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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Biographical sketches give us Thomas Campbell's opinion of Wordsworth in only a general way. Carruthers, for instance, informs us in a magazine article that he cared little for the Lake Poets, but considered Wordsworth greatly superior to the others. Again, some reminiscences contributed by an acquaintance to Beattie's biography of the poet make very nearly the same statement,—namely that Wordsworth was as much above Southey as some other poets above Wordsworth. These reminiscences, however, may be likewise from Carruthers, and there is no evidence as to the date at which Campbell expressed either opinion. In 1842, on the other hand, at a breakfast to which Campbell invited Rogers and Moore among other guests, Wordsworth was said to be a great poet. Who expressed the view and whether Campbell agreed with it is not made clear, but since we have just seen that he approved of Wordsworth, it seems likely that he concurred in the opinion.
1 “Chambers' Edinburgh Journal,” III, 100.
2 W. Beattie, Life and Letters of Thomas Campbell, London, 1849, III, 254, 255. This book is the chief source of our knowledge of Campbell's life since the author was a personal friend of the poet and received from him all the necessary documents.
3 Beattie, op. cit., III, 329.
4 Beattie, op. cit., II, 434.
5 I, 343, 344.
6 I, 225 ff.
7 I, stanza 12.
8 Beattie, op. cit., III, 320.