In a victorious encounter with Irish rebels in March 1600, Francis Shane is credited with having slain fourteen of the enemy with his own hand. In recognition of this service, the ‘old and very good servant to the queen’ was knighted by Lord Deputy Mountjoy on 6 April 1600 in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. … Read more
Samuel Lover had two daughters, both born in Dublin; his first wife, Lucy Berrel, and first-born, Margaret, predeceased him. His second daughter, Frances, spoke several languages and was said to be ‘very musical, a fine pianist and very much her father’s daughter’. Her second husband was a medical doctor and they had a son, Wilhelm … Read more
Dublin was home to Samuel Lover until 1835, when he moved to London for better commissions for his miniature portraits. In 1846–7 he toured the United States with ‘Irish Evenings’ that featured humorous songs of his own composition set to old Irish melodies. As late as 1916, Lover’s ‘The Low-backed Car’, ‘The Bowld Sojer Boy’, … Read more
When It Was Dark (1903) was the ‘most original and daring novel of the century’, its publishers claimed, the grandiosity of the statement undermined by the fact that the century was only three years old at the time. Nevertheless, it certainly caused a sensation when it came out—despite (or possibly because of) the pretty clear … Read more
Although largely forgotten today, Hallie Erminie Rives was one of the most popular writers in early twentieth-century America, catapulted to literary fame by A Furnace of Earth in 1900. She was also a true American ‘blue blood’ whose family loomed large in the history of Virginia (the colony in which Hearts Courageous was primarily set), … Read more