Long known to Southey as a Tory critic and editor of The Anti-Jacobin, Gifford became the first editor in 1809 of a new conservative journal begun on Southey’s advice – the Quarterly Review. Gifford then approached Southey through their mutual friend Grosvenor Charles Bedford to be a contributor. Gifford continued as editor until 1824, frequently the target of Southey’s ire over the cuts and interpolations he made to Southey’s contributions. In earlier life a shoemaker, Gifford was the author of two powerful verse satires, The Baviad (1791) and The Mӕviad (1795).