James McHenry's name is unfamiliar to most readers today, though he enjoyed considerable popularity as a poet, playwright, novelist, and critic during his life. McHenry's contributions to literature should not be forgotten, however, as he was the first American fiction writer to explore both Irish legendary themes and the state of affairs in Northern Ireland.

Little is known of the early life of McHenry. He was born on 20 December 1785 in Larne, Ireland. His parents, George and Mary Smiley McHenry, raised their son in Larne's seceding Presbyterian church. He had a hunched back, to which he refers in his writing, most likely the result of a childhood injury. When McHenry was twelve years old, his father died. He received some schooling in Latin and Greek by the Reverend John Nicholson, but his later education remains a mystery. He might have attended a Scottish university, studying medicine and theology. McHenry's...