"THE TREE WILL WITHER LONG BEFORE IT FALL!"-BYRON. THOMAS CAMPBELL. 99 THE HOMEWARD-BOUND SHIP. |ES—she is ours—a home-returning bark— Blow fair, thou breeze!—she anchors ere the dark. How gloriously her gallant course she goes! [From "The Corsair," canto i., 3.1 "TIS STRANGE, BUT TRUE; FOR TRUTH IS ALWAYS STRANGE, STRANGER THAN FICTION."-GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON. "WERE THINGS BUT ONLY CALLED BY THEIR RIGHT NAME, CAESAR HIMSELF WOULD BE ASHAMED OF FAME."-BYRON. Thomas Campbell. ["WHAT," remarks Professor Wilson-" what shall we say of the 'Pleasures of Hope'? That the harp from which that music breathed was an Æolian harp, placed in the window of a high hall, to catch airs from heaven when heaven was glad, as well she might be with such moon and such stars, and streaming half the region with a magnificent aurora borealis. Now the music deepens into a majestic march-now it swells into a holy hymn—and now it dies away, elegiac-like, as if mourning over a tomb. Vague, indefinite, uncertain, dream-like, and visionary all; but never else than beautiful; and ever and anon, we know not why, sublime. It ceases in the hush of night-and we awaken as if from a dream. Is it not even so? In his youth, Campbell lived where 'distant isles could hear the loud Corbrechtan roar;' and sometimes his poetry is like that whirlpool-the sound as of the wheels of many chariots. Yes, happy was it for him that he had liberty to roam along the many-based, hollow-rumbling western coast of that unaccountable county, Argyllshire. The sea-roar cultivated his naturally fine musical ear, and it sank too into his heart. Hence is his prime poem bright with hope, as is the sunny sea, when sailors' sweethearts on the shore are looking out for ships; and from a foreign station down comes the fleet before the wind, and the very shells beneath their footsteps seem to sing for joy. As for 'Gertrude of Wyoming,' we love her as if she were our own only daughter-filling our life with bliss, and then leaving it desolate. "THE BARS SURVIVE THE CAPTIVE THEY ENTHRALL."-BYRON. "CAN WISDOM LEND, WITH ALL HER HEAVENLY POWER, THE PLEDGE OF JOY'S ANTICIPATED POWER?"-CAMPBELL. SONG IS BUT THE ELOQUENCE OF TRUTH."-THOMAS CAMPBELL. Even now we see her ghost gliding through those giant woods! As for 'That man may not hide what God would reveal!' The Navy owes much to 'Ye Mariners of England!' Sheer hulks often Thomas Campbell, the author of these admirable poems, was born in Glasgow, July 27, 1777. He received a good education, and won distinction at the university of his native city. After a residence of some years among the romantic scenery of the Western Highlands, he repaired to Edinburgh and entered upon the life of a man of letters. In April 1797 appeared his "Pleasures of Hope," and he sprang at once into popularity and fame. Four editions were called for in a twelvemonth, and every reader was enchanted by its sparkle and its glow, its vivid descriptions, musical language, and generous sentiments. Campbell afterwards visited the Continent, and on the Danube and the Elbe wrote some of his deathless lyrics, those "perfect chrysolites" which will perpetuate to all time his renown as a poet. "Lochiel's Warning" and "Hohenlinden " were written in 1802. In 1803 Campbell returned to England, and soon afterwards received a pension from Government in acknowledgment of his services as the national Tyrtæus. In 1809 appeared his "Gertrude of Wyoming." From 1820 to 1830 he edited the New Monthly Magazine, to which he contributed some of his finest ballads. In 1819 he gave to the world his "Specimens of the British Poets," which are interspersed with critical disquisitions of great eloquence and discrimination. "Theodric, and other Poems," appeared in 1824. Thomas Campbell died at Boulogne, on the 15th of June 1844. His remains were carried to England, and interred in Westminster Abbey. In our English poetry he may be considered the lineal successor of Gray, whom, however, he surpassed in depth of pathos, in earnestness of feeling, and vividness of description.] AH, NO! SHE DARKLY SEES THE FATE OF MAN; HER DIM HORIZON BOUNDED TO A SPAN."-THOMAS CAMPBELL. THE ATHEIST'S CREED. H! lives there, Heaven, beneath thy dread expanse, One hopeless, dark idolater of chance, The lukewarm passions of a lowly mind; Who, mouldering earthward, 'reft of every trust, "WATCH THE BRIGHTENING ROSES OF THE SKY."-T. CAMPBELL. "CONGENIAL HOPE! THY PASSION-KINDLING POWER, HOW STRONG IN YOUTH'S UNTROUBLED HOUR!"-T. CAMPBELL. 66 AUSPICIOUS HOPE! IN THY SWEET GARDEN GROW-(T. CAMPBELL) Could all his parting energy dismiss, And call this barren world sufficient bliss? Are these the pompous tidings ye proclaim, * "Iberia's pilot: "-Christopher Columbus. Iberia was the Roman name for the country now called Spain. WREATHS FOR EACH TOIL, A CHARM FOR EVERY WOE."-CAMPBELL. "LO, NEWTON, PRIEST OF NATURE, SHINES AFAR, SCANS THE WIDE WORLD, AND NUMBERS EVERY STAR!"-CAMPBELL. "WHERE IS THE TROUBLED HEART, CONSIGNED TO SHARE TUMULTUOUS TOIL OR SOLITARY CARE, CAMPBELL) COME, BRIGHT IMPROVEMENT, IN THE CAR OF TIME,-(T. CAMPBELL) Seems not so foul, so tainted, and so dread [From the "Pleasures of Hope," Part ii.] AND RULE THE SPACIOUS WORLD FROM CLIME TO CLIME!"-CAMPBELL. UNBLEST BY VISIONARY THOUGHTS THAT STRAY TO COUNT THE JOYS OF FORTUNE'S BETTER DAY?"-CAMPBELL. "MAN, CAN THY DOOM NO BRIGHTER SOUL ALLOW? STILL MUST WE LIVE A BLOT ON NATURE'S BROW?"-THOMAS CAMPBELL. "TIS DISTANCE LENDS ENCHANTMENT TO THE VIEW."-CAMPBELL. THE INDIAN'S DEATH-SONG. 103 THE INDIAN'S DEATH-SONG. A ND I could weep," the Oneyda chief* "But that I may not stain with grief For by my wrongs and by my wrath! (That fires yon heaven with storms of death) And we shall share, my Christian boy! "But thee, my flower! whose breath was given Nor will the Christian host, Of her who loved thee most: But when the bolt of death is hurled, * Outalissi, chief of the Oneyda Indians, a North American tribe, one of + Areouski, the Indian god of war. "" HOPE, THE CHARMER, LINGERED STILL BEHIND."-T. CAMPBELL. "SHALL WAR'S POLLUTED BANNER NE'ER BE FURLED? SHALL CRIMES AND TYRANTS CEASE BUT WITH THE WORLD?"-IBID. |