These giant mountains inwardly were moved, A more alert and locomotive race); Like house-dogs howling at a dinner-bell. This is evidently meant as a good-humoured satire against violent per. sonifications in poetry. Meanwhile a monk, Brother John by name, who had opposed the introduction of the bells, has gone, in a fit of disgust with his brethren, to amuse himself with the rod at a neighbouring stream. Here occurs another beautiful descriptive passage: A mighty current, unconfined and free, Ran wheeling round beneath the mountain's shade, All tranquil and transparent, close embayed; Each flower and herb, and every cloud of heaver; The painted kingfisher, the branch above her, So rest and motion in a narrow range, Feasted the sight with joyous interchange. Brother John, placed here by mere chance, is apprised of the approach of the giants in time to run home and give the alarm. Amidst the preparations for defence, to which he exhorts his brethren, the abbot dies, and John is elected to succeed him. A stout resistance is made by the monks, whom their new superior takes care to feed well by way of keeping them in heart, and the giants at length withdraw from the scene of action. It finally appears that the pagans have retired in order to make the attack upon the ladies, which had formerly been described-no bad burlesque of the endless episodes of the Italian romantic poets. It was soon discovered that the author of this clever jeu d'esprit was the Right Honourable John Hookham Frere, a person of high political consequence, who had been employed a few years before by the British government to take charge of diplomatic transactions in Spain in connection with the army under General Sir John Moore. The Whistlecraft poetry was carried no further; but the peculiar stanza (the ottava rima of Italy), and the sarcastic pleasantry, formed the immediate exemplar which guided Byron when he wrote his 'Beppo' and 'Don Juan;' and one couplet Adown thy slope, romantic Ashbourn, glides became at a subsequent period the basis of an allusion almost histori. cal in importance, with reference to a small party in the House of Commons. Thus the national poem attained a place of some consequence in our modern literature. It is only to be regretted that the poet, captivated by indolence or the elegances of a luxurious taste, gave no further specimen of his talents to the world. For many years Mr. Frere resided in Malta, in the enjoyment of a handsome pension, conferred for diplomatic services, of £1516 per annum, and at Malta he died on the 7th of January, 1846, aged seventy-seven. In the Life of Sir Walter Scott,' there are some particulars respecting the meeting of the declining novelist with his friend, the author of Whistlecraft." We there learn from Scott, that the remarkable war-song upon the victory at Brunnenburg, which appears in Mr. Ellis's 'Specimens of Ancient English Poetry,' and might pass in a court of critics as a genuine composition of the fourteenth century, was written by Mr. Frere while an Eton school-boy, as an illustration on one side of the celebrated Rowley controversy. We are also informed by Mrs. John Davy, in her diary, quoted by Mr. Lockhart, that Sir Walter on this occasion, repeated a pretty long passage from his version of one of the romances of the Cid-published in the appendix to Southey's quarto-and seemed to enjoy a spirited charge of the knights therein described as much as he could have done in his best days, placing his walking-stick in rest as a lance, “to suit the action to the word."" We may here redeem from comparative obscurity a piece of poetry so much admired by Scott: The gates were then thrown open, and forth at once they rushed, The outposts of the Moorish hosts back to the camp were pushed; The camp was all in tumult, and there was such a thunder Of cymbals and of drums, as if earth would cleave in sunder. There you might see the Moors arming themselves in haste, And the two main battles how they were forming fast; Horsemen and footmen mixt, a countless troop and vast. the battle soon must join, Pero Bermuez heard the word, but he could not refrain, He held the banner in his hand, he gave the horse the rein; 'You sce yon foremost squadron there, Noble Cid, God be your aid, for there your banner goes! E. L. vol. v.-8 Let him that serves and honours it, For Heaven's sake be still!" Bermnez cried, 'I cannot hold,' So eager was his will. He spurred his horse, and drove him on They strove to win the banner, and compassed him about. Had not his armour been so true, he had lost either life or limb; The Cid called out again, "For Heaven's sake succour him!' Their shields before their breasts, forth at once they go Their lances in the rest levelled fair and low; Their banners and their crests Their heads all stooping down towards the saddle-bow. The Cid was in the midst, his shout was heard afar; 'I am Rui Diaz, the champion of Bivar; There where Bermuez fought amidst the foe they brake; Three hundred Moors they killed, When they wheeled and turned, as many more lay slain, You might see them raise their lances, There you might see the breast-plates, And many a Moorish shield lie scattered on the plain. The pennons that were white marked with a crimson stain, The horses running wild whose riders had been slain. In 1871, the Works of Frere, in Verse and Prose, and a Memoir' by his nephew, were published in 2 vols. THOMAS CAMPBELL. THOMAS CAMPBELL was born in the city of Glasgow, July 27, 1777. He was of a good Highland family, the Campbells of Kirnan, in Argyllshire, who traced their origin from the first Norman lord of Lochawe. The property, however, had passed from the ancient race, and the poet's father carried on business in Glasgow as a merchant or trader with Virginia. He was unsuccessful, and in his latter days subsisted on some small income derived from a merchants' society and provident institution, aided by his industrious wife, who received into their house as boarders young men attending college. Thomas received a good education, and was distinguished at the university, particularly for his translations from the Greek. The Greek professor, John Young, pronounced his translation of part of the 'Clouds' of Aristophanes the best version that had ever been given in by any student. He had previously received a prize for an English poem, an Essay on the Origin of Evil,' modelled on the style of Pope. Other poetical pieces, written between his fourteenth and sixteenth year, evince Campbell's peculiar delicacy of taste and select poetical diction. He became tutor in a family resident in the island of Mull, and about this time met with his Caroline of the West,' the daughter of a minister of Inveraray. The winter of 1795 saw him again in Glasgow, attending college, and supporting himself by private tuition. Next year he was sometime tutor in the family of Mr. Downie of Appin, also in the Highlands; and this engagement completed, he repaired to Edinburgh, hesitated between the church and the law as a profession, but soon abandoning all hopes of either, he employed himself in private teaching and in literary work for the booksellers. Poetry was not neglected, and in April 1799 appeared his Pleasures of Hope.' The copyright was sold for £60; but for some years the publishers gave the poet £50 on every new edition of two thousand copies, and allowed him, in 1803, to publish a quarto subscription copy, by which he realized about £1000. It was in a 'dusky lodging' in Alison Square, Edinburgh, that the 'Pleasures of Hope' was composed; and the fine opening simile was suggested by the scenery of the Firth of Forth as seen from the Calton Hill. The poem was instantly successful. The volume went through four editions in a twelvemonth. After the publication of the first edition, 154 lines were added to the poem. It captivated all readers by its varying and exquisite melody, its polished diction, and the vein of generous and lofty sentiment which seemed to embalm and sanctify the entire poem. The touching and beautiful episodes with which it abounds constituted also a source of deep interest; and in picturing the horrors of war, and the infamous partition of Poland, the poet kindled up into a strain of noble indignant zeal and prophet-like inspiration. Oh, bloodiest picture in the book of Time! Strength in her arms, nor mercy in her woe! Dropped from her nerveless grasp the shattered spear, Closed her bright eye, and curbed her high career. Hope, for a season, bade the word farewell, And Freedom shrieked-as Kosciusko fell! The sun went down, nor ceased the carnage there; On Prague's proud arch the fires of ruin glow, Traces of juvenility may be found in the 'Pleasures of Hope - -a want of connection between the different parts of the poem, some florid lines and imperfect metaphors; but such a series of beautiful and dazzling pictures, so pure and elevated a tone of moral feeling, and such terse, vigorous, and polished versification, were never perhaps before found united in a poem written at the age of twenty-one. Shortly after its publication, Campbell visited the continent. He sailed from Leith for Hamburg on the 1st of June 1800; and proceeding from thence to Ratisbon, witnessed the decisive action which gave Ratisbon to the French. The poet stood with the monks of the Scottish college of St. James, on the ramparts near the monastery, while a charge of Klenau's cavalry was made upon the French. He saw no other scenes of actual warfare, but made various excursions into the interior, and was well received by General Moreau and the other French officers. It has been generally supposed that Campbell was present at the battle of Hohenlinden, but it was not fought until some weeks after he had left Bavaria. During his residence on the Danube and the Elbe, the poet wrote some of his exquisite minor poems, which were published in the Morning Chronicle' newspaper. The first of these was the Exile of Erin,' which was suggested by an incident like that which befell Smollett at Boulogne-namely, meeting with a party of political exiles who retained a strong love of their native country. Campbell's Exile' was a person named Anthony M'Cann, who, with Hamilton Rowan and others, had been concerned in the Irish rebellion. So jealous was the British government of that day, that the poet was suspected of being a spy, and on his arrival in Edinburgh, was subjected to an examination by the sheriff, but which ended in a scene of mirth and conviviality. Shortly afterwards, Campbell was received by Lord Minto as a sort of secretary and literary companion-a situation which his temper and somewhat democratic independence of spirit rendered uncongenial, and which did not last long. In this year (1802) he composed Lochiel's Warn ing' and 'Hohenlinden '-the latter one of the grandest battle-pieces in miniature that ever was drawn. In a few verses, flowing like a choral melody, the poet brings before us the silent midnight scene of engagement wrapt in the snows of winter, the sudden arming for the battle, the press and shout of charging squadrons, the flashing of artillery, and the final scene of death. 'Lochiel's Warning' being read in manuscript to Sir Walter (then Mr.) Scott, he requested a perusal of it himself, and then repeated the whole from memory-a |