Samuel Lover, miniature painter, novelist, and song writer, son of John Lover and his wife Abigail Maher, was born in Dublin, February 24, 1797. He attended a dame school and a boys' academy, but his health failing when he was twelve, he was sent into the country, where he remained for a year, then attended school for a year and a half more. His father wished him to follow in his footsteps as a stockbroker, but Samuel was artistically inclined and broke with his father when he was seventeen. By 1818 he was well known in Dublin, and at the Moore banquet he sang a song of his own composition. Besides his miniature painting, he also illustrated some of his own short stories, and wrote many songs and ballads. In 1827 he married Lucy Berrel. His first long novel, "Rory O'More," appeared in 1837, and it was subsequently dramatized and successfully performed. In 1844 he began a series of "Irish Nights," reading from his own books and singing Irish songs and ballads, and traveled through the British Isles and America. In 1849 his best known novel, "Handy Andy," appeared, a very humorous story of Irish life.

His first wife having died while he was in America, he was married for the second time in 1852 to Mary Wandby. The son of a daughter by this marriage was Victor Herbert, the composer. On the sixth of July, 1868, Lover died on the island of Jersey.

REFERENCES: Andrew J. Symington, Samuel Lover, with portrait; S. Bernard, Life of Samuel Lover.

Starr's New York Library. No. 9 Dime Library. No. 9