[Footnote 4: William Gifford (1756-1826), a self-taught scholar, first a
ploughboy, then boy on board a Brixham coaster, afterwards shoemaker's
apprentice, was sent by friends to Exeter College, Oxford (1779-81). In
the 'Baviad' (1794) and the 'Maeviad' (1795) he attacked many of the
smaller writers of the day, who were either silly, like the Delia
Cruscan school, or discreditable, like Williams, who wrote as "Anthony
Pasquin." In his 'Epistle to Peter Pindar' (1800) he succeeds in laying
bare the true character of John Wolcot. As editor of the 'Anti-Jacobin,
or Weekly Examiner' (November, 1797, to July, 1798), he supported the
political views of Canning and his friends. As editor of the 'Quarterly
Review', from its foundation (February, 1809) to his resignation in
September, 1824, he did yeoman's service to sound literature by his good
sense and adherence to the best models. It was a period when all
criticism was narrow, and, to some degree, warped by political
prejudice. In these respects, Gifford's work may not have risen
above--it certainly did not fall below--the highest standard of
contemporary criticism. His editions of 'Massinger' (1805), which
superseded that of Monck Mason and Davies (1765), of 'Ben Jonson'
(1816), of 'Ford' (1827), are valuable. To his translation of 'Juvenal'
(1802) is prefixed his autobiography. His translation of 'Persius'
appeared in 1821. To Gifford, Byron usually paid the utmost deference.

"Any suggestion of yours, even if it were conveyed," he writes to him,
in 1813, "in the less tender text of the 'Baviad,' or a Monk Mason
note to Massinger, would be obeyed."

See also his letter (September 7, 1811), in which he calls Gifford his
"Magnus Apollo," and values his praise above the gems of Samarcand.