332 



GRISI, GIULIA. 



Harmony of the Gospels and the Acts, in Greek, 

 and an exposition of the parables and other 

 parts of the Gospels, in six volumes, octavo, 

 and a reply to Colenso's work on the Penta- 

 teuch. He had also published translations of 

 Milton's "Comus" and "Samson Agonistes" 

 into Greek verse. There are very few examples 

 of a scholar devoting himself for more than fifty 

 years so patiently to investigations which can 

 never be popular, and which bring with them 

 only the reward of a consciousness of an unat- 

 tractive and somewhat wearisome labor well 

 and conscientiously performed. 



GRISI, GITJLIA, an eminent Italian opera-sing- 

 er, born in Milan, May 22, 1812; died in Berlin, 

 Prussia, November 29, 1869. She was the 

 daughter of an officer of engineers in the army 

 of Napoleon I., and a niece of the celebrated 

 singer Josephine Grassini. She was educated at 

 first in a convent at Girizia, and subsequently 

 was for a short time a pupil in the Conservatoire 

 of Milan, where her elder sister, Judith, had re- 

 ceived a brilliant musical education. She was, 

 when yet but a child, a pupil of the composer 

 Marliani, and at his direction went from Milan 

 to Bologna, to complete her musical training. 

 In that city she made her first debut in Rossini's 

 Zelmira, when she was but sixteen years old, 

 and won all hearts by her sweet and powerful 

 voice, the grace of her action, and her wonder- 

 ful beauty. From Bologna she went to Flor- 

 ence, and there achieved a remarkable success 

 in the part of Juliette in Vaccai's opera of the 

 Capulets ; and the year following in Rossini's 

 Zoraida. From this time forward her success 

 in all the Italian theatres was assured. In 

 1830 she appeared in the theatre of Pisa, and 

 in 1831 came before the critics of La Scala in 

 Milan as Adelgisa, in the opera of Norma, an 

 opera in which she subsequently won her high- 

 est reputation, sharing at this time the glory 

 of the performance, which enchanted all her 

 hearers, with Pasta. Her first Parisian season 

 as prima donna of the Italian opera was ex- 

 tremely brilliant ; her debut in London, in 1834, 

 was equally successful, and she soon won and 

 held a rank, as a great dramatic singer, second to 

 that of none of her contemporaries. Her won- 

 derful personation of the part of Norma won for 

 her the title of " Diva." As Semiramide, Lu- 

 crezia Borgia, and Ehira, she displayed great 

 ability as an actress, and in the buffo music of 

 H, Barliere di Seviglia, Don Pasquale, or Ce- 

 nerentola, she was scarcely less successful. In 

 1836 she was married in London to M. de Melcy, 

 a French gentleman, but the union proved un- 

 happy, and for many years she lived with Ma- 

 rio, by whom she had a number of children. 

 In 1854 she visited the United States, in com- 

 pany with Signor Mario, sang in the principal 

 cities, and returned the next year to England, 



GUTHRIE, JAMES. 



She was connected with her Majesty's Theatre 

 in London till 1846, and with the Royal Italian 

 Opera, Covent Garden, from that time till 1861, 

 except her tour in the United States. She 

 retired from the stage in 1861, but reappeared 

 for a short time in Madrid in 1864, and in Lon- 

 don in 1865 and 1866. Her voice had become 

 somewhat weakened by the lapse of time, but 

 she acted her part as gracefully as ever, and 

 retained much of her former beauty. Her 

 reputation in Norma, which never waned, was 

 due quite as much to her graceful action and 

 to her melodious recitative, or cantdbile, as 

 the Italians named her special gift, as to her 

 admirable singing. She has the credit of being 

 the first operatic singer who introduced this 

 effective style of chanting into her perform- 

 ance. In 1869 she visited St. Petersburg with 

 her children, and spent some months there. 

 She had reached Berlin on her return-journey 

 when she was seized with fatal illness. 



GUTHRIE, JAMES, LL. D., an American 

 statesman, born near Bardstown, Ky., Decem- 

 ber 5, 1V92 ; died in Louisville, Ky., March 13, 

 1869. He was educated at the Bardstown 

 Academy, and, after spending several years of 

 his life as a trader to New Orleans, he studied 

 law, and some time afterward entered upon the 

 practice of his profession at Louisville. At 

 this early period the internal trade of the South- 

 west was dependent upon the flat-boats of the 

 Mississippi, and it was as an owner of these 

 that he conducted his business during the few 

 years that he was engaged in mercantile pur- 

 suits. In 1820 he was appointed prosecuting 

 attorney in the county in which he lived. 

 Early in his political career he was shot by an 

 opponent, the wound prostrating him so that 

 he was confined to his bed for three years. He 

 was for fifteen years a member of the Kentucky 

 Legislature, and during six years of that time 

 he was a member of the State Senate. In 1849 

 he was chosen president of the Kentucky Con- 

 stitutional Convention, in which body he not 

 only gained prominence as a presiding officer, 

 but was distinguished as an able and ready 

 debater. He was Secretary of the Treasury, 

 under the Administration of President Pierce, 

 from 1853 to 1857. In 1860 he was a candi- 

 date before the Charleston Convention for the 

 presidency, and he was a delegate to the Chi- 

 cago Democratic Convention in 1864. Mr. 

 Guthrie was elected to the United States 

 Senate in 1865, and took his seat in that body, 

 but in February, 1868, he was compelled to 

 resign, owing to his failing health. During the 

 war he was steadfastly union, and wasjespecially 

 active in preventing Kentucky from joining the 

 Confederacy. The last political body of which 

 he was a member was the "National Union 

 Convention," held at Philadelphia in 1866. 



