The author of "Lays of the Revolutions," John Jeffrey, was born on the
29th March 1822, at the manse of Girthon, in the stewartry of
Kirkcudbright. His maternal granduncle was the celebrated Dr Thomas
Brown of Edinburgh. From his father, who was parish minister of Girthon,
and a man of accomplished learning, he received an education sufficient
to qualify him for entering, in 1836, the University of Edinburgh. In
1844 he became a licentiate of the Free Church, and after declining
several calls, accepted, in 1846, the charge of the Free Church
congregation at Douglas, Lanarkshire. Mr Jeffrey was early devoted to
poetical studies. In his eighteenth year he printed, for private
circulation, a small volume of poems, entitled "Hymns of a Neophyte." In
1849 appeared his "Lays of the Revolutions," a work which, vindicating
in powerful verse the cause of oppressed European nationalities, was
received with much favour by the public. To several of the leading
periodicals Mr Jeffrey has contributed spirited articles in support of
liberal politics. A pamphlet from his pen, on the decay of traditional
influence in Parliament, entitled "The Fall of the Great Factions," has
obtained considerable circulation. More recently he has devoted himself
to the study of the modern languages, and to inquiries in ethnological
science.