The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-07-30
From the Boston Atlas.
From the Boston Atlas.
PEN AND INK SKETCHES OF POPULAR
PERSONS AND PLACES.
rosMopOI ITAN
BY A COSMOPOLITAN.
MEMORIES OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.

MEMORIES OF THOMAS CAMPBELL
During the last few years, some of the most gifted
children Of genius have gone down to darkness and
the worm. Southey, Cunningham, Hood Miss
Landon, Mrs Holland, Mrs. James Gray, Lehman
Blanchard, and others, have laid aside their pens
forever and those melancholy words, "the late, y
are associated with their honored names Not the
least distinguished among the lustrious dead, was
he whose stands at the head of this arcle or,
to slightly alter one of his own verses, which oc-
ours in the valedctory stanzns to one of Engand's
greatest actors
Fair classic dome,
Refined and richly graced,
Our Campbelrs spirit was the home
Ofgenius and oftaste;
Taste like the silent diaPs power
That, when supernal light is given,
Could measure Inspirations hour,
And tell its height in heaven"
To the world of literature, SO far as the bodily
presence and the later works of the poet con-
cerned, Campbell had long been "lost man, His
last illusions were unworthy of his splendid genius
and, unhappily, the temple in which that genius
dwet became defaced, ere it fell His sun went
down behind cloud; but while the eye pensively
gazed on the mists, inged, as they were, with de
parting glory, memory reverted to the brightness OF
its rising and the calm spendor of its meridian.
1t is almost with fear and trembling that am
about to pen few recoections OF this highly gifted
man. Since his death, many notices of him have
appeared, in various periodicals. BY some writers
he has been lauded as ifhe had been
THAT faultess monster which the world ne FER saw"
BY Others his memory has been assaied, and the
feelings of those who loved him outraged. To this
latter class of writer's may be referred the author OF
some personal Recollectior.s of Thomas Camp
bell" which have recently appeared in the Dublin
University Magazine, and have been republished in
this country.
envy not the feelings of the writer of those arti-
cles. He could have been friend of the poet
thus to chronicle his querulous, and even basphe.
,xxIn ii L.
clares Campbell to have made were in reality, ut
tered Admitting the writer of these articles to have
divulged the truth only he has shown little taste
and less kindness, in holding up his departed friend
TO the contempt of the public. Unkind things which
had been said of contemporaries, especially in conf
Dental conversation, should have been sacred, and
raked up, to wound the feelings of survivors, as
in the case Of Allan Cunningham, whose son Peter
will i'll relish the (sad to be) remark of Campbell
that "honest Allan" was SHE most Internal liar thai
erer len Scotland" No, no; il Campbell had faults
land that he had, all the world knows,) it would
surely have been better for those who honored
with his acquaintance to leave them in his grave, OF
with his God, than to trumpet them forth, when
his heart and flesh had failed and he crested in
hope"
Not that would by any means indulge, when
speaking of departed genius, in fusome praise in
discriminate laadstion The very errors Of great men
may serve as beacons to warn others off the reefs
and rocks on which they split; but assuredy no
good end can be served by chronicling scandal and
recording title-tattle. That the few last years OF
Campbell's life were unworthy spent, is too noto-
rious a fact to be even questioned Every one who
moved at all in literary circles was well aware thai
melancholy change had come over him---that the
fine gold of his polished mind had been dimmed by
it is useless to conceal it--habitua intemperance
but charity might have taught survivors to forget
what the poet said and did when he was not him.
self; and gratitude for the delight afforded by his
lxyrtCo tunf 81.
bearance over his imperfections.
No sketch Of Thomas Campbell could be lfe-like
If this melancholy failing of the poet not advert
ed to; and it is perhaps, well that it should not bt
CLOSED over. Unhappiy, SO happened Gas it does
indeed, in most cases that when he had tarried toe
long at the wine" Campbell was the very opposite
of himself in his right mind and it is melancholy t.
know that this state of things too often the case
for he was, in great measure, what is called soil
tary drnker Unlike Burns, who only sought tn,
cup in society, or poor Maginn, or Lamb, who swal
lowed their wine only in admiring circles Campbell
| moodily sought stimulus when alone; and frequent
ly, before dinner, he might be in maudn stat
of inebriety Such facts as these stated during
Csmpbes lifetime in the public prints and are Sc
notorious, that every literary man in London, ant
hundreds of others, are cognizant Of them there
fore am not invading the sanctty Of the grave by
referring to them
| His being blackhalled at the "Garrick, y too il
consequence VI uSqucHuy SoiHS W Tic CiuU
house in state Of intoxication, is notorious fact
and the London Times did not hesitate to declare
that his speech at one of the literary fund dinner
could only have been made by him when ''thre
sheets in the wind" Some gentlemen, also, from
q believe) the city Of Boston, who anticipated, will
great pleasure, seeing the author of the pleasure
Of Hope" when they met him at a convention il
London had all the fine ideas of the polished poe
dispeed by the sight Of that poet, who came to tn
meeting IN miserable plight, from having studie'
| in what Sergeant Tafourd has styled s'the tips,
school," In the cases of many, (Maginn, for in
stance,) Coleridges remark, that 'ssome men are lik
musical glasses-to produce their finest tones the,
must be continually kept wet" is partially verified
With Campbell, alcoholic drinks produced effects di
recty the reverse; they rendered him maudlin, imbe
Gle, and ridiculous.
But, leaving this painful portion of the subject
which will not if possible, revert--let me picture
as well as may be, the man. | have seen hin
scores of times, and have not unfrequently been il
his company. The conversations | have had wit
him, TO which am about to refer, held at ail
ferent times and do not pretend to relate them i
the order in which they occurred As they occu
to my mind, jot them down without regard t
method or arrangement--as is my custom, indeed
in all these sketches; and the reader should bea
; this IN mind, while perusing them. As ] have be
fore hlnted make no pretensions to style in thes
} desultory articles. only talk on paper.
j first saw Campbell on the occasion of a meetin
of the committee of the literary fund, at thei
rooms in Lincoln's Inn Fields. At that time wa
comparatively stranger in London; and had &C
companied literary friend to the meeting, for tn
purpose of seeing a few of the literary lions Whe
the bard Of "Hope" was pointed out to me, was no
little disappointed; for from the portraits of hin
by Lawrence and Raeburn, 1 had imagined a tal
fine, aristocratic-looking man. He was directly III
reverse; and more unpoetic seeming personae
my eyes never rested upon. The celebrated ma
was thin and meagre-faced--the skin Of his visag
4 being wrinked and sallow. In his eyes-whic
Nere Of dull gray color--there was little specule
ton. The eyebrows were rather bushy, an
streaked with long gray hairs, which stood stubbi
out from the rest His forehead was broad and we
Marked but by no means high; and brown wig
the only thing about his person which seemed I
have had any attention paid to il, surmounted i
Campbels mouth had singuarly unpleasant ex
preston about it. II was Informed, and the lip
were thin and pale. His stature was low and hi
figure slender and pinched up. He seemed TO b
lpsrpetuslly cold. His dress consisted Of brigh