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Author: Glass, James

Biography:

GLASS, James (fl 1789-97)

The title page of Libertas identifies him as “The Reverend James Glass, A.M.” but nothing is known about his life. DIB suggests that Glass may have been a pseudonym for the Rev. James Porter (q.v.) but Orr describes him as “a United Irish radical poet from Ballynahinch Spa” who knew Samuel Thomson and Alexander Kemp (qq.v.). No evidence of a James Glass at Ballynahinch has been discovered. In 1792 Glass (or Porter) contributed verse to the Star, the United Irishmen newspaper; poems included “Address to Mr. Paine” (18 Feb.), “Address to the Patriots of Belfast” (14 Mar.), “The Irish Bard” (19 May), and “Address to the River Leven” (20 June). Thomson published “Stanzas Addressed to the Rev. James Glass” in the Northern Star on 3 Apr. 1797. The question of whether his name was a pseudonym or—if he did exist—whether he or James Porter (or someone else) wrote Lysimachia is unresolved. (DIB [under James Porter] 1 Mar. 2021; J. Orr, Literary Networks and Dissenting Culture in Romantic-Period Ireland [2015])

 

Other Names:

  • Dr. Glass
 

Books written (2):

Belfast: Printed for the author by J. and W. Magee, 1789