Irish
patriot in 1798, is one of his best known pieces. He also celebrated
the ill-fated brothers Sheares. His song "Erin" was considered by
Moore to be one of the most perfect of modern songs. It was in this
piece that he fixed upon Ireland the title of the Emerald Isle:

When Erin first rose from the dark swelling flood,
God bless'd the green island, and saw it was good;
The em'rald of Europe, it sparkled and shone--
In the ring of the world the most precious stone.

Mary Tighe (1772-1810), whose maiden name was Blachford, was born,
the daughter of a clergyman, in Co. Wicklow. She contracted an
unhappy marriage with her cousin who represented Kilkenny in the
Irish house of commons. By all accounts she was of great beauty and
numerous accomplishments. She wrote many poems: her best, and best
known, is _Psyche, or the Legend of Love_, an adaptation of the story
of Cupid and Psyche from the _Golden Ass_ of Apuleius. The metre she
employed in this piece was the Spenserian stanza, which she handled
with great power, freedom, and melody. _Psyche_, which first appeared
in 1795, had a wonderful vogue, running rapidly through edition after
edition. Among others to whom it appealed and who were influenced by
it was Keats. Mrs. Tighe's talent drew from Moore a delicate
compliment in "Tell me the witching tale again"; and in "The Grave of
a Poetess" and "I stood where the life of song lay low", Mrs. Hemans
bewailed her untimely death.

Edmund Malone (1741-1813), the son of an Irish judge, was born in
Dublin and studied at Trinity College. He was called to the Irish bar
in 1767, but coming into a fortune, he abandoned his profession and
gave himself over to literary work. In 1790 he brought out an edition
of Shakespeare which was deservedly praised for its learning and
research. His critical acumen led him to doubt the genuineness of
Chatterton's _Rowley Poems_, and he was one of the first to expose
Ireland's Shakespearean forgeries in 1796. Among other services to
literature he wrote a _Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds_ and edited
Dryden. He also left a quantity of materials afterwards utilized for
the "Variorum Shakespeare" by James Boswell the younger in 1821.

John O'Keeffe (1747-1833), a Dublin man, was at first an art student,
but soon became an actor, and then developed into a playwright. His
pen was most prolific; he published a collection of over fifty pieces
in 1798. His plays are mostly comic op