Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/320

* GRIFFIN. 282 GRIFFIS. as dwelling in the Rliipsean mountains at the north, near the Hyperboreans and the evil one- eyed Arimaspeans, who, mounted on horses, seek to seize the treasure of gold guarded by the griffins. At a later period the scene of this guarding of the gold was transferred to India. This idea of guardianship was transferred to other spheres, and we find griffins on sarcophagi as keepers of the dead. Many Greek cities of Asia Minor adopted them as types on their coins, as guardian genii of the city, such as Assos, Smyrna, Panticapteum, and Phoctea, evidently under Persian influence. The Romans lost the poetry and significance of the myth, using the griffin as a mere decorative molif, in friezes, on table-legs, altars, and can- delabra, as well as in wall paintings. But the syndjolism was never entirely lost in the East, and reappeared in Christian times in the Bes- tiaries, so called, of Saint Basil and Saint Am- brose, as part of the peculiar animal symbolism that penetrated the Middle Ages. The heraldic affronted griffins were common in iMoliammedan, in Persian, and in B.vzantine art — especially in stuffs, ivories, and metal-work — passing to the West in the iliddle Ages, as is shown, for in- stance, in many Anglo-Saxon illuminated manu- scripts. The legend itself was transformed by Moslem story-tellers, and the form it took is related by those incomparable stoiy-tellers, Marco Polo and Sir .John Mandeville, who describe the griffin as a real creature, whose home is In Mada- gascar, in the form of a powerful and colossal eagle, several times the size of a lion, which it could lift into the air. The Renaissance rehabilitated the classic form of the griffin, using it, like Roman art, for decorative purposes verj- freely. It also became popular on family arms and heraldic devices, especially in Great Britain, with the old idea of guardianship, several hundred families (espe- cially in Wales) adopting it as their emblem, but usually replacing the fore paws of Ihe lion by the eagle's claws. In a few instances the griffin ends in a serpent's tail. The attributes of the griffin were swiftness and strength in the service of watchfulness. GBIFFIN, Charles (1826-67). An Ameri- can soldier, born in Ohio. He graduated at West Point in 1847, and served in the Mexican War, at the close of which he was assigned to duty on the frontier. On the outbreak of the Civil War he joined the Army of the Potomac, and commitnded the Fifth Artillery at the first battle of Bull Run. He was made a brigadier- general of vohmteers in 1802, and took part in most of the important battles fought by the Army of the Potomac during the following campaigns. On May 0, 1864, he was brevetted lieutenant- colonel for gallant and meritorious services at the Battle of the Wilderness, and in August of the same year he received the brevet rank of major-general of volunteers. Nine months later he was given the actual rank of major-general of volunteers. After the surrender at Appomat- tox he received the arms and colors of the Con- federate army, and was one of the commission appointed to carry out the conditions agreed to by Grant and Lee. In 180G he was appointed colonel of the Thirty-fifth Infantry, and was assigned to duty in the Southwest, where he died. GRIFFIN, EnwARn Herrick (1843—). An American educator, born at Williamstown, Mass. He graduated at Williams College, and after- wards at the Union Theological Seminary. He was professor at. Williams College from 1872 to ISSl), when he was appointed professor of the history of philosophy and dean of the college laculty in Johns Ho|)kins L'niversity. GRIFFIN, Geralu (1803-40). An Irish dram- atist, novelist, and poet, burn in Limerick. He did some newspaper work in Limerick, and at the age of twenty went to London. He con- tributed to jjeriodicals. and published novels, which met with nuich success. Among them are: Holland Tide (1827) ; Tales of ilunster Festivals (1827): Tiic Collcf/uiiis (1829), of which an edition, illustrated by Phiz, appeared in 1801, un- der the title of Colleen Baimi : and Tales of My yeiffhborhood (1835). About 1838 he entered the Catholic Society of Christian Brothers, among whom he died. His play i)iis, declined in his lifetime by Charles Kean and others, was produced in 1842 by Macready and Helen Faucit. An edition of his novels and poems, with a bio- graphical sketch by his brother, was published in eight volumes in 1842-43, and his Poetical and Dramatic Works were issued in 1857-59. Con- sult a sketch in Mitford, Recollections of a Lit- em rii Life (London, 1859). GRIFFIN, SiMO.N- GooDELL (1824-1902). An American soldier and legislator, born at Nelson, N. H. He represented his town in the State Leg- islature, and was admitted to the bar in 1860. During the Civil War. as colonel of the First Brigade, Second Division, Ninth Army Corps, he aided Grant in the siege of Vicksburg, and par- ticipated in Sherman's Mississippi campaign of 1863. The next year he commanded the Second Brigade, Second Division, in the Battle of the Wilderness, and at Spottsylvania was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers on the recom- mendations of Generals Burnside and Grant. For his gallantry at the sieges of Petersburg and Richmond he was promoted to be major-general. After the war he lived in Keene, N. H. He was elected five times to a seat in the New Hampshire Legislature, and served in the last two terms as Speaker. GRIFFINHOOFE, grif'fln-hoof, Arthur. The nom-de-plunie employed by Colman the Younger, in publishing his We Fhj by Night, Review, Gay Deceivers, and Love Laughs at Locksmiths. GRIFFIS, William Elliot (1843—). An American clergyman, educator, and author, born in Philadelphia. He served with the Forty-fourth Pennsylvania Regiment in the Civil War, and then entered Rutgers College, where he gradu- ated in 1869. After one year of stud.v at the Dutch Reformed Theological Seminary at New Brunswick. N. J., he accepted an appointment to organize schools on the American model in Japan, and was the first American teacher in regions be- yond the open ports. On the fall of the feudal system and the unification of the Empire, he was appointed professor of the physical sciences in the Imperial University of Tokio. He prepared the "New .Japan Series" of reading and spelling books and primers for .Japanese students in the English language, and contributed to the Japan- ese press, and to newspapers and magazines in the United States, numerous papers of impor- tance on .Japanese affairs. In 1874 he returned to New York, where he finished his theological studies at the Union Theological Seminary; and