ABSTRACT
Wilson, City of the Plague (1816); review by Francis Jeffrey, Edinburgh Review, XXVI (June 1816), 458-476. Jeffrey’s opening paragraphs on poetry and poets, “the whole tuneful brotherhood,” illustrate once again his low regard for poetry, as light entertainment fit only to amuse a reader’s idle time. They also allude to his attacks on Wordsworth. John Wilson (1785-1854) — later the “Christopher North” of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine –---- was a Scot who lived in the Lake Country and whose early poetry showed strong affinities for Wordsworth. The City of the Plague was published by Constable.
