William Maginn

William Maginn , 1793-1842, Irish writer. Some of his best stories and essays appeared in Blackwood's Magazine. His short story "Bob Burke's Duel with Ensign Brady" is considered one of the most humorous Irish tales ever written. In 1830 he established the highly successful Fraser's Magazine, for which he wrote satires and parodies in both verse and prose.

Maginn, William (1793–1842), born in Cork and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He wrote under various pseudonyms including ‘Ensign Morgan O'Doherty’, in whose persona he produced memoirs, anecdotes, and verses in English, Latin, and Greek for the Literary Gazette and other journals. He was a prolific contributor to Blackwood's, notably to the Noctes Ambrosianae. In 1830 he helped in the establishing of Fraser's Magazine, in which much of his best work, including Homeric Ballads and A Gallery of Literary Characters, appeared. His wit and learning are evident in his parodies of Sir W. Scott, Coleridge, T. Moore, La Rochefoucauld, Disraeli, Carlyle, and many others. He was the original of Captain Shadow in Thackeray's Pendennis.