pang as great as a giant feels when he dies. Naturalists will not concede this; but I speak only of the construction of the lines; such slovenly and elliptical expression would not be tolerated in an inferior poet.' We are all taught from youth to idolise Shakspeare,' said Campbell. Yes,' rejoined Rogers, we are brought up in the worship of Shakspeare, as some foreigner remarked.' The sonnets of Shakspeare were then adverted to, Mr Rogers expressing a doubt of their genuineness, from their inferiority to the dramas. The quaint expression, and elaborate, exaggerated style of these remarkable productions would not, however, appear so singular in the time of Elizabeth. Poets are generally more formal and stiff in youth than in riper years, and in the plays of Shakspeare we see the gradual formation of his taste and his acquisition of power. It is worthy of remark, however, as Mr Campbell mentioned, that the Venus and Adonis (a truly fine Shakspearian poem) was written before the sonnets, as the poet, in his dedication to Lord Southampton, calls it 'the first heir of his invention.'

I took occasion to ask Campbell if it was true that Sir Walter Scott had got the whole of the Pleasures of Hope by heart after a few readings of the manuscript one evening. No,' said he; 'I had not met Scott when the Pleasures of Hope was in manuscript; but he got Lochiel's Warning by heart after reading it once, and hearing it read another time: it was a wonderful instance of memory.' He corrected me for pronouncing 'Lochiel' as a dissyllable. It is Loch-ee-il,' said he; 'such is the pronunciation of the country; and the verse requires it.' Rogers laughed heartily at the anecdote told by Moore, that Scott had never seen Melrose by moonlight, notwithstanding his poetical injunc

tion

If thou would'st view Melrose aright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight,' &c.

'He had seen other ruins by moonlight, and knew the
picturesque effect, or he could very easily imagine it.'
Major Burns said that Scott admitted the same to him
on the only occasion he had ever met the great minstrel;
and Jonny Bower, the sexton, confirmed the statement,
adding, 'He never got the key from me at night, and if
he had got in, he must have speeled the wa's.' Camp-
bell was greatly amused at this.

sible not to think of Campbell's own lines in his Ode
to the Memory of Burns:-

'O deem not 'midst this worldly strife
An idle art the poet brings;
Let high philosophy control,
And sages calm the stream of life,
Tis he refines its fountain-springs,
The nobler passions of the soul."

6

The only instance of Mr Rogers's severity which I noticed in the course of the forenoon, was a remark concerning a literary foreigner who had been on a visit to London, and left an unfavourable impression on his English admirers. He made himself one evening,' said he, so disagreeable, that I had a mind to be very severe. I intended to have inquired in the tenderest tone how his wife was?' The gentleman alluded to and his wife had, it appears, separated a few days after their marriage from incompatibility of temper. The conversation now turned to the subject of marriage. Mr Rogers said he thought men had judged too harshly of Swift for his conduct towards Stella and Vanessa. Swift might have the strongest affection for both, yet hesitate to enter upon marriage with either. Marriage is an awful step (a genuine old bachelor conclusion!), and Johnson said truly, that to enter upon it required great moral courage. Upon my word,' said Campbell, in nine cases out of ten it looks like madness.' This led to some raillery and laughter, and we shortly afterwards took our leave. Captain Murray had been compelled to leave early, and we were thus deprived of his lively and varied conversation. Four hours had sped away to my infinite delight. The poets parted with many affectionate words and congratulations, promising oft to meet again.' I walked with Mr Campbell to the Clarence Club, and on quitting him there, he said, 'Be sure to go to Dulwich in the afternoon and see the pictures: you can easily get there, and in the evening roll back to London in that chariot of fire, the railway train.'

I did so, and also attempted to Boswellise our morning's talk-my first and only attempt of the kind. Let any one make a similar effort to recall and write down a four hours' conversation, and he will rise with a higher idea of Boswell than he ever previously entertained!

I had afterwards frequent opportunities of meeting the poet. He was seen to most advantage in the mornings, when a walk out of doors, in the sunshine, seldom failed to put him in spirits. He had a strong wish to make a book' on Greek literature, taking his lectures in the New Monthly Magazine for his groundwork. Sometimes I found him poring over Clarke's Homer, or a copy of Euripides, on which occasions he would lay down the volume, take off his spectacles, and say, with pride, I was at this by seven o'clock in the morning.' Early rising was a favourite theme with him, though latterly he was, like Thomson, more eager to inculcate than to adopt the practice. 'Gertrude of Wyoming' was a daylight production, written during his residence at Sydenham, near London-his first home after marriage, and the scene of his brightest and happiest days. Mr Campbell spoke with animation one morning of a breakfast he had just had at Mr Hallam's. It was the breakfast of the poets,' said he, for Moore, Rogers, Wordsworth, and Mr Milman were there. We had a delightful talk.' Campbell had very little regard for the 'Lake Poets,' as they were called, but he held Wordsworth to be greatly superior to the others. He admired Coleridge's criticism, but maintained that he got some of his best ideas from Schlegel. He was such an inveterate dreamer,' said he, that I daresay he did not know whether his ideas were original or borrowed.' Yet Campbell used to ridicule most of the charges brought against authors of direct plagiarism. One day the late John Mayne, the Scottish poet, accused him of appropriating a line from an old ballad'Adown the glen rode armed men.'

Some observations were made on the English style of Scotch authors. It was acknowledged by both the poets that Beattie wrote the purest and most idiomatic English of any Scotch author, not even excepting those who had been long resident in England. The exquisite style of Hume was warmly praised. 'He was substantially honest too,' said Campbell. He was, from principle and constitution, a Tory historian, but he makes large and liberal admissions on the other side. When I find him conceding to his opponents, I feel a certainty in the main truth of his narrative. Now, Malcolm Laing is always carping at his opponents, and appears often in the light of a special pleader.' Hume has one sentence in his history,' said Mr Rogers, which all authors should consider an excellent specimen of his style; and the venerable poet, with great alacrity, went up to the library, and brought down a volume of Hume. He opened it at the account of the reign of James L., and read aloud with a smile of satisfaction'Such a superiority do the pursuits of literature possess above every other occupation, that even he who attains but a mediocrity in them, merits the pre-eminence above those that excel the most in the common and vulgar professions.' 'Dr Chalmers,' continued Mr Rogers, went farther than this. In one of his sermons here, which all the world went to hear, he remarked, when speaking of the Christian character, that it was above that of the warrior, the statesman, the philosopher, and even the poet-thus placing you, Campbell, above the Duke of Wellington.' Very good,' said Campbell laughing, I would place his father (looking to Major Burns) above any of them.' It was impos-Pooh,' said he, 'the old ballad-writer had it first-that

was all.' Two well-known images in the Pleasures of At Beattie's he was quite at home. The kind phyHope are taken, it will be recollected, one from Blair's sician knew him well, and had great influence over Grave, and the other from Sterne. A poet, in the hour him. Mr Campbell at this time resided at Pimlico. A of composition, waiting for the right word, or the closing young Scottish niece acted as his housekeeper, and to image, he once compared to a gardener or florist wait- this lady he left the whole of his little property. ing for the summer shower that was to put all his His letters from Boulogne were few and short, mostly flower-beds into life and beauty. In his own moments complaining of the cold weather. In a note dated 17th of inspiration, however, Campbell was no such calm ex- November 1843, we find him remarking-The climate pectant. He used to be much excited-walking about here is naturally severer than in England. Joy to you -and even throwing himself down. In the island of in Scotland, whom Jove treats more mildly! I suppose Mull, where he first felt the force of his rapidly- the cold of the north has been ordered to march all to awakening powers, his friends, at such times, used to the south, and that it is to be long billeted upon us!' think him crazed. But to return to our memoranda. One cause of the poet's residence in Boulogne was the Moore, according to Campbell, had the most spark- promotion of his niece's education. Mr Hamilton, the ling and brilliant fancy of any modern poet. 'He English consul, was, as usual, kind and attentive; but is a most wonderful creature-a fire-fly from heaven though Campbell now and then looked in upon a ball-yet, as Lady Holland said, what a pity we cannot room or festive party, he seldom stayed longer than an make him bigger!' Scott, he said, had wonderful hour. Dr Beattie generously went to succour him in art in extracting and treasuring up old legends and his last illness, and the poet had the Church of Engcharacteristic traits of character and manners. In land service for the sick read to him by the Protestant his poems there is a great deal about the Highlands, clergyman of Boulogne. He died calmly and resignedly yet he made only passing visits to the country. his energies completely exhausted. He used to say After his Lord of the Isles came out, a friend said he was of a long-lived race. Sixty-seven, however, is to me, "Where can Walter Scott have got all those no very prolonged span of life; yet his two favourite stories about the West Highlands ? I was six weeks poets, whom he resembled in genius, died much earlier. there, making inquiries, yet heard nothing of them." Gray, at the period of his death, was fifty-five, and "It is his peculiar talent-his genius," I replied; Goldsmith only forty-five. Campbell's magnificent for I was nearly six years there, and knew nothing funeral in Westminster Abbey is matter of history. of them either. Crabbe was a pear of a different Requiescat in pace! tree. What work he would have made among the Highland bothies! His musa severior would have shown them up. No romance-no legends-but appalling scenes of sordid misery and suffering. Crabbe was an amazingly shrewd man, yet mild and quiet in his manners. One day at Holland-house they were all lauding his simplicity-how gentle he is! how simple! I was tempted to exclaim, "Yes, simplicity that could buy and sell the whole of you!"'

THE FESTIVAL AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.

A SCENE IN NAVARRE.

Ir was a fine afternoon in the spring of 1834; the birds were cheerfully singing on the trees, the flocks and herds contentedly cropped the young herbage, and the air was perfumed with odours. Not only did the face of nature brightly smile, but some festive ceremony was evidently about to be performed in the village of in Navarre. Numbers of young girls were

The early struggles and ill-requited literary drudgery which Campbell had to submit to for years, gave a tinge of severity to some of his opinions and judgments both of men and things. These splenetic ebullitions, how-seated at the cottage doors, weaving garlands of spring ever, never interfered with his practical charity and flowers, whilst several youths looked on and encoukindness. He loved to do good, and he held fast by old raged them. Here and there an old man, wrapped in a friends and old opinions. Like Burns, he worshipped rusty-brown cloak almost as ancient as himself, stood 'firm resolve,' observing the juvenile groups; and on the threshold of a miserable hovel sat an aged woman singing a wild air, accompanied by uncouth gestures; but whether they betokened joy, grief, or anger, it would have been difficult for a stranger to determine.

That stalk of carl-hemp in man.

:

Among the literary opinions of Mr Campbell, was one which he was fond of maintaining-the superiority of Smollett as a novelist, compared with Fielding. This is mentioned in the Life of Crabbe; and I asked in what points he considered the superiority to consist? In the vigour and rapidity of his narrative,' he said, 'no less than in the humour of his incidents and characters. He had more imagination and pathos. Fielding has no scene like that in the robber's hut in Count Fathom he had no poetry, and little tenderness in his nature.' Yet the real life and knowledge of human nature evinced by Fielding, his wit, and the unrivalled construction of his plots, seem to place him above his great associate in English fiction. Neither was remarkable for delicacy; but Smollett was incomparably the coarser of the two. Certainly, like good wines, Fielding improves with age, and the racy flavour of his scenes and characters has a mellow ripeness that never cloys on the taste. Mr Campbell, as already hinted, had a roving adventurous fancy, that loved a quick succession of scenes and changes, and this predilection might have swayed him in favour of Smollett. Some things Smollett may have done better than Fielding, but not entire novels.

After an interval of two years, I again met Mr Campbell in London. He was then much changed-feeble and delicate in health, but at times rallying wonderfully. I have a very vivid recollection of a pleasant day spent with him at Dr Beattie's cottage at Hampstead. We walked over the heath, moralising on the great city looming in the distance, begirt with villas

Like a swarth Indian with his belt of beads.

At length the damsels rose, each bearing in her hand the blooming wreath she had entwined, and the whole party proceeded to a small plaza, or square, in front of the church, where, waving their chaplets gracefully, they danced to the sound of a large tambourine and the mountain-pipe, called the gaeta, the tones of which strongly resemble those of the bagpipes. Nor was the human voice wanting: the harsh and discordant chant of the beldame was again heard; and by her side a lean rickety boy, of about fourteen, with wiry flaxen hair, imbecile look, and unmeaning grin, beat time by clapping his hands. The dancers became more and more animated every moment; the fine hair of the young women, which had hitherto been plaited and arranged with natural good taste, was, by some sudden process, allowed to fall loosely on their shoulders; and at the same moment each maiden placed a chaplet on her head, the young men slinging larger garlands across their breasts, like the broad ribbons of chivalric orders.

At the conclusion of the dance, the great gates of the church were thrown open; at the eastern end the altar, resplendent from the effect of numerous large wax candles, had an imposing appearance. The cura, or priest, habited in richly-embroidered vestments, stood under the portico, and spreading forth his hands, bestowed a blessing on the people, who knelt reverentially to receive it.

While this act of devotion was in progress, a loud

creaking sound was heard, and presently a small body of men appeared advancing along the road which runs close by the square. Their heads were covered with the flat cap called La Boina; they wore coarse brown cloth jackets, and loose white linen trousers, their waists being encircled with broad red woollen sashes, below which, and in front, were strapped their cananas, or cartridge-pouches: instead of shoes they had alpargatas, or hempen sandals: they were armed with muskets; and bayonets without scabbards were stuck in their belts. This vanguard was followed by four wains, each drawn by two oxen, guided by a peasant bearing a long staff, with a goad at one end. The oxen moved very slowly, the creaking sound being produced by the evolutions of the heavy wooden axletrees of the wains, which were followed by a much larger party, clothed and armed in the same manner as that in advance, the whole being commanded by an officer in uniform. Three of the bullock-cars contained each a new bronze mortar of moderate size; the fourth was laden with ammunition-boxes. On their arrival in the plaza, the escort uncovered their heads, knelt, and received the priest's benediction. The assemblage then rose; the tambourine and mountain-pipe struck up; the old woman resumed her discordant song; the halfwitted urchin clapped his lean hands more vehemently than ever; the young men and maidens moved towards the wains with a solemn dancing step; and, finally, the girls decorated the horns and necks of the oxen with the wreaths they had been gracefully waving during the dance; whilst the youths encircled the mortars with the larger garlands; the whole ceremony being performed with the utmost enthusiasm.

of coarse dark cloth, with silver buttons down the outer seams; he also wore a blue worsted sash, and hempen sandals. Round his head was a cotton handkerchief of bright and variegated colours, tied behind, with two long ends hanging down; above the handkerchief appeared a cone-shaped black beaver hat, with a narrow brim turned up all round; the front of the hat was ornamented with three tarnished tinsel stars-green, ruby, and yellow-stuck on a strip of rusty black velvet. His thick neck was bare, and, from constant exposure to the sun and weather, as dark as his face. He was a gitano, or gipsy.

I am sent by Zumalacarreguy,' said this man, 'to tell you that the mortars are on their way back, and that they must be concealed in this neighbourhood; all, therefore, must unite in conveying them to a place of safety. The general's orders are, that every man proceed instantly to meet them: they must not re-enter the village: your privileges, your lives even, depend on promptitude and energy: the holy guns must be placed in security.'

This appeal met with a ready echo in the breast of every hearer; for the whole population of the village had identified themselves with the fate of the consecrated artillery. All the men immediately sallied forth with Zumalacarreguy's messenger. They had not proceeded far along the road, before the well-known creaking of the bullock-cars indicated that the objects they had set forth to meet were approaching: they soon appeared, bereft, however, of their gay adornments.

The gitano immediately addressed himself to the officer in command of the escort: and after a brief parley, three of the village elders were summoned to join in the consultation. Much animated discourse ensued, accompanied by that lively gesticulation by which the Spaniards are characterised. The result was, that the wains were drawn along a by-road to a field, under the guidance of the villagers, the gipsy and the escort following. On arriving at the centre of the field, the oxen were taken out of the wains, which, being tilted up, the mortars glided easily to the ground. The peasants had brought with them the large hoes used by the husbandmen of Navarre, and having dug trenches of about three feet deep, the mortars, which only the day before were adorned with garlands, and sent with shouts and vivas to be employed against the Christinos, were now buried in the earth in solemn silence.

Meanwhile, the priest had retired to the interior of the church; but when all the arrangements were completed the oxen adorned with their glowing honours, standing patiently in the sun, and the murderous bronze artillery decked with sweet and peaceful flowers-he again came forth, preceded by a youthful acolyte carrying a large silver cross, elevated on a staff apparently of the same metal. By his side was another boy wearing a scarlet cassock, over which was a white muslin tunic: he bore a silver censer, which, when this little procession had reached the wains, he threw up into the air, and then drew it back again by its silver chain, making the white smoke of the incense cloud over the mortars, and around the heads of the oxen, after which the priest sprinkled them with holy water. The oxen were again yoked to the wains, and led to The instant this ceremony was completed, there was a the high road, whence they departed in an opposite general shouting of 'Viva Carlos Quinto! Viva la Reli- direction: the escort took the shortest route to the gion! Success to the new mortars! Death to the Chris- mountains, and the villagers hastened to regain their tinos!' Amidst these fervent cheers the bullock-cars homes. The gipsy proceeded to the residence of the moved on, escorted as before; the young men accom-cura, with whom he was closeted for some time: he then panying them as a guard of honour a little way beyond went to the small venta, or village inn. After his dethe limits of the village. On parting, the soldiers cried parture, the alcalde was summoned to attend the cura : -To Elizondo! to Elizondo!' and soon entering a they held a long conference, at the conclusion whereof mountain gorge, they disappeared. the alcalde visited every house, and made a communication of solemn import to its inmates.

The day after this scene there was considerable agitation in the village. Several fathers of families, who had been absent acting as scouts attached to Don Carlos's army, or otherwise connected with it, returned. They brought accounts of the retreat of the Carlist chief, Zumalacarreguy, from before Elizondo; and it was whispered that the mortars which had passed through on the previous day, and had been welcomed with so much pomp, were on their way back. The confusion occasioned by these reports was at its height when a stranger, covered with dust, rushed into the plaza with breathless haste. He was a fine well-made man of about thirty; his features, though handsome, bore a strong stamp of cunning; and the expression of his large gray eyes, set in a face the colour of which was only a shade removed from black, was so peculiar, as to render it painful to meet their gaze. The stranger's costume was unlike that of the Navarrese peasants. He wore a jacket of dark-blue velveteen, open, displaying a waistcoat of the same material, adorned with three rows of large openworked silver buttons, hanging loosely; his breeches were

Towards evening several little groups were assembled in the plaza, and before the house doors. They conversed energetically, and, on separating at nightfall, their countenances and manner indicated that a definitive and decided resolution had been universally adopted upon some highly interesting and important matter.

The following morning, just as the mists were clearing away from the summits of the neighbouring mountains, General Mina entered the village, having marched during the greater part of the night. He had previously caused the place to be surrounded by his troops, in order to prevent the escape of any of the inhabitants. Attended by his staff, he rode to the plaza, whither the whole population were summoned by the crazy drum and drawling voice of the prégonéro, or public crier.

The people, who only two days before had hastened to the same spot with dancing step and exulting eye, cheered by the tambourine and mountain-pipe, now crept one by one out of their dwellings with fearfully-anxious looks, and wended their unwilling way towards the plaza.

This being reported to Mina, he shrugged his shoulders, and proceeded once more to harangue the multitude:As soon as these words had escaped his lips, a loud Well,' he said, 'you appear resolved to refuse giving clapping of hands was heard immediately behind him. me the information I ask for: now, listen to the voice of Upon turning round, the cura perceived the idiot lad, Mina, who never promises nor threatens in vain. If, who laughed in his face, and trailed his half-dislocated in one quarter of an hour by this watch (drawing it from legs along, in grotesque imitation of dancing. The cura his pocket), the place where the Carlist mortars are looked affrighted; the muscles of his visage became sud-hidden be not divulged, I will decimate the men now denly contracted; and his eyes flashed fire upon the before me. Every tenth man shall be instantly shot: urchin whose noisy movements seemed to strike terror decide for yourselves.' into his soul.