Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey

Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (born Oct. 23, 1773, Edinburgh, Scot.—died Jan. 26, 1850, Edinburgh) was a literary critic and Scottish judge, best known as the editor of The Edinburgh Review, a quarterly that was the preeminent organ of British political and literary criticism in the early 19th century.

Educated at the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, from 1791 to 1792 he attended Queen’s College, Oxford. Admitted in 1794 to the Scottish bar, he discovered that his liberal Whig politics hampered his professional advancement. In 1802, still struggling for success in law, Jeffrey joined with Sydney Smith and other friends to establish a liberal critical periodical, The Edinburgh Review. Jeffrey served as editor from 1803 until 1829, after which he continued to contribute essays on criticism, biography, politics, and ethics. Jeffrey’s personal bias against Romanticism was evident in his sarcastic critical attacks on William Wordsworth, the other Lake poets, and Lord Byron. In 1830 the Whig Party, which The Edinburgh Review had powerfully supported, came into office; and Jeffrey, who had built up a reputation as an advocate, was appointed lord advocate. As a member of the House of Commons, he introduced the Scottish Reform Bill in 1831. In 1834 he was made a judge and assumed the title of Lord Jeffrey.