nences, these Firbolgean forts resembled the ayries of ravenous birds, and were properly termed 'nids de tyrannie.')" In another place he gives a pompous account of the Irish schools and studies, not only in the sixth century, but as far back as the middle of the fifth. In another part he speaks of Asiatic and Greek missionaries, whom he brings at a very early period into Ireland. Now I would ask how

he could understand that a barbarous people, naked and ignorant as American Indians, could uphold a pure Christian church, or establish illustrious schools?

This inconsistent writer changes his positions as suits his own purposes; and it is to be lamented that his writings have had the effect of convincing uninitiated readers that the ancient Irish were a horde of barbarians.

[Samuel Lover, the gifted and genial artist, song-writer, musical composer, novelist, and dramatist, was born in Dublin in 1797. Delicate as a child, he owed much to the care of his good mother, a tender, patient, thoughtful woman, who taught him to detest a lie and keep his word. His father was a stockbroker, who, having no sympathy with the art aspirations of his son, tried hard to force him into his own line of business. However, such injudicious repression only fanned the flame; and Samuel Lover, a youth of seventeen, unaided, and with only the few pounds in his pocket which he had saved, left the paternal roof, determined to become an artist.

After three years' study and hard work he so far succeeded, that in 1818 he came before the Dublin public as a marine and miniature painter. In that year, too, at a banquet given to Moore, he sang a song which he had composed for the occasion. His position as an artist was established, and about the same period his legends and stories, appearing from time to time in various Dublin magazines, gained him considerable literary reputation. In 1827 he married Miss Berrel, the daughter of a Dublin architect, a lady who was in every way worthy of Lover. In 1828 he was chosen secretary of the Royal Hibernian Society of Arts.

In 1831 appeared The Irish Horn Book, all the clever caricature illustrations and much of the literary matter of which were furnished by Lover. In 1832 he published Legends and Stories of Ireland, consisting chiefly of tales which he had contributed to magazines, and amongst them "The Gridiron;" these were illustrated by etchings from his own hand.

In 1832, Paganini arrived in Dublin; Lover painted a miniature of him which was quite a

| marvel of art, and which, when sent to the Royal Academy's Exhibition in London in 1833, created quite a sensation, although it had to bear comparison with the miniatures of Thorburn and Ross. He had already painted the Duke of Wellington; but the marked success of the Paganini portrait subsequently led to his permanently removing to London.

About this time he was asked to paint a portrait of the young Princess Victoria; but domestic circumstances prevented him from then leaving Ireland, and the chance did not again occur. Of this opportunity, which might have been the means of promoting him to the honour of being "miniature-painter-inordinary" to her present gracious Majesty, a Dublin wit quaintly remarked, that in such a case, "the Court chronicler would have had to announce a Lover instead of a Hayter1 as the possessor of the office." In 1834, he issued a second series of Tales and Legends, illustrated with his own capital and characteristic etchings.

In 1835, he furnished Madame Vestris with a dramatic burlesque called the Olympic Picnic. Soon after the drama of The White Horse of Peppers, and the farce of The Happy Man, were produced at the Haymarket. The operetta of The Greek Boy, both the words and music of which were composed by him, was brought out at Covent Garden. He was also the author of the words and music of Il Paddy Whack in Italia, produced by Balfe at the Lyceum.

Lady Morgan had suggested that Lover should endeavour to present genuine Irish character, in song, instead of by means of the coarse caricatures previously current, and the result was the production of "Rory O'More,”

1 The late Sir George Hayter.