William Gifford
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William Gifford (April, 1756 - December 31, 1826), critic, editor and poet, was born of humble parentage at Ashburton, Devonshire, and after being for a short time at sea, was apprenticed to a cobbler. Gifford’s fortunes changed when his first poetical efforts came to the attention of an Ashburton surgeon, William Cookesley. Cookesley raised a subscription to have the boy's apprenticeship bought out and he returned to school.
By 1779 he had made progress enough to enter Exeter College, Oxford as a bible clerk, matriculating on 16 February 1779 and graduating B.A. 10 October 1782. Becoming known to Lord Grosvenor, he was patronised by him, and in course of time produced his first poem, The Baviad (1791), a satire directed against the Della Cruscans, a clique of sentimental and to Gifford's conservative mentality dangerously radical poets, which at once quenched their tapers. The Baviad is a 'paraphrastic' (that is, according to the OED, a work having ‘the nature of a paraphrase’) ‘imitation’ of the first satire of the Roman poet Persius (34-62 A.D.). Persius’s satire, deals with the degenerate state of contemporary literature. Both literature and literary taste have become corrupt, and for him as for Gifford, poetic corruption mirrors political corruption: the decline in modern poetry reflects the decline of modern morals.
The Baviad was followed by another satire, The Maeviad (1795), against some minor dramatists. His last effort in this line was his Epistle to Peter Pindar (Dr. John Wolcot) (1800), inspired by personal enmity, which evoked a reply, A Cut at a Cobbler and a public letter in which Wolcot threatened to horse-whip Gifford. Gifford and Wolcot met in Wright’s bookshop in Piccadilly on 18 August 1800. According to most contemporary accounts, Wolcot attempted to cudgel Gifford; however, the diminutive but younger satirist wrested his stick from him and proceeded to lay about Wolcot, forcing him to flee down Piccadilly.
The earlier satirical writings had established the reputation of Gifford as a keen, and even ferocious critic, and he was appointed in 1797 editor of the Anti-Jacobin, which Canning and his friends had just started, and of the Quarterly Review (1809-24). As editor of the Anti-Jacobin, Gifford published the great pro-Tory satires and parodies of George Canning, John Hookham Frere, and George Ellis. Gifford edited The Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin in 1799. In his capacity as editor of the 'Quarterly Review', he became the iconic figure of contemporary Tory journalism.
Gifford was popularly supposed to have penned the attack on Keats's Endymion, actually by John Wilson Croker, which Shelley and Byron erroneously blamed for bringing about the death of the poet, 'snuffed out', in Byron's phrase, 'by an article'. Gifford also brought out editions of Massinger, Ben Jonson, and Ford. His translation of Juvenal (1800) remains in print to this day.
As a critic he had acuteness; but he was one-sided, prejudiced, and savagely bitter, and much more influenced in his judgments by the political opinions than by the literary merits of his victims. In his whole career, however, he displayed independence and spirit in overcoming the disadvantages of his early life, as well as gratitude to those who had served him. He held various governmental sinecures which placed him above financial anxiety.
His satirical poems are included in volume 4 of British Satire 1785-1840, 5 vols (2003), ed. John Strachan. The Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin was edited by Graeme Stones in 1999 (Pickering and Chatto). Everyman publish Gifford's Juvenal.
This article incorporates public domain text from: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J.M. Dent & sons; New York, E.P. Dutton.
