JEFFREY, FRANCIS JEFFREY, Loiw , Scottish judge and literary critic, son of a depute-clerk in the Court of Session, was born at Edinburgh on Oct. 23, 1773. He was educated at Edinburgh high school, the university of Glasgow and Queen's College, Oxford. He was admitted to the Scottish bar in Dec. 1794, but found that his Whig politics seriously preju diced his legal prospects. He went to London in 1798 and worked as a journalist, but without success; his marriage with Catherine Wilson in 1801 made the question of a settled income even more pressing. A project for a new review was brought forward by Sydney Smith in Jeffrey's flat, and resulted (1802) in the Edin burgh Review. After the first three numbers the editorial work devolved chiefly on Jeffrey, who was eventually appointed editor.
Most of the collaborators were Whigs ; but it numbered Sir Walter Scott among its contributors; and no emphasis was given to its political leanings until the publication in 1808 of an article by Jeffrey himself on the work of Don Pedro Cevallos on the French Usurpation of Spain. The tradition established in the early years of the undertaking ensured its success. It had a circu lation, great for those days, of 12,00o copies. The period of Jeffrey's editorship extended to about 26 years, ceasing with the 98th number, published in June 1829. Jeffrey's own contributions numbered 200. His criticisms were pungent and effective. But the essential narrowness of his general outlook prevented him from detecting and estimating latent forces, either in politics or in mat ters intellectual and moral; and this lack of understanding and sympathy accounts for his distrust and dislike of the passion and fancy of Shelley and Keats, and for his praise of the half-hearted and elegant romanticism of Rogers and Campbell. A criticism in the 15th number on the morality of Moore's poems led in 1806 to a duel between the two authors at Chalk Farm. The proceedings were stopped by the police, and Jeffrey's pistol was found to con tain no bullet. The affair led to a warm friendship, however, and
Moore contributed to the Review, while Jeffrey made ample amends in a later article on Lalla Rookh (1817).
Jeffrey's wife had died in 1805, and in 1813 he married Char lotte, daughter of Charles Wilkes of New York, and great-niece of John Wilkes. Before returning to England after their marriage in New York, they visited several American cities, and his ex perience strengthened Jeffrey in the conciliatory policy towards that country. Jeffrey's literary reputation helped his professional advancement. His practice extended rapidly in the civil and criminal courts, and he regularly appeared before the general assembly of the Church of Scotland. His sharpness and insight gave him a formidable advantage over an opponent, and he excelled in eloquent closing appeals. Jeffrey was twice, in 1820 and 1822, elected lord rector of the university of Glasgow. In 1829 he was chosen dean of the faculty of advocates. On the return of the Whigs to power in 1830 he became lord advocate, and entered parliament as member for the Perth burghs. He was unseated, and afterwards returned for Malton, a borough in the interest of Lord Fitzwilliam. After the passing of the Scottish Reform Bill, which he introduced, he was returned for Edinburgh in Dec. 1832. He was raised to the judicial bench as Lord Jeffrey in May 1834. He died at Edinburgh on Jan. 26, 185o.
Some of his contributions to the Edinburgh Review appeared in four volumes in 1844 and 1845. This selection includes the essay on "Beauty" contributed to the Ency. Brit. The Life of Lord Jeffrey, with a Selection from his Correspondence, by Lord Cockburn, appeared in 1852 in 2 vols. See also the Selected Correspondence of Macvey Napier (1877) ; the sketch of Jeffrey in Carlyle's Reminiscences, vol. ii. 0880 ; and an essay by Lewis E. Gates in Three Studies in Literature (New York, 1899).