Gifford, William 1756-1826
English editor and critic

Born in Ashburton, Devon, the son of a glazier, he went to Exeter College, Oxford, and after graduating, travelled on the Continent. His first poem, the Baviad (1794), was a satire on the Della Cruscan school of poetry, the Maeviad (1796), against corrupt drama. His translation of Juvenal, with his autobiography, appeared in 1802. He edited Philip Massinger, John Ford, James Shirley and Ben Jonson, and was the first editor of Walter Scott's Quarterly Review (1809-24). He possessed much satirical acerbity, but little merit as a poet, and as a critic was unduly biased.