3 Review(s)

Throughout his professional life, the poet Thomas Moore (1779-1852) was variously celebrated and vilified for both his verse and his politics. Born in Dublin, he remained an ardent Irish patriot until his death. This eight-volume collection of Moore's memoirs, diaries and letters, edited by his friend Lord John Russell (1792-1878) and first published between 1853 and 1856, provides rare insights into a man whose genius was applauded by the Morning Chronicle as 'embracing almost all sides of imaginative literature, of criticism and philosophy'. Opening with a portrait of Sir John Stevenson, with whom Moore worked on the successful series Irish Melodies between 1808 and 1834, Volume 3 contains Moore's diary for the period 1819-22. During this time, Moore was effectively exiled to France and Italy, where he developed a close friendship with Lord Byron.