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George Gilfillan
George Gilfillan (30 January 1813 – 13 August 1878) was a Scottish author and poet. One of the spasmodic poets, Gilfillan was also an editor and commentator, with memoirs, critical dissertations in many editions of earlier British poetry.
George Gilfillan was born at Comrie, Perthshire, the eleventh of twelve children. His father, the Rev. Samuel Gilfillan, the author of some theological works, was for many years minister of a Secession congregation. His mother, Rachel Barlas, the daughter of another Secession minister, was a notable beauty often spoken of as "The Star of the North".
In 1825 he went to study at the University of Glasgow, where his classmates included John Eadie, William Hanna and Archibald Campbell Tait, the future Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1833 he studied for a year in Mid Calder before moving on to Edinburgh where he received warm encouragement from the professor of moral philosophy, John Wilson, better known as Christopher North. Here, he formed friendships with Thomas Aird, Thomas de Quincey, and Thomas Carlyle.
He was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh as a probationer in 1835, but declined an invitation to take on his late father's congregation in Comrie. On 23 March the following year he was ordained as minister of the School Wynd church in Dundee, a post he would hold for the rest of his life. Later that year, on 22 November, he married Margaret Valentine, daughter of a farmer and factor in Kincardineshire. He was actively involved Dundee's cultural societies and a key figure in the city's literary life in the mid-Nineteenth Century.
Gilfillan published a volume of his discourses in 1839, and shortly afterwards another sermon on Hades, which brought him under the scrutiny of his co-presbyters, and was ultimately withdrawn from circulation.
Gilfillan next contributed a series of sketches of celebrated contemporary authors to the Dumfries Herald, then edited by Thomas Aird; these, with several new ones, formed his first Gallery of Literary Portraits, which appeared in 1846 and had a wide circulation. It was quickly followed by a Second and a Third Gallery.
In 1851 his most successful work, the Bards of the Bible, appeared. His aim was that it should be a poem on the Bible and it was far more rhapsodical than critical, being in Gilfillan's words 'a Prose Poem, or Hymn, in honour of the Poetry and Poets of the inspired volume with occasional divergence into the analysis of Scripture characters, and cognate fields of literature or of speculation '. His Martyrs and Heroes of the Scottish Covenant appeared in 1832, and in 1856 he produced a partly autobiographical, partly fabulous, History of a Man. From 1853 to 1860 he was occupied with editing Cassell's 48-volume Library Edition of the British Poets.
In 1858 Gilfillan published a 3-volume edition of Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, consisting of old heroic ballads, songs, and other pieces from our earlier poets, authoring a prefatory "Memoir and Critical Dissertation" entitled Life of Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore; with Remarks on Ballad Poetry. Gilfillan's 1858 edition was published by James Nichol in Edinburgh, in London by James Nisbet, and in Dublin by W. Robertson. Gilfillan and Charles Cowden Clarke published the Reliques for Cassell in 1877.
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George Gilfillan
George Gilfillan (30 January 1813 – 13 August 1878) was a Scottish author and poet. One of the spasmodic poets, Gilfillan was also an editor and commentator, with memoirs, critical dissertations in many editions of earlier British poetry.
George Gilfillan was born at Comrie, Perthshire, the eleventh of twelve children. His father, the Rev. Samuel Gilfillan, the author of some theological works, was for many years minister of a Secession congregation. His mother, Rachel Barlas, the daughter of another Secession minister, was a notable beauty often spoken of as "The Star of the North".
In 1825 he went to study at the University of Glasgow, where his classmates included John Eadie, William Hanna and Archibald Campbell Tait, the future Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1833 he studied for a year in Mid Calder before moving on to Edinburgh where he received warm encouragement from the professor of moral philosophy, John Wilson, better known as Christopher North. Here, he formed friendships with Thomas Aird, Thomas de Quincey, and Thomas Carlyle.
He was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh as a probationer in 1835, but declined an invitation to take on his late father's congregation in Comrie. On 23 March the following year he was ordained as minister of the School Wynd church in Dundee, a post he would hold for the rest of his life. Later that year, on 22 November, he married Margaret Valentine, daughter of a farmer and factor in Kincardineshire. He was actively involved Dundee's cultural societies and a key figure in the city's literary life in the mid-Nineteenth Century.
Gilfillan published a volume of his discourses in 1839, and shortly afterwards another sermon on Hades, which brought him under the scrutiny of his co-presbyters, and was ultimately withdrawn from circulation.
Gilfillan next contributed a series of sketches of celebrated contemporary authors to the Dumfries Herald, then edited by Thomas Aird; these, with several new ones, formed his first Gallery of Literary Portraits, which appeared in 1846 and had a wide circulation. It was quickly followed by a Second and a Third Gallery.
In 1851 his most successful work, the Bards of the Bible, appeared. His aim was that it should be a poem on the Bible and it was far more rhapsodical than critical, being in Gilfillan's words 'a Prose Poem, or Hymn, in honour of the Poetry and Poets of the inspired volume with occasional divergence into the analysis of Scripture characters, and cognate fields of literature or of speculation '. His Martyrs and Heroes of the Scottish Covenant appeared in 1832, and in 1856 he produced a partly autobiographical, partly fabulous, History of a Man. From 1853 to 1860 he was occupied with editing Cassell's 48-volume Library Edition of the British Poets.
In 1858 Gilfillan published a 3-volume edition of Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, consisting of old heroic ballads, songs, and other pieces from our earlier poets, authoring a prefatory "Memoir and Critical Dissertation" entitled Life of Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore; with Remarks on Ballad Poetry. Gilfillan's 1858 edition was published by James Nichol in Edinburgh, in London by James Nisbet, and in Dublin by W. Robertson. Gilfillan and Charles Cowden Clarke published the Reliques for Cassell in 1877.