Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

THOMAS CAMPBELL (1777—1844)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 133 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

THOMAS See also:CAMPBELL (1777—1844)  , Scottish poet, eighth son of See also:Alexander See also:Campbell, was See also:born at See also:Glasgow on the 27th of See also:July 1777 . His See also:father, who was a See also:cadet of the See also:family of Campbell and in the same See also:year made another tour in See also:Germany . Four of Kirnan, See also:Argyllshire, belonged to a Glasgow See also:firm trading in years later appeared his " Theodric," a not very successful poem See also:Virginia, and lost his See also:money in consequence of the See also:American See also:war . Campbell was educated at the See also:grammar school and university of his native See also:town . He won prizes for See also:classics and for See also:verse-See also:writing, and the vacations he spent as a See also:tutor in the western See also:Highlands . His poem " Glenara " and the ballad of " See also:Lord Ullin's Daughter " owe their origin to a visit to See also:Mull . In May 1797 he went to See also:Edinburgh to attend lectures on See also:law . He supported himself by private teaching and by writing, towards which he was helped by Dr See also:Robert See also:Anderson, the editor of the See also:British Poets . Among his contemporaries in Edinburgh were See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott, See also:Henry See also:Brougham, See also:Francis See also:Jeffrey, Dr See also:Thomas See also:Brown, See also:John See also:Leyden and See also:James See also:Grahame . To these See also:early days in Edinburgh may be referred " The Wounded See also:Hussar," " The See also:Dirge of See also:Wallace " and the " See also:Epistle to Three Ladies." In 1799, six months after the publication of the Lyrical See also:Ballads of See also:Wordsworth and See also:Coleridge, The Pleasures of See also:Hope was published . It is a rhetorical and didactic poem in the See also:taste of his See also:time, and owed much to the fact that it dealt with topics near to men's See also:hearts, with the See also:French Revolution, the See also:partition of See also:Poland and with See also:negro See also:slavery . Its success was instantaneous, but Campbell was deficient in See also:energy and perseverance and did not follow it up .

He went abroad in See also:

June 1800 without any very definite aim, visited See also:Klopstock at See also:Hamburg, and made his way to See also:Regensburg, which was taken by the French three days after his arrival . He found See also:refuge in a Scottish monastery . Some of his best lyrics, " Hohenlinden," " Ye Mariners of See also:England " and " The Soldier's See also:Dream," belong to his See also:German tour . He spent the See also:winter in See also:Altona, where he met an Irish See also:exile, See also:Anthony McCann, whose See also:history suggested "The Exile of See also:Erin."' He had at that time the intention of writing an epic on Edinburgh to be entitled " The See also:Queen of the See also:North." On the outbreak of war between See also:Denmark and England he hurried See also:home, the " See also:Battle of the Baltic " being drafted soon after . At Edinburgh he was introduced to the first Lord See also:Minto, who took him in the next year to See also:London as occasional secretary . In June 1803 appeared a new edition of the Pleasures of Hope, to which some lyrics were added . In 1803 Campbell married his second See also:cousin, See also:Matilda See also:Sinclair, and settled in London . He was well received in Whig society, especially at See also:Holland See also:House . His prospects, however, were slight when in 1805 he received a See also:government See also:pension of £200 . In that year the Campbells removed to See also:Sydenham . Campbell was at this time regularly employed on the See also:Star newspaper, for which he translated the See also:foreign See also:news . In 18o9 he published a narrative poem in the Spenserian See also:stanza," Gertrude of See also:Wyoming," with which were printed some of his best lyrics .

He was slow and fastidious in See also:

composition, and the poem suffered from over-elaboration . Francis Jeffrey wrote to the author: " Your timidity or fastidiousness, or some other knavish quality, will not let you give your conceptions glowing, and bold, and powerful, as they See also:present themselves; but you must chasten, and refine, and soften them, forsooth, till See also:half their nature and grandeur is chiselled away from them . Believe me, the See also:world will never know how truly you are a See also:great and See also:original poet till you venture to See also:cast before it some of the rough pearls of your See also:fancy." In 1812 he delivered a See also:series of lectures on See also:poetry in London at the Royal Institution; and he was urged by Sir Walter Scott to become a See also:candidate for the See also:chair of literature at Edinburgh University . In 1814 he went to See also:Paris, making there the acquaintance of the See also:elder See also:Schlegel, of See also:Baron See also:Cuvier and others . His pecuniary anxieties were relieved in 1815 by a See also:legacy of f4000 . He continued to occupy himself with his Specimens of the British Poets, the See also:design of which had been projected years before . The See also:work was published in 1819 . It contains on the whole an admirable selection with See also:short lives of the poets, and prefixed to it an See also:essay on poetry containing much valuable See also:criticism . In 1820 he accepted the editorship of the New Monthly See also:Magazine, 'The original authorship of this poem was by many See also:people assigned to G . See also:Nugent See also:Reynolds . Campbell's claim is established in See also:Literary Remains of the See also:United Irishmen, by R . R .

See also:

Madden (1887) . of domestic See also:life . He took an active See also:share in the See also:foundation of the university of London, visiting See also:Berlin to inquire into the German See also:system of See also:education, and making recommendations which were adopted by Lord Brougham . He was elected lord See also:rector of Glasgow University three times (1826-1829) . In the last See also:election he had Sir Walter Scott for a See also:rival . Campbell retired from the editorship of the New Monthly Magazine in 1830, and a year later made an unsuccessful venture with the See also:Metropolitan Magazine . He had championed the cause of the Poles in The Pleasures of Hope, and the news of the See also:capture of See also:Warsaw by the Russians in 1831 affected him as if it had been the deepest of See also:personal calamities . " Poland preys on my See also:heart See also:night and See also:day," he wrote in one of his letters, and his sympathy found a pfactical expression in the foundation in London of the Association of the See also:Friends of Poland . In 1834 he travelled to Paris and See also:Algiers, where he wrote his Letters from the See also:South (printed 1837) . The small See also:production of Campbell may be partly explained by his domestic calamities . His wife died in 1828 . Of his two sons, one died in See also:infancy and the other became insane .

His own See also:

health suffered, and he gradually withdrew from public life . He died at See also:Boulogne on the 15th of June 1844, and was buried in See also:Westminster See also:Abbey . Campbell's other See also:works include a Life of Mrs See also:Siddons (1842), and a narrative poem, " The See also:Pilgrim of See also:Glencoe " (1842) . See The Life and Letters of Thomas Campbell (3 vols., 1849), edited by See also:William See also:Beattie, M.D . ; Literary Reminiscences and See also:Memoirs of Thomas See also:Camp-See also:bell (1860)'by See also:Cyrus Redding; ThePoetical Works of Thomas Campbell (1875), in the Aldine Edition of the British Poets, edited by the Rev . W . See also:Alfred See also:Bill, with a See also:sketch of the poet's life by William See also:Allingham; and the " See also:Oxford Edition " of the See also:Complete Works of Thomas Campbell (1908), edited by J . Logie See also:Robertson . See also Thomas Campbell in the Famous Scots Series, by J . C . Hadden, and a selection by See also:Lewis Campbell (1904) for the See also:Golden See also:Treasury Series . CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, SIR HENRY (1836-1908), See also:English See also:prime See also:minister, was born on the 7th of See also:September 1836, being the second son of Sir James Campbell, See also:Bart., of Stracathro, See also:Forfar-See also:shire, lord See also:provost of Glasgow .

Phoenix-squares

His elder See also:

brother James, who just outlived him, was Conservative M.P. for Glasgow and See also:Aberdeen See also:Universities from 188o to 1906 .. Both his father and his See also:uncle William Campbell, who had together founded an important drapery business in Glasgow, See also:left him considerable fortunes; and he assumed the name of Bannerman in 1872, in compliance with the provisions of the will of his maternal uncle, Henry Bannerman, from whom he inherited a large See also:property in See also:Kent . He was educated at Glasgow University and at Trinity See also:College, See also:Cambridge (See also:senior optime, and classical honours) ; was returned to See also:parliament for See also:Stirling as a Liberal in 1868 (after an unsuccessful See also:attempt at a by-election); and became See also:financial secretary at the war See also:office (1871–1874; 188o-1882), secretary to the See also:admiralty (1882–1884), and See also:chief secretary for See also:Ireland (1884-1885) . When Mr See also:Gladstone suddenly adopted the cause of Home See also:Rule for Ireland, he " found salvation," to use his own phrase, and followed his See also:leader . In Mr Gladstone's 1886 See also:ministry he was secretary for war, and filled the same office in the Liberal ministry of 1892-1895 . In the latter year he was knighted (G.C.B.) . It See also:fell to his See also:lot as war minister to obtain the See also:duke of Cambridge's resignation of the office of See also:commander-in-chief; but his intended See also:appointment of a chief of the See also:staff in substitution for that office was frustrated by the resignation of the ministry . It was an imputed omission on the See also:part of the war office, and therefore of the war minister, to provide a sufficient See also:supply of small-arms See also:ammunition for the See also:army which on the 21st of June 1895 led to the defeat of the See also:Rosebery government . Wealthy, popular and possessed of a vein of oratorical See also:humour (Mr T . See also:Healy had said that he tried to govern Ireland with Scottish jokes), Sir Henry had already earned the See also:general respect of all parties, and in See also:April 1895, when Mr See also:Speaker See also:Peel retired, his claims for the vacant See also:post were prominently canvassed; but his colleagues were averse from his retirement from active politics and Mr See also:Gully was selected . Though a prominent member of the inner Liberal circle and a stanch party See also:man, it was not supposed by the public at this time that any ambition for the highest See also:place could be associated with Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman; but the divisions among the Liberals, and the rivalry between Lord Rosebery and Sir William See also:Harcourt, made the See also:political situation an anomalous one . The very fact that he was apparently unambitious of personal supremacy combined with his See also:honourable See also:record and experience to make him a safe man; and in See also:December 1898, on Sir W .

Harcourt's formal resignation of the leadership of the Opposition, he was elected to fill the position in the House of See also:

Commons with the general assent of the party . In view of its See also:parliamentary See also:impotence, and its legacy of an unpopular Home Rule See also:programme, Sir Henry had a difficult task to perform, but he prudently interpreted his See also:duty as chiefly consisting in the effort to keep the See also:Radical party together in the midst of its pronounced See also:differences . In this he was successful, although the See also:advent of the See also:Boer War of 1899-1902 created new difficulties with the Liberal Imperialists . The leader of the Opposition from the first denounced the See also:diplomatic steps taken by Lord See also:Milner and Mr See also:Chamberlain, and objected to all armed intervention or even preparation for hostilities . Sir Henry's own tendency to favour the See also:anti-war See also:section, his refusal to support the government in any way, and his allusion to " methods of barbarism " in connexion with the conduct of the British army (June 14, 1901), accentuated the crisis within the party; and in 1901 the Liberal Imperialists, who looked to Lord Rosebery (q.v.) and Mr See also:Asquith (q.v.) for their political See also:inspiration, showed pronounced signs of restiveness . But a party See also:meeting was called on the 9th of July, and Sir Henry was unanimously confirmed in the leadership . The end of the war in 1902 showed the value of his persistency throughout the years of Liberal unpopularity and disunion . The political conflict once more resumed its normal See also:condition, for the first time since 1892 . The blunders of the government were open to a united attack, andMr Chamberlain's See also:tariff-reform See also:movement in 1903 provided a new rallying point in See also:defence of the existing fiscal system . In the Liberal See also:campaign on behalf of See also:free See also:trade the real leader, however, was Mr Asquith . Sir Henry's own See also:principal contribution to the discussion was rather unfortunate, for while insisting on the blessings derived by England from its free-trade policy, he coupled this with the rhetorical See also:admission (at See also:Bolton in 1903) that " 12,000,000 British citizens were under-fed and on the See also:verge of See also:hunger." But Lord See also:Salisbury's retirement, Unionist divisions, the staleness of the ministry, and the accumulating opposition in the See also:country to the Education See also:Act of 1902 and to the continued See also:weight of See also:taxation, together with the growth of the Labour movement, and the antagonism to the introduction of See also:Chinese coolies (1904) into South See also:Africa under conditions represented by Radical spokesmen as those of " slavery," made the political pendulum See also:swing back . A Liberal See also:majority at the See also:dissolution was promised by all the signs at by-elections .

The government held on, but collapse was only a question of time (see the articles on See also:

BALFOUR, A . J., and CHAMBERLAIN, J.) . On the 4th of December 1905 the Unionist government resigned, and the See also:king sent for Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, who in a few days formed his See also:cabinet . Lord Rosebery, who until a short time before had seemed likely to co-operate, alone held aloof . In a speech at Stirling on the 23rd of See also:November, Sir Henry appeared to him to have deliberately flouted his well-known susceptibilities by once more writing Home Rule in large letters on the party programme, and he declared at See also:Bodmin that he would " never serve under that banner." Sir Henry's actual words,which undoubtedly influenced the Irish See also:vote, were that he " desired to see the effective management of Irish affairs in the hands of a representative Irish See also:assembly . If an See also:instalment of representative See also:control was offered to Ireland, or any administrative improvement, he would advise the Nationalists to accept it, provided it was consistent and led up to their larger policy." But if Lord Rosebery once more separated himself from the See also:official Liberals, his principal henchmen in the Liberal See also:League were included in the cabinet, Mr Asquith becoming See also:chancellor of the See also:exchequer, Sir See also:Edward See also:Grey foreign secretary, and Mr See also:Haldane war minister . Other sections of the party were strongly represented by Mr John See also:Morley assecretary for See also:India, Mr See also:Bryce (afterwards See also:ambassador at See also:Washington) as chief secretary for Ireland, Sir R . T . See also:Reid (Lord Loreburn) as lord chancellor, Mr See also:Augustine See also:Birrell as education minister (afterwards Irish secretary), Mr See also:Lloyd-See also:George as See also:president of the See also:Board of Trade, Mr See also:Herbert Gladstone as home secretary, and Mr John See also:Burns—a notable rise for a Labour leader—as president of the See also:Local Government Board . Lord See also:Ripon became leader in the House of Lords; and Lord See also:Elgin (colonial secretary), Lord See also:Carrington(See also:agriculture) , Lord Aberdeen (lord See also: