Piers Murphy. After some other experiments he set out for Dublin, arriving with two shillings and sixpence in his pocket. He first sought occupation as a bird-stuffer, but a proposal to use potatoes and meal as stuffing failed to recommend him. He then tried to become a soldier, but the colonel of the regiment dissuaded him—Carleton had applied in Latin. After staying in a number of cheap lodgings, he eventually found a place in a house on Francis St., which contained a circulating library. The landlady allowed him to read from 12 to 16 hours a day. He obtained some teaching and a clerkship in a Sunday School office, began to contribute to journals, and "The Pilgrimage to Lough Derg," which was published in the Christian Examiner, attracted great attention. In 1830 he published his first full-length book, Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry (2 vols.), which made his name and is considered his best achievement. In it he stereotyped the Irish "Paddy" in sketches such as "Phil Purcel The Pig Driver". A second series (3 vols.), containing, among other stories, "Tubber Derg, or the Red Well", appeared in 1833, and Tales of Ireland in 1834. From that time till within a few years of his death he wrote constantly. "Fardorougha the Miser, or the Convicts of Lisnamona" appeared in 1837–1838 in the Dublin University Magazine. Carleton remained active publishing in Dublin magazines through the 1830s and 40s writing many ethnic stories often drawn from the south Tyrone locality. He also wrote a lot of fiction but, as John Sutherland (1989) says, it was inferior to his ethnic sketches of the Irish type. During the last months of his life Carleton began an autobiography which he brought down to the beginning of his literary career. This forms the first part of The Life of William Carleton ... (2 vols., 1896), by David James O'Donoghue, which contains full information about his life, and a list of his scattered writings. A selection from his stories (1889), in the "Camelot Series", has an introduction by William Butler Yeats. The author's later years were characterised by drunkenness and poverty, as one commentator said: "he succeeded in offending everybody during the course of his life. In spite of his considerable literary production, Carleton remained poor, but received a pension in 1848 of £200 a year granted by Lord John Russell in response to a