more than two or three weeks. In a letter from Dr. Currie introducing Campbell to Mackintosh and Scarlet, the date, it appears, is February 26, 1802. The doctor describes the poet as a young man of celebrity, author of the "Pleasures of Hope." He states that his knowledge of him was derived from Dugald Stewart, and that he had been staying some days with him. He remarked that he was a young man of extraordinary learning and acquirements, unusually quick of apprehension and possessing great sensibility, and further that he was on his way to London to bring out there an edition of his poem, by permission of the booksellers to whom he had parted with the copyright before it was printed. That the profits of the booksellers having been extraordinary, they had only annexed the condition that the edition of the author should be of such a nature as not to interfere with their editions ; the work to be a quarto, embellished, and printed by Bensley. Dr. Currie then concludes by requesting his friends to lay out a fee with the poet, thereby obliging the doctor and serving at the same time a man of genius. On coming to town it would appear that Campbell commenced writing for the newspapers under the auspices of Perry of the Morning Chronicle. He was not very successful, nor could it be expected; experience must have been wanting. A knowledge of the political topics of the time, and the art of rapid composition, those essentials in writing for the mass, were not the qualities with which Campbell was endowed. Great knowledge of literature, care in the choice of words, and slowness in composition were impediments in concocting the ephemeral articles of a newspaper. department of the multifarious literature of the metropolis could the poet have been employed with less effect. He must have been an utter stranger to the tact which, in the newspaper contests of that time, when politics ran high, must have been more than ever demanded, he had none of that positive acquaintance with men and things, connected with political affairs which can be obtained at the seat of government alone. Political knowledge was not then diffused as widely as it is at present, and the duties of an adroit writer in a London newspaper were not to be acquired in the country. It suffices that the poet was unsuccessful, though Perry retained him for some time to aid in filling up the poet's corner of his paper. He did not bring out the quarto edition of his poems until he had been a twelvemonth in London. I have no means now of comparing it with the first, which I had once in my possession for a week or two, using it as a guide for directing the printer in the first collected edition of his entire works in 1828, which I undertook for him during a period of affliction. This copy belonged to the poet and he begged its restoration, as he knew not how to obtain another. The quarto is not scarce, and is similar to many other works of that day from the elegant press of Bensley. What the poet's pecuniary means were at this time it is not easy to discover. His receipts from the "Pleasures of Hope," it has been observed, could not have taken him to Germany and supported him during above a twelvemonths' residence and travelling, and, moreover, he set off immediately after their first publication, and before any receipts could have accrued had they been his own to receive. The profit on the quarto edition could not have been received until 1803, when that edition appeared. It is probable, that as Mackintosh had at that time an influence with the booksellers, he introduced the poet to some kind of passing literary labour, for their acquaintance was immediate, intimate, and lasting. This year he published too, "Lochiel and Hohenlinden" in Edinburgh, dedicated to Dr. Alison, but without his name. He also married his cousin, Matilda Sinclair, on the 11th of October the same year. She was a resident in London, in Parkstreet, Westminster, and they were married at St. Margaret's. It is probable, therefore, that he had a fair prospect of supporting a wife at the time. After this he paid a visit to Edinburgh. During his attentions to his cousin he composed the following lines, which do not exhibit very flatteringly his skill in love strains, or the depth of passionate affection, being too artificial, and wanting that quick pulse which beats through intensity of amatory feeling. In the list of his pieces in 1828, when he marked off what he wished to be omitted from his collected works, he excluded this, which first appeared in an Edinburgh periodical work. Air-The Flower of North Wales. O cherub content! at thy moss-covered shrine, In the pulse of my heart I have nourished a care, But its years as they pass bring no tidings of thee. O cherub content! at thy moss-covered shrine, I would breathe not a sigh but to friendship and thee ! How long he remained in Edinburgh is uncertain. It is probable that he very soon returned to London, where rumour stated that he wrote a series of articles in defence of the Grenville administration, which appeared in an evening paper, and that these were the reasons of his receiving a pension of 1847. per annum, out of the Scotch excise. This was made up to 300l. per annum, subsequently by Lord Melbourne's ministry. The pension could hardly have been conferred for any such service as that above stated. The knowledge of his pecuniary circumstances, and his being the foremost poet of that day in merit, his Whig principles, and personal knowledge of some of the most distinguished of the party, are sufficient to account for the grant which took place in October, 1806. The intentions of Fox in the matter being carried out by his successors. Campbell projected the publication of a volume upon some subject in -1805. What it was is uncertain. This is evident from the following letter of the historian of Leo X. Dr. Currie had died of consumption on the 31st of August in that year, aged fifty. He had gone to Devonshire for the establishment of his health, in a milder climate than that of Lancashire. Roscoe, with that consideration and kindness which stamped true nobility upon his character, hearing the rumour that Campbell was about to publish again immediately, and knowing that Dr. Currie's death deprived him of a useful and zealous friend in Liverpool, wrote him the following letter, so worthy of himself, with which I am favoured from Mr. Roscoe's existing correspondence. "My dear sir, "The common sympathy and sorrow which I am sure we both of us feel for the loss of our late ever-lamented friend Dr. Currie, would be a sufficient apology for this intrusion, even if we were greater strangers to each other than I have the happiness to think we are. On the death of our friend nothing is more soothing to our feelings, and indeed more natural, than to turn towards those whom they have respected and loved, and who have returned the friendship with equal warmth; and that he ever regarded you with affectionate kindness is not less certain than that you now deeply lament his most unfortunate, and I may add, untimely loss. Allow me, then, my dear sir, to say, that amidst these ravages of death and warnings of mortality, I feel myself bound, by an additional tie to those who once partook with me in the society and friendship of him who is no more, and that although the loss of one beloved friend has occasioned a void in the bosom which can never be supplied, yet nothing can afford me more pleasure than an interchange of good offices and of mutual kindness and affection with those whom he esteemed and loved. If in this view I should be fortunate enough to meet your own sentiments, the only proof I shall at present ask of it is, that you will allow me to take that interest in the success of your labours which they so eminently deserve, and to render you the same services, as respecting the volume which our excellent young friend Mr. Wallace Currie informs me you shortly intend to publish, as his father did respecting your last, and which he would have repeated with so much pleasure had he still survived. "Favour me, then, with your plan of publication, and such particulars as you may think necessary, and be assured, the deserved celebrity of your name and the actual merit of your writings, will render it not only an easy, but a grateful task to me to furnish you with the suffrages of many of my friends, for whom pecuniarily I will be answerable, and whose payments I will with the greatest pleasure anticipate. "If in this communication I have ventured too far on the presumption, either on the grounds of our personal acquaintance, or on those I have before stated, let me at least hope to stand excused, and it shall be sufficient for me to write with such influence as I may obtain in the general list of your admirers and friends who by their public approbation of your writings will, instead of honouring you, do honour to themselves. "I am, my dear sir, "Most truly and invariably yours, "Allerton, 3rd of November, 1805. Campbell having taken up his residence at Sydenham after his marriage, composed there his " Annals of Great Britain, from the Accession of George III. to the peace of Amiens." This is a work almost unknown, nor had he himself a copy in his library. It seems to have fallen into neglect from the time of publication, for it bore about it nothing salient or striking that possessed attraction. The poet was not gifted with talent of the order necessary to success in that kind of literary labour; and the “annals” were little more than a dry catalogue of events chronologically arranged. HORACE SMITH'S POETICAL WORKS.* MR. HORACE SMITH is undoubtedly best known by his admirable prose fictions, but the collection now first made of his poetical works, will insure to their author a well-merited reputation, as an able, graceful, and, above all, a natural poet. Remarkable for variety in style and manner as also in subject, replete with evidences of a thoughtful mind and gentle spirit, and tinctured by a strong tendency to the humorous, still the distinctive traits of Mr. H. Smith's poetry are the natural and the simple; at the same time that a generous and liberal tone, and a pervading moral sentiment lend additional charms to his thoroughly unaffected and gentlemanly language. Most of the poems included in these volumes must be familiar to the readers of the New Monthly Magazine, but we shall make a few extracts, to bear out what we have said above; and first, as characteristic of the man, shall quote his idea of "Moral Cosmetics." The common idea of the infelicity of poets is not confirmed either by the worldly circumstances, nor the habits of thought and feeling of Mr. Horace Smith. "And he writes poetry, too," exclaimed Shelley, his voice rising in a fervour of astonishment; "he writes poetry and pastoral dramas, and yet knows how to make money, and does make it, and is still generous." The "Bard's Song to his Daughter" is full of tenderness and beauty. O daughter dear, my darling child, Prop of my mortal pilgrimage, Through thee a second prospect opes Backward thou lead'st me to the bowers gave; While forward still thou strewest flowers *The Poetical Works of Horace Smith, one of the authors of "Rejected Addresses." Now first collected, in 2 vols. Henry Colburn. Yes, Daughter, when this tongue is mute This heart is dust-these eyes are closed, And thou art singing to thy lute Some stanza by thy sire composed, Then to their memories will throng The cheerful page, the lively song, The woodland walk, or festive mirth; Such now bedew my cheek-but mine Can only be by tears express'd, We would gladly have quoted the brief but exquisite versification of "An Apologue on Man," from Dr. Sheridan, as also verses deprecatory of the shutting up of churches on all except Sundays, and the sensible stanzas on a "Libelled Benefactor," but must pass to a sonnet, in the management of which much classical taste and feeling is exhibited. It is written "On the Statue of a Piping Faun." And now for a brief illustration of the humorous. From such now familiar stories as "The Gouty Merchant and the Stranger," and "The Two Bracelets," let us select "The Englishman in France." A Frenchman seeing, as he walk'd, A friend on t'other side the street, Cried "Hem !" exactly as there stalk'd An Englishman along the road; One of those Johnny Raws we meet In every sea-port town abroad, Prepared to take and give offence Partly, perhaps, because they speak About as much of French as Greek, And partly from the want of sense. The Briton thought this exclamation 66 Eyeing the querist with his glass, Pourquoi vous passe quand moi dire 'Hem ?" " Happy are we in feeling that so much talent and versatility, and so much correct feeling and pleasant philanthropy, still sends forth contributions which are among the most valued in the New Monthly Magazine, for in the words of the great poet before quoted, and who publicly expressed his regard for Mr. Smith Wit and sense, Virtue and human knowledge, all that might Are all combined in H. S. |