“The members of this society having increased with a rapidity exceeding the most sanguine expectations of its first proposers, their committee now think it time to develope certain characteristic objects by which they conceive that the Literary Union might be advantageously distinguished from ordinary clubs, but which it might have been premature to have propounded until it had been ascertained to what numerical strength the society was likely to attain, and how many individuals of decidedly literary and scientific acquirements it might have to reckon

MEMOIRS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.

263

among its members. The committee now conceive that it would be expedient to invite such members as may have leisure for the production of original papers on subjects of art, science, or literature, to favour the society with their communications. They think that in the event of any such paper or papers being voluntarily offered by any member of the society, a committee selected from the whole body of members should be appointed to inspect such paper or papers, and empowered to decide whether they should be received for public reading in the society, and in the event of their being received, that a meeting of all the members, or of as many as can be received into one room, should be opened in the Union Club House, and after the reading of the papers, that a conversation should be held on the subject of each paper.

“The committee are further of opinion that as such contributions are to be perfectly spontaneous, and as many literary and scientific men who might otherwise be competent and willing to afford them, may, nevertheless, be unable to do so from their occupations, the supply of such papers cannot be expected to be constant and numerous. The committee therefore think, as intelligence has been received of many intelligent and public-spirited individuals in the provincial towns of the empire being disposed to organise societies in

264

LITERARY REMINISCENCES AND

their respective towns, on the plan of the London Literary Union, that in the event of the formation of such societies being accomplished, and composed of respectable persons, an intercourse should be established between the London Literary Union and those provincial unions, and that such a transmission of original papers on subjects of art, science, and literature, should be agreed upon, as may enable all the productions of the combined Britannic Literary Union to be at the service of each society for reading and discussion.

“The committee are also of opinion that the London Literary Union should make an agreement with the other societies, which shall be thus established, to admit a certain small number—the future regulations to be subsequently considered—of the members of the branch clubs to be free of the London Literary Club during their residence in London. The number of such admissible honorary members (or delegate, if it should seem proper so to denominate them) the committee think ought not to exceed five per cent, of each provincial club to which they belong, so that, supposing ten provincial literary unions to exist over Britain and Ireland, the rooms of the London club would only be crowded by fifty additional visitants. A power of rejecting any objectionable individual from coming in this re-

MEMOIRS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.

265

presentative shape from the country clubs the committee think ought to be vested in the governing committee of the L. L. Union, and that a certificate of every provincial honorary visitant’s character should precede his claim to admittance. But the committee think that the London Union has little danger to apprehend from the chance of improper visitants being thus sent to the Parent Club. The provincial clubs would be interested in sending us their most respectable members.

“A place for general conference in the centre of England might be fixed upon for the meeting of delegates from all the L. Unions if their harmony could not be organised by correspondence. But whether such a central meeting of delegates from the unions might be necessary or not for general management, yet still the committee think that the assembly of representatives from so many literary and scientific bodies in the centre of the kingdom, and the distribution of prizes for essays of preeminent merit, would be an inspiring spec-

266

LITERARY REMINISCENCES AND

tacle—bringing England nearer than she is in resemblance to ancient Greece.”

“In consequence of what you say, print the verses. I hardly know what title they should have. Perhaps, after all, the one I have given will

MEMOIRS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.

283

do—but pray let me have a proof. You will get the letter, Monday, to-morrow morning, and by to-night’s mail I can have a packet Tuesday morning, and I could send it back by the coach of that day, so that we have time.

The Metropolitan had its name from the publisher and myself alone, and the first number

284

LITERARY REMINISCENCES AND

appeared May 1st, 1831. The first article was “Remarks on the Geography of the Ancients,” the paper spoken of before, as read at the Literary Union, on the 27th of the preceding month. This paper made a sheet, and was ready for the printer’s hand. Sir Charles Morgan, Mr. Hogarth, Lady Morgan, Charles M’Kenzie, Cyrus Redding, Captains Chamier and Marryat, Mr. Wilmot, &c. furnished the prose; and Augustine Wade, Allan Cunningham, the Rev. Mr. Thompson, and Cyrus Redding, the poetry of the number. The contributions of Campbell, for which he received five hundred pounds very nearly, and those were all he contributed to the magazine, for he never inspected a single paper, unless it was one he obtained from a friend, until the property became that of Captain Marryat, were “Lines on a View from St. Leonards,” “Lines on Poland,” “Lines on the Camp Hill, near Hastings,” “Lines on a blank leaf of La Peyrouse’ Voyage,” the “Power of Russia,” “Benediction on Children,” “The Cherubs,” “On the Life and Writings of Mackintosh,” “Lines on a Girl in the Attitude of Prayer.”

This was a small bill of fare. It was in fact, paying him for his name alone. He talked at the same time of his labours in the work, just as if they were real. It was in the spring of 1832

MEMOIRS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.

285

that Valpy, to whom the publisher had secretly mortgaged the work, wrote to me. We had before spoken of its state:—

In this state of things, when about to get the property out of the publisher’s hands, the matter was put an end to by a singular event. Campbell, still at St. Leonards, on my running down to see him, told me (it was to be in confidence) that Captain C——, R.N., had had a share for some time in the Metropolitan, and had kept it a

286

LITERARY REMINISCENCES AND

secret. I was surprised that Campbell had not told me of this before, as our confidence had been for so many years unlimited. He pleaded the injunction to secrecy. I told him that I would not have held a share without being more certain of Cochrane’s solvency—he might be made a partner. He said he had borrowed money and paid it over. I replied, “So much the worse,” and he became alarmed. In the meanwhile, poor C——, who, in the terms upon which we stood, was disingenuous in not telling me he had taken a share with Cochrane, still kept his secret, until Valpy took the property. I should have soon stopped his having a share had I known his intention; but a man of honour is more liable than another to be imposed upon. No doubt he was himself bound to secrecy by Cochrane for obvious ends.

The whole now came out. Valpy’s scheme of dividing up the magazine terminated in Captain Marryat buying it altogether of Valpy, full of the notion that because he could write a good novel, he was equal to anything in literature. In the meanwhile I was served with a citation to give evidence in an action at law, brought by the creditors of Cochrane against Captain C—— as a partner of Cochrane’s. I could not give evidence regarding what I did not know, and all parole evidence, when I got into the witnesses’ box, was

MEMOIRS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.

287

set aside by a document signed by the Captain himself, which made him in law answerable. He therefore paid a large sum to compromise the affair, and showed himself highly honourable in repaying Campbell his advance. The truth is, C—— was shamefully ill-treated, as a man of honour is certain to be in dealing with an artful trader.

Campbell’s nominal editorship was retained until October, 1832, and at Christmas I quitted the concern, just reversing what had happened in the case of the New Monthly, where the poet remained about the same space of time after me. Moore, Montgomery of Sheffield, and Moir, the “Delta” of Blackwood’s Magazine, had joined us before the failure of the publisher. Campbell, who thought because Marryat was an old acquaintance, he could go on as usual, found out his mistake, and resigned the name of editor, which de facto he never had been.

The death of Mrs. Siddons, and the request she made of the poet, that he would be her biogra-

288

LITERARY REMINISCENCES AND

pher, had caused him to set about the task as a reluctant duty. The style of the book is foreign to that of his former works. It is a biography on stilts. When he thought he was earnest and effective, he was really inflated and unprofitable. It was an undertaking that, after all, few or none could succeed in. There can be no record of mind in the sayings of those whose lives are spent in doing no more than repeating the sayings of others, the whole matter being as to whether those sayings are well or ill declaimed. His sense of the weight of his task was almost ludicrously expressed. Most others in similar circumstances retire out of sight and go heartily at work, but Campbell for a long time almost converted his employment into an advertisement for the book. He talked of it, and wrote about it to everybody to whom he wrote anything else. He put up a little paper notice at the door of his chambers, as lawyers do in the Temple, when they go out or lock themselves in, saying they are absent,—“parcels and letters,” so and so. The poet, in his simplicity, stuck up a notice that he could not be disturbed, being busy about the biography of Mrs. Siddons. For a time he had but that one idea. I asked him what were become of all the rest, that he had been fifty-five years in acquiring.

MEMOIRS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.

289

Then I would strive to turn the conversation, and ask him a question, to which I really wanted a reply. I got only a remark about Mrs. Siddons in return. I remember telling him he was like a pretty girl I once knew in the country, who was deaf.

“Why,” I replied, “because if I ask you about anything else, I get Mrs. Siddons as an answer. That pretty girl I once addressed:—‘Mary, good morning,—how do you do to-day?’ She replied: ‘Gone up the Mediterranean, my dear creature!’ The fact was, she had a sweetheart in the navy, of whom she was always thinking, and she supposed you must be doing the same.”

“Don’t play the philosopher,” continued Campbell. “Mrs. Siddons was a divine creature.”

“A divine actress, but an ordinary woman. You are referring to our old disputes about her, that poor Mrs. Campbell used to hear so patiently.”

290

LITERARY REMINISCENCES AND

“Nor my admiration of her as an actress—she was transcendent; but as a woman it is a different affair. She was majestic, certainly, but not very feminine. You are a little man, and little men, they say, are fond of giantesses, and gigantic men of little women. I must have feminine women. Byron said he should as soon think of going to bed with the archbishop of Canterbury as with Mrs. Siddons.”

A publication was got out in favour of the Poles, called “Polonia, or Monthly Reports on Polish Affairs.” The first number was published in August, 1832. I forget who was the editor. My hands were so full of other business at the time, that though I attended one or two meetings, it was all the participation I was able, through pressure of different affairs, to take in the matter. The society was called “The Association of the Friends of Poland.” Thomas Campbell was pre-

MEMOIRS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.

291

sident, the Earl of Camperdown, Lord Panmure, G. W. Beaumont, Esq., M.P., and T. Wyse, Esq., M.P., were vice-presidents. There was a council consisting of fifteen members, among whom were W. Crawford, Esq., Colonel de Lacy Evans, M. Gore, Esq., W. A. Mackinnon, Esq., M.P., C. Mackenzie, Esq., Captain J. Norton, G. Webster, Esq., and others. There were also a treasurer and honorary secretary. The latter was Mr. Bach, on whose zealous shoulders the weight of the labour really fell, and to whom all the Polish exiles were deeply indebted. Campbell worked in the cause for a considerable time, at least, a considerable time for him. He would not give up his work to dine with friends for whom he had a strong regard. There was Mrs. L. M——, a great favourite of his, and justly a favourite with all who valued amiable temper, purity of heart, and attractive manners, cut off by death in the very bloom of existence, since the poet—one who was the kindest of mothers and the sincerest of friends. Even with her Campbell would not break off his labour to dine. He had half promised, but sent the following playful excuse:—

MEMOIRS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.

293

Had the poet not assumed so singular a style, and one so different from his usual classical elegance in composition, although little could be said for the biography of Mrs. Siddons, as the work of so able a man as Campbell, beyond what others, less gifted, could have produced, it would be difficult to say how any thing more could have been made of what had no stamina in itself, and no startling matter to work upon, nothing but “indescribable merit to describe.” It is the most difficult of all difficult things in authorship, to produce elaborate works out of materials remarkable for their intellectual poverty, the fleeting recollections of illusive personification. Yet the great expectation of such a piece of biography must be almost wholly founded upon what can be

294

LITERARY REMINISCENCES AND

thus effected if it is to differ from that of common place existences.

The poet still kept close at work, and for some time was not seen by any one, though he had got rid to another of Lawrence’s biography. He told me he had promised Mrs. Siddons to write her life, and that, therefore, he could not break his word. He talked to all who had known the great actress about her and her family; he wrote letters of inquiry in all directions, and everything he obtained made but an unsatisfactory mass of material, as far as respected entertaining fact or interesting adventure. The incidents in the life of an actress of the highest class, of staid manners, and plain good sense, could not be expected to abound in incident. All those little points of action, that chit-chat and anecdote recorded of theatrical ladies in general, were, to say nothing of less moral incidents and their attendant circumstances, necessarily wanting in the life of one so lofty in feeling and pure in morals as Mrs. Siddons. Though the greatest actress that ever trod the stage, her real excellencies could not be described, more than half of them depending upon vision.

What was there besides her acting in which she was superior to many others of her sex? She was not a woman of genius; and she was not a woman of reading beyond her profession. The

MEMOIRS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.

295

poet owned himself that a young girl would write letters as good as those of Mrs. Siddons. The very nobility of her person and her serious deportment, showed that the quips and cranks of comedy, sometimes seasoned with an actor’s own wit in performing, were not her accompaniments to startle or amuse. In truth, Campbell’s motto, signifying that the animated graces of the player live no longer than the breath and motion that represent them, was, in Mrs. Siddons, eminently true. Nor in her conversation, that I ever heard myself, or ever heard others state, was there anything worthy of record upon paper. She was not a De Staël. Yet, in spite of all this, how truly great she was on the boards, and how high the general feeling of respect was for her, need not be repeated. In this feeling all fully participated.

There was another circumstance unfitting Campbell for such a task. He had gone to the theatre as any other spectator would, a mere spectator; he had never mixed, as a matter of amusement, with the Thespian corps behind the scenes, as was common in former times for dramatic authors to do. He was not versed, if it may be so termed, in the patois of the theatre, a thing in some degree necessary, to write about it with ease, and to be “at home” upon the subject in treating of a common, much less an epic, actor

296

LITERARY REMINISCENCES AND

or actress. Campbell was never a man of the world in the sense that would be attributed to the term by play-goers. He was a solitary student, the matter of whose prose writings was drawn from a knowledge of books, acquired in seclusion, whose poetry was kept down by rule, and whose genius, even in its admiration of natural things, he carefully clipped of every exuberance. His simple, and, by fits and starts, boyish levity of temper had no affinity with the artificial theatre-going folk. He was, on all these accounts, unfit for the task he undertook. Is his book, then, worthless? It may be honestly replied in the negative. If he has not produced anything that has conferred additional fame upon his literary character, still he has said all that could be said, and left unrecorded nothing that such a subject would admit of being recorded in its regard, but he has erred, and egregiously too, in the manner of saying it.

Early in 1833, I went to South Lancing, where I put together my book on the History of Wine. I returned, published it, and the first edition was nearly sold before the Life of Mrs. Siddons appeared. I found, too, that Campbell had been lodging at Highgate, and then in Old Cavendish Street, so restless was he as to domicile, after his wife’s decease. This was a marked trait in his character. His Life of Mrs.

MEMOIRS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.

297

Siddons was not published until 1834. In the copy with which he presented me, he wrote his autograph, as usual. I believe it did not reach a second edition. Expectation had been kept too long on the stretch, and too much was expected. The public is like a spoiled child, if kept without its toy for a little time, it turns in the interim to other things, and when the long-expected bauble appears, regards it with indifference. This is well known to keen-scented bibliopolists, who calculate to a fraction of an hour how long the many-headed monster may be stimulated before reaction ensues, and accordingly play the game commensurate with the most satisfactory conclusion.

The review of the “Life of Mrs. Siddons,” not being Murray’s copyright, was roughly treated in the “Quarterly Review.” The effect was much less moving upon Campbell than might be expected. He was prepared for something of the kind, and must have been conscious his book was not up to the mark. That he repressed his feelings was evident. In referring to it, I laughed off the review, asking how he could expect anything better when for so many years Whig and Tory had continually damned each other’s works without any regard to literary merit. He smiled at the hollow consolation, and turned off the subject. He was grown more obtuse than in former

298

LITERARY REMINISCENCES AND

times, and yet he must have felt that what he had toiled about, and talked of so long, it was mortifying to see maltreated by the organ of an opposing party. The suppression of his feelings by his pride, was difficult; but however keen they were, it was, on the whole, successful. As to the book itself, it could not have been commended, if it were spared by his friends.