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CHAPTER XII.

PILGRIMAGE IN GERMANY.

THE spring of this year, like its predecessor, opened upon Campbell with many flattering prospects. His reputation was now so firmly established, that another successful effort might be expected to furnish him with a moderate competency for life. The demand for his poem had so much increased, that several large editions of it were already sold; whilst the admiration of his minor pieces, with which it was accompanied, was no less emphatically expressed. In this enviable position with the public, the scene of this new enterprise appeared well calculated to win more golden opinions. His own heart was in the subject, and he hoped to make his poem the vehicle of sentiments that would find an echo in every patriotic breast. He was very desirous, however, before again coming forward as a poet, to acquire more varied and extensive views of society. The literature of Germany was now eagerly cultivated by the rising talent of the day; and the partiality so strongly expressed by Sir Walter Scott, found a warm participator in Campbell. But it was with the authors more than their works, that he longed to hold friendly conference; and, anxious to realise a project which had latterly taken possession of his mind, he resolved upon a literary pilgrimage in Germany. Several of the friends with whom he had daily intercourse, were "travelled men!" In their conversation he thought he could perceive marked

advantages resulting from a course of foreign travel. Although personally a brilliant exception to the rule that "Home-keeping youths have ever homely wits,"

he dreaded the imputation, and entered into arrangements for an experimental tour in Saxony. In adopting this scheme, he acted in concert with Mr. Richardson, whose sentiments were in unison with his own.

It was arranged between them, that if the Poet set out first, his friend should join him; that they should travel in company, collect a joint stock of information on all literary topics; that after an extensive tour on the Continent, they would return home, and convert their materials into a form in which they might be laid before the public. The more he reflected on this plan, the more feasible it appeared. He was sanguine as to the result; in his ardour to travel he neither saw, nor imagined difficulties.— "Tis distance lends enchantment to the view;"-and in regard to his private feelings, he was a philanthropist, a citizen of the world-and could say

"All places that the eye of heaven visits

Are to the wise man ports and happy havens."

Did any of his young friends dissuade him from the enterprise (for in those days it involved some risk of personal liberty)? his answer was ready

"I rather would entreat thy company,

To see the wonders of the world abroad,
Than, living dully sluggardised at home,

Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness."

Fully decided upon his German pilgrimage, he had the satisfaction to know that it was approved of by those friends and counsellors to whose opinion he attached most weight; and their approbation was confirmed by various

letters of introduction to merchants, diplomatists, and literary characters, who were residing near the line of his intended route. Among these was a special introduction to Klopstock, then in his seventy-sixth year, and residing as Danish legate at Hamburgh. Among the chief resting places on which he had determined, were Göttingen, Jena, and Weimar. The patronage then extended to men of genius by the reigning Duke,* had rendered Jena a favourite seat of the Muses; and Weimar, though a small, enjoyed the well-merited title of an "Augustan Court."

For some days, however, Campbell was much divided between the desire of visiting London, and that of embarking at once for Hamburgh. At length his anxiety to visit the great Metropolis prevailed; he resolved to take his passage in a Leith smack to see all the wonders of the modern Babel-surprise one or two friends-and then, after a week's sojourn, proceed to Harwich and embark for Germany. Under the influence of this exhilarating prospect, he writes with Spartan brevity to Mr. Thomson:

MY DEAR FRIEND,

Open your arms to receive me in London in a few days! I am by this time tossing on the waves!

Your's most deliriously

T. C.

Williams (the bearer) is one of my Edinburgh friends— a man of first-rate genius in his profession, which is that of a landscape painter."

* In a recent work, entitled "JOURNAL OF A RESIDENCE IN GERMANY," some particulars are given of Weimar, and the Grand-Ducal family, which might possibly interest the reader. Weimar could then boast of Göethe-the living representative of Schiller, Wieland, and others; and the writer well remembers the youthful enthusiasm awakened by his first visit to the "Athens of Germany.”

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