Page:Notable South Australians.djvu/180

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NOTABLE SOUTH AUSTRALIANS;

noted for conciseness and polish. No matter when and where the speech was made, either in the House of Assembly or in furtherance of some charitable movement, none received more attention than Edward Lindley Grundy. His face and form betokened a man endowed with uncommon gifts. An English gentleman of the good old school, with a deep-rooted faith in the supremacy of the Church, and the strong insular vanity that he was an Englishman. The local Bunyip thus mentions him:—"His knowledge of the world was deep and varied, gained in a chequered life. He was blessed with keen perception of affairs, such as is seldom found; full of kindly courtesy, always ready to aid by his help and advocacy the widow, the orphan, the wronged and oppressed. Few will be more missed from innumerable homes, and lamented with the honest and hearty tribute of general regret than is accorded his memory. The pleasant, genial, gentlemanly old man; the friend of the little child and of the most scholarly in the land; alas! we shall see him, hear him, meet him no more! The hand that long wielded the pen with such peculiar force and ability is now powerless in the chill hand of death. We give this humble and imperfect tribute to the memory of the gifted dead; but no words of ours can render more sacred the memory of Edward Lindley Grundy in the minds and hearts of his townsmen." He was born in Nottingham in 1795, of which town he was a burgess. Entering the collegiate institute there, he exhibited an aptitude for classics and antiquarian lore, which he retained to the close of his life. At twenty-three he entered into mercantile pursuits at Manchester as a shipper and broker, and carried on an extensive and successful business with South America and the Brazils, but relinquished this for literary pursuits more congenial to his views. Mr. Grundy married a daughter of Dr. Charles Mason, of Carlisle, a lady of cultivated tastes and accomplishments, and an able linguist. The union was exceedingly happy and felicitous, the only shadow crossing their fair