Eighteen-hundred and twenty saw the death of King George III, the British monarch who had reigned during the American War of Independence. With his death in late January came the end of the Regency Period in Britain and the ascension of King George IV, who had been, erstwhile, prince regent. The emotional, political and artistic brimming-o’er of the French and American revolutions continued to capture the imagination of many in the British Isles. While Romantic verse fomented across the English countryside, even reaching English expatriates in the the Eternal City of Rome and elsewhere, American voices Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper dug in with a slew of popular novels, and would each enter a period of fecundity and productivity we might call “one matchless time.” Meanwhile Walter Scott produced three novels this year, two for the Waverley series, along with the masterful, Ivanhoe. Eighteen-hundred and twenty also saw the birth of innovative and dedicated British nurse, Florence Nightingale, who became illustrious following her service during the Crimean War (1853-6).