THOMAS CAMPBELL, LL.D., Author of "The Pleasures of Hope," thrice Lord-Rector of the University of Glasgow, founder of the Polish Association, &c. He was born July 27, 1777; died at Boulogne, June 15, 1844; and was buried with great public solemnity, near this spot, on the 3rd of July following. As a classic poet, a warm philanthropist, a staunch friend of literary men, he possessed the highest qualities of mind and heart. His Patriotic Lyrics breathe the very spirit of British freedom and independence; while his other poems--all models of composition--are richly imbued with the spirit of moral and religious sentiment. This statue, from the classic chisel of W. C. Marshall, R.A., was erected on the 1st of May, 1855. The pedestal as it now stands, was the gift of a lady (sister-in-law of Dr. Beattie, the Poet's physician and biographer). The highly appropriate Lines inscribed upon it are taken from "_The Last Man_:"-- "This spirit shall return to HIM Who gave its heavenly spark; Yet think not, sun, it shall be dim When thou thyself art dark! No--it shall live again, and shine In bliss unknown to beams of thine, By HIM recall'd to breath Who captive led captivity. Who robbed the Grave of Victory, And took the sting from Death!" The statue represents the Poet in his academic robes of Lord-Rector and the relieved figure, with the torch, the triumph of immortal HOPE, as described in the following lines:-- "Eternal Hope! when yonder spheres sublime Peal'd their first notes to sound the march of Time, Thy joyous youth began, but shall not fade.-- When all the sister planets have decayed, When wrapped in fire, the realms of ether glow, And Heaven's last thunder shakes the world below, Thou, undismayed, shall o'er the ruins smile, And light thy torch at Nature's funeral pile!" "_Pleasures of Hope._" [For these and the preceding lines, see Campbell's Poems.] Affixed to the pillar is a tablet--"Sacred to the memory of CHRISTOPHER ANSTEY, Esq., formerly a scholar at Eton, and fellow of Trinity College, in Cambridge: a very elegant poet, who held a distinguished pre-eminence, even among those who excelled in the same kinds of his art. About the year 1770, he exchanged his residence in Cambridgeshire for Bath, a place above all that he had long delighted in. The celebrated poem that he wrote, under the title of the Bath Guide, is a sufficient testimony; and after having lived there thirty-six years, died in the year 1805, aged eighty-one, and was buried in Walcot Church, Bath."--_Horwell, sculptor._