A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Neal, John
Neal, John (1793-1876). -- Novelist and poet, b. at Portland, Maine, was self-educated, kept a dry goods store, and was afterwards a lawyer. He wrote several novels, which show considerable native power, but little art, and are now almost forgotten. Among those which show the influence of Byron and Godwin are Keep Cool (1818), Logan (1822), and Seventy-six (1823). His poems have the same features of vigour and want of finish. In 1823 he visited England, and became known to Jeremy Bentham. He contributed some articles on American subjects to Blackwood's Magazinepage 285.