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,[2] 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.
[2] For a view of this retreat, see the MIRROR No. 337.
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