Throughout his professional life, the poet Thomas Moore (1779–1852) was variously celebrated and vilified for both his verse and his politics. Born in Dublin, he remained an ardent Irish patriot until his death. This eight-volume collection of Moore's memoirs, diaries and letters, edited by his friend Lord John Russell (1792–1878) and first published between 1853 and 1856, provides rare insights into a man whose genius was applauded by the Morning Chronicle as 'embracing almost all sides of imaginative literature, of criticism and philosophy'. Opening with a portrait of Sir John Stevenson, with whom Moore worked on the successful series Irish Melodies between 1808 and 1834, Volume 3 contains Moore's diary for the period 1819–22. During this time, Moore was effectively exiled to France and Italy, where he developed a close friendship with Lord Byron.