William Greenfield (minister)

William Greenfield FRSE (born 1754/55; died 1827) was a Scottish minister, professor of rhetoric and belles lettres, literary critic, reviewer, and author whose clerical career ended in scandal, resulting in him being excommunicated from the Church of Scotland, having his university degrees withdrawn, and his family assuming his wife's patronymic Rutherfurd.

He served as joint-minister of Edinburgh's High Kirk (1787–98), as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (1796), and as Regius Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at Edinburgh University (1784–98). A friend and correspondent of Robert Burns and a beneficiary of Walter Scott, his lecture course in Rhetoric and Belles Lettres had a huge influence on the development of English Literature as a discipline in universities.

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