poet--but this sort of testimony to his private worth is grateful
and well-timed. Here is an interesting passage from Mr. Irving's
introductory communication. He is alluding to Campbell's fame and
position, when he himself first made Campbell's acquaintance in
England.

"'I had considered the early productions of Campbell as
brilliant indications of a genius yet to be developed, and
trusted that, during the long interval which had elapsed,
he had been preparing something to fulfill the public
expectation; I was greatly disappointed, therefore, to find
that, as yet, he had contemplated no great and sustained
effort. My disappointment in this respect was shared
by others, who took the same interest in his fame, and
entertained the same idea of his capacity. 'There he is
cooped up in Sydenham,' said a great Edinburgh critic to me,
'simmering his brains to serve up a little dish of poetry,
instead of pouring out a whole caldron.'

"'Scott, too, who took a cordial delight in Campbell's poetry,
expressed himself to the same effect. 'What a pity is it,'
said he to me 'that Campbell does not give full sweep to his
genius. He has wings that would bear him up to the skies, and
he does now and then spread them grandly, but folds them up
again and resumes his perch, as if afraid to launch away. The
fact is, he is a bugbear to himself. The brightness of his
early success is a detriment to all his future efforts. _He is
afraid of the shadow that his own fame casts before him_.'

"'Little was Scott aware at the time that he, in truth, was