There he soon became introduced to some of the
first men of the age, whose friendship and kindness could not fail
to stimulate a mind like that of Campbell. He became intimate with the
late Dugald Stewart; and almost every other leading professor of the
University of Edinburgh was his friend. While in Edinburgh, he brought
out his celebrated "Pleasures of Hope," at the age of twenty-one. It is
perhaps not too much to say of this work, that no poet of this country
ever produced, at so early an age, a more elaborate and finished
performance. For this work, which for twenty years produced the
publishers between two and three hundred pounds a year, the author
received at first but L10, which was afterwards increased by an
additional sum, and by the profits of a quarto edition of the work. By
a subsequent act of the legislature, extending the term of copyright,
it reverted again to the author; but with no proportional increase of
profit. Campbell's pecuniary circumstances are said to have been by no
means easy at this time and a pleasant anecdote is recorded of him, in
allusion to the hardships of an author's case, somewhat similar to his
own: he was desired to give a toast at a festive moment when the
character of Napoleon was at its utmost point of disesteem in England.
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