A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Lover, Samuel
Lover, Samuel (1797-1868). -- Song-writer and novelist, was a painter of portraits, chiefly miniatures. He produced a number of Irish songs, of which several -- including The Angel's Whisper, Molly Bawn, and The Four-leaved Shamrock -- attained great popularity. He also wrote some novels, of which Rory O'More (in its first form a ballad), and Handy Andy are the best known, and short Irish sketches, which, with his songs, he combined into a popular entertainment called Irish Nights. He joined with Dickens in founding Bentley's Magazine.