Lives of Illustrious Shoemakers

by W. E. Winks

[CHAPTER IV.]

FROM THE SHOEMAKER’S STOOL TO THE EDITOR’S CHAIR.

“Not mine the soul that pants not after fame—

Ambitious of a poet’s envied name,

I haunt the sacred fount, athirst to prove

The grateful influence of the stream I love.”

—The Baviad; William Gifford.

“It is on all hands conceded, that the success which attended the ‘Quarterly’ from the outset was due, in no small degree, to the ability and tact with which Gifford discharged his editorial duties.”—Encyclopædia Britannica.

“I am not more certain of many conjectures than I am that he never propagated a dishonest opinion, nor did a dishonest act.”—Writer in the Literary Gazette.