tion were awarded him. His pecuniary circumstances were at this time very unpromising, and he was, as may be supposed, in no very good humour with the booksellers. It is related, that on a festive occasion he vented his spleen against them, at the apparent expense of his patriotism. The character and conduct of Napoleon was, at the time, generally disliked in Britain. The poet was called on for a toast. To the astonishment of the company, he gave "Bonaparte." An explanation was required. "Gentlemen," said he, "I give you Bonaparte in his character of executioner of the booksellers." Palm, the German bookseller, had been just executed by command of the first consul.

In the year 1800, Campbell went to the continent. He sailed for Hamburg, and travelled over a great part of Germany. He visited the principal of the universities, with the view of acquiring the German language, and forming an acquaintance with the professors and other literati of those seminaries. He happened to be in the vicinity of Hohenlinden at the time of the severe contest which took place there between the French and Austrian armies. He witnessed the combat from the walls of a convent, and afterwards followed the bloody track of Moreau's army over the field of battle.

In Germany, Campbell became acquainted with many literary and political characters of high note, among whom were the two celebrated Schlegels, and the still more celebrated Klopstock, then far advanced

in the vale of life. He spent rather more than a year on the continent, and then for the first time visited London.

While at Hamburg, Campbell wrote his beautifully pathetic song, of the "Exile of Erin." It was set to the national air of "Erin go bragh," and is worthy of being associated with that noble production of Irish minstrelsy, which it will accompany to the latest posterity. He was inspired with the touching strains of this song, by witnessing, in the vicinity of his residence, the grief of some Irish exiles, who had been obliged to leave their country on account of the active part they had taken in the rebellion of 1798.

Soon after his arrival in London, he published his three very spirited and popular odes, "Hohenlinden," "The Battle of the Baltic," and "Ye Mariners of England." In 1803, he married a Miss Sinclair, a lady of great beauty and accomplishments, with whom he lived happily until she died, in 1828. He now took a house in the agreeable village of Sydenham, where he continued to reside for upwards of sixteen years, occupied chiefly in literary avocations.

It was shortly after his retirement to the shades of Sydenham, that Campbell wrote his "Gertrude of Wyoming," which some critics have pronounced, we think very erroneously, his best work. It is a prettily told tale, in the Spenserian stanza, very tender in some of its sentiments, and picturesque in its descriptions. But it is frequently languid in its tone, and monotonously pensive. Its scenes are laid amidst the woods

and mountains of Pennsylvania; yet, although picturesque in the abstract, they contain nothing specially characteristic of American scenery. On the contrary, elf-haunted flower-plats, shepherds playing on timbrels to dancing maidens, pastoral savannas, and flowery valleys where young ladies recline at noon under the shade of palm trees, reading Shakspeare, are certainly what no one ever witnessed, or need expect ever to witness, in the Wyoming Valley, until the climate of Pennsylvania ceases to produce venomous reptiles and stinging insects in the summer months, and the fierce freezing blasts of the northwestern winds in those of winter. Instead also of the Valley of Wyoming having been the scene of profound tranquillity and happiness previous to the revolutionary war, which Campbell has imagined, it was by far the most distracted and unhappy portion of Pennsylvania, in consequence of the perpetual and often bloody contests for the sovereignty of the district, carried on between the Connecticut settlers and the government of the province. If it be said that a poet is not obliged to swear to the truth of his song, it may be replied, that neither is a reader obliged to yield belief to known falsehood, although it be uttered in verse. The poet who should sing in strains equal to Homer himself, that Bonaparte vanquished Wellington at Waterloo, would gain few admirers among men of sense. When fiction is employed in poetry, it will always be judicious to *place its scenes where neither history nor topography can dissipate the illusion it creates, otherwise the well

informed reader will be more apt to be offended at the large demands made on his credulity, than pleased with the beauty of the fictions presented to his contemplation. But it is not our province in this place to criticise this poetical tale. Our design is only to rebuke those who, without any support from reason, or sanction from the public voice, characterize it as a superior production to "The Pleasures of Hope." It is a simple tale, languidly told, full of puling sentiment, false scenery, and improbable incidents; but presenting an attractive picture of innocence, virtue, and female loveliness in the heroine, and of wild energy and fidelity in the untutored, though somewhat too philosophical Oneida savage. But where does it exhibit the energy, the terseness, the variety, the sententiousness, and the spirit-stirring appeals to the heart, which abound in "The Pleasures of Hope ?"

About the time of the appearance of "Gertrude of Wyoming," Campbell received the appointment of professor of poetry in the Royal Institution, where he delivered a course of valuable lectures, which have since been published. He also undertook the editing of a number of volumes of selections from the British poets, with critical remarks, which indicate much acumen in the discovery and analysis of the beauties and defects of our most popular poets. The style of these criticisms, however, has been censured for displaying an undue fastidiousness in respect to phraseology, which has occasioned him in many places to

sacrifice strong and clear sense to the attainment of polished and agreeable expression.

In 1819, Campbell again visited the continent, and spent some time in Vienna, where he was enabled to observe the manners and policy of a despotic government, and to contrast their effects on the condition and habits of the people, with those which result from the free institutions of his own country. The high value which such study taught such an ardent friend to liberty to place on the latter, may well be imagined. He left one of his sons at the University of Bonn, and in 1820 returned to England, where he undertook the management of the New Monthly Magazine. To this work his name was of more value than his contributions. Of every thing which he wrote for it, he took care that the public should be apprized by the announcement of his name.

In 1824, Campbell published his "Theodric, a Domestic Tale;" the insipidity and flatness of which disgusted the public and astonished the critics. Considered as the production of the author of "The Pleasures of Hope," it furnishes, perhaps, the most remarkable instance of the loss of high poetical powers, to be found in the history of literature.

Campbell has the high honour to be regarded, we believe justly, as the projector of that noble and useful institution, the University of London. Having conceived the idea, he applied himself with an energy and zeal which he had not for many years been accustomed to apply to any pursuit, in recommending it to the