England, when, in 1804, he received a regular call from the congregation of Kingsland Chapel, by whom his former labours had been greatly esteemed, to become their minister. He complied, and entered immediately with full ardour upon the sacred duties of his new office. Although now minister of a London chapel, the situation was by no means one either of distinction or emolument. On the contrary, the congregation were so poor, and his salary therefore so scanty, that he was obliged to open a day school in Kingsland, in addition to his clerical duties. He was also editor of the "Youth's Magazine," a small religious periodical, which he commenced and superintended through the first ten volumes.
The remarkable activity of Mr. Campbell, and the energy with which he entered into the operations of the various religious societies with which he was engaged, besides discharging the offices of minister, schoolmaster, editor, and itinerant preacher, soon brought him into notice in London, and suggested to the London Missionary Society the idea of employing him in an enterprise of the utmost importance. This was, a tour of exploration through Caffraria, for the purpose of examining the state of the Hottentot and Caffre missions, now left helpless by the death of the lamented Dr. Vanderkemp. It was a commission fraught not only with difficulty but peril, but Campbell cheerfully undertook it. He was solemnly set apart for this purpose in Miles' Lane Chapel, the venerable Dr. Waugh presiding on that occasion. And who that has but once seen and heard that Scot of Scots, can either forget his noble, stately, stalwart form and bearing, or his Doric but thrilling and persuasive eloquence? At the close of his address he thus bade farewell to Mr. Campbell:—"Could I place the prophet Isaiah at the base of one of the lofty mountains in Africa, which you, my brother, are about to visit; and if, whilst gazing on its varied scenery, an eathquake were to rock it upon its deep foundations, until, like the Numidian lion shaking the dew-drops of the land of Ham from his mane in the morning, it threw off from its hoary and heaving sides the forests, and flocks, and hamlets of huts, and cliffs crowned with lichens and lign aloes; and were a whirlwind to rush in at that moment, scattering the broken and falling masses in mid air, as if playing with the sand-clouds and columns of the desert; still the voice of the prophet, could it be heard amidst the convulsive war of elements, would exclaim, 'Though the everlasting mountains bow, and the perpetual hills be scattered, yet will I rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of my salvation!' Go, my brother, and do thou the same, whatever dangers you may meet in Africa. As God was with Vanderkemp, so will he be with thee, Campbell."
Charged with this important commission, the minister of Kingsland Chapel left London on the 24th of June, 1812. Already he had confronted the fierce waves that girdle the Orkneys, and traversed its little islands to proclaim the gospel; but now he was to "brave the stormy spirit of the Cape," and explore its vast interior, upon a similar errand. His progress in South Africa fully justified the choice that had been made of him, for while no minister or missionary could have been more zealous, active, and efficient in the special duties of his calling among the Christian stations which he visited, he added to these the qualifications of an intrepid, diligent, and enterprising traveller, alive to the interests of general knowledge and science, and sharply observant of every object in his way. Three thousand miles were traversed by him in a country as yet but little known to the British public, and after an absence of nearly two years, he returned to England in May, 1814. He was not yet done, however, with
