EDINBURGH REVIEW, the first of the great critical periodicals which form a dis tinguishing feature of the literature of the 19th century. It was started in Oct., 1802, by a knot of young men living in the northern metropolis, the principal of whom were Francis Jeffrey (q.v.), Sidney Smith (q.v.), F. Horner, and Henry Brougham (q.v.). So much was secrecy felt or believed to be necessary to the success of the undertaking, that, according to the account which lord Jeffrey gave to Mr. Robert Chambers in 1846, "the dark divans" of the reviewers were held for some time " in a dingy room of Wil ]ison's printing-office in Craig's Close," to which each repaired alone, and "by back approaches or different lanes." Of the first number, 750 copies were printed. the demand exceeded this limited supply; 750 more were thrown off, and successive editions followed. In 1808, the circulation had risen to about 9,000, and it is believed to have reached its maximum—from which it has declined—in 1813, when 12,000 or 13,000 copies were printed. The pay of contributors was at first ten guineas a sheet, but shortly after "the minimum," says Jeffrey, "was raised to sixteen guineas, at which it remained during my reign. Two thirds of the articles were, however, paid much higher, averaging, I should think, from twenty to twenty-five guineas a sheet on the whole number." The original publisher was the well-known Constable. The political views
advocated in the early pages of the Edinburgh Review were ichig. and to these it has consistently adhered to the present day. Its influence in developing and strengthening the political convictions of the Whig party cannot be overestimated; but its power was even more visible, certainly-more immediately palpable, in literature... Amid the feeble and effete periodicals of the day, it burst like a bombshell. The keenness of criticism, 'the sharpness of wit, the brilliancy of style, the vigor of mind and comprehensiveness of knowledge exhibited by the writers, excited amazement and fear in the world of let ters; and although, in the case of Wordsworth, Southey, and other writers of a certain school, unfairness of a flagrant kind was undoubtedly exhibited and persevered in, yet impartial justice was, on the whole, administered, and the of authors strained their utmost to escape the lash. Since the period of Jeffrey, the most brilliant contributor to the Edinburgh Review was the late lord Macaulay.