BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 235
of Edinburgh, aged about seventy years.
held the incumbency for full forty years.
Scots songs, and that certainly was his forte."
In the profession of a precentor he
He excelled in singing old humorous
No. XCVII.
MAJOR CAMPBELL,
OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.
THE Print of this gallant but eccentric son of Mars was etched by Kay when
the 35th Regiment was stationed in Edinburgh Castle in 1789, at which period
ColoneI Lennox (afterwards Duke of Richmond) joined the cbrps, having
exchanged from the Coldstream Guards.
CAHPBELLw as a native of the "East Neuk of Fife," where his father possessed
an estate which yielded, some eighty years ago, a comfortable income of
nearly &500 per annum; but the wholesale hospitality maintained by the laird,
and an extravagant indulgence in the luxury of foreign wines,' which were then
landed without molestation at all the little bays on the east coast of Scotland,
at last brought the " mailing " to the hammer.
Mr. Campbell entered the army, and shared in all the harassing campaigns
of the first American war, in which he had been frequently and severely
wounded. While on service there, it is said he received an injury which totally
altered the original form of the most prominent feature in his countenance,
having received a blow in the face with a musket from a soldier of his own
regiment, whom he had been reprimanding. According to Kay's MS., the
man was immediately tried by a court-martial, and condemned to be shot ; but
the Major staid the execution of the sentence, and subsequently applied for and
obtained a free pardon for the offender.
Although this'anecdote is by no means inconsistent with the amiable character
of Major Campbell, it is rendered somewhat apocryphal by the fact that he
was too much beloved by the soldiers of his company, who rejoiced in his
eccentricities, to be injured by any of them.
His speech,
like the Baron of Bradwardine's, was usually interhrded with scraps of Latin.
He had studied at St. Andrews,--a circumstance which he delighted to refer
to. A very slight and casual allusion instantly furnished him with an opportunity
for introducing his favourite remark-" at the College of St. Andrews,
where I was taught languages, sciences, and various soyts of payticulars, my
dear." My dear he used indiscriminately in addressing persons of whatever
rank-whether General OHara, the stern governor, or a drum-boy.
Major Campbell was a gentleman of very peculiar manner.
Claret could then be had for 615 a hhd.
236 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
At Gibraltar, on one occasion, the General ordered a regiment, which had
newly arrived to replace another about to embark on different service, to be
inspected by several of the field-officers-each private to step six paces in front
of the line for that purpose. The corps thus to be scrutinised was a battalion
of the Scots Brigade, which had been raised in Edinburgh in 1794 by the late
Lieut.-General Ferrier, and of such a diminutive size were the men, that they
were called “ the Garvies I’ by the inhabitants. Major Campbell was one of
the inspectors, and he patiently endured the tedious process of overhauling this
very indifferent sample of his countrymen, till at length one peculiarly coarsevisaged,
short, cross-made, elderly little fellow stepped out his six paces. Unable
longer to contain himself, and running up to the soldier, he stooped to the
level of the ill-favoured ‘‘ militaire,” then grinning, or rather girning in his face,
he bawled out-“ Well, doubly d-n me ! (his usual exclamation), but you
are an ugly b- ! my dear.’’ Then turning to a fellow officer (Lieut.-General
Ainslie) who stood by-“He seems conglomerated, my dear; from con arid
glomeo, as we used to say at St. Andrews, my dear.”
Major Campbell remained with his regiment until a very old man, and so
worn out that he could not poise his sword without the assistance of both his
hands.
He married Miss Macalister, sister to Lieut.-Colonel Macalister, 35th Regiment,
by whom he had one son, Henry Fletcher.
Our hero died more than forty years since. His son was an officer in the
same regiment, and having retired, married a sister of Sir Charles Turner, of
Abberley, near Witherley, in Yorkshire, by whom he obtained a handsome
fortune.
No. XCVIII.
THE ROYAL EDINBURGH VOLUNTEERS.
MR. ARCHIBALD GILCHRIST.
THE Edinburgh (or, as they were afterwards called, the Royal) Volunteers,
were embodied in 1794. The plan of instituting the corps was first contemplated
in the month of June of that year ; and, on the 3d of July following, a
general meeting of the proposed members were held in the Sheriff Court-Rooms,
when certain leading articles of regulation were established, and a committee of
management appointed.’ By one of the articles, the uniform is described to
The Volunteers were to bear all their own expenses of clothing and other necessaries ; and halfa-
guinea of entry-money was exacted from each member, towards defraying contingencies. Subsequently,
however, on application to Government, the usual pay was obtained for an adjutant ; pay
and clothing for a aergeant-major and twenty sergesnta ; and also for twelve drummers and twelve
fifers. The entire scheine of embodying the citizens 8s volunteers, it ia said, waa solely projected by
the late James Laing, Depute City-Clerk.
