Archibald Campbell ( fl. 1767) was a Scottish

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Under Contemporary, 1930-1960 ...

Life

Campbell was the son of the philosopher

Archibald Campbell Archibald Campbell may refer to: Peerage * Archibald Campbell of Lochawe (died before 1394), Scottish peer * Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll (died 1513), Lord Chancellor of Scotland * Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll (c. 1507–1558) ...

. The younger Campbells' works prove that he was a classical scholar and he, himself, states that he had "all his lifetime dabbled in books". He became

purser A purser is the person on a ship principally responsible for the handling of money on board. On modern merchant ships, the purser is the officer responsible for all administration (including the ship's cargo and passenger manifests) and supply. ...

on a

man-of-war The man-of-war (also man-o'-war, or simply man) was a Royal Navy expression for a powerful warship or frigate from the 16th to the 19th century. Although the term never acquired a specific meaning, it was usually reserved for a ship armed wi ...

and remained at sea, leading "a wandering and unsettled life". In 1745, William Falconer, author of the ''Shipwreck'', who was serving on board the same ship with as campbell, became his servant and received some educational help from him. About 1760, being on a long voyage, Campbell read the ''Ramblers'' and, staying shortly thereafter at

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, wrote his ''Lexiphanes'' and ''Sale of Authors''. The works remained in manuscript for two years till he reached England. ''Lexiphanes, a Dialogue in imitation of Lucian'', with a subtitle, saying it was "to correct as well as expose the affected style ... of our English Lexiphanes, the Rambler", was issued anonymously in March 1767 and was attributed by Hawkins to Kenrick. The ''Sale of Authors'' followed it in June of the same year. Campbell called

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

"the great corrupter of our taste and language", and says, "I have endeavour'd to ... hunt down this great unlick'd cub". In the ''Sale of Authors,'' the "sweetly plaintive

Gray Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

" was put up to auction, with Whitefield, Hervey, Sterne, Hoyle, etc. to determine their relative worth as writers.

Other works

''Lexiphanes'' itself found an imitator in 1770 in George Colman, who used that signature to a philological squib, and a fourth edition of the real work, which still anonymous, was issued at Dublin in 1774. After this there is no evidence of anything relating to this author. ''The History of the Man alter God’s own Heart'', issued anonymously in 1761, generally attributed to

Peter Annet Peter Annet (169318 January 1769) was an English deist and early freethinker. Early life and work Annet is said to have been born at Liverpool. A schoolmaster by profession, he became prominent owing to his attacks on orthodox theologians, as well ...

, is asserted to have been written by Archibald Campbell, and this view has been adopted in the 1883 edition of Halkett and Laing’s ''Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature '', ii. 1160. If so, the ''Letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Chandler, from the Writer of the History of the Man after God's own Heart'', is also Campbell’s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Archibald Year of birth missing Year of death missing Scottish satirists 18th-century Scottish people Scottish sailors