to the enjoyments of his fireside. Instead of this, the fastidious taste that abode with him through life, made him slow in the selection of ideas, as well as scrupulous in their expression; and thus, when the price of his labour was to be estimated by bulk, his toil was scarcely half-paid. One of his resources at this time, in addition to periodical literature, was an engagement in the "Star" newspaper, which produced him four guineas a-week. At this time, also, he was willing to endure expatriation for the advantages of a permanent living; so that, when a regency in the university of Wilna had become vacant, he sent his name to the Russian minister as a candidate. But here his sentiments in favour of liberty, and his sympathy for Poland, which he had expressed in the "Pleasures of Hope," intervened to damp the ardour of his application, which might otherwise have been successful. After having established himself in authorship as a profession, he removed from London to Sydenham, where he resided for the next seventeen years of his life; and it was here, during the first summer after his removal, that amidst many articles written for the "Philosophical Magazine" and the "Star," upon every uncongenial subject, agriculture not excepted, he published "Lord Ullin's Daughter," the "Soldier's Dream," the "Turkish Lady," and the "Battle of the Baltic." But for one so delicately organized both in mind and body as Campbell, the daily hard work which he had to encounter was so exhausting that his health gave way; and in his letters at this period, we find him labouring under fits of gloomy despondency, alternated by attacks of sickness. To add also to his cares, the sole support of his aged mother, and partially of his sisters, was still devolved upon him, so that he had to maintain two household establishments, the one at Sydenham, and the other at Edinburgh. But just at the time when it seemed inevitable that he must break down under the double pressure, relief was at hand. Some unknown but highly influential friend had interposed with royalty itself in his behalf, and the result was a pension of ₤200 per annum conferred by his Majesty upon the Bard of Hope. His application of this munificent boon was truly honourable to the poet's heart and memory; for, after reserving only a portion to himself, he allotted the remainder to the support of his mother and sisters.
Four years went onward at Sydenham under these improved circumstances, but still the necessity for continued exertion was little abated; for the pension, comfortable as it looked in the abstract, underwent such mutilation, through fees of office and taxation, that it reached him in the shape of ₤140, while out of this he paid an annuity of ₤70 to his mother. The comfort to be derived from it depended more upon its permanency than its specific bulk. He therefore continued his toil, amidst alternate fits of lassitude and sickness. His contributions to the "Star," which consisted chiefly of translations from foreign journals, occupied him four hours a-day, and the remainder of his time was filled up by a "History of the Reign of George III." in three volumes, for which he had contracted with an Edinburgh publisher before he left Scotland, and with his "Specimens of the British Poets," a compilation in which the selection of materials for extracts, as well as the composition of biographical notices, cost him abundance of labour and anxiety. All this, however, was for mere daily subsistence, not future fame; and even to keep up the reputation which his first work had procured him, it was necessary to follow it with one of at least equal excellence. To this necessity he was far from being insensible; and therefore, amidst his seasons of intermission, he had devoted himself with
