João Baptista da Silva Leitão de Almeida Garrett, 1st Viscount de Almeida Garrett (Porto, February 4, 1799 – December 9, 1854) was a Portuguese Romanticist poet, novelist, dramatist, and Liberal politician. João Baptista da Silva Leitão de Almeida Garrett was born João Leitão da Silva in Oporto as the son of António Bernardo da Silva Garrett (whose mother was the daughter of an Irish father born in exile in France and an Italian mother born in Spain) and wife Ana Augusta de Almeida Leitão. He early around 4 or 5 years old changed his name to João Baptista da Silva Leitão, adding a name from his godfather and altering the order of his surnames. In 1809 he fled the second French invasion (see Peninsular War) carried out by Soult’s troops, seeking refuge in Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira Island, Azores. For the rest you are just going to have to buy a biography.