The Edinburgh Review; or, Critical Journal was launched in October 1802 by “a distinct and marked set” of energetic and talented but politically disfranchised young Scottish Whig lawyers — Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850), Francis Horner, John Archibald Murray, Henry Brougham (1778-1868) — at the instigation of one member of the group of friends who was neither a Scot, nor a lawyer: the Rev. Sydney Smith (1771-1845), visiting the Scottish capital at the time as a tutor. “It happened to be a tempestuous evening”, wrote Jeffrey’s friend and biographer, Henry Cockburn, in 1852, “and I have heard [Jeffrey] say that they had merriment at the greater storm they were about to raise”. Accounts differ as to who exactly was involved at the planning stage (the philosopher Thomas Brown, lawyer Thomas Thomson and his medical brother, John, were...
3045 words
Citation: Christie, William Henry. "The Edinburgh Review". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 May 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5511, accessed 15 December 2025.]
