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CAMPBELL, ALEXANDER,
musician and poet, was born in 1764, at Tombea, on the banks of Loch
Lubnaig, above Calledar, and received his education at the
grammar-school of that town. While yet a youth, he removed to Edinburgh,
and studied music under the celebrated Tenducci and others. A decided
taste for the art, and especially for the simple melodies of his native
country, induced him to become a teacher of the harpsicord and of vocal
music in Edinburgh; and as he was a zealous adherent of the scattered
remnant who still espoused the cause of the unhappy Stuarts, he became
at the same time organist to a non-juring chapel in the neighbourhood of
Nicolson Street, where the Rev. Mr. Harper then officiated.
While in this situation,
and still possessed of all the keen feelings of youth, he became
acquainted with Robert Burns, who is said to have highly appreciated his
ardent character, as he must have strongly sympathised in his national
prepossessions. It may also be mentioned that Mr. Campbell was
music-master to Sir Walter Scott, with whom, however, he never made any
progress, owing, as he used to say, to the total destitution of that
great man in the requisite of an ear. Mr. Campbell was twice
married, and on the second occasion with such prospects of advancement,
that he was induced to abandon his profession, in which he was rising to
eminence, and turn his attention to the study of medicine, which,
however, he never practised on an extended scale, though he was ready
and eager to employ his skill for benevolent purposes. The connections
of Mr. Campbell's second wife were of so elevated a rank in life, that
he entertained hopes of obtaining, through their means, some employment
under government, in his medical capacity; but in this, as in many other
things, he was destined to experience a bitter disappointment.
In 1798, he published his
first literary work, namely, "An Introduction to the History of
Poetry in Scotland," quarto; to which were added, "the Songs
of the Lowlands," with illustrative engravings by David Allan. The
History of Poetry, though written in a loose style, and deformed here
and there by opinions of a some what fantastic nature, is a work of
considerable research. It was dedicated to the artist Fuseli. It is
worth mentioning that a Dialogue on Scottish Music, prefixed to the
History, was the first means of giving foreign musicians a correct
understanding of the Scottish scale, which, it is well known, differs
from that prevalent on the continent; and it is consistent with our
knowledge, that the author was highly complimented on this subject by
the greatest Italian and German composers.
About this time, Mr.
Campbell began to extend his views from literature to the arts; and he
attained to a very respectable proficiency as a draughtsman. In 1802,
appeared his best work, "A Tour from Edinburgh through various
parts of North Britain, &c." 2 vols. quarto, embellished with a
series of beautiful aquatint drawings by his own hand. This book is very
entertaining, and, in some parts, (for instance, the account of Scottish
society in the early part of the eighteenth century,) it betrays powers
much above the grade of the author's literary reputation. In 1804, Mr.
Campbell was induced to appear as an original poet, in a work entitled
"the Grampians Desolate." If in this attempt he was not very
successful in the principal object, it must at least be allowed, that
his various knowledge, particularly in matters of Scottish antiquity,
and the warm zeal with which he advocates the cause of the exiled
Highlanders, give the work an interest for the patriot and the
antiquary. Mr. Campbell finally published, in 1816, two parts of a
collection of native Highland music, under the title Albyn's Anthology,
for which Sir Walter Scott, Sir Alexander Boswell, and other eminent
literary men, contributed modern verses. Unhappily, Mr. Campbell's
acquirements, though such as would have eminently distinguished an
independent gentleman in private life, did not reach that point of
perfection which the public demands of those who expect to derive bread
from their practice of the fine arts. Even in music, it was the opinion
of eminent judges, that Albyn's Anthology would have been more
favourably received, if the beautiful original airs had been left
unencumbered with the basses and symphonies which the editor himself
thought essential.
Mr. Campbell, in early
life, had been possessed of a handsome person, and a lively and social
disposition. Gifted, as he then was, with so many of those
accomplishments which are calculated to give a charm to existence, it
might have been expected that his life would have been one of happiness
and prosperity. It was in every respect the reverse. Some unhappy
misunderstanding with the relations of his second wife led to a
separation between them, and two individuals, who, united, could have
promoted each other's happiness, lived for ever after apart and
miserable. A numerous train of disappointments, not exclusively
literary, tended further to embitter the declining years of this
unfortunate man of genius. Yet his own distresses, and they were
numerous, both from disease and difficulty of circumstances, could never
either break his spirits, or chill his interest in the happiness of his
friends. If he had the foibles of a keen temper, he was free from the
faults of a sullen and cold disposition. After experiencing as many of
the vicissitudes of life as fall to the lot of most men, he died of
apoplexy on the 15th of May, 1824, in the sixty-first year of
his age. |
