Samuel Lover, born in Dublin in 1797, went to Dublin University. He fled his father's stockbroking office and became an accomplished miniaturist and marine painter until failing eyesight forced him to abandon that craft. First published in 1842, Handy Andy was, according to The Dublin Monitor, "Decidedly the best story of the day, full of frolic, genuine fun, and exquisite touches of Irish humour".Lover produced a number of Irish songs, of which several, including The Angel's Whisper, Molly Bawn, and The Four-Leaved Shamrock, attained great popularity. He also wrote some novels, of which Rory O' More (in its first form a ballad), and Handy Andy are the best known, and short Irish sketches, which, with his songs, he combined into a popular entertainment called Irish Nights. He joined with Dickens in founding Bentley's Magazine, and he was the founder of the Dublin University Magazine. In 1899, the UK Daily Telegraph offered its readers Rory O'More as one of "the 100 best novels in the world.