meeting. Hallam, author of the Literary History of the Middle
Ages, who sat by me on this occasion, marked the mortification
of the poet, and it excited his generous sympathy. Being
shortly afterward on the floor to reply to a toast, he took
occasion to advert to the recent remarks of Campbell, and in
so doing called up in review all his eminent achievements in
the world of letters, and drew such a picture of his claims
upon popular gratitude and popular admiration, as to convict
the assembly of the glaring impropriety they had been guilty
of--to soothe the wounded sensibility of the poet, and send
him home to, I trust, a quiet pillow.'
"Now, the very same facts are seen by different observers in a
different point of view. It so happened that we ourselves were present
at this dinner, which took place in 1842; and the painful circumstance
alluded to by Mr. Irving did not produce the effect on us, that it
appears to have produced on him. Without making a long story about
a trifle, we can call to mind no appearance of hostility or ill-will
manifested on that occasion; and on the contrary, recollect, in our
immediate neighborhood, a mournful sense of distress at the scene
exhibited, and sufficiently hinted in the few unpleasant words we
have italicized. A muster of Englishmen preferred coughing down their
favorite bard, to allowing him to mouth out maudlin twaddle, before
the Prince, then first formally introduced to the public, and before
a meeting whereat "was collected much of the prominent talent of the
kingdom." Mr. Irving, himself most deservedly a man of mark, looked
on with much, surprise. Looking on ourselves then, and writing now,
as one of the public, and as one of the many to whom Campbell's name
and fame are inexpressibly dear, we honestly think that of two evils
the lesser was chosen. We think Mr. Hallam's lecture must have been
inaudible to the greater part of the company."
* * * * *
The Archbishop of Lemburgh has prohibited his clergy from wearing long
hair like the peasants, and from smoking in public, "like demagogues
and sons of Baal."
* * * * *
The Persians have a saying, that "Ten measures of talk were sent down
upon the earth, and the women took nine."
* * * * *