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| GERALD GRIFFIN'S GRAVE, NORTH MONASTERY, CORK. -The sketch shows the pretty cemetery of the Christian Brothers at the North Monastery, City of Cork. In the grave marked by the single Celtic cross repose the remains of the gentle poet and novelist, Gerald Griffin, author of "The Collegians," pronounced by many British critics to be among the most perfect of romances. From this play Boucicault constructed his famous tragedy of "The Colleen Bawn," which held the stage so long and so triumphantly. Griffin, who had become a religious a year or tow before his death, was born in Limerick, of ancient Irish stock, in 1803. He died in the North Monastery, of typhus fever, June 12, 1840, and was buried three days later. His literary talent was developed in boyhood, and his eldest brother, Dr. William Griffin, fostered his genius and gave him every advantage that a fine education could bestow. When a mere stripling he proceeded to London, and, after many trials and tribulations, managed in spite of prejudice and isolation, to win a place in literature. His first attempts were in the dramatic line, and one of his plays, "Gisippus," possesses great merit. Some of his poetry is exquisite, but it is in his prose works, particularly his Irish novels, so true to nature, that his name will live. A year before his death he wrote thus of the spot where he sleeps: "Close by the walk stands a sittle burying ground, where the head-stones of a few Brothers invite us to a de profundis, and a thought or two on the end of all things, as we are passing." |
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