independently of considerations and restrictions which the Editor is bound to respect, has interposed obstacles to a full biography, which time alone can remove. And when time, like distance, shall have lent its mellowing influence to the subject, the outline here presented to the reader may be filled up with the completeness of a finished biography. But the hour has not arrived when justice can be done to Campbell and his contemporaries: it seems but yesterday that he was amongst us, bodily, as he will long be, spiritually; his figure, voice, manner, and expression-his talents and eccentricities-are still fresh in the mind's eye. To paint him, therefore, as he actually appeared in his daily walk and conversation, is attempting a portrait which every man who knew him intimately can test by his own experience. If I have been so fortunate as to preserve a life-like resemblance in these volumes, it will be recognised by his friends. With this pleasing hope, I have prosecuted the work; and I have now the gratifying conviction that, in the laborious and delicate arrangement of these papers, I have neither yielded to the solicitations of party, nor transgressed the limits of private confidence.

In taking leave of the subject, I have one cause of

regret I have not been permitted to advert, in the terms they merited, to some of Campbell's most valued friends and contemporaries. I have been fearful, at one time, of offending delicacy by any appearance of officiousness; at another, I have been deterred by reflecting, that the value of an opinion depends much less on the complimentary turn of a sentence, than on the social and literary standing of the writer. These considerations, which I notice with no affected humility, have often kept me silent, when I would rather have spoken, and will account for the absence of some names and circumstances that, otherwise, would have shone gracefully in a Life of Campbell. But the day will arrive when these and other omissions will be fully supplied and rectified. Finally: I began the duties assigned to me under much discouragement-continued them under very painful interruptions: And now, like the traveller, who has made a tour through some classic region, and hears at the end of his journey that he has missed certain objects by the way, I may have committed a similar error-but not intentionally. I have kept as much as possible to the main track, seldom diverging unless for some express object, and laying no distant neighbourhood under contribution. The result now rests with the public, to whose decision I cannot pretend to be indifferent.

To the friends and admirers of Campbell,-whose

names occur in these pages, I have to return my

grateful thanks for the prompt and liberal manner in which they have supplied me with many original manuscripts:

To the family of the late Wynell Mayow, Esq., of Sydenham, I am indebted for the invariable courtesy with which they have facilitated and encouraged my progress in the work, by many original letters, poems, and other documents, with personal reminiscences of Campbell, from 1804 to the year of his death.

To the family of the late Rev. Archibald Alison; to John Richardson, Esq., W.S.; to the family of the late James Grahame, Esq.; to James Thomson, Esq.; to William Gray, Esq.; I have to express my obligations for numerous letters and other records, from 1795 to 1840.

To Prince Czartoryski, Lord Minto, Lord Cuninghame, Lord Cockburn, Lord Dudley C. Stuart, Sir John Herschel, Bart.; W. C. Townsend, Esq.; David Irving, Esq., LL.D.; I am indebted for the inspection of original letters, biographical notes, and general information regarding the life and poems of Campbell.

To Dr. R. R. Madden, Dr. Sayer, Dr. Smith, Dr. Roscoe, the Rev. Thomas Wright, the Rev. Hamilton Paul, the Rev. James Gibson, the Rev. J. G. Lorimer,

the Rev. Dr. Muir, the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw, of Glasgow; the Rev. Dr. M'Arthur, of Mull; the Rev. Mr. Campbell, of Caputh, Dunkeld; the late Rev. Dr. Strahan, Bishop of Toronto; the late Rev. Dr. Henry Duncan, of Ruthwell; my acknowledgments are due for original letters, poems, reminiscences and diaries, kindly forwarded for my inspection.

To the family of the late Dr. Currie, of Liverpool, communicated by J. G. Duncan, Esq., I am indebted for original letters from 1802-5.

To Samuel Rogers, Esq.; Thomas Moore, Esq.; Horatio Smith, Esq.; William Smith, Esq.; Francis Place, Esq.; James Carrick Moore, Esq.; Alexander Ireland, Esq.; Patrick Maxwell, Esq.; J. T. Wingate, Esq.; Robert Williams, Esq.; I am indebted for letters, poems, criticisms and recollections of Campbell.

To J. G. Lockhart, Esq., I am indebted for copies of Campbell's letters to Sir Walter Scott, Bart., communicated by George Huntly Gordon, Esq.

To Mrs. Joanna Baillie, Mrs. Fletcher, Mrs. Arkwright, Mrs. Woodhouse, Miss Moore, Mrs. Roylance Child, Miss Anderson; Mrs. Johnston, Mrs. Ireland, Mrs. Allison (widow of the Poet's first master), Miss Wollaston (translator of Petrarch), Miss Bryce, I have to express my grateful acknowledgments for many of Campbell's letters, poems, and other documents.

To William Hamilton, Esq., H.B.M. Consul, Boulogne; William Dacres Adams, of Bowdon, Esq.; Thomas Roscoe, Esq.; James Murray M'Culloch, of Ardwell, Esq.; William Moxon, Esq.; Ralph Stevenson, Esq.; Robert Carruthers, Esq.; Mr. B. B. Wiffen; A. A. Watts, Esq,; William Coulson, Esq.; E. J. Spry, Esq.; and many other friends of the Poet, I am indebted for letters, reminiscences, manuscripts, and personal information. I have also to acknowledge various communications, from Mrs. W. Alfred Hill, Mr. Alexander Campbell, and Mr. Archibald Campbell, the Niece and Nephews of the Poet.

WILLIAM BEATTIE.

LONDON,

December, 1848.