GRIFFIN. "Oh no,' I said, 'My own dear maid, For me, though all forlorn, for ever, That heart of thine Shall ne'er repine O'er slighted duty-never! From home and thee though wandering far I'd rather live in endless war Than buy my peace with thine, love.' Sing Gilli ma chree, etc. "Far, far away, By night and day, I toiled to win a golden treasure And golden gains Repaid my pains In fair and shining measure. Thy father welcomed me, love; I poured my gold into his hand, Sit down by me, We now are joined, and ne'er shall sever; This hearth's our own, Our hearts are one, And peace is ours for ever." Griffin died in 1840, in the exercise of his humble duties as a member of the Christian Brotherhood at Cork. His publications were all a little after the period within which we have confined ourselves. Banim, his friend and contemporary, began his work about the same period. Carleton was still farther on in time. We give these names, and the above record of the most remarkable among them, by way of making up in some degree the vacancy in which Ireland unfortunately stands at this period. T. C. Grattan, another name of the period, was also a novelist of respectable reputation: but his scenes were not laid in Ireland, nor can he be called a national writer. We may add that the one only, and not perhaps very dignified, public acknowledgment which the professors of literature ever receive in England was bestowed in a manner which we may call lavish on most of the members of this Irish school of fiction. Lady Morgan, Banim, and Carleton were all recipients of pensions on the Civil List, so that any advantage to be derived from that national compliment was fully accorded to the country, which nevertheless has in this way contributed so little to the common stock. JAMES SHERIDAN KNOWLES, born 1784; died 1862. Virginius was his first play, produced in England at Covent Garden 1820. Dramatic Works, collected 1843. MARY TIGHE, born 1773; died 1810. CHARLES ROBERT MATURIN, born 1782; died 1824. Published The Fatal Revenge; or, The Family of Montorio, 1804. The Wild Irish Boy, 1808. The Milesian Chief, 1811. Bertram; or, The Castle of Aldobrand, 1816. Manuel, 1817. Women; or, Pour et Contra, 1818. Sermons, 1819. Fredocyno-a tragedy, 1819. Melmoth the Wanderer-a novel, 1820. The Universe-a poem, 1821. Six Sermons on Popery, 1824. The Albigenses-a romance, 1824. CHARLES WOLFE, born 1791; died 1823. Poetical Remains, 1825. WILLIAM MAGINN, born 1794; died 1842. Contributions to Blackwood's Magazine, beginning 1818. FRANCIS MAHONY, born 1805; died 1865. Published Facts and Figures from Italy. Reliques of Father Prout, 1836. Many contributions to Fraser and other magazines and newspapers. LADY MORGAN, born 1783; died 1859. Published St. Clair, 1804. Novice of St. Dominick, 1805. Wild Irish Girl, 1806. Patriotic Sketches in Ireland, 1807. The Lay of an Irish Harp and Irish Melodies, 1807. The Missionary, an Indian Tale, 1811. O'Donell, 1812. Florence MacCarthy, 1816. France (in conjunction with her husband), 1817. Italy, 1821. Life of Salvator Rosa, 1823. Absenteeism, 1825. The O'Briens and O'Flahertys, 1827. Woman and Her Master, 1840. With several lesser works. GERALD GRIFFIN, born 1803; died 1840. Published Holland-tide; or, Munster Popular Tales, 1828. The Collegians, 1828. And several other works and tales at later dates. CHAPTER VIII. THE HISTORIANS AND PHILOSOPHERS: HENRY HALLAM, JOSEPH LINGARD JEREMY BENTHAM, JAMES MACKINTOSH, JAMES MILL. HISTORY and Philosophy have always had a certain alliance. It is little possible to investigate the problems of one science without some tendency towards the solutions of the other. The great and manycoloured panorama of existence, with all those vicissitudes that seem so capricious, those successions that are so inevitable, leading the mind from generation to generation in order to catch a thread of meaning or answer a question, has but little effect upon the spectator if it does not lead him to seek some acquaintance with the constitution of human nature, the origin from which all its laws and its irregularities The great historians of the past have in most cases recognised the affinity of the two subjects, and the advantage of securing a larger and more comprehensive view of facts and events, by due recognition of their moral and intellectual relations. In the age which we have been discussing it is difficult to know under which heading to classify some of the most important names, since no one will deny to Hallam come. |