ET. 66.] BOULOGNE-SOCIETY. 443 should have been sadly mortified; for, in the whole long catalogue of English books, there was no mention of my Poems !" After giving an account of the apartments-rate of living, &c., he continues: "We always dine at the table-d'hôte, where the company is small and very respectable-nothing less will serve us than having for one of our messmates-whom do you think? Alexander, Prince de Gonzaga and Duke of Mantua!' the descendant of Charlemagne, and the son of a Princess Esterhazy! It is true the Austrians took his territory from him, and will not give it him back-in spite of his repeated protestations. No great wonder, for he served under Napoleon, and fought at the head of his cavalry in Spain.* . . . . He is a fine stout soldier-like man, with nothing in his appearance like that of a discrowned Prince. I like Boulogne very much only it is preposterously cold for the season. T. C." July 27th. In another letter to a friend at Sydenham, he adverts with much satisfaction to the novelty of his positionthe society and amusements of Boulogne, with sketches of its public characters, and adds: "Now that I am in an ancient city, as old as the days of Julius Cæsar, with a history full of romantic truths-and still more romantic lies-you are perhaps shrinking at the prospect of my opening upon you a battery of antiquarian lore. Ah! mercy on you, dearest **, if I were inclined to be so cruel, I could send you scribble enough to make your eyes blind. But I know that you despise profane learning. As a modern place, Boulogne has no interesting history. There is a column, to be sure, called Napoleon's, erected in the middle of the ground on which his army was encamped; and which the column-that like a tall bully lifts its head and lies' says, was meant to invade England! There was no more intention to do so, than to invade the moon. "I have been so fortunate as to fall in with some agreeable English families here. Dr. Cumming-the son of a Professor Cumming-with whom I learnt my Hebrew alphabet at Glasgow-is a great resource to me. He is a younger man than myself, but looks nearly as old-just in order to keep me in countenance. "The Boulognese are much handsomer--or rather infinitely less ugly-than the people of any other part of France that I * It was an elder brother of this Prince (as he afterwards learnt) who served under Napoleon, and fell at the battle of Leipsic.—ED. have seen. I observe men, women, and children as good-looking as the average of the English-beautiful children, too!—I stopped yesterday to shake hands with a lovely child about six, a perfect model of Rubens' beauty. "A few days ago, I was shocked by an exhibition so revolting, that I should not relate it to you if there were not a circumstance in the case which, I think you will agree with me, curiously contrasts a trait of mercy with barbarity. I was induced to cross the square, near my hotel, and see a criminal exposed on a scaffold, chained to a post, with an iron collar round his neck. He looked steadfastly down. His crime was his sentence, to be exposed for an hour in this manner, and then to be imprisoned for life, with hard labor. The exposure of such a maniac on a pillory; instead of instantly burying him and the memory of his crime in Bedlam, was a relic of barbarity. But it struck me as a trait of modern humanity to learn that, as he was known to be wretchedly poor, there was an iron bowl handed round the scaffold, into which bits of money were thrown to him in charity. This was certainly better than 'pelting him with rotten eggs.' "One of my amusements is reading French aloud to my niece, an hour every day. She has a lady-teacher besides. "T. C." "July 28th. I thank you sincerely for your kind and distinctly informing letter. The packet of books came safely; but wo to me if a sealed letter had been found in it. I should have had to pay 57. This fine on every sealed letter that does not come by post, is hard upon the English, who are generally ignorant of it. But my packet was luckily watched by a 'disinterested gentleman,' who carries parcels out of the steamers, without troubling the Custom House; and he generously delivered it to me for the sum of one franc-a very kind act on the part of a gentleman who has a hole in his garment. "We continue to like Boulogne. It is a gay place, which has many public amusements; the opera and the Comedie,' as well as concerts and races. Plays are so popular (even on the Lord's Day!) that a pious priest lately concluded his sermon abruptly; observing that his congregation was not, as usually, sleepy, but too wide awake, and in a state of fidgety impatience; by saying, 'My dear flock-Mes chers frères! I beg pardon for ET. 66.] PURCHASES AN ANNUITY. 445 having detained you so long; but I will now finish, as I know that many of you are going to the Theatre !'* T. C." * "Aug. 22d.-Having come to London," he writes, "to get rid of my lease, I am in hopes that it is in a fair way of being adjusted:" and in another letter to Mr. Gray he says : The business in question obliges me to bring the best proof I can, that I am sixty-six years of age. ... I am sorry to trouble you; but it would settle the matter at once, if you would apply to the University for a sight of the date of my matriculation, when I must have been thirteen years old. If you cannot get a sight of this record, your own declaration that you have known me from my boyhood, and believe me to be of the age mentioned, would suffice. Have the goodness to write to this effect to John Travers, Esq., St. Swithin's Lane. T. C." The object for which this document was required, was an annuity. For certain reasons-all specified with deep feeling in one of his private letters-he had resolved to sink most of the principal, derived from his late sister, in the purchase of an annuity; and before leaving town, he actually paid to one of the public offices, for this purpose, the sum of 500l. Nothing could have been more injudicious. The dread of running through the principal' appears to have driven him to this step. He had calculated that, with the annuity thus purchased, the profits of his new edition, and his pension, he should be able to keep house without any farther deduction from the principal. But he formed a wrong estimate of his life, which, at the very time, was in a precarious state; and, by acting without advice, the money was lost. Of this, however, nothing transpired until after his death. In the meantime, his books and furniture were all packed up, to be forwarded by the steamer to Boulogne. Of the circumstances attending this laborious operation, he sent the following account to a friend at Sydenham :- "8, VICTORIA SQUARE, PIMLICO, LONDON, Sept. 10, 1843. "MY DEAREST FRIEND, "Day after day has elapsed, during which I have not *To W. Moxon, Esq., Barrister, &c. Here follow some very touching passages-all showing the excellence of the Poet's heart-but which, like many others of a similar kind, the Editor is not at liberty to publish. had the power of writing to you-owing to sheer fatigue. In removing to France, I wish to take no more books with me than I shall be likely to have occasion to consult; but, in order to select the books likely to be consulted, I must consult my whole library-and that has now become immense. Thank God, on Saturday last this part of my labor was accomplished with the assistance of my niece. "Three years ago, I sold off a thousand of my books, at a pitifully low price. Last week I got 221. for some 250 volumes -or about 2s. a volume-which was a fair price. I had, besides these, a lot of downright trashy books, which were not. worth cartage, or porterage. To dispose of these, I called a council extraordinary of my grocer-my tobacconist-my cheesemonger-and my buttermonger, to sell the printed lumber at so much a pound. Would you believe it? These purchasers were more insolent critics on my books, than even the second-hand booksellers! Neither the Edinburgh nor the Quarterly Reviews could treat books more cavalierly. "What will you give me, Mr. Snuffman, for this large bundle of duodecimos?-it weighs, I am sure, ten pounds.' 'Poh-pshaw-I would not give you a farthing, sir, for a thousand books of such trash!' And what is your objection to these poor books?' 'Why, sir, that there is not one of them has a leaf that will wrap up a quarter of an ounce of snuff!' At last the grocer-I suppose, sweeter tempered than the rest from his dealing in sweets-stepped up to my comfort, and laying his hand on a parcel of folio sermons-the most unreadable that were ever unread-Ha,' said he, 'here are some real good books!' 'Oh, yes,' I answered, most pious books!' 'Yes, indeed,' responded the grocer one leaf of them will wrap up a whole pound of raisins.' "Is it not humbling, my dearest friend, that we poets and preachers who are too sublime for vulgar understandings, and come to be sold as lumber should be thus contumeliously treated by buttermen and cheesemongers? that you "I was exceedingly glad to hear from Dr. Bstood the journey so well.. I keep my health, though my cheeks, perhaps, are not so blooming as they were; but my mind is springy and serene. . . . I shall write to you from Boulogne. Adieu! my best and dearest friend. The world contains none that loves you better than * * * T. C." ET. 66.] RESIDENCE AT BOUlogne. 447 In a few days after writing this letter, Campbell was again in Boulogne, where he had taken, and was now furnishing, an old mansion in the upper town. With the view of continuing his MS. work on ancient geography, he writes to Mr. W. Moxon,"I very much wish to have two books-Wilkinson's 'Manners and Customs of Ancient Egypt;' the other, Wilkinson on 'Egyptian Agriculture.' As I wish to put you to as little unnecessary expense as possible on my account, I will immediately, on receiving notice that you have got these books, remit you the price of them;" thus evincing his characteristic punctuality, and indicating the subject which was now to occupy his mind and pen. His next letter, addressed to me from his new house, evinces the same cheerful tone, which he maintained to the very last: "BOULOGNE, RUE ST. JEAN, 14th October, 1843. "MY DEAR BEATTIE, "I have been here a good number of days, but the business of putting down carpets and putting up shelves of books has so much beset me, as to make me a bad correspondent. I send you my address, that I may have the pleasure of hearing from you. Do send me all your news, and, like a good Christian, return good for evil; that is, send me one of your own delightful letters in return for one of my dull ones. "One of my chief objects in coming to this place was that of being able to educate my niece at a moderate expense, and to live, upon the whole, cheaper. In this I have not been disappointed. Living here is dearer than generally in France, but cheaper than in London by far. I should say that 2007. will go as far here as 3007. in England, or at least in London. With regard to the climate, I must speak respectfully of it, lest it should think me ungrateful. It agrees with me very well. It is, deservedly I think, reckoned about the best in Europe; but pray let it be between ourselves, and don't let the climate know what I have said of it.-It is a keen, cold climate at present. These equinoctial winds, which I had the start of but by a few days, and which I dreaded so much, seem resolved to have their revenge upon me, even on terra-firma. The land is firm enough, but the equinoctials have blown so vehemently, that I have been sometimes afraid of being carried up to heaven, like Romulus, in a whirlwind, whilst walking the streets. "I have taken a house unfurnished, at 387. a year, taxes in |