author
George Croly
1780–1860
An Irish clergyman who built a second life as a poet, novelist, historian, and journalist, he moved from Dublin to London and became known for writing that mixed religion, politics, and drama. He is still especially remembered for the hymn “Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart.”
1 Audiobook
Tarry thou till I come; or, Salathiel, the wandering Jew.
by George Croly
About the author
Educated at Trinity College Dublin, he was ordained in the early 1800s and first served in Ireland before moving to London around 1810. There he worked widely as a man of letters, contributing reviews and journalism while also publishing poetry, fiction, history, and theological writing.
His career ranged across several literary worlds at once. He wrote verse and novels, took part in public debate through journalism, and later served as rector of St Stephen Walbrook in the City of London from 1835 until his death in 1860.
Readers today often meet him through his hymn writing, especially “Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart,” but his reputation in his own time was broader: he was a busy Victorian-era writer whose work linked the pulpit, the press, and the literary marketplace.