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The ''Quarterly Review'' was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
publishing house John Murray. It ceased publication in 1967. It was referred to as ''The London Quarterly Review'', as reprinted by Leonard Scott, for an American edition.


Early years

Initially, the ''Quarterly'' was set up primarily to counter the influence on public opinion of the ''
Edinburgh Review The ''Edinburgh Review'' is the title of four distinct intellectual and cultural magazines. The best known, longest-lasting, and most influential of the four was the third, which was published regularly from 1802 to 1929. ''Edinburgh Review'', ...
''. Its first editor,
William Gifford William Gifford (April 1756 – 31 December 1826) was an English critic, editor and poet, famous as a satirist and controversialist. Life Gifford was born in Ashburton, Devon, to Edward Gifford and Elizabeth Cain. His father, a glazier and ...
, was appointed by
George Canning George Canning (11 April 17708 August 1827) was a British Tory statesman. He held various senior cabinet positions under numerous prime ministers, including two important terms as Foreign Secretary, finally becoming Prime Minister of the Unit ...
, at the time Foreign Secretary, later Prime Minister. Early contributors included Secretaries of the Admiralty
John Wilson Croker John Wilson Croker (20 December 178010 August 1857) was an Anglo-Irish statesman and author. Life He was born in Galway, the only son of John Croker, the surveyor-general of customs and excise in Ireland. He was educated at Trinity College Dubl ...
and
Sir John Barrow Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1764 – 23 November 1848) was an English geographer, linguist, writer and civil servant best known for term as the Second Secretary to the Admiralty from 1804 until 1845. Early life Barrow was born ...
,
Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...
Robert Southey Robert Southey ( or ; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a ra ...
, poet-novelist
Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...
, Italian exile
Ugo Foscolo Ugo Foscolo (; 6 February 177810 September 1827), born Niccolò Foscolo, was an Italian writer, revolutionary and a poet. He is especially remembered for his 1807 long poem ''Dei Sepolcri''. Early life Foscolo was born in Zakynthos in the Io ...
, Gothic novelist
Charles Robert Maturin Charles Robert Maturin, also known as C. R. Maturin (25 September 1780 – 30 October 1824), was an Irish Protestant clergyman (ordained in the Church of Ireland) and a writer of Gothic plays and novels.Chris Morgan, "Maturin, Charles R(obert) ...
, and the essayist
Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his ''Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book ''Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764–18 ...
. Under Gifford, the journal took the Canningite liberal-conservative position on matters of domestic and foreign policy, if only inconsistently. It opposed major political reforms, but it supported the gradual abolition of
slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, moderate law reform, humanitarian treatment of criminals and the insane, and the liberalizing of trade. In a series of articles in its pages, Southey advocated a progressive philosophy of social reform. Because two of his key writers, Scott and Southey, were opposed to
Catholic emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
, Gifford did not permit the journal to take a clear position on that issue. Reflecting divisions in the Conservative party itself, under its third editor,
John Gibson Lockhart John Gibson Lockhart (12 June 1794 – 25 November 1854) was a Scottish writer and editor. He is best known as the author of the seminal, and much-admired, seven-volume biography of his father-in-law Sir Walter Scott: ''Memoirs of the Life of Sir ...
, the ''Quarterly'' became less consistent in its political philosophy. While Croker continued to represent the Canningites and Peelites, the party's liberal wing, it also found a place for the more extremely conservative views of Lords Eldon and Wellington. During its early years, reviews of new works were sometimes remarkably long. That of
Henry Koster Henry Koster (born Hermann Kosterlitz, May 1, 1905 – September 21, 1988) was a German-born film director. He was the husband of actress Peggy Moran. Early life Koster was born to Jewish parents in Berlin, Germany. He was introduced to cin ...
's ''Travels in Brazil'' (1816) ran to forty-three pages.


Controversial reviews

Typical of early nineteenth-century journals, reviewing in the ''Quarterly'' was highly politicized and on occasion excessively dismissive. Writers and publishers known for their Unitarian or radical views were among the early journal's main targets. Prominent victims of scathing reviews included Irish novelist
Lady Morgan Sydney, Lady Morgan (''née'' Owenson; 25 December 1781? – 14 April 1859), was an Irish novelist, best known for ''The Wild Irish Girl'' (1806)'','' a romantic, and some critics suggest, "proto-feminist", novel with political and patriotic ov ...
(Sydney Owenson), English poet and essayist
Walter Savage Landor Walter Savage Landor (30 January 177517 September 1864) was an English writer, poet, and activist. His best known works were the prose ''Imaginary Conversations,'' and the poem "Rose Aylmer," but the critical acclaim he received from contempora ...
, as well as English novelist
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also e ...
and her husband
Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...
. In an 1817 article, John Wilson Croker attacked
John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...
in a review of ''
Endymion Endymion primarily refers to: * Endymion (mythology), an Ancient Greek shepherd * ''Endymion'' (poem), by John Keats Endymion may also refer to: Fictional characters * Prince Endymion, a character in the ''Sailor Moon'' anime franchise * Raul ...
'' for his association with
Leigh Hunt James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 178428 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist and poet. Hunt co-founded '' The Examiner'', a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles. He was the centr ...
and the so-called
Cockney School {{short description, Group of 19th-century English poets and essayists The "Cockney School" refers to a group of poets and essayists writing in England in the second and third decades of the 19th century. The term came in the form of hostile revie ...
of poetry. Shelley blamed Croker's article for bringing about the death of the seriously ill poet, 'snuffed out', in Byron's ironic phrase, 'by an article'. In 1816,
Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...
reviewed his own, but anonymously published,
Tales of My Landlord Tales of my Landlord is a series of novels by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) that form a subset of the so-called Waverley Novels. There are four series: Of these, ''The Heart of Midlothian'' and ''The Bride of Lammermoor'' have been the most su ...
, partly to deflect suspicion that he was the author; he proved one of the book's harshest critics. Scott was also the author of a favourable review of
Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
's ''
Emma Emma may refer to: * Emma (given name) Film * Emma (1932 film), ''Emma'' (1932 film), a comedy-drama film by Clarence Brown * Emma (1996 theatrical film), ''Emma'' (1996 theatrical film), a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow * Emma (1996 TV film), '' ...
''.


Nineteenth-century editors

*
William Gifford William Gifford (April 1756 – 31 December 1826) was an English critic, editor and poet, famous as a satirist and controversialist. Life Gifford was born in Ashburton, Devon, to Edward Gifford and Elizabeth Cain. His father, a glazier and ...
(February 1809 – December 1824. Vol. 1, Number 1 – Vol. 31, Number 61) *
John Taylor Coleridge Sir John Taylor Coleridge (9 July 1790 – 11 February 1876) was an English judge, the second son of Captain James Coleridge and nephew of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Life He was born at Tiverton, Devon, and was educated as a Colleger (K ...
(March 1825 – December 1825. Vol. 31, Number 62 – Vol. 33, Number 65) *
John Gibson Lockhart John Gibson Lockhart (12 June 1794 – 25 November 1854) was a Scottish writer and editor. He is best known as the author of the seminal, and much-admired, seven-volume biography of his father-in-law Sir Walter Scott: ''Memoirs of the Life of Sir ...
(March 1826 – June 1853. Vol. 33, Number 66 – Vol. 93, Number 185) *
Whitwell Elwin Whitwell Elwin (26 February 1816 – 1 January 1900) was an English clergyman, critic and editor of the ''Quarterly Review''. Life He was the son of Marsham Elwin, a country gentleman of Thurning, Norfolk, and a descendant of John Rolfe and ...
(September 1853 – July 1860. Vol. 93, Number 186 – Vol. 108, Number 215) *William Macpherson (October 1860 – January 1867. Vol. 108, Number 216 – Vol. 122, Number 243) * William Smith (April 1867 – July 1893, Vol. 122, Number 244 – Vol. 177, Number 353) *John Murray IV (October 1893 – January 1894. Vol. 177, Number 354 – Vol. 178, Number 355) *
Rowland Edmund Prothero Rowland Edmund Prothero, 1st Baron Ernle, (6 September 1851 – 1 July 1937) was a British agricultural expert, administrator, journalist, author and Conservative politician. He played first-class cricket between 1875 and 1883. Background an ...
(April 1894 – January 1899. Vol. 178, Number 356 – Vol. 189, Number 377) *
George Walter Prothero Sir George Walter Prothero (14 October 1848 – 10 July 1922) was an English historian, writer, and academic who served as president of the Royal Historical Society from 1901 to 1905. Life and writings Prothero was born in Wiltshire to George ...
(April 1899 – October 1900. Vol. 189, Number 378 – Vol. 192, Number 384)Walter E. Houghton (ed.), ''The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824–1900'', 5 vols. (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1966–87), Vol. 1.


References


Further reading

*Jonathan Cutmore (ed.), ''Conservatism and the Quarterly Review: A Critical Analysis'' (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2007) *Jonathan Cutmore, ''Contributors to the Quarterly Review 1809-25: A History'' (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2008) *John O. Hayden, ''The Romantic Reviewers, 1802-1824'' (Chicago: UCP, 1969) *Joanne Shattock, ''Politics and Reviewers: The Edinburgh and the Quarterly in the Early Victorian Age'' (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1989) *Hill Shine and Helen Chadwick Shine, ''The Quarterly Review Under Gifford: Identification of Contributors 1809-1824'' (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1949) hine is superseded by Cutmore, ''Contributors'' (2008) *The main repository of manuscript papers relating to the ''Quarterly Review'' is the John Murray Archive, a collection of works related to the John Murray publishing house. In 2007, the archive was purchased by the
National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the ...
,
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
.


External links

* !-- http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/qr/ -->https://romantic-circles.org/reference/qr/ The ''Quarterly Review''Archive at
Romantic Circles ''Romantic Circles'' is an academic peer-reviewed website dedicated to the study of Romantic literature and culture, featuring online editions of many texts of the Romantic era, as well as essays devoted to Romantic literature, culture, and th ...
by
University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

The ''Quarterly Review''
at
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{{Authority control Quarterly magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct literary magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1809 Magazines disestablished in 1967 Magazines published in London