LEIGH HUNT.
This negotiation was ultimately brought to a conclusion by Mr. Hunt, at Mr. Murray's suggestion, disposing of the copyright of "Rimini" to another publisher.
CHAPTER XIII
THOMAS CAMPBELL—JOHN CAM HOBHOUSE—J.W. CROKER-JAMES HOGG, ETC.
Thomas Campbell appeared like a meteor as early as 1799, when, in his twenty-second year, he published his "Pleasures of Hope." The world was taken by surprise at the vigour of thought and richness of fancy displayed in the poem. Shortly after its publication, Campbell went to Germany, and saw, from the Benedictine monastery of Scottish monks at Ratisbon, a battle which was not, as has often been said, the Battle of Hohenlinden. What he saw, however, made a deep impression on his mind, and on his return to Scotland he published the beautiful lines beginning, "On Linden when the sun was low." In 1801 he composed "The Exile of Erin" and "Ye Mariners of England." The "Battle of the Baltic" and "Lochiel's Warning" followed; and in 1803 he published an edition of his poems. To have composed such noble lyrics was almost unprecedented in so young a man; for he was only twenty-six years of age when his collected edition appeared. He was treated as a lion, and became acquainted with Walter Scott and the leading men in Edinburgh. In December 1805 we find Constable writing to Murray, that Longman & Co. had offered the young poet £700 for a new volume of his poems.
One of the earliest results of the association of Campbell with Murray was a proposal to start a new magazine, which Murray had long contemplated. This, it will be observed, was some years before the communications took place between Walter Scott and Murray with respect to the starting of the Quarterly.
The projected magazine, however, dropped out of sight, and Campbell reverted to his proposed "Lives of the British Poets, with Selections from their Writings." Toward the close of the year he addressed the following letter to Mr. Scott:
Mr. T. Campbell to Mr. Scott.
November 5, 1806.
My Dear Scott,