LEV
He was one of the early contributors to the Dublin University Magazine, first published in 1833. Gaining confidence by the reception accorded to some articles, he commenced his first novel, Harry Lor- requer, in the columns of that periodical in February 1837; and with each suc- ceeding number the genius and power of the author appeared to expand, and the popularity of the tale increased. For a time, however, he was unconscious of the resources of his intellect, and little dis- posed to devote himself to literature as his profession. In 1840 he obtained the posi- tion of physician to the British Embassy at Brussels. On the completion of Harry Lorrequer the same year, he found himself taking rank amongst British novelists of reputation. Charles OMalley followed — its success was also complete — he gave up his position in Brussels, and adopted litera- ture as the business of his life. Eeturn- ing to Dublin in 1842, he undertook and held for three years the editorship of the University Magazine, and gathered around him the most eminent literary men in Ire- land — Carleton, Samuel Ferguson, Wilde, MacCarthy, Butt, "Waller— and the Maga- zine attained the summit of its success. About 1 845 he obtained a diplomatic post in Florence, and thenceforward resided permanently abroad, occasionally visiting England and Ireland, and continuing to write for various periodicals with unwea- ried industry and increasing reputation. In 1858 he was appointed Vice-consul at Spezzia, and in 1 867 at Trieste. The Uni- versity of Dublin conferred on him the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1871. He passed away painlessly in his sleep, after an illness which, though sudden in its termination, was of short duration, at Trieste, ist June 1872, aged 62. For some years before his death he contributed a se- ries of interesting papers on current events to Blackwood) s Magazine, under the signa- ture of " Cornelius O'Dowd." Altogether he wrote some twenty novels, which have enjoyed a wide popularity. His merits are thus estimated by the Athe- nceum : " A writer of the romantic novel — before the novel had taken to the embodiment of the earnest realities of life of the present day, as it did in the hands of the Brontes, Miss Mulock, Mrs. Lewes, and Thackeray, where there is little exaggeration or over-colouring — in the novels of Lever the grotesque element is always present in a greater or less degree, lapsing occasionally into the caricature; yet his portraits never violate nature to an extent to ofi'end, and generally conduce to heighten the picturesque efi'ect and enhance
LEW
the sense of enjoyment. As a depicter of Irishmen and Irish manners, he describes a phase which none of his contemporary countrymen, except perhaps Maxwell, suc- cessfully touched upon— that of the higher- class society, the impulsive, dashing soldier, the old Milesian squire, the adventures of war, the incidents of the camp, the gaieties of the ball-room, the sports of the hunting field and the race-course. In the portrayal of all these, from an Irish point of view, he is unrivalled. You see transparently throughout his novels the experiences of the man of the world, who scans with a keen eye and a quick intellect all the phases of society, and who reproduces these ex- periences in vivid, genial, dashing pictures, ever warm with the sunshine of wit and gaiety. In all this we think Lever has no rival. But in another field he is no un- worthy competitor of Carleton, theBanims, or Gerald Griffin —we mean in depicting middle-class and peasant life. If he has not all the simple pathos of Carleton, he has at least as much humour ; and 'Mickey Free' is as fine a creation of the bold, clever, ready-witted, free-and-easy Irishman, as any novelist has produced. Some of Lever's songs are admirable of their kind. . . Charles Lever was a mannerist — as, in- deed, were Dickens, Thackeray, and most novelists of the day. . . Lever was one of the best cameurs and raconteurs to be met with, and managed convei-sation with singular tact, never seeking to monopolize the talk, but, by the felicity of some re- mark thrown in at the right moment in- sensibly attracting the attention of all, tiU he was master of the situation, and then went oflf in one of his characteristic sallies." It is much to his honour that diplomatic service never dimmed the independence of his political expressions. '= ""^ "" ^33 241
Lewis, Andrew, Colonel, an American revolutionary soldier, was born in Ulster about 1 730. His father, descended from a Huguenot family of settlers, removed to America, shortly after Andrew's birth, in consequence of having been engaged in an agrarian disturbance, and was the first white settler in Augusta County, Virginia. Andrew was endowed with great bodily vigour and a commanding presence. He was a volunteer in the expedition to take possession of the Ohio region in 1754; served with "Washington at the surrender of Fort Necessity ; was Major in his brother Samuel's company at Braddock's defeat ; commanded the Sandy Creek ex- pedition in 1756 ; and in the unfortunate expedition of Major Grant in October 1758, was made prisoner and taken to Montreal. In 1 768 he was appointed commissioner to 291
