Archibald, Earl and Marquis of Argyll, was the son of Archibald Earl of Argyll and Lady Anne Douglas daughter of William Earl of Morton. He was born in the year 1598, and educated in the principles of the Reformed religion, of which his ancestors had been zealous promoters. When his father, however, renounced Protestantism and declared himself a Papist, the young earl was put in possession of his patrimonial estates by order of government, and quickly promoted to places of trust and power. From the commencement of his political career he espoused the cause of the Presbyterian party, and defended the Covenanters when summoned to London to give his opinion of their proceedings before the king. In 1638 he remained with the General Assembly after it had been dissolved by the king's commissioner, and with the other nobility and gentry signed the Solemn League and Covenant in defence of the national liberties. Having thus openly committed himself to the Presbyterian cause, he took a prominent part in the various civil and military transactions of the following years. (See BURTON, p. 395, et seq.) Having gone to London in the year 1660, he was arrested and thrown into prison. In the following year he was tried for high treason, and, principally on ground of treasonable correspondence with Monk expressing concurrence with his government, he was condemned to death and executed on the 25th of May. He took a cheerful leave of his friends before ascending the scaffold, saying, "I could die like a Roman, but choose rather to die as a Christian?" and kneeling down, he received the fatal blow with the greatest calmness.

Archibald, Earl of Argyll, son of the preceding, from his youth distinguished himself by his loyalty and attachment to the royal family. Though his father headed the Covenanters, he openly declared his aversion to their cause, and attached himself to the interests of the king. Under Middleton he continued to harass the victorious English, till he received express orders from that general to accept of a capitulation. On the establishment of the commonwealth he was committed to prison, and jealously watched till the restoration, when the king re-committed him to his father's forfeiture, and created him Earl of Argyll.

He continued in high esteem with the king and court till the passing of the Test Act in 1681, when, by opposing the exemption from the oath granted in favour of princes of the blood, he had the misfortune to draw down on himself the indignation of the Duke of York.

When called to take the test, Argyll refused, except with the explanation, which he believed to have been approved by the duke, to the effect that he took it only so far as it was consistent with itself and the Protestant religion. The duke accepted the qualification, and Argyll was admitted to sit in council; but a few days afterwards was committed to prison, and indicted for high treason. On being tried, three judges did not scruple to convict him of treason and leasing-making; a jury of fifteen noblemen gave a verdict against him; and the king ordered sentence to be pronounced, but the execution of it suspended till further orders. Argyll, however, seeing no reason to trust to the justice or mercy of his enemies, made his escape from prison, and concealed himself for some time in London. All the rest of his sentence was rigorously executed; his estate was confiscated, and his arms were reversed and torn down. Having escaped to Holland, he remained there during the remaining part of the reign of Charles II. Thinking that the interval before the coronation of James II. presented a favourable opportunity for recovering the constitution by Campbell force of arms, he concerted measures with the Duke of Monmouth, and returned to Scotland to command the forces already raised for the purpose; but after a few unsuccessful skirmishes he was taken prisoner and carried to Edinburgh, where he was beheaded on his former sentence, June 30, 1685. At the place of execution he made a short speech; and, after solemnly declaring that he forgave all his enemies, submitted to death with heroic firmness. See BRITAIN.

Archibald, first Duke of Argyll, son of the preceding, was an active promoter of the revolution. He came over with the Prince of Orange, and was admitted into the convention as Earl of Argyll, though his father's attainder had not been reversed. Having been deputed, along with Sir James Montgomery and Sir John Dalrymple, to present the crown in name of the Scottish Convention to the Prince of Orange, and to tender to him the coronation oath, he was admitted a member of the privy-council, and in 1690 made one of the lords of the treasury. In 1701 he was created Duke of Argyll. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Lionel Talmash of Helmingham in the county of Suffolk, by whom he left issue two sons and a daughter.

John, second Duke of Argyll, and also Duke of Greenwich and Baron of Chatham, son of the preceding, was born on the 10th of October 1680. On perceiving his military talents, his father in 1701 introduced him to King William, and procured his appointment to the command of a regiment. In this situation he remained till the death of his father in 1703, when, becoming Duke of Argyll, he was appointed a member of Queen Anne's privy-council, and at the same time captain of the Scotch horse guards, and one of the extraordinary lords of session. In 1704 he was installed one of the knights of the recently revived order of the Thistle, and soon afterwards appointed high commissioner to the Scotch parliament. In return for his services in promoting the Union, he was created a peer of England, by the titles of Baron of Chatham and Earl of Greenwich; and in 1710 was made a knight of the Garter. His grace first distinguished himself in a military capacity at the battle of Oudenarde, where he commanded as brigadier-general; and was afterwards present under the Duke of Marlborough at the sieges of Lisle, Ghent, Bruges, and Tournay. He had also a considerable share in the victory obtained over the French at the battle of Malplaquet, by dislodging them from the wood of Sart, and gaining a post of great consequence. In this sharp engagement several musket-balls passed through the duke's clothes, hat, and periuke. Soon after the action he was sent to take the command in Spain; but being seized with a violent fever at Barcelona, and disappointed of supplies from home, he returned to England. Having a seat in the House of Lords, he censured the measures of the ministry with such freedom that all his places were disposed of to other noblemen; but at the accession of George I. he recovered his influence. On the breaking out of the rebellion in 1715 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces in North Britain, and was principally instrumental in effecting the total extinction of the rebellion in Scotland, without much bloodshed. He arrived in London early in March 1716, and at first stood high in the favour of the king; but in a few months was stripped of his offices. This disgrace, however, did not deter him from the discharge of his parliamentary duties; he supported the bill for the impeachment of Bishop Atterbury, and lent his aid to his countrymen by opposing the bill for punishing the city of Edinburgh for the Porteous riot. In the beginning of the year 1719 he was again admitted into favour, appointed lord-steward of the household, and in April following created Duke of Greenwich. He continued in the administration during the remaining part of that reign, and, after the accession of George II., till April 1740, when, on occasion of Campbell, a violent speech against the government, he was again dismissed from office. On a change of the ministry, however, he was soon restored; but disapproving of the measures of the new administration, he finally resigned all his posts, and spent the rest of his life in privacy and retirement. He died of a paralytic disorder on the 4th of October 1743. A monument, executed by Roubiliac, has been erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey. See Britain.

Campbell, Archibald, third Duke of Argyll, brother of the preceding, was born at Hanhouse in England, in June 1682, and was educated at the university of Glasgow. He afterwards studied civil law at Utrecht; but, upon his father being created a duke, he betook himself to a military life, and served for a short time under the Duke of Marlborough. In 1705 he was appointed treasurer of Scotland, and in the following year was one of the commissioners for treating of the Union; on the consummation of which, he was chosen one of the sixteen peers for Scotland in the first parliament of Great Britain. In 1711 he was called to the privy-council; and when the rebellion broke out in 1715, he took up arms in defence of the house of Hanover, and received a wound at the battle of Sheriffmuir. He was appointed keeper of the privy seal in 1725, and afterwards intrusted with the principal management of Scottish affairs. It was by his advice that, after the rebellion in 1746, the Highlanders were employed in the royal army. In 1734 he was made keeper of the great seal, an office which he held till his death. The duke was eminent not only for his political abilities, but for his literary accomplishments, and had collected one of the most valuable private libraries in Great Britain. He died suddenly on the 15th of April 1761, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.

Campbell, George, D.D., a distinguished theologian and philosopher, was born at Aberdeen, December 25, 1719. He was educated at the grammar-school of his native place; but being designed by his friends for the legal profession, he was immediately after removed to Edinburgh, and apprenticed to a writer to the signet. Long before the term of his apprenticeship had expired, he had been in the habit of attending the divinity lectures at the university; and when he had fulfilled his engagement, he enrolled himself as a regular student in the divinity hall at Aberdeen, attending the lectures at both colleges. Having received license from the presbytery of that city in 1746, he was two years later presented to the living of Banchory-Ternan, where he continued to labour till 1757. From Banchory-Ternan he was translated to Aberdeen, and soon afterwards appointed Principal of Marischal college. In 1763 he published his well-known Dissertation in answer to Hume's Treatise on Miracles, a work which procured for him the respect of his antagonist, and still ranks as a valuable contribution to the literature of apologetic theology. On being elected professor of divinity in Marischal college he resigned his ministerial charge in the city, and devoted himself entirely to his professorial duties. In 1771 he published a Sermon on the Spirit of the Gospel; and five years later, the Philosophy of Rhetoric, part of which was written at Banchory-Ternan. In the discussion of the leading political questions of the day, Principal Campbell took a prominent part. In his sermon on the Duty of Allegiance he severely condemned the American revolutionary war; and still later he rendered himself peculiarly unpopular by his zealous advocacy of the Catholic Emancipation bill, in an Address to the People of Scotland on that subject. The last of his works which he lived to complete was a Translation of the Four Gospels, with Dissertations and Notes, which is valuable as one of the few native contributions to exegetical science. He was compelled by the state of his health to resign his professorship in 1795, on which occasion he received a pension of L.300 a-year from the government. In the following year he died of a paroxysm of palsy in the 77th year of his age. His Lectures on Ecclesiastical History were published after his death. These consist entirely of the prelections which he had delivered to the students on that subject.

Campbell, John, LL.D., a voluminous historical, biographical, and political writer, was born at Edinburgh, March 8, 1708. His father was Robert Campbell, Esq. of Glenlyon, and his mother, Elizabeth, daughter of Mr Smith of Windsor, was a descendant of the poet Waller. Having been designed by his father for the legal profession, he was sent to Windsor, and apprenticed to an attorney; but his tastes soon after led him to abandon the study of law, and to devote himself entirely to literature. In 1736 he published the Military History of Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough, and soon after contributed several important articles to the Ancient Universal History. This was succeeded, in 1742 and 1744, by the Lives of the British Admirals, &c., in 4 vols., a work that was highly popular when it appeared, and which has received continuations from the pens of Dr Berkenhout, Redhead York, and Stephens. Besides contributing to the Biographia Britannica, and Dodslay's Preceptor, he published a work on The Present State of Europe, consisting of a series of papers which had appeared in the Museum. He also wrote the histories of the Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, French, Swedish, Danish, and Ostend settlements in the East Indies, and the histories of Spain, Portugal, Algarve, Navarre, and France, from the time of Clovis till 1656, for the Modern Universal History. At the request of Lord Bute, he published a vindication of the Peace of Paris concluded in 1763, embodying in it a descriptive and historical account of the New Sugar Islands in the West Indies. By the king he was appointed agent for the provinces of Georgia in 1765. His last and most elaborate work, Political Survey of Britain, 2 vols., 4to, was published in 1744, and greatly increased the author's reputation, though now it is almost entirely superseded by later authorities. Dr Campbell died December 28, 1775. During his lifetime he enjoyed a European reputation for the extent and accuracy of his scholarship, the simplicity of his life, and the amiability of his disposition. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the university of Glasgow in 1745.

Campbell, Thomas (1777-1844). This distinguished poet was a cadet of the respectable family of Campbell of Kirman, in Argyllshire. Owing to the straitened circumstances of his father, who had settled in Glasgow and been unfortunate in business, young Campbell was obliged, while attending college, to have recourse to private teaching as a tutor. Notwithstanding the amount of additional labour thus entailed, he made rapid progress in his studies, and attained considerable distinction at the university over which it was his fortune, in after years, to preside. He very early gave proofs of his aptitude for literary composition, especially in the department of poetry; and so strong was his addiction to these pursuits, that he could not bring himself seriously to adopt the choice of a profession. From private tuition, which is at best an irksome drudgery, he recoiled after a short trial. Neither law, physic, nor divinity, had any attractions for him; nor is it probable that he ever would have risen to eminence in a regular profession, owing to a constitutional sensitiveness almost morbid, and a want of resolute energy. We are told by his friend and biographer Dr Beattie, that "the imaginative faculty had been so unremittingly cultivated, that circumstances, trifling in themselves, had acquired undue influence over his mind, and been rendered formidable by an exaggeration of which he was at the moment unconscious. Hence various difficulties, which industry might have overcome, assumed to his eye the appearance of insurmountable obstacles. Without resolution to persevere, or philosophy to submit to the force Campbell, of necessity, he drew from everything around him, with morbid ingenuity, some melancholy presage of the future. He was dissatisfied with himself, chilled by the world's neglect, and greatly hurt by the apathy of friends who had extolled his merits, but left him to pine in obscurity. Campbell was not a man who could have successfully struggled with the world. Fortunately for him, his genius was such as to ensure an early recognition.

We find him at the age of twenty in Edinburgh, attending lectures at the university, soliciting employment from the booksellers, and not unknown to a circle of young men then resident in the Scottish metropolis, whose names have become historical. Among these were Walter Scott, Henry Brougham, Francis Jeffrey, Dr Thomas Brown, John Leyden, and James Grahame, the author of the Sabbath. He also became acquainted with the late Dr Robert Anderson, editor of a collection of the British poets, a man of extreme enthusiasm and kindness of disposition, who early appreciated the remarkable powers of Campbell, and encouraged him to proceed in his literary career. In 1799 his poem The Pleasures of Hope was published.

Probably there is no parallel instance of literary success so instantaneously achieved by a first effort; nor was that owing to novelty of design on the part of the author, or the caprice of the public. For more than half a century the poem has maintained, nay, increased its popularity. During that time the public has adopted and abandoned many favourites—names once famous and in every mouth, have gradually become forgotten and unregarded—poetical works of greater pretension, which were once considered as master-pieces of genius and inspiration, have fallen into neglect; but this poem by the boy Campbell remains a universal favourite. It is not too much to say that it is, without any exception, the finest didactic poem in the English language. Even those who are not admirers of didactic poetry are forced to admit its charm; and the uttermost objection that criticism can make appears to be a certain vagueness, which, after all, is inseparable from the nature of the subject, and the necessary plan of the composition. The delicacy of the thoughts, the beauty of the imagery, the occasional power of pathos, the extraordinary felicity of the language, and the wonderful harmony of the versification, distinguish the Pleasures of Hope from any poem which has been written before or since, and entitle it to a very high place as an original work of genius. It is as original, and characteristic of its author, as is the Deserted Village of Goldsmith, with which it has been frequently, but surely improperly compared. Goldsmith's poem affects us by its simplicity and truth. Campbell's, it must be owned, is much more florid and ornamented; but how exquisite is the taste of the ornament!

The literary and the private histories of an author are inseparable. In order to comprehend the one we must have recourse to the other. The first success of Campbell brought him fame, but not fortune. He had disposed of the copyright of the Pleasures of Hope, by his original bargain with the publishers, for a sum certainly moderate, which, however, probably exceeded his expectations at the time. He was, moreover, very kindly treated, for he received a considerable unstipulated allowance for each new edition, which circumstance ought to have deterred him from uttering certain diatribes against "the trade," in which he was afterwards rather prone to indulge. The fact is that he did not know how to make use of his success. Instead of availing himself of the reputation which he had so worthily and decisively won, and applying himself to a new effort, he went abroad without any determinate aim; was perfectly wretched on the Continent, where he had no friends, and was sorely embarrassed for want of means; and began to write fugitive poetry for the London journals. On his return to Britain he had ample opportunity of bettering his condition. With a name such as his, a moderate amount of exertion would have secured him not only a competency but comparative affluence; but indolence, perhaps the result of timidity, had grown upon him. Campbell never could adapt himself even to the profession of literature, which, precarious though it be, is not without its prizes. In that profession, as in all others, the requisites for success are steadiness, punctuality, and perseverance; but Campbell possessed none of them. The publishers were ready, and offered to give him lucrative employment, nor was he at all backward in accepting their offers; but when the period for performance arrived he had literally done nothing. In extraordinary contrast to him stands Scott, who seemed simply to will in order to conceive and execute. Campbell had many bright conceptions, but he could not apply himself to the work. Of course he lost repute with the men who alone can intervene between an author and the public, and "the fathers of the Row" became chary of offering him engagements. Some idea of the extent of his habitual indolence may be formed from the fact, that the publication of his Specimens of the British Poets did not take place until thirteen years after the work was undertaken!

In the meantime Campbell married; and his prospects were of the darkest, when, in 1805, he received a government pension of L200. He was then in great distress, and even that aid, material as it was, failed to extricate him. It was probably fortunate for his fame that such was the case, for in 1809 he published his poem of Gertrude of Wyoming, to which were attached the most celebrated of his grand and powerful lyrics.

Among Campbell's lengthier poems, Gertrude of Wyoming must hold the second place. He designed it for a poem of action, but he has failed to give it that interest and vivacity which a poem of action requires. There is in it too decided a predominance of the sentimental vein, and an extreme degree of elaboration, which, in poetry as in painting, is hurtful to the general effect. There is great truth in the following criticism, which occurs in a letter from Jeffrey to the author: "Your timidity or fastidiousness, or some other knavish quality, will not let you give your conceptions glowing, and bold, and powerful, as they present themselves; but you must chasten, and refine, and soften them, forsooth, till half their nature and grandeur is chisselled away from them. Believe me, the world will never know how truly you are a great and original poet till you venture to cast before it some of the rough pearls of your fancy." In spite of these defects, Gertrude was considered at the time as a work in every way worthy of the poet's previous reputation; and it will ever be admired by that numerous class of readers who are more fascinated by the beauties of expression than by high inventive power and vigorous execution.

The soundness of the above criticism, proceeding from an eminent literary authority whose own leanings were rather towards than against fastidiousness in composition, is demonstrated by the universal admiration accorded to Campbell's lyrical pieces. One or two of these, in particular Lochiel's Warning and Hohenlinden, are to be referred to an earlier period than the composition of Gertrude; but there are others of a later date which show how much power remained in the man when he chose to exert it freely. There are few lyrics in the English language to be placed in comparison with the Mariners of England or The Battle of the Baltic; and his exquisite poem of O'Connor's Child, which has not unaptly been termed the diamond of his casket of gems, is greatly superior in pathos and passion to his more elaborate compositions. All these, and others scarcely inferior to them, seem to have been struck off at a heat, and to have escaped that chiselling process to which Jeffrey so pointedly referred.

Campbell was now settled at Sydenham in England, and Campbell's circumstances were materially improved. His home was a happy one; the society in which he moved was of the most refined and intellectual character; and he enjoyed the personal friendship of many of his distinguished contemporaries. Ample leisure was afforded him to carry into effect any of the cherished schemes of his literary ambition; but his indolence and inherent want of resolution again interfered. His most noteworthy exertion for years appears to have been the preparation of a short course of lectures on poetry, which he delivered with great eclat at the Royal Institution in London, and elsewhere. It appears that at one time it was proposed by his friends, and especially by Sir Walter Scott, that he should become a candidate for the occupancy of a literary chair in the University of Edinburgh; but he shrank from the idea of undertaking so serious a labour as is involved in the preparation of a thorough academical course. In 1820 he accepted the editorship of the New Monthly Magazine, and acted in that capacity for a considerable period, until he resigned it to take charge of the Metropolitan. His connection with periodical literature may have been advantageous in a pecuniary point of view, but did not tend materially to enhance his reputation. His was not the pen of the ready writer; and it must ever be regretted that he was induced to bestow so much attention upon merely ephemeral literature, to the sacrifice of the nobler aims which were expected from his acknowledged genius. In 1824 he published his Theodric, a poem which, in spite of some fine passages, was generally considered as a failure. With Theodric his poetical career may be said to have closed. At times he put forth short poems of various degrees of merit, but none of them were equal to the grand lyrics already treasured in the memory of his countrymen. It seemed as if a large portion of the old virtue had departed from him; and his last published poem, the Pilgrim of Glencoe, showed hardly any marks of his former accomplishment and power.

In fact it appeared that the rich mine of poetry had been worked out. Without actually adopting that conclusion, we may observe that Campbell had latterly occupied himself most zealously with matters which were apart from his earlier pursuits. In the first place he took an active share in the institution of the London University, and it was mainly through his exertions that it was saved from becoming a mere sectarian college. Shortly afterwards, in 1826, he was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, an event which he considered as the crowning honour of his life, and which certainly was a mark of distinction of which any man might have been proud. He did not accept the office as a mere sinecure, but applied himself to discharge the actual duties (which, through the negligence of former rectors, had been allowed to fall into abeyance) with a zeal and energy which made entire conquest of the hearts of his youthful constituents. In 1831, the year in which the gallant struggle of the Poles for their independence was terminated by entire defeat, Campbell, who in his earliest poem had referred in such beautiful language to the shameful partition of Poland, more than revived his youthful enthusiasm for her cause. He had watched with an anxiety almost bordering on fanaticism the progress of the patriotic movement; and the news of the capture of Warsaw by the Russians affected him as if it had been the deepest of personal calamities. "His heart," says his biographer, "was in the subject of Poland; he could neither write nor speak upon any other with common patience; and if a word was dropt in company that did not harmonize with his feelings, he was very apt to consider it as a personal offence." In one of his own letters he says—"I know that my zeal for Poland has put me half mad." And again—"It is still all that I can do to support a tolerable cheerfulness before these kind hospitable people, for Poland preys on my heart night and day. It is sometimes a relief to me to weep in secret, and I do weep long and bitterly."

Nor did he show his sympathy by words alone, but by resolve and continued action. He was the founder of the association in London of the Friends of Poland, which not only served to maintain the strong interest felt by the British people for the Polish cause, but was the means of providing assistance and giving employment to large numbers of the unfortunate exiles who were driven to seek refuge in this country. Never, till his dying day, did he relax his exertions in their behalf; and many an unhappy wanderer, who, but for unexpected aid, might have perished in the streets of a foreign city, had reason to bless the name of Thomas Campbell.

The remainder of his life presents few features of interest. Domestic calamity had overtaken him. His wife, whom he loved affectionately, had been taken from him—of his two sons, one died in infancy, and the other was afflicted by an incurable malady. His own health became impaired. He gradually withdrew from public life, and died at Boulogne on 15th July 1844, at the age of sixty-seven. His last hours were soothed by the affectionate care of his relatives and friends; nor did his countrymen forget the poet in his death, for his remains were solemnly interred in Westminster Abbey, with the honours of a public funeral.

Few poets of reputation, whose span has been extended nearly to the threescore and ten allotted years, have written so little as Campbell: at the same time it must be confessed that there are fewer still whose works are likely to be prized by posterity in the like proportion with his. If we throw out of consideration altogether Theodric—though some might demur to such an excision—if we overlook the Pilgrim of Glencoe, and weed from his lyrical garden such plants as have little charm either from their colour or their fragrance, there will still remain a mass of poetry familiar to the ear and the heart, such as hardly any other writer of this century has been able to produce. We may regret that Campbell was not more diligent in the cultivation of his poetical genius—that he did not apply himself more sedulously in his earlier years to some serious effort—and that he allowed other pursuits and designs to interfere with his peculiar calling. But who can venture to say what success might have attended his efforts had he acted otherwise than he did? We blame the poet for apparent indolence, not reflecting that inspiration is not to be commanded at will. It is not only possible but easy for the man who is practised in versification to write a certain given number of lines within a certain specified time; but genuine poetry never was and never will be the product of Egyptian taskwork. It cannot be produced to order—it must be spontaneous; and its quality must depend entirely upon the mood of mind under which it is composed. The greater part of the poetry or rather the verse of Southey, a considerable portion of that of Scott, and a vast deal of that of Wordsworth, was not conceived or written under the poetic impulse. On such occasions these celebrated men were writing verse, as they might have written prose, without enthusiasm or anything like the feeling of passion: and although their ordinary thoughts were far higher, bolder, and more subtle than those of the million, they still were not attempting to rise beyond their ordinary intellectual level. One can see at a glance when they were inspired, and when they were merely versifying. Of the poets who adorned the first half of the present century, Coleridge and Campbell were conspicuous for their abstinence in writing except under the influence of real emotion. Of the former it may be said that he has hardly penned a line of mere mechanical verse—the latter did not do so until his inspiration seemed to have abandoned him. Undoubtedly, however—to have recourse to a hackneyed, though by no means an unmeaning phrase—it is the duty of the poet to woo the muse, not to wait for her courtship. He must seek for the waters of Castaly, not tarry till they are conveyed to him; and it is in this respect probably that Campbell principally erred. He did not sufficiently endeavour to awake his genius; he was too much a dreamer; and may at times have lost his opportunity from the sheer weight of indolence. And yet, considering the value of the legacy he has left, we have no reason to complain. Critics may dispute regarding the comparative merits of his longer works; and, as they incline towards didactic or narrative poetry, may prefer the one composition to the other. Both are entitled to high praise and honour, but it is on his lyrics that the future reputation of Campbell must principally rest. They have taken their place, never to be disturbed, in the popular heart; and, until the language in which they are written perishes, they are certain to endure.

(CAMPBELTOWN, a royal burgh and seaport of Scotland, Argyllshire, situated on an indentation of the coast near the southern extremity of the peninsula of Cantyre. The inlet of the sea, which forms an excellent harbour, is about 2 miles in length by 1 in breadth, and has from 6 to 15 fathoms water. The registered vessels belonging to the ports at 31st December 1852, were 21 sailing vessels of 1252 tons, and 2 steam vessels of 259 tons. During that year 752 sailing vessels of 21,512 tons, and 342 steam vessels of 44,619 tons entered; and 341 sailing vessels of 8645 tons, and 339 steam vessels of 43,954 tons left. It is supposed to be a place of considerable antiquity, though no memorial of this exists except a flat stone cross on which are a variety of figures in relief and an inscription, but no date. Popular tradition, however, has assigned it to the twelfth century. It was brought from Icolmkill, and is now elevated on a pedestal in the market-place. Prior to 1700 Campbeltown was a mere fishing village, but was then erected into a royal burgh through the interest of the Argyll family, from whom it derived its name. The parliamentary boundaries are very extensive, including the entire parish, which had in 1851 a pop. of 6880. It unites with Ayr, Irvine, Inverary, and Oban, in returning a member to parliament. The town is governed by a provost and 17 councillors. There are distilleries in the town and neighbourhood, and its whisky is much esteemed. Many of the inhabitants are engaged in the fisheries and coasting trade.