Rev. George Gilfillan, ed.: Library Edition of the British Poets (48 vols: 1853-60)
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Rev. George Gilfillan: Library Edition of the British Poets (1853-60)
[Purchased: Paeroa, Sunday, September 20, 2020]:
Gilfillan, Rev. George, ed. The Poetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray & Smollett. Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1855.
I found this interesting book in Paeroa, during our recent trip to Hamilton for important summit meetings with like-minded friends.
At first I thought I didn't really need it, as I already have various nice editions of both Johnson's and Gray's poetry:
Samuel Johnson. The Poems. Ed, David Nichol-Smith and Edward L. MacAdam. 1941. Second edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974.
Samuel Johnson. The Complete English Poems. Ed. J. D. Fleeman. Penguin English Poets. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971.
Thomas Gray. Poems Published in 1768. The Oxford Miscellany. London: Henry Frowde / Humphrey Milford / Oxford University Press, 1909.
Roger Lonsdale, ed. The Poems of Thomas Gray, William Collins, Oliver Goldsmith. 1969. Longman Annotated English Poets. London: Longman Group Limited, 1980.
But then I realised that I'd seen something like it before. I have an old copy of the collected poems of two otherwise rather obscure seventeenth century poets which clearly comes from the same series:
Rev. George Gilfillan, ed. The Poetical Works of Edmund Waller & Sir John Denham. Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1857.
These two books are just the tip of the iceberg, however. I'm pretty sure that no-one ever faulted the Rev. George Gilfillan for lack of industry. As well as writing a good deal of poetry himself (he was, it appears, a member of the 'spasmodic' school), he also edited, between 1853 and 1860, all 48 volumes of Cassell's Library Edition of the British Poets. They are, in order of appearance:
Books I own are marked in bold:
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1853-1854
- Milton: Poetical Works, vol. 1
- Milton: Poetical Works, vol. 2
- Thomson: Poetical Works
- George Herbert: Poetical Works
- Young: Night Thoughts
- Goldsmith, Collins, & T. Warton: Poetical Works
- William Cowper: Poetical Works, vol. 1
- William Cowper: Poetical Works, vol. 2
- Samuel Butler: Poetical Works, vol. 1
- Samuel Butler: Poetical Works, vol. 2
- William Shenstone: Poetical Works
- Beattie, Blair, & Falconer: Poetical Works
- John Dryden: Poetical Works, vol. 1
- John Dryden: Poetical Works, vol. 2
- William Lisle Bowles: Poetical Works, vol. 1
- William Lisle Bowles: Poetical Works, vol. 2
- Charles Churchill: Poetical Works
- Johnson, Parnell, Gray, & Smollett: Poetical Works
- Gilfillan, Rev. George, ed. The Poetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray & Smollett. Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1855.
- Robert Burns: Poetical Works, vol. 1
- Robert Burns: Poetical Works, vol. 2
- The National Burns: Including The Airs of all the Songs and an Original Life of Burns by the Editor. Ed. Rev. George Gilfillan. 2 vols. London, Glasgow, Edinburgh: William Mackenzie, n.d. [c.1880]
- Alexander Pope: Poetical Works, vol. 1
- Alexander Pope: Poetical Works, vol. 2
- Henry Kirke White & James Grahame: Poetical Works
- William Shakspeare & the Earl of Surrey: Poetical Works
- Sir Walter Scott: Poetical Works, vol. 1
- Sir Walter Scott: Poetical Works, vol. 2
- Sir Walter Scott: Poetical Works, vol. 3
- Mark Akenside: Poetical Works
- Edmund Waller & Sir John Denham: Poetical Works
- Gilfillan, Rev. George, ed. The Poetical Works of Edmund Waller & Sir John Denham. Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1857.
- Richard Crashaw: Poetical Works; Quarles' Emblems
- Thomas Percy: Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, vol. 1
- Thomas Percy: Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, vol. 2
- Thomas Percy: Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, vol. 3
- Matthew Prior: Poetical Works
- Sir Thomas Wyatt: Poetical Works
- Armstrong, Dyer, & Green: Poetical Works
- Edmund Spenser: Poetical Works, vol. 1
- Edmund Spenser: Poetical Works, vol. 2
- Edmund Spenser: Poetical Works, vol. 3
- Edmund Spenser: Poetical Works, vol. 4
- Edmund Spenser: Poetical Works, vol. 5
- Joseph Addison: Poetical Works; Gay's Fables; Somerville's Chase
- Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, vol 1:
First Period
The following poets: John Gower; John Barbour; Andrew Wyntoun; Blind Harry; James I of Scotland; John the Chaplain—Thomas Occleve; John Lydgate; John Harding, John Kay; Robert Henryson; William Dunbar; Gavin Douglas; Hawes, Barclay; Skelton; Sir David Lyndsay; Thomas Tusser; Vaux, Edwards; George Gascoigne; Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst and Earl of Dorset; John Harrington; Sir Philip Sidney; Robert Southwell; Thomas Watson; Thomas Turberville; Unknown.
Second Period — From Spenser to Dryden
The following poets: Francis Beaumont; Sir Walter Raleigh; Joshua Sylvester; Richard Barnfield; Alexander Hume; Other Scottish poets; Samuel Daniel; Sir John Davies; Giles Fletcher; John Donne; Michael Drayton; Edward Fairfax; Sir Henry Wotton; Richard Corbet; Ben Jonson; Vere, Storrer; Thomas Randolph; Robert Burton; Thomas Carew; Sir John Suckling; William Cartwright; William Browne; William Alexander, Earl of Stirling; William Drummond; Phineas Fletcher. - Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, vol 2:
Second Period — From Spenser to Dryden (continued)
The following poets: William Habington; Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich; Richard Lovelace; Robert Herrick; Sir Richard Fanshawe; Abraham Cowley; George Wither; Sir William Davenant; Dr. Henry King; John Chalkhill; Catharine Phillips; Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle; Thomas Stanley; Andrew Marvell; Izaak Walton; John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester; The Earl of Roscommon; Charles Cotton; Dr. Henry More; William Chamberlayne; Henry Vaughan; Dr. Joseph Beaumont; Miscellaneous pieces, from Robert Heath and by various authors. - Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, vol 3:
Third Period — From Dryden to Cowper
The following poets: Sir Charles Sedley; John Pomfret; The Earl of Dorset; John Philips; Walsh, Gould; Sir Samuel Garth; Sir Richard Blackmore; Elijah Fenton; Robert Crawford; Thomas Tickell; James Hammond; Sewell, Vanbrugh; Richard Savage; Thomas Warton, the Elder; Jonathan Swift; Isaac Watts; Ambrose Philips; William Hamilton; Allan Ramsay; Dodsley, Brown; Isaac Hawkins Browne; William Oldys; Robert Lloyd; Henry Carey; David Mallett; James Merrick; Dr. James Grainger; Michael Bruce; Christopher Smart; Thomas Chatterton; Lord Lyttelton; John Cunningham; Robert Fergusson; Dr. Walter Harte; Edward Lovibond; Francis Fawkes; John Langhorne; Sir William Blackstone; John Scott; Alexander Ross; Richard Glover; William Whitehead; William Julius Mickle; Lord Nugent; John Logan; Thomas Blacklock; Miss Elliot and Mrs. Cockburn; Sir William Jones; Samuel Bishop; Susanna Blamire; James Macpherson; William Mason; John Lowe; Joseph Warton; Miscellaneous. - Thomas Tyrwhitt: The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, vol. 1
- Thomas Tyrwhitt: The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, vol. 2
- Thomas Tyrwhitt: The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, vol. 3
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
If, at first sight, this listing of the 'British poets' seems to contain a great many unfamiliar names as well as lacking a great many others - almost all the significant Romantic poets, for instance - whom one would expect to see there, it can only be taken as an object lesson in the vagaries of fame. Two volumes devoted to William Lisle Bowles! But then, no less a judge than Samuel Taylor Coleridge rapturised about the merits of Bowles's sonnets - who's to say that he was wrong?
There is, to be sure, a certain emphasis on Scottish poets of note in the collection. I have another, four-volume 'cabinet edition' of 'Select British Poets' dating from thirty years before:
Diamond Cabinet Editions of Select British Poets. 4 vols. London: Jones, 1837.The listings are similar, but by no means identical. Byron made it into the canon in the 1820s, but not in the 1850s, though his contemporary Scott is there in three stout volumes.
- Vol. I: Comprising in One Volume The Works of Milton, Cowper, Goldsmith, Thomson, Falconer, Akenside, Collins, Gray.
- Vol. II: Comprising The Works of Kirke White, Burns, Beattie, Shenstone, Gray’s Fables, Butler’s Hudibras & Select Works of Lord Byron.
- Vol. III: Comprising Moore, Pope, Watts, Hayley, Mason, Prior, Grahame & Logan.
- Vol. IV: Comprising Dryden, Littleton, Hammond, Richardson, Charlotte Smith, Canning, Gifford, Bloomfield’s Farmer’s Boy &c.
I'm afraid that I haven't yet mentioned the true reason for the Reverend George Gilfillan's contemporary fame - or notoriety - however. He is credited with being the man who discovered, and encouraged, the budding poetic gifts of the man credited with being the 'worst poet in history' - William McGonagall.
What's more, the pupil was not ashamed to pay tribute to his patron in the following verses, which have bedevilled his reputation ever since:
McGonagall in action
An Address to the Rev. George Gilfillan
By Knight of the White Elephant of Burmah William McGonagall
All hail to the Rev. George Gilfillan of Dundee,
He is the greatest preacher I did ever hear or see.
He is a man of genius bright,
And in him his congregation does delight,
Because they find him to be honest and plain,
Affable in temper, and seldom known to complain.
He preaches in a plain straightforward way,
The people flock to hear him night and day,
And hundreds from the doors are often turn’d away,
Because he is the greatest preacher of the present day.
He has written the life of Sir Walter Scott,
And while he lives he will never be forgot,
Nor when he is dead,
Because by his admirers it will be often read;
And fill their minds with wonder and delight,
And wile away the tedious hours on a cold winter’s night.
He has also written about the Bards of the Bible,
Which occupied nearly three years in which he was not idle,
Because when he sits down to write he does it with might and main,
And to get an interview with him it would be almost vain,
And in that he is always right,
For the Bible tells us whatever your hands findeth to do,
Do it with all your might.
Rev. George Gilfillan of Dundee, I must conclude my muse,
And to write in praise of thee my pen does not refuse,
Nor does it give me pain to tell the world fearlessly, that when
You are dead they shall not look upon your like again.
So there you are. I suppose it just goes to show that no good deed ever remains unpunished.
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- category - English Poetry (pre-1900): Eighteenth Century
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