Gifford, William

(1756-1826)

   Born in Ashburton, Devon, the son of a glazier of South Molton, he became classical scholar and satirical poet. Orphaned at the age of twelve, he was sent to sea, then apprenticed to a shoemaker. William Cookesley, a surgeon who was impressed with Gifford's poetic potential, with the help of local residents bought out the remainder of the indentures and sent him to school, then to Exeter College, Oxford, from where he graduated in 1782. He became tutor to Lord Grosvenor's son and took up his previous task of translating Juvenal, which was published in 1802. A second edition of his Juvenal appeared in 1817, followed by a translation of Persius in 1821. Around 1798 he brought out his paper, The Anti-Jacobin Review, which he continued to edit until 1824. From 1809 to 1824 he was also editor of The Quarterly Review, founded by London publisher John Murray to combat the liberalism of The Edinburgh Review. A collection of "beauties" from Gifford's prose and verse, edited by A. Howard, came out in 1834. Some of his other publications: Baviad, 1794. Mæviad, 1795. Epistle to Peter Pindar, 1800.

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The New Oxford Book of Romantic Period Verse. Jerome J. McGann. Oxford University Press, 1993. The Oxford Book of Verse in English Translation. Charles Tomlinson, ed. Oxford University Press, 1980. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.