The Irish standard., 1886-05-01
GERALD GRIFFIN, AUTHOR.
His Collegians' the Most Delightful
Addition that has Ever been Made
to Irish Fiction.
A MASTERl-Y PROSE WRITER.
He is Entitled to a Place, and a
Proud One, Among the Poets
of Ireland.

Lord Beaconslield, in one of his
novels" ConingsDy," or | do forget
n1yself--dwells with graceful ne]an
choly which he could readily assume
and which at all times became him
upon the number Of rarely gifted
beings who died in or about their
thirty-seventh year. The ''fatal thirty
seven'' he calls il; and he enunlerates
q long list Of bright abilities who were
it's victims. Raphael, Byron, Mozart,
Mendelssohn, these and many others
whose spirits were untimely quenched.
he mentions, paying to each his due
need Of mourning. One name will at
once be missed by all Irishmen from
the list, the name Of Gerald Griffin
It may we'll be maintained that in all
the brilliant brotherhood OF youth re-
corded by the English novelist, Gerald
Griffin would have found only his peers.
In none did the fire Of genius burn
more fervently, to none was fortune
kinder on more cruel, by none was the
too early death faced under conditions
Of loftier dignity or serener virtue.
The story of Gerald Griffin's life is
exceedingly simple and straightfor-
ward. He was born in Limerick, and
his boyhood was passed within sight
and sound Of the lordly river which
races at it's swiftest there between its
crowded banks. In very early youth
he showed not merely those passionate
aspirations for literary distinction
which are inevitable to all fnely~tenl-
pered boyhood, but abilities Of the
rarest kind for gratifying those aspira-
items and gaining the coveted ianreis.
His Reenest desire appears to have
been for dramatic fame (; he longed to
see the creations Of his brain taking
their place with Cato and Anthony, and
the hero Of g Venice Preserved; - and
while still in the very dawn Of man
hood he crossed the Irish Sea with a
manuscript play in his pocket where
with to conquer London and win i'm
mortal fame. The lonely young Irish
man fought the old fight in the great
CITY, with poverty, with indifference,
with the chilling influences OF apathy
and disdaln. The old. old story of ge-
Mus and the giant, of the war that is as
ancient as the mountains, and that
will outlast the cataract. Griffin, with
his heart on fire, flung himself against
London. His was not the patient
merit which takes the spurns of the un-
worthy humbly. The consciousness OF
his great gifts informed and inspired
him. and he battled strenuously, des-
perately, with evil fortune. London,
swollen with something Of the old
Athenian pride and Of the exclusive
ness of medieval Florence, regards all
those who come to it from outside, be
they Saxon or Gael, as "barbarians'
and strangers 1t has to be Wooed
and won, like the Amazon Brynhllda OF
the German epic. by force of arms the
wooing is desperate, the winning diff
cult in the extreme. Gerald Griffin
wooed London bravely, but he did not
win. For three years he struggled and
suffered, painting his proud, ambitious
nature, with failure. Then he came
back to Ireland to find there the fame
whose phantom he had pursued in vain
in the foreign city He wrote much
marvellous prose fiction; he wrote one
masterpiece which must endure as long
as literature lasts. Suddenly in the
Warmth of his youth. on the threshold
Of his fame, his whole soul became i'm
bued with a profound sense OF the van
itv of all worldly triumphs and the in
significance Of all earthly ambitions.
He Joined the Christian Brothers, and
died in the ranks of that Order. After
his death his play "Gisippus, (Which ne
carefully destroyed at a time when he
destroyed all his other papers. was
acted in London, and was successful at
a time when success was valuless to its
author. s'Gisippus" has not held the
stage, but it is dear to all lovers OF
lofty dramatic literature.
ssThe Collegians'' is one OF the most
remarkable, as it is one OF the most de-
lightful additions that have ever been
made to Irish fiction. Englishmen
have too long drawn their ideas about
ireland from the pages of Levers nov
els. have too long deluded themselves
into the belief that that grotesque car
n1val of riotous dragons, Of comic
peasants, of Castle hacks. and practi-
cal jokers from Trinity, makes up the
sum and. substance Of Irish life an
Irish character. As a matter OF fact,
the 6 Arabian Nights in spite of their
wizards and witches, their incanta-
lions and enchautments, their roc's
eggs and magic lamps, present far
more faithful picture Of the Egypt Of