Moreau's army over the scene of combat. This impressive
sight produced the _Battle of Hohenlinden_--an ode which is as
original as it is spirited, and stands by itself in British literature.
The poet tells a story of the phlegm of a German postilion at this time,
who was driving him post by a place where a skirmish of cavalry had
happened, and who alighted and disappeared, leaving the carriage and the
traveller alone in the cold (for the ground was covered with snow) for
a considerable space of time. At length he came back; and it was found
that he had been employing himself in cutting off the long tails of the
slain horses, which he coolly placed on the vehicle, and drove on his
route. Campbell was also in Ratisbon when the French and Austrian
treaty saved it from bombardment.

In Germany Campbell made the friendship of the two Schlegels, of many of
the first literary and political characters, and was fortunate enough to
pass an entire day with the venerable Klopstock, who died just two years
afterwards. The proficiency of Campbell in the German language was
rendered very considerable by this tour, and his own indefatigable
perseverance in study. His travels in Germany occupied him thirteen
months; when he returned to England, and, for the first time, visited
London. He soon afterwards composed those two noble marine odes, _The
Battle of the Baltic,_ and _Ye Mariners of England_, which, with his
_Hohenlinden_, stand unrivalled in the English tongue; and though,
as Byron lamented, Campbell has written so little, these odes alone are
enough to place him unforgotten in the shrine of the Muses.

In 1803 the poet married Miss Sinclair, a lady of Scottish descent, and
considerable personal beauty, but of whom he was deprived by death in
1828. He resided at Sydenham, and the entire neighbourhood of that
pleasant village reckoned itself in the circle of his friends; nor did
he quit his suburban retreat until, in 1821, literary pursuits demanded
his residence in the metropolis. It was at Sydenham, in a house nearly
facing the reservoir, that the poet produced his greatest work,
_Gertrude of Wyoming_, written in the Spenserian stanza. About the
same time Campbell was appointed Professor of Poetry in the Royal
Institution, where he delivered lectures which have since been
published. He also undertook the editorship of _Selections from the
British Poets_, intended as specimens of each, and accompanied with
critical remarks.[3]