ÆT. 52. ADDRESS TO THE CAMPBELL CLUB. 227 you! Though my bodily presence is not with you, my heart and soul are in the very midst of your festivity. I should be glad to pay you a visit soon. If my health did not still require the greatest caution, and management; and if my private avocations did not require almost incessant attention. When there was but a question about your rights and interests, I flew, at the call of duty, to the post of honor; but now, that my personal gratification could alone be served, I am obliged to consider difficulties. "I feel, as I ought to feel, the honor which you do me in your association bearing my name. Let me not seem, however, to misunderstand the compliment; it is paid to the principles which I profess in common with you, and will continue to do me credit only in proportion as I am consistent, and assiduous, in the maintenance of those principles; which though (as they concern us) they are limited to the interests of a college, are, nevertheless, in their abstract nature, applicable to the whole rights and interests of mankind. I promise you fidelity to those principles, and to make a conscientious use of that influence on the minds of the youth of our Alma Mater, which you afford me, by the place I hold in your Association. Many men may attach little consequence to the honor which you have done me; but I attach a great deal. Fletcher of Saltoun said-Let others make the laws of a country, if you give me power to make their national ballads. But I say-give me an influence, more or less, on the young hearts of a country-let me have access to their honest ratiocination; and I will leave you to make their old laws and old ballads what you will. "Let it not seem pedantic that I take my leave of you in the words of a beautiful, though modern, Latin poet : Et vos jucundi, carissima turba, sodales Mens quibus nostra non aliena fuit, Vivite felices! dum me tenet altera tellus; The following note to Mrs. R. Arkwright, whose musical genius had given additional "harmony even to his best poetry," is very characteristic : "DEAR MADAM, "MIDDLE SCOTLAND YARD, Dec. 10, 1829. "One who had your excellent father among the very first encouragers of his first published poem, and who is still honored by the friendship of your family, cannot reply to your note in the formal third person. There are no verses of mine that I shall not think the better of, for their being selected by you as the subjects of musical composition. I feel this, however, like the Muse of Poetry sending her kind compliments to her sister muse. If I should at any time-and let me hope the time will sooner or later come-fulfil my intention of seeing a country so interesting as Derbyshire, it will add no slight zest to my pleasure, to come and pay my respects to you. Already it heightens, in anticipation, my association with the scenery, to describe to you, in return for your pointing them out to me, the finest views of the Peak.* "At present I am doing penance for my expired Rectorship in Glasgow, by finding myself obliged to make up my leeway in London, after so many journeys out of it, and to live like a knight of industry. But still I look forward to taking a summer ramble into Derbyshire, and hearing my own 'Roland' sung, as only one can sing him. "I rejoice to perceive that Mrs. Hemans is one of your favorite poets. My praise of her, little as she needs it, is at least disinterested; but she seems to me a genius singularly fitted for the accompaniment of your graceful and noble musical powers. She may not be the boldest and deepest of female geniuses, though the richness of her vein is very sterling; but, to my taste, she is the most elegant (lyric) poetess that England has produced. I hope you are personally acquainted with her, which, I am sorry to say, I am not. "The length of my letter will possibly teach you to be more cautious in future of sending civil notes, that require an answer, to old and prolix poets of fifty. But you may comfort yourself by reflecting, that you could not have well foreseen what claims of acquaintance, founded on the Pleasures of Memory, the author of the Pleasures of Hope had to prefer to you. Meanwhile let me beg pardon for having so long imposed on your patience, and make this apology-that, as your father was the first who rejoiced my ear by commending the beginning of my first poem; so I have a superstitious joy in thanking his daughter for setting its conclusion to music. With very sincere respect, "T. C." * *The anecdote that follows in the letter has been aleady given, vol. 1. page 219. See Vol. I., page 219. ÆT. 52.] SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE. 229 The opening of this year was clouded by the death of Sir Thomas Lawrence, with whom Campbell had lived on terms of friendly intimacy for more than twenty years. The kindness and generosity of the painter to his less prosperous friend, had been often manifested in acts, to which the Poet has borne grateful testimony. The fall of such a man presented a very fit subject for biography; and from their long attachment and congenial tastes, a life of Lawrence, by Campbell, was expected to present features of interest which, perhaps, no other pen could so well delineate; and, in the pleasing hope of performing at once a public and private duty, Campbell set himself seriously to the task. By the private friends and family connexions of Lawrence, materials were speedily furnished; and his letters of this period are filled with accounts of his applications, and the promptitude with which they had been answered. Why, after a few months, the work was abandoned, I have not ascertained; it is only certain that, after an auspicious commencement, the task was delegated to his friend, the late Mr. D. E. Williams, of whose literary talents Campbell entertained a high opinion. It seems very probable that, in declining this task, he was swayed by a promise given to Mrs. Siddons, with the sad prospect of being soon called upon for its fulfilment for at this period her health had become more feeble and precarious. In proof of the determination, however, with which the Poet undertook his friend's biography, he resolved to confine himself to his chambers; and neither to pay, nor receive visits, until the task was completed. The better to carry out this resolution, he had a lithographed notice sent round to his friends, and fastened to the door of his study. This novel method of preventing intrusion, occasioned much harmless mirth at the time; but solitude becoming irksome, the document remained only a very few days in force; and the framer of the law became its first transgressor. To his associate in the "Life," he thus traces the plan— * *The following is a copy of the circular :-- "(Circular.) Mr. Campbell being now engaged in the task of writing a life of Sir Thomas Lawrence, as well as in other literary avocations, is desirous to have his time and attention left as undistracted as possible from those objects. He therefore requests his friends not to send him any notes that may require answers: unless on cases of the utmost importance, and on subjects connected with the life of Lawrence. Mr. Reading, at the Literary Union Club House, Regent-street, will receive communications, which it may be necessary to make to Mr. C. respecting either the Literary Union, or the New Monthly Magazine: and Mr. Campbell is obliged to request leave for this retirement from his ordinary intercourse with his CHAPTER IX. CLOSE OF RECTORSHIP. THE third year's Rectorship, which had been pronounced "contrary to the statutes and usages of the University,"* and which Campbell accepted with some reluctance, had now expired. On retiring from office he carried with him the respect and gratitude of his constituents; with the pleasing consciousness, on his own part, of having accomplished much good. He had reformed abuses, restored rights, improved the discipline, stimulated the genius, and fostered a spirit of intellectual inquiry in every class of the University. These advantages were not secured without many sacrifices. Money and time-and to him time was fortune were unsparingly devoted to the cause in hand. 66 All his official duties he performed in person, and with a zeal and ability which increased, as the difficulties increased by which the reforms he had labored to introduce, were at first opposed." Of the principal advantages which he had the happiness to revive, and secure for the benefit of the students, some account will be found in the Appendix. The following address from the ex-Rector to "the Campbell Club" was read at their first anniversary :— "MY DEAR FRIENDS, "LONDON, Dec. 4, 1829. "When this is read to you, you will be met in full assembly to commemorate the institution of your Association, and to renew your vows to its principles :-the Elective Franchise; the Rights of Students; and the Interests of our Alma Mater. "Your objects are honorable and useful; let them be kept alive in your minds, and they will be a legacy to future students, and to succeeding generations. Joy and harmony be among The third year was said to be "illegal, because contrary to the statutes and usage of the University; but care was taken not to mention any law which it broke. The protest was signed by the Principal, and six of the Professors." ET. 52.] ADDRESS TO THE CAMPBELL CLUB. 227 you! Though my bodily presence is not with you, my heart and soul are in the very midst of your festivity. I should be glad to pay you a visit soon. If my health did not still require the greatest caution, and management; and if my private avocations did not require almost incessant attention. When there was but a question about your rights and interests, I flew, at the call of duty, to the post of honor; but now, that my personal gratification could alone be served, I am obliged to consider difficulties. "I feel, as I ought to feel, the honor which you do me in your association bearing my name. Let me not seem, however, to misunderstand the compliment; it is paid to the principles which I profess in common with you, and will continue to do me credit only in proportion as I am consistent, and assiduous, in the maintenance of those principles; which though (as they concern us) they are limited to the interests of a college, are, nevertheless, in their abstract nature, applicable to the whole rights and interests of mankind. I promise you fidelity to those principles, and to make a conscientious use of that influence on the minds of the youth of our Alma Mater, which you afford me, by the place I hold in your Association. Many men may attach little consequence to the honor which you have done me; but I attach a great deal. Fletcher of Saltoun said-Let others make the laws of a country, if you give me power to make their national ballads. But I say-give me an influence, more or less, on the young hearts of a country-let me have access to their honest ratiocination; and I will leave you to make their old laws and old ballads what you will. "Let it not seem pedantic that I take my leave of you in the words of a beautiful, though modern, Latin poet : The following note to Mrs. R. Arkwright, whose musical genius had given additional "harmony even to his best poetry," is very characteristic : "DEAR MADAM, "MIDDLE SCOTLAND YARD, Dec. 10, 1829. first "One who had your excellent father among the very encouragers of his first published poem, and who is still honored |