Francis Jeffrey, from an unsigned review in Edinburgh Review

Jeffrey (1773–1850), an Edinburgh lawyer who became first editor of the Edinburgh Review in 1802, was frequently criticized for his severe argument that Burns had no sense of chivalry. Later he modified his views and accepted Carlyle’s review of Lockhart’s Life of Burns for inclusion in the Edinburgh Review. He wrote in 1837 to William Empson, ‘You south Saxons cannot value [Burns] rightly, and miss half the pathos, and more than half the sweetness’ (see Introduction, p. 30).