The ''Edinburgh Magazine and Review'' was a Scottish periodical, published monthly from 1773 to 1776. It was founded by

Gilbert Stuart Gilbert Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter born in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-k ...

, who pursued an aggressive editorial line that eventually led to the magazine's demise.

History

The first number came out about the middle of October 1773, and it was discontinued after the publication of the number for August 1776. Early advantages were negated by Stuart's tendency to pursue private vendettas against lawyers and other historians; William Smellie the printer struggled to contain him. Stuart's slashing article on the ''Elements of Criticism'' by

Lord Kames Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696–27 December 1782) was a Scottish writer, philosopher and judge who played a major role in Scotland's Agricultural Revolution. A central figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, he was a founding member of the ...

, was completely metamorphosed by Smellie. Stuart sometimes had his own way: when

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beg ...

reviewed and praised the second volume of Robert Henry's ''History of Great Britain'', the article was cancelled and one by Stuart substituted for it, which went the other extreme. Behind Smellie was

William Creech William Creech FRSE (12 May 1745 – 14 January 1815) was a Scottish publisher, printer, bookseller and politician. For 40 years Creech was the chief publisher in Edinburgh. He published the first Edinburgh edition of Robert Burns' poems, and ...

, who launched a number of periodicals. The climax was reached in an article by Stuart and A. Gillies, written over the protests of Smellie, on

Lord Monboddo James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (baptised 25 October 1714 – 26 May 1799) was a Scottish judge, scholar of linguistic evolution, philosopher and deist. He is most famous today as a founder of modern comparative historical linguistics. In 1767, h ...

's ''

Origin and Progress of Language Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...

''. It was scurrilous and abusive, ran through several numbers of the fifth volume, and caused the magazine to be stopped.

Contributors

The major writers, in addition to Stuart, were William Richardson of Glasgow, William Baron,

Thomas Blacklock Thomas Blacklock (10 November 1721 – 7 July 1791) was a Scottish poet who went blind in infancy. Life He was born near Annan, Dumfriesshire (now Dumfries and Galloway), of humble parentage, and lost his sight as a result of smallpox when six ...

, Rev. Alexander Gillies, and Smellie.

Notes

;Attribution

History

Contributors

Notes

See also