EDINBURGH REVIEW. The first of the great critical periodicals which form a distin guishing feature of the literature of the nine teenth century. It was started in October, 1502, a group of young men living in Edinburgh, the principal of whom were Francis Jeffrey ( Sydney Smith (q. v.), Francis Horner, and Henry Brougham (q-v-/• So much was secrecy felt or believed to be necessary to the success of the undertaking that, aecording to the account which Jeffrey gave to Robert Chambers in 1546, 'the dark divans' of the reviewers were held for some time "in a dingy room off \Villison's print ing-office in Craig's Close," to which each re paired alone. and "by back approaches or differ ent lanes." Of the first number, 750 copies were printed: the demand exceeded this limited sup ply; 750 more were thrown off, and successive editions followed. In 1808 the circulation rose to about 9000. and in 1813 to about 13,000. The original publisher was the well-known Constable.
Sydney Smith edited the first three numbers, and was then suceeeded by Jeffrey. The influence of the Edinburgh Review in developing and strength ening the political convictions of the Whig Party cannot be overestimated : but its power was even more visible, certainly more imme diately palpable, in literature. The keenness of criticism, the sharpness of wit, and the bril liancy of style exhibited by the writers, created a sensation in the world of letters; and although in the case of Wordsworth, Southey, and other writers of the romantic school, unfairness of a flagrant kind was undoubtedly exhibited and persevered in, yet impartial justice was, on the whole, administered. After the period of Jeffrey, the most brilliant contributor to the Edinburgh view was Macaulay. It is now published in London. Consult Napier, Life and Correspond ( arc (1,(Indon. 1562).