ET. 51.]

THIRD RECTORSHIP CAMPBELL CLUB.

217

ation; whilst in office I ought to have no conclave of friends. For a moment it cannot enter into your kind hearts, that I have told you all this from any lack of affection; for, on the contrary, I feel, if possible, more attached to you individually, from the offer; and with unceasing regard I remain, my dear constituents, your friend, T. CAMPBELL."

On the eve of his return to Glasgow he writes:

"March 30th.-I was preparing, my dear cousin, to send you a jocular answer, saying that a poor dependent relation dares not refuse your hospitality! But, reperusing your affectionate letter, I am induced to tell you, with a feeling of seriousness, that it will do me much good to be with you in Glasgow; and that I really wished, what I half foresaw, that you would not accept my excuse. I think it will also do my son good,

and, to say the truth, I shall be saved, I believe, one more absurd report that might have been got up, if I were not to accept your renewed hospitality-namely, that some difference or coolness had sprung up between us!

"One of my objects in writing to you now is, that you will flatly and strongly deny another absurd rumor at present circulated, viz.-that I am going to be married! There is not a word or vestige of truth in the report.

"I have put a stop to the intention of the more attached students, for the present, to found a Campbell Club.' I must be, whilst I am Rector, the Rector of all, and not of a Club; but the dear good boys had a kind intention; and I love them not the less for my opposing it.

"I think you will be pleased to hear that Mrs. Siddons is engaged in writing a series of letters, containing the reminiscences of her whole life, which she intends to bequeath to me, as the materials for my writing her life. She has already shown me one long and most interesting letter, that took an hour in reading. T. C."

On the 12th of April, Campbell was again at his post in Glasgow. During his stay, the Senate of the University met daily; the claims of the Students were discussed, and privileges conceded, with access to the Museum, and the College Library. A meeting of his Constituents was then held, and thanks were VOL. II.- -10

voted to the Lord Rector for the success with which he had advocated their rights. Upon the whole, he says, "I finished my business more amicably than I had reason to expect:" but "on Friday," he adds, "I received so distressing a letter from Mrs. Stewart that I started immediately for Kinniel." On arriving in Edinburgh he writes:-"I have dined with Sir James Moncrieff-my intended successor to the Rectorship, and spent a delicious evening with the Alisons, putting M.. all our old quarrels and coquetteries."

in mind of

In the second week of May, Campbell returned to London, and wrote the "Lines to Julia M. ..," the only piece of this year which he would consent to publish. Among his MSS., however, I find a poem of more than two hundred lines--a Rhenish story with the description of a tournament-but which the author, I am told, immediately threw aside after reading a similar description in "Ivanhoe." As the mere fact of its rejection gives interest to the poem, a specimen will be given hereafter. In the meantime we return to his

letters:

"LONDON, June 14, 1829.

"A misfortune has overtaken me in being sentenced to 'pass sentence' on my fellow creatures, by my office of grand juryman! It is not yet over, though the foreman has kindly released me on particular days; during the rest, I have been confined in the Court, at Clerkenwell, six or seven hours every day; and obliged, on getting home at six, to work on my papers till midnight, and then start at six in the morning-but ill refreshed with sleep. The jury business is very trying; it suffers neither the judgment nor sympathy to repose a moment. The lives, or fortunes, of hundreds are brought into discussion. One is distracted between a sense of duty to the public, and commiseration for infatuated guilty creatures, impelled to crimes

"The office of Lord Rector, originally instituted for the protection of the rights of Students, had become a sinecure honor. From time immemorial, Campbell's predecessors had contented themselves with coming down for a few days to Glasgow, and making a speech at their installation. The Poet set the first example of a Lord Rector attending, with scrupulous punctuality, to the duties of his office, and spending several weeks in examining the statutes, accounts, and whole management of the University."-Notes.

This must have been in 1819-20;-the poem may therefore have been written a year or two before that date.

THIRD RECTORSHIP-RETURN TO LONDON.

219

ET. 51.] from ignorance and poverty. I have given my voice, as most of my fellow-jurors, rather on the side of stern law, than compassion; for, whatever inclination to mercy we may have in the case of delinquents, the truth always recurs to one's mind, that mercy is due also to the public; that we are bound to protect them from the nuisance of offenders.

“We had a very affecting scene when the brother of the gentleman, who was literally murdered by an execrable quack, gave his evidence, and with difficulty could deliver it. Sorry am I to say, that we could indict only for manslaughter, though he deserves to be impaled. Now and then, we had diverting scenes:-A little boy of eleven was indicted for stealing two pounds of pickled pork, and had been imprisoned four months! There was a hearty laugh at the expense of the prosecutor, a fat, portly butcher, who came in with as much importance, as if he had been robbed of a casket of jewels. Another case was stealing two pounds of black puddings! Here I spoke vehemently for throwing out the bill; and acknowledged to my brother-jurymen, that I had too deep a sympathy with any lover of black puddings, ever to condemn him for stealing them! The black-pudding-bill was accordingly rejected. Next we had a tall Yorkshire boor, who indicted a Loonon maun, as he called him, for robbing him of a sovereign. I was gaw'n,' he said, 'please your worships, alang the Regent's Park, when the prisoner comes up and ax'd me, an I knawed Mr. Tomkins, who keeps the Yorkshire Stingo? I knaws nothing of nouther him ner thee, says I. With that the Loonon chap whops out a sovereign and says I wager this that thee dost knaw him. So with that, your worships, A puts my hand i' my pocket, and whops out another sovereign, and puts it down on a bench that was by us; when, what do you think, your worships, the chap maks a grab at them both, and takes to his heels; and when A pursued him, A was obliged to stop for the folks laughin' at me.' The jury was so cruel as to laugh at him also, and dis

missed the indictment."

*

Campbell had now completed his arrangements for a change of domicile; and having parted with his house in Seymourstreet West, took the lease of another, a much larger one, in Middle Scotland-yard, Whitehall, which he was to enter at Midsummer. In making this change, he acted upon the sug gestions of an amiable and accomplished friend, deeply interest

ed in his welfare, and destined, as he fondly imagined, to "restore him to the happiness of married life." It was the opinion of all, mutually acquainted with the parties, that Campbell was taking a most prudent and well-considered step. The lady was a woman of good family and fortune, and endowed with those virtues which give sanctity and security to the domestic hearth.* In the meantime, with a Journal to edit-a "house to furnish -a "club to organize"-the Rector was fully occupied. At length, on obtaining the "Lease," he says:

"June. Write to me, after Monday week, in Middle Scotland-yard—I am not sorry, on the whole, for the change of place; for this Seymour-street is a most uncentral situation, so that I am obliged to you for the suggestion of changing my domicile." * *

In another letter, he expresses much painful anxiety regarding his son; he has parties to reconcile-literary questions to decide, and some opponents to confute. He has also received

notice of a sudden death in his family, and writes-

"July 25th.—I scarcely know, my dearest sister, how to offer you a brother's consolation on the melancholy event that has disposed of our poor Elizabeth.f To our excellent medical friend, Dr. Borthwick, I shall for life hold myself gratefully bound for all his attention to you."

Then turning to his favorite project, he adds :—

"I am at present forming a Literary Society in London, which, on my removal to a more central house, will place me in more frequent intercourse with my friends and acquaintance, thereby giving me a better chance of being successful in your recommendations. To this society I also look forward as a means of relieving the solitude to which circumstances of late

* In his friendships, Campbell has left a rare example of constancy; in his loves, he has been playfully charged with being "rather volatile," and even confesses that, "like wax

"Poets' fancies are a little

Disposed to heat and cool (they say,)

By turns impressible and brittle."-POEMS, p. 201. + His youngest sister, who died near Edinburgh, aged 64. See Introductory Chapter, Vol. I., page 40.

Over this Society Campbell had the honor to preside until his departure to Boulogne, in 1843; but unhappily it did not long survive the

founder.

ET. 52.]

NEW HOUSE-ILL HEATLH.

221

have too often condemned me. We have got some excellent members-Sir Francis Freeling, Sir Gore Ouseley, and our late Persian ambassador, with several other distinguished men; and expect in all to reckon 400 associates. We shall have a house of meeting with proper servants. The principal society I have seen of late has been that of the M.'s; but I am sorry to say that they also, dear souls, have had their trials. I wish I could see you again, my dearest sister; and I will do so, if I can get away from the New Monthly.' Meanwhile I desire to live in your kind remembrance; and believe that, although I am not by you, to soothe your sufferings, my heart takes a deep interest in you, and offers up sincere prayers to Heaven for the mitigation of your sorrows. I have just parted with Miss

who, with tears in her eyes, sends you her best love. bless you.

*

*

God

T. C."

During the ensuing month the Poet's mind was engrossed by the cares of "flitting," "editing," "composing," the consequence of which was a return of the malady to which he was more or less subject through life. In the midst of his household arrangements he writes to Mr. Tennent :—

"MIDDLE SCOTLAND YARD, Sept. 30, 1829.

"Your letter has been lying for me several days at Colburn's, where I have not happened to call since I got into my new domicile, which is still, I am sorry to say, a scene of confusion, with carpets unlaid, and book-shelves under the hammer of carpenters, who are fixing them to my new and spacious study. All this time I am rather an invalid, and ought now to be stretched on a sofa; but, with one plague or another, I am obliged to trudge about, and superintend the process of furniture fixing.

'My last attack has left me a different man from what you saw me last May, when I could work from six to twelve. Now I am obliged to give up hard study, and manage nothing but the Journal. The reason is, when I study long, I am exhausted, and require wine or some stimulus to refresh me at the end of it; but anything stronger than water is now poison to me. I am forced even to starve, in point of diet, in order to keep free from pain; for a hearty meal puts me into agonies of sufferings; and like Lewis Cornaro, I rise from dinner as hungry as I sat down. This likes me not: I lose flesh, and feel so habitually relaxed, that I pass the evening merely in conversation.