es Campbell to
his friend, "I read with sweet pleasure; for there is a joy in grief,
when peace dwelleth in the breast of the sad.... Morose as I am in
judging of poetry, I could find nothing inelegant in the whole piece. I
hope you will in your next (since you are such a master of the
plaintive) send me some verses consolatory to a hermit; for my
sequestered situation sometimes stamps a firm belief on my mind that I
am actually an anchorite. In return for your welcome poetical effusion,
I have nothing at present but a chorus of the Jepthes of Buchanan,
written soon after my arrival in Mull:--

"Glassy Jordan, smooth meandering
Jacob's grassy meads between,
Lo! thy waters, gently wandering,
Lave thy valleys rich and green.

"When the winter, keenly show'ring,
Strips fair Salem's holy shade,
Then thy current, broader flowing,
Lingers 'mid the leafless glade.

"When, O! when shall light returning
Gild the melancholy gloom,
And the golden star of morning
Jordan's solemn vault illume?

"When shall Freedom's holy charmer
Cheer my long benighted soul?
When shall Israel, proud in armour,
Burst the tyrant's base control?" &c.

"The similarity of the measure with that of your last made me think of
sending you this piece. I am much hurried at present with my comedy, the
'Clouds of Aristophanes.' I have already finished my translation of the
Choephoroe of AEschylus. I dreamt a dream about your being before
Parnassus upon your trial for sedition and contumacy. I thought Thalia,
Clio, &c. addressed you. Their speeches shall be nonsensified into
rhyme, and shall be part of some other scrawl from your affectionate
friend,

"THOMAS THE HERMIT."

In another epistle Campbell threatens to "send a formal message to the
kind nymphs of Parnassus, telling them that, whereas Hamilton Paul,
their favourite and admired laureate of the north, has been heard to
express his admiration of certain nymphs in a certain place; and that
the said Hamilton Paul has ungratefully and feloniously neglected to
speak with due reverence of the ladies of Helicon; that said Hamilton
Paul shall be deprived of all aid in future from these goddesses, and be
sent to draw his inspiration from the dry fountain of earthly beauty;
and that, furthermore, all the favours taken from the said Hamilton Paul
shall accrue to the informer and petitioner!"

After two years' residenc