William Gifford, an English author, born in Ashburton, Devonshire, in April, 1757, died in London, Dec. 31, 1826. He was left an orphan in childhood, and apprenticed to a shoemaker. His master refused to allow him time for reading, but he contrived by stealth to acquire a considerable knowledge of mathematics, and occasionally wrote verses. Some of the latter came into the hands of Mr. Cookesley, a surgeon, who raised a subscription to purchase his freedom. In two years he entered Exeter college, Oxford, where he was appointed Bible reader. Lord Grosvenor invited him to live with him, and subsequently sent him to the continent as the travelling tutor of his son. After his return to England, he published in 1794 his "Baviad," a paraphrase on the first satire of Persius, in which the popular Delia Cruscan poetry of the day was happily ridiculed and effectually put down; and in 1795 the "Maeviad," an imitation of Horace, directed against the corruptions of the drama. His "Epistle to Peter Pindar," published in 1800, is one of the bitterest attacks ever directed against an opponent.

Being now known as a keen political writer, he wrote with George Ellis and Frere for the "Anti-Jacobin upon its commencement by Canning, and from this connection received two offices under government, which he held for life. In 1802 he published a spirited translation of Juvenal, with his own autobiography. He also translated Persius, and edited the dramatic works of Massinger, Ben Jonson, Ford, and Shirley. Upon the establishment of the "Quarterly Review" in 1809 he became its editor, a post which he retained until about two years before his death.