Poet and biographer, called the "poet of the people of Ireland," born Dublin, Ireland, 1779; died Devizes, England, 1852. At an early age he exhibited great skill in rhyming, and at fifteen had poems published in the "Anthologia Hibernica." Graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, 1798, he went to London to study law, but literature attracted him more, and his early works met with immediate success. He accepted appointment as registrar of the Admiralty Court of Bermuda, 1803, but after four months appointed a deputy and traveled in the United States and Canada, returning to London the following year. His "Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems," treating of his travels, appeared in 1806; the first of his "Irish Melodies," the best loved of his works, in which he set words to the old national airs of Ireland, was published in 1817. Other poetical works are: "Corruption and Tolerance," a satire, 1808; "The Sceptic, a Philosophical Satire," 1809; "Intercepted Letters or the Two-penny Post Bag," a light satirical work, 1813; "Lalla Rookh," an oriental romance, 1819; the first of the "National Airs," 1818; and the "Loves of the Angels," an oriental poem, 1822. In this last year he turned his attention to prose writing and from then on figures mainly as a prose writer. His prose works include: "History of Captain Rock and his Ancestors," dealing with English misrule of Ireland; "Life of Sheridan," 1825; "Life of Byron," 1830; "Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald," 1831; and "Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion," 1834.