The ''Quarterly Review'' was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

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''. 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, 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,

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, 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� ...

. 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 ci ...

'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 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 and her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley. In an 1817 article, John Wilson Croker attacked John Keats in a review of '' Endymion'' 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 centre ...

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,

reviewed his own, but anonymously published, Tales of My Landlord, 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's '' Emma''.

Nineteenth-century editors

(February 1809 – December 1824. Vol. 1, Number 1 – Vol. 31, Number 61) * John Taylor Coleridge (March 1825 – December 1825. Vol. 31, Number 62 – Vol. 33, Number 65) *

(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 (April 1894 – January 1899. Vol. 178, Number 356 – Vol. 189, Number 377) * George Walter Prothero (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

External links

* !-- http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/qr/ -->https://romantic-circles.org/reference/qr/ The ''Quarterly Review''Archive at Romantic Circles 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 sy ...

The ''Quarterly Review''
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{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

Early years

Controversial reviews

Nineteenth-century editors

References

Further reading

External links