A contemporary of Sir Walter Scott, John Galt wrote poetry, travel books, pamphlets, articles and plays but is best known for his novels. He wrote the first biography of Lord Byron, having met the poet in Gibraltar and travelled with him to Malta . Byron said that the characters in Galt's novels "have an identity that reminds me of Wilkie's pictures"; those set in Scotland make extensive use of Scots dialogue. Besides his writing, Galt also undertook various mostly unsuccessful business enterprises, spent two years in Canada and some time in prison for debt.