assigned to him by the ‘Biographia Britannica,’ though in the list of the writers communicated by Swinton to Dr. Johnson (Boswell, Life, edition of 1860, p. 794) the ‘Cosmogony’ is attributed to Sale, and the ‘History of the Persians and the Constantinopolitan Empire’ to Campbell. To the ‘Modern Universal History’ he contributed the histories of the Portuguese, Dutch, French, Swedish, Danish, and Ostend settlements in the East Indies, and histories of Spain, Portugal, Algarves, Navarre, and that of France from Clovis to the year 1656. In 1741 appeared his ‘Concise History of Spanish America’ (second edition 1755), and in 1742 ‘A Letter to a Friend in the Country on the Publication of Thurloe's State Papers,’ a lively piece in which Thurloe's then newly issued folios are dealt with somewhat after the manner of a modern review article. In the same year were issued vols. i. and ii. of ‘The Lives of the Admirals and other Eminent British Seamen,’ &c. The two remaining volumes appeared in 1744. The work was translated into German, and three other editions of it were published in Campbell's lifetime. After his death there were several editions of it, with continuations to the dates of issue, an abridgement of it appearing so recently as 1870. It was a great improvement on previous compilations of the kind. Campbell's ignorance of seamanship led him, however, into many nautical blunders, some of which are exposed in the ‘United Service Magazine’ for October 1842. In 1743 appeared anonymously his English version, with copious annotations, of the Latin work of Cohausen, ‘Hermippus Redivivus; or, the Sage's Triumph over Old Age and the Grave.’ Dr. Johnson (Boswell, Life, p. 142) pronounced the volume ‘very entertaining as an account of the hermetic philosophy and as furnishing a curious history of the extravagancies of the human mind;’ adding, ‘if it were merely imaginary it would be nothing at all.’ It reached a third edition in 1771. In 1743 also appeared his translation from the Dutch, ‘The True Interest and Political Maxims of the Republic of Holland.’ The original is ascribed wrongly to John de Witt; Campbell added to his translation memoirs of Cornelius and John de Witt. In 1744 was published Campbell's much enlarged edition of Harris's ‘Collection of Voyages and Travels’ (1702–5), ‘Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca.’ In the ‘Account of the European Settlements in America,’ attributed to Burke, the author expresses his obligations to this colossal work. A new edition was soon called for, the publication of which, in numbers, was completed in 1749. To Campbell has been generally ascribed the recast (1744) of ‘The Shepherd of Banbury's Rules to judge of the Changes of the Weather, by John Claridge, shepherd,’ first issued in 1670, and very popular in rural districts. Little more than a few words of the original title remained in the recast, which was frequently reprinted, and that so late as 1827. It is somewhat noticeable as an attempt to base on quasi-scientific principles the weather forecasts of the alleged Banbury shepherd (Notes and Queries, 1st ser. vii. 373).
To the first ‘Biographia Britannica,’ the issue of which in weekly numbers began in 1745, Campbell's contributions, signed E. and X., were copious, continuous, and varied, but they ceased with the publication of vol. iv. Among them were biographies of members of noble British families. John, the fifth Earl of Orrery, thanked him ‘in the name of the Boyles for the honour he had done to them,’ and Horace Walpole assigns as a reason for not portraying the characters of the Campbells in his ‘Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors’ (edition of 1806, v. 103), that the task had been ‘so fully performed by one who bears the honour of their name, and who it is no compliment to say is one of the ablest and most beautiful writers of his country.’ Campbell's patriotic feeling and highland origin prompted him to write ‘A Full and Particular Description of the Highlands of Scotland, its Situation and Produce, the Manners and Customs of the Natives,’ &c. (1752). It contained a highly-coloured account of the virtues of the highlanders and of the resources of the highlands, with a protest against English ignorance of both.
In 1750 had appeared, mainly reprinted from a periodical, ‘The Museum,’ ‘The Political State of Europe,’ which went through six editions in his lifetime, and procured him a continental reputation. It consisted of summaries of the history of the most prominent European states, with remarks on their international relations, and on the policy of their rulers and governments, sometimes displaying considerable acumen. In 1754 the university of Glasgow conferred on him the degree of LL.D. After the peace of Paris, 1762, he wrote, at Lord Bute's request, a ‘Description and History of the new Sugar Islands in the West Indies,’ in order to show the value of those which had been ceded by the French at the close of the war. In March 1765 he was appointed his majesty's agent for the province of Georgia, and held the office until his death. In 1774 appeared his last work, one on which he had expended years of labour, ‘A Political Survey of Great Britain, being a series of reflections on the
