Thomas Colley Grattan

Thomas Colley Grattan was an Irish miscellaneous writer.Born in Dublin, he was educated for the law, but did not practise it and instead joined the Louth militia with the eventual aim of getting a commission in the British Army. Having been unsuccessful in this venture, in 1818 he set off for South America via Bordeaux. On his passage he met and married Miss Eliza O'Donnel, with whom he remained in the city. Here he commenced the profession of an author, his first work being Philibert, an octo-syllabic poem in six cantos. In a short time he moved to Paris, where he made the acquaintance of Moore, Washington Irving, Thiers, Béranger, Lamartine, and other distinguished literary men, and became a constant contributor to the Westminster Review, Edinburgh Review, the New Monthly Magazine, and other periodicals. His translations from French poets were successful. He also commenced a serial of his own, which he called The Paris Monthly Review of British and Continental Literature, by a Society of English Gentlemen. No. 1 came out in January 1822, and No. 15 (April 1823) appears to have been the last issue of this magazine. By Washington Irving's advice he reduced to order the memoranda of some of his tours, and submitted the manuscript to four publishing houses of eminence in succession, who all rejected it. This work was Highways and Byways, or Tales of the Roadside, which, on its appearance in 1823, dedicated to Washington Irving, made its author's name widely known both in England and on the continent, and was several times reprinted. The second series of these tales came out in 1825, and the third in 1827. Grattan's next public appearance was as the writer of a tragedy, Ben Nazir, the Saracen. This was produced by Edmund Kean at Drury Lane Theatre on 21 May 1827, but the actor, through ill-health and domestic misfortunes, broke down, and the play failed with him.Having sustained pecuniary losses, Grattan removed to Brussels about 1828. He there produced Traits of Travel, which was received with well-deserved favour; The Heiress of Bruges one of the best historical romances of the day; and The History of the Netherlands which has become a standard work. In 1830 the revolution drove him from Brussels. He retired to Antwerp, and accompanied the Prince of Orange from that town to the Hague, where he wrote Jacqueline of Holland. In May 1831 he was at Heidelberg, where he was stimulated to fresh literary exertions, and composed the Legends of the Rhine.He was now a frequent contributor to the British and foreign reviews, writing upon the state of European affairs, chiefly in connection with Belgium. At a critical moment in the affairs of the new kingdom, during the riots at Brussels in 1834, he commenced a correspondence with the Times newspaper, and his letters were translated and reproduced in continental journals. In 1839, he received the appointment of British consul to the state of Massachusetts and took up residence at Boston. While there, Grattan contributed to the conclusion of the treaty of 9 April 1842. In the United States Grattan gained considerable reputation as a speaker and raconteur.Returning to England in 1846 he was permitted to resign his consulship in favour of his eldest son. From this period he chiefly resided in London, where he resumed his literary labours, and among other works produced, in 2 vols., in 1862, Beaten Paths and those who trod them which contains his autobiographical recollections. He died at his residence in Jermyn Street, London, 4 July 1864, leaving a daughter and three sons.- excerpted from Wikipedia