Author: Darley, George
Biography:
DARLEY, George (1795-1846: ODNB)
Pseudonyms John Lacy; Guy Penseval; Richard Belvoir; G. Springfield; Thomas Carew; Egerius; the Labours author; J. M.; D.; G.D.
This unwarrantedly overlooked, self-effacing poet was born in Dublin on 12 Aug. 1795, the eldest of the seven children of grocer Arthur Darley (1766-1845) and his wife and cousin, Mary (d 1833). An inheritance obtained in about 1815 permitted his family to live independently. Tutored at his parents’ estate, Springfield, in County Dublin, he entered Trinity College on 3 July 1815 (AB 1820, gold medal, head of class). He then migrated to London where he established himself as a busy and moderately successful writer. With the appearance of The Errors of Ecstasie in Apr. 1822, he became a published author. Beginning in 1823, under the pseudonym John Lacy, he was the leading drama critic for the London Magazine. He was a prolific contributor to the Athenaeum, its leading art critic, a reviewer of exhibitions and books on art, art theory, and architecture. His collection of short stories, The Labours of Idleness; or, Seven Nights’ Entertainments, appeared in 1826. Set to music, several of his songs became popular. His verse drama Sylvia; or, The May Queen (1827) was mostly overlooked. Published at his own expense, Nepenthe (1835), his most admired poem, appeared in two cantos (three were intended). His other works include an introduction to Moxon’s edition of Beaumont and Fletcher; a closet drama, Thomas à Becket; a play, Ethelstan; and a translation of the first book of Virgil’s Aeneid. His textbooks on geometry, algebra, and trigonometry were greatly successful. As “Darley’s Scientific Library,” they were promoted in large-size advertisements in the Athenaeum. The publisher of most of his books, John Taylor, reprinted them well into the 1840s. Inhibited socially by a stammer, Darley nevertheless had many friends, notably Charles Lamb, John Clare, Allan Cunningham, Richard Monckton Milnes (qq.v.), and Thomas Carlyle. He died unmarried on 23 Nov. 1846 at 2 Lower Belgrave Street, South Eaton Square. He was buried on 30 Nov. at All Souls, Kensal Green. Darley’s signature and date of birth are on the only known verified portrait, by Richard Evans, now at the Kupferstich-Kabinett Museum, Dresden. (ODNB 21 Feb. 2024; Dublin Magazine [1820], 167; D. Lange, The Life and Poetry of George Darley [2020]; D. Stewart, “Darley, George,” Then and Now online 23 Feb. 2024) JC, DL