Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/670

CAMPBELL year he was appointed solicitor general by the Grey ministry, which office he retained till February, 1834, when he became attorney gen- eral. He left office with the Grey ministry in November, 1834, and at the ensuing general election was returned for the city of Edin- burgh, which he continued to represent till his elevation to the peerage. After the resignation of Sir Kobert Peel's ministry in 1835, Sir John Campbell regained the attorney-generalship, which he held till June, 1841, when he was appointed lord chancellor of Ireland, and rais- ed to the peerage as Baron Campbell. On the resignation of the Melbourne administration, September, 1841, he lost his chancellorship. From this period till 1846 his public life was confined to hearing appeals in the house of lords and on the judicial committee of the privy council, and acting as one of the leaders of the opposition in the upper house. His leisure was devoted to literary pursuits, the results of which were : " Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of England from the earliest times to the reign of George IV." (7 vols., London, 1846-7) ; and " Lives of the Chief Justices of England, from the Norman Conquest to the death of Lord Mansfield " (2 vols., 1849 ; vol. iii., continuing the series to the death of Lord Tenterden, 1857). The return of the liberal party to power in 1846 gave him the post of chancellor of the duchy of Lancas- ter, and a seat in the Russell cabinet. On the retirement of Lord Denman from the chief jus- ticeship of the queen's bench in March, 1850, Lord Campbell succeeded him ; and from 1859 till his death he was lord chancellor. His speeches at the bar and in the house of com- mons were published in 1857. CAMPBELL, Sir Neil, a British officer, born about 1770, died in Sierra Leone, Aug. 14, 1827. He served in the West Indies, became colonel of Portuguese infantry, and took part in the penin- sular campaigns against the French. He was subsequently attached to the Russian army to report upon its force and military operations, and was appointed by the British government a commissioner to accompany Napoleon from Fontainebleau to Elba. He subsequently served under the duke of Wellington in Flanders till the second entry into Paris. In 1815 he was sent to explore the course of the Niger, and in 1826 was made governor of Sierra Leone. CAMPBELL, Thomas, a British poet, born in Glasgow, July 27, 1777, died in Boulogne, France, June 15, 1844. His father was a cadet of the ancient clan of Campbells in Kirnan'. At the age of 13 he entered the university of Glasgow, where he remained for six years, partially supporting himself by private teach- ing. He excelled particularly in Greek, and his translations from the Greek tragedians were considered the best that any pupil in the uni- versity had ever produced. On leaving the university he spent a year in Argyleshire, where he composed several poems, among which was "Love and Madness." Unwilling to enter any of the learned professions, he went to Edinburgh, proposing to devote him- self to literature, and there composed "The Pleasures of Hope" (1799). This poem achieved an almost unparalleled success, and introduced the author at once to fame and society. He thus obtained the means to visit the continent, studied Greek several months at Gottingen under Heyne, witnessed from the monastery of St. Jacob the battle of Hohenlinden, which he has described in his letters and in one of the finest of his poems, and after making brief and irregular rambles, controlled by the exigencies of war, being checked in his attempt to pass into Italy, and chased into Yarmouth by a Danish privateer, repaired in 1801 to London. He soon after directed his course to Edinburgh by sea, and was surprised to learn from the passengers that the author of "The Pleasures of Hope" had been arrested in London for high treason, was confined in the tower, and expected to he executed. In fact, so suspicious was the British government at that time, that it had amplified his association with French officers abroad into a plot, and a warrant was issued for his apprehension as a spy. It was with difficulty that the poet on arriving at Edinburgh could satisfy the authorities of his loyalty. During his travels he had composed a few short pieces, among which were his "Exile of Erin," "Lochiel's Warning," and "Ye Mariners of England," but now obtained his livelihood only by fugitive articles for the newspapers and booksellers. He removed in 1803 to London, and soon after to Sydenham, where for 17 years he devoted himself to ful- filling contracts with publishers, and to com- posing the few poems which confirmed and in- creased the reputation which his first work had procured him. He had a wife, mother, and sisters dependent on him, and amid al- ternate seasons of energy and lassitude, hope and despondency, composed an elaborate his- torical notice of Great Britain for the " Edin- burgh Encyclopaedia," a " History of the Reign of George III.," frequent contributions to the " Star " newspaper, and collected materials for his " Specimens of the British Poets." Upon the accession of the whigs to power in 1806 he received a pension of 200, and in 1809 pub- lished his second great poem, " Gertrude of Wyoming," to which were attached several powerful lyrics. In 1812 he lectured on po- etry at the royal institution; in 1814 visited Paris in company with Mrs. Siddons; in 1818 travelled in Germany ; and on his return to England assumed the editorship of " Colburn's New Monthly Magazine," which he retained for ten years. His poetical labors from this time, with the exception of the "Last Man," are of little importance. His " Theodric," published in 1824, was pronounced inferior to his former poems, and his "Pilgrim of Glen- coe," which appeared in 1842, was deemed a failure. He originated the project of the Lon- don university, which, chiefly through his ex-