Gifford

Gifford, William (1757-1826), first editor of the Quarterly Review, was born at Ashburton, Devon, and, having been left an orphan, was at first sent to sea, and then apprenticed to a shoemaker. He found, however, a patron in a surgeon named Cookesley, by whose help he was sent to Oxford. He next acted as tutor to Earl Grosvenor's son. During his subsequent literary career in London he became editor of the Anti-Jacobin and the Quarterly (1809-24). He wrote the Baviad and the Mccviad satires; translated Juvenal; and edited Massinger, Ben Jonson, Ford, and Shirley.

He enjoyed two successive Government appointments, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. He was the last representative of the "correctness" in poetry chiefly associated with the name of Pope.