Griffith, Richard (?1704-1788), playwright. Born in Dublin and educated at TCD. His works include The Triumvirate (1764), a bawdy novel, and Variety (1782), a comedy performed at Drury Lane. Griffith collaborated successfully with his wife Elizabeth in A Series of Genuine Letters between Henry and Frances (1757), a novel derived from their amorous correspondence. Two sequels, Delicate Distress (1769) by ‘Frances’ and The Gordian Knot (1770) by ‘Henry’, were written independently. A son, Richard (d. 1820), was a member of the Irish Parliament, while his son, Sir Richard Griffith (1784-1878), devised ‘Griffith's valuation’, the system adopted for rating agricultural property. On ‘Henry’ and ‘Frances’, see Escape from the Anthill (1985) by Hubert Butler, who inherited their house at Bennetsbridge.

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