Darley, George

(1795-1846)

   Poet, novelist, and critic, b. at Dublin, and ed. at Trinity Coll. there, he early decided to follow a literary career, and went to London, where he brought out his first poem, Errors of Ecstasie (1822). He also wrote for the London Magazine, under the pseudonym of John Lacy. In it appeared his best story, Lilian of the Vale. Various other books followed, including Sylvia, or The May Queen, a poem (1827). Thereafter he joined the Athenæum, in which he showed himself a severe critic. He was also a dramatist and a profound student of old English plays, editing those of Beaumont and Fletcher in 1840. So deeply was he imbued with the spirit of the 17th century that his poem, "It is not beauty I desire," was included by F.T. Palgrave in the first ed. of his Golden Treasury as an anonymous lyric of that age. He was also a mathematician of considerable talent, and pub. some treatises on the subject. D. fell into nervous depression and d. in 1846.