Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry

Poet and ballad editor. Pseudonym: Isaac Brown. Born in Glasgow. Father was an ironmonger. At age 15 was apprenticed as clerk to the office of the sheriff-clerk in Paisley, becoming sheriff-clerk-depute of Renfrewshire from 1819 to 1829. Attended Glasgow University to read classics 1818 to 1819. Initially held radical political views but later became a Tory. Correspondent of Walter Scott. Edited The Harp of Renfrewshire (1820), the ballad collection Minstrelsy Ancient and Modern (1827), and co-edited an edition of Burns with James Hogg. Author of Renfrewshire Characters and Scenery (1824), Poems, Narrative and Lyrical (1832), and Poetical Works (1847, 1849, 1881). Founder and editor of Paisley Magazine (from 1828), editor of Paisley Advertiser (1828-1830). Became editor of Glasgow Courier from 1830, after his move to Glasgow, where he became involved in anti-reform politics and Orangeism. Biographical information: ODNB. (AC)