PREFACE. (continued 3)

⁂ Mrs. Gamp and Mrs. Harris have Parisian sisters in Mde. Pochet and Mde. Gibou, creations of Henri Monnier.

Gan. (See Ganelon.)

Gan´dalin, earl of the Firm Island, and ’squire of Am´adis de Gaul.

Gandalin, though an earl, never spoke to his master but cap in hand, his head bowing all the time, and his body bent after the Turkish manner.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iii. 6 (1605).

Gan´elon (2 syl.), count of Mayence, the “Judas” of Charlemagne’s paladins. His castle was built on the Blocksberg, the loftiest peak of the Hartz Mountains. Charlemagne was always trusting this base knight, and was as often betrayed by him. Although the very business of the paladins was the upholding of Christianity, Sir Ganelon was constantly intriguing for its overthrow. No doubt jealousy of Sir Roland made him a traitor, and he basely planned with Marsillus (the Moorish king), the attack of Roncesvallês. The character of Sir Ganelon was marked with spite, dissimulation, and intrigue, but he was patient, obstinate and enduring. He was six feet and a half in height, had large glaring eyes and fiery red hair. He loved solitude, was very taciturn, disbelieved in the existence of moral good, and has become a by-word for a false and faithless friend. Dantê has placed him in his “Inferno.” (Sometimes called Gan.)

The most faithless spy since the days of Ganelon.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot, xxiv. (1820).

Ganem, “The Slave of Love.” The hero and title of one of the Arabian Nights tales. Ganem was the son of a rich merchant of Damascus, named Abou Aibou. On the death of his father he went to Bagdad, to dispose of the merchandise left, and accidentally saw three slaves secretly burying a chest in the earth. Curiosity induced him to disinter the chest, when lo! it contained a beautiful woman, sleeping from the effects of a narcotic drug. He took her to the lodgings, and discovered that the victim was Fetnab, the caliph’s favorite, who had been buried alive by order of the sultana, out of jealousy. When the caliph heard thereof, he was extremely jealous of the young merchant, and ordered him to be put to death, but he made good his escape in the guise of a waiter, and lay concealed till the angry fit of the caliph had subsided. When Haroun-al-Raschid (the caliph) came to himself, and heard the unvarnished facts of the case, he pardoned Ganem, gave to him Fetnab for a wife, and appointed him to a lucrative post about the court.

Gan´esa, goddess of wisdom, in Hindû mythology.

Then Camdeo [Love] bright and Ganesa sublime

Shall bless with joy their own propitious clime.

Campbell, Pleasures of Hope, i. (1799).

62Ganlesse (Richard), alias Simon Canter, alias Edward Christian, one of the conspirators.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Ganna, the Celtic prophetess, who succeeded Velle´da. She went to Rome, and was received by Domitian with great honor.—Tacitus, Annals, 55.

Ganor, Gano´ra, Geneura, Ginevra, Genievre, Guinevere, Guenever, are different ways of spelling the name of Arthur’s wife; called by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Guanhuma´ra or Guan´humar; but Tennyson has made Guenevere the popular English form.

Gants Jaunes (Des), dandies, men of fashion.

Gan´ymede (3 syl.), a beautiful Phrygian boy, who was carried up to Olympos on the back of an eagle, to become cup-bearer to the gods instead of Hebê. At the time of his capture he was playing a flute while tending his father’s sheep.

There fell a flute when Ganymede went up—

The flute that he was wont to play upon.

Jean Ingelow, Honours, ii.

(Jupiter compensated the boy’s father for the loss of his son, by a pair of horses.)

Tennyson, speaking of a great reverse of fortune from the highest glory to the lowest shame, says:

They mounted Ganymedes,

To tumble Vulcans on the second morn.

The Princess, iii.

The Birds of Ganymede, eagles. Ganymede is represented as sitting on an eagle, or attended by that bird.

To see upon her shores her foul and conies feed,

And wantonly to hatch the birds of Ganymede.

Drayton, Polyolbion, iv. (1612).

⁂ Ganymede is the constellation Aquarius.

Garagan´tua, a giant, who swallowed five pilgrims with their staves in a salad.—Rabelais, The History of Garagantua (1533).

“You must borrow me Garagantua’s mouth first: ’tis a word too great for any mouth of this age’s size.”—Shakespeare, As You Like It, act iii. sc. 2.

Gar´cias. The soul of Peter Garcias, money. Two scholars, journeying to Salamanca, came to a fountain, which bore this inscription; “Here is buried the soul of the licentiate Peter Garcias.” One scholar went away laughing at the notion of a buried soul, but the other, cutting with his knife, loosened a stone, and found a purse containing 100 ducats.—Lesage, Gil Blas (to the reader, 1715).

Garcilas´o, surnamed “the Inca,” descended on the mother’s side from the royal family of Peru (1530-1568). He was the son of Sebastian Garcilaso, a lieutenant of Alvarado and Pizarro. Author of Commentaries on the Origin of the Incas, their Laws and Government.

Garcilaso [de la Vega], called “The Petrarch of Spain”Spain”, born at Toledo (1503-1536). His poems are eclogues, odes, and elegies of great naïveté, grace, and harmony.

Sometimes he turned to gaze upon his book,

Boscan or Garcilasso [sic].

Byron, Don Juan i. 95 (1819).

Garda (Thorne). Beautiful, untaught and utterly unreasonable girl, whom everybody pets and who always gets her own way. She fascinates men and outwits women, defies all authority, and never loses her temper. In a lazy way she falls in love with one man after another, and is most constant to the least worthy. The 63best and kindest woman among her friends suffers in reputation from her escapades, and Garda accepts the sacrifice as a matter of course. The incarnation of sensuous selfishness.—Constance Fennimore Woolson, East Angels (1886).

Gardening (Father of Landscape), Lenotre (1613-1700).

Gar´diner (Richard), porter to Miss Seraphine Arthuret and her sister Angelica.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Gardiner (Colonel), colonel of Waverley’s Regiment.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

Gareth (Sir), according to Ancient romance, was the youngest son of Lot, king of Orkney and Morgawse, Arthur’s [half] sister. His mother, to deter him from entering Arthur’s court, said, jestingly, she would consent to his so doing if he concealed his name and went as a scullion for twelve months. To this he agreed, and Sir Kay, the king’s steward, nicknamed him “Beaumains,” because his hands were unusually large. At the end of the year he was knighted, and obtained the quest of Linet, who craved the aid of some knight to liberate her sister Lionês, who was held prisoner by Sir Ironside in Castle Perilous. Linet treated Sir Gareth with great contumely, calling him a washer of dishes and a kitchen knave; but he overthrew the five knights and liberated the lady, whom he married. The knights were—first, the Black Knight of the Black Lands or Sir Pere´ard (2 syl.), the Green Knight or Sir Pertolope, the Red Knight or Sir Perimo´nês, the Blue Knight or Sir Persaunt of India (four brothers), and lastly, the Red Knight of the Red Lands or Sir Ironside.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 120-153 (1470).

⁂ According to Tennyson, Sir Gareth was “the last and tallest son of Lot, king of Orkney, and of Bellicent his wife.” He served as kitchen knave in King Arthur’s hall a twelvemonth and a day, and was nicknamed “Fair-hands” (Beaumains). At the end of twelve months he was knighted, and obtained leave to accompany Lynette to the liberation of her sister Lyonors, who was held captive in Castle Perilous by a knight called Death or Mors. The passages to the castle were kept by four brothers, called by Tennyson, Morning Star or Phos´phorus, Noonday Sun or Meridies, Evening Star or Hespĕrus, and Night or Nox, all of whom he overthrew. At length Death leapt from the cleft skull of Night, and prayed the knight not to kill him, seeing that what he did his brothers had made him do. At starting, Lynette treated Gareth with great contumely, but softened to him more and more after each victory, and at last married him.

He that told the tale in olden times

Says that Sir Gareth wedded Lyonors;

But he that told it later says Lynette.

Tennyson, Idylls of the King (“Gareth and Lynette”).

Gareth and Linet´ is in reality an allegory, a sort of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, describing the warfare of a Christian from birth to his entrance into glory. The “Bride” lived in Castle Perilous, and was named Lionês; Linet´ represents the “carnal world,” which, like the inhabitants of the City of Destruction, jest and jeer at everything the Christian does. Sir Gareth fought with four knights, keepers of the roads “to Zion” or Castle Perilous, viz., Night, Dawn, Midday, and Evening, meaning the temptations of the four ages of 64man. Having conquered in all these, he had to encounter the last enemy, which is Death, and then the bride was won—the bride who lived in Castle Perilous or Mount Zion.

⁂ Tennyson, in his version of this beautiful allegory, has fallen into several grave errors, the worst of which is his making Gareth marry Linet instead of the true bride. This is like landing his Pilgrim in the City of Destruction, after having finished his journey and passed the flood. Gareth’s brother was wedded to the world (i.e. Linet), but Gareth himself was married to the “true Bride,” who dwelt in Castle Perilous. Another grave error is making Death crave of Gareth not to kill him, as what he did he was compelled to do by his elder brothers. I must confess that this to me is quite past understanding.—See Notes and Queries, January 19, February 16, March 16, 1878.

Gar´gamelle (3 syl.), wife of Grangousier and daughter of the Parpaillons. On the day that she gave birth to Gargantua, she ate 16 qrs. 2 bush. 3 pecks and a pipkin of dirt, the mere remains left in the tripe which she had for supper, although the tripe had been cleaned with the utmost care.—Rabelais, Gargantua, i. 4 (1533).

⁂ Gargamelle is an allegorical skit on the extravagance of queens, and the dirt is their pin-money.

Gargan´tua, son of Grangousier and Gargamelle. It needed 17,913 cows to supply the babe with milk. Like Garagantua (q.v.), he ate in his salad lettuces as big as walnut trees, in which were lurking six pilgrims from Sebastian. He founded and endowed the abbey of Theleme (2 syl.), in remembrance of his victory over Picrochole (3 syl.).—Rabelais, Gargantua, i. 7 (1533).

⁂ Of course, Gargantua is an allegorical skit on the allowance accorded to princes for their maintenance.

Gargantua’s Mare. This mare was as big as six elephants, and had feet with fingers. On one occasion, going to school, the “boy” hung the bells of Notre Dame de Paris on his mare’s neck, as jingles; but when the Parisians promised to feed his beast for nothing, he restored the peal. This mare had a terrible tail “every whit as big as the steeple of St. Mark’s,” and on one occasion being annoyed by wasps, she switched it about so vigorously that she knocked down all the trees in the vicinity. Gargantua roared with laughter, and cried, “Je trouve beau ce!” where upon the locality was called “Beauce.”—Rabelais, Gargantua, i. 16 (1533).

⁂ Of course this “mare” is an allegorical skit on the extravagance of court mistresses, and the “tail” is the suite in attendance on them.

Gargan´tuan Curriculum, a course of studies including all languages, all sciences, all the fine arts, with all athletic sports and calisthenic exercises.—Grangousier wrote to his son, saying:

“There should not be a river in the world, no matter how small, thou dost not know the name of, with the nature and habits of all fishes, all fowls of the air, all shrubs and trees, all metals, minerals, gems and precious stones. I would, furthermore, have thee study the Talmudists and Cabalists, and get a perfect knowledge of man, together with every language, ancient and modern, living or dead.”—Rabelais, Pantag´ruel´ ii. 8 (1533).

Gar´gery (Mrs. Joe), Pip’s sister. A virago, who kept her husband and Pip in constant awe.

Joe Gargery, a blacksmith, married to Pip’s sister. A noble-hearted simple-minded 65man who loved Pip sincerely. Though uncouth in manners and ungainly in appearance, Joe Gargery was one of nature’s gentlemen.—C. Dickens, Great Expectations (1860).

Gargouille (2 syl.), the great dragon that lived in the Seine, ravaged Rouen, and was slain by St. Roma´nus in the seventh century.

Garlic. The purveyor of the sultan of Casgar says he knew a man who lost his thumbs and great toes from eating garlic. The facts were these: A young man was married to the favorite of Zobeidê, and partook of a dish containing garlic; when he went to his bride, she ordered him to be bound, and cut off his two thumbs and two great toes, for presuming to appear before her without having purified his fingers. Ever after this he always washed his hands 120 times with alkali and soap after partaking of garlic in a ragout.—Arabian Nights (“The Purveyor’s Story”).

Gar´rat (The mayor of). Garrat is a village between Wandsworth and Tooling. In 1780 the inhabitants associated themselves together to resist any further encroachments on their common, and the chairman was called the Mayor. The first “mayor” happened to be chosen on a general election, and so it was decreed that a new mayor should be appointed at each general election. This made excellent capital for electioneering squibs, and some of the greatest wits of the day have ventilated political grievances, gibbeted political characters, and sprinkled holy water with good stout oaken cudgels under the mask of “addresses by the mayors of Garrat.”

The Mayor of Garrat, a farce by S. Foote (1762).

Garrick. Cool-headed, cool-hearted Federal agent who runs all sorts of dangers to bear into camp dispatches found upon a dead comrade, and marries a woman many degrees too noble for one whose ideals of morality are lower than becomes a man so brave in other matters.—Rebecca Harding Davis, Waiting for the Verdict (1866).

Garter. According to legend, Joan, countess of Salisbury, accidentally dropped her garter at a court ball. It was picked up by her royal partner, Edward III., who gallantly diverted the attention of the guests from the lady by binding the blue band round his own knee, saying, as he did so,“Honi soit qui mal y pense.”

The earl’s greatest of all grandmothers

Was grander daughter still to that fair dame

Whose garter slipped down at the famous ball.

Robert Browning, A Blot on the ’Scutcheon, i., 3.

Gartha, sister of Prince Oswald of Vero´na. When Oswald was slain in single combat by Gondibert (a combat provoked by his own treachery), Gartha used all her efforts to stir up civil war; but Hermegild, a man of great prudence, who loved her, was the author of wiser counsel, and diverted the anger of the camp by a funeral pageant of unusual splendor. As the tale is not finished, the ultimate lot of Gartha is unknown.—Sir William Davenant, Gondibert (died 1668).

Garth (Sip), woman of the people, who “puts” everything “honest” to people. Shrewd, deep of heart and almost fierce of will, girding at her limitations, yet profoundly in sympathy with her fellow-sufferers, she becomes a valuable ally to her high-bred friend, Perley Kelso, in her efforts to bring comfort and beauty into the dwellings of the poor.—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, The Silent Partner (1871).

66Garth (Caleb), surveyor and land-agent. Excellent man, but better at lending than keeping money.

Mary Garth, his daughter; sensible and true woman, with few graces of person and no affectations.—George Eliot, Middlemarch.

Gas´abal, the ’squire of Don Galaor.

Gasabal was a man of such silence that the author names him only once in the course of his voluminous history.—Don Quixote, I. iii. 6 (1605).

Gascoigne (Sir William). Shakespeare says that Prince Henry “struck the chief justice in the open court;” but it does not appear from history that any blow was given. The fact is this:

One of the gay companions of the prince being committed for felony, the prince demanded his release, but Sir William told him the only way of obtaining a release would be to get from the king a free pardon. Prince Henry now tried to rescue the prisoner by force, when the judge ordered him out of court. In a towering fury, the prince flew to the judgment seat, and all thought he was about to slay the judge; but Sir William said very firmly and quietly. “Syr, remember yourselfe. I kepe here the place of the kynge, your sovereigne lorde and father, to whom you owe double obedience; wherefore I charge you in his name to desyste of your wylfulnes.... And nowe for your contempte goo you to the pryson of the Kynges Benche, whereunto I commytte you, and remayne ye there prisoner untyll the pleasure of the kynge be further known.” With which words the prince being abashed, the noble prisoner departed and went to the King’s Bench.—Sir Thomas Elyot, The Governour (1531).

Gashford, secretary to Lord George Gordon. A detestable, cruel sneak, who dupes his half-mad master, and leads him to imagine he is upholding a noble cause in plotting against the English Catholics. To wreak vengeance on Geoffrey Haredale, he incites the rioters to burn “The Warren,” where Haredale resided. Gashford commits suicide.—C. Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1841).

Gaspar or Casper (“the white one”), one of the three Magi or kings of Cologne. His offering to the infant Jesus was frankincense, in token of divinity.

⁂ The other two were Melchior (“king of light”), who offered gold, symbolical of royalty; and Balthazar (“lord of treasures”), who offered myrrh, to denote that Christ would die. Klopstock, in his Messiah, makes the number of the Magi six, not one of which names agrees with those of Cologne Cathedral.

Gaspard, the steward of Count De Valmont, in whose service he had been for twenty years, and to whom he was most devotedly attached.—W. Dimond, The Foundling of the Forest.

Gas´pero, secretary of state, in the drama called The Laws of Candy, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1647).

Gathe´ral (Old), steward to the duke of Buckingham.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Gath´erill (Old), bailiff to Sir Geoffrey Peveril of the Peak.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Gauden´tio di Lucca, the hero and title of a romance by Simon Berington. He makes a journey to Mezzoramia, an imaginary country in the interior of Africa.

Gau´difer, a champion in the romance of Alexander.

Gaudio´sa (Lady), wife of Pelayo; a 67wise and faithful counsellor, high-minded, brave in danger, and a real helpmate.—Southey, Roderick, Last of the Goths (1814).

Gaudissart, the droll French bagman.

Gaul, son of Morni of Strumon. He was betrothed to Oith´ona, daughter of Nuäth, but before the day of marriage he was called away by Fingal to attend him on an expedition against the Britons. At the same time Nuäth was at war, and sent for his son Lathmon; so Oithona was left unprotected in her home. Donrommath, lord of Uthal (or Cuthal) seized this opportunity to carry her off, and concealed her in a cave in the desert island of Trom´athon. When Gaul returned to claim his betrothed, he found she was gone, and was told by a vision in the night where she was hidden. Next day, with three followers, Gaul went to Tromathon, and the ravisher coming up, he slew him and cut off his head. Oithona, armed as a combatant, mingled with the fighters and was wounded. Gaul saw what he thought a youth dying, and went to offer assistance, but found it was Oithona, who forthwith expired. Disconsolate, he returns to Dunlathmon, and thence to Morven. Ossian, Oithona.

Gaunt´grim, the wolf, in Lord Lytton’s Pilgrims of the Rhine (1834).

Bruin is always in the sulks, and Gauntgrim always in a passion.—Ch. xii.

Gavar´ni, the pseudonym of Sulpice Paul Chevalier, the great caricaturist of the French Charivari (1803-1896).

Gavroche (2 syl.), type of the Parisian street arab.—Victor Hugo, Les Misèrables (1862).

Gawain [Gaw´’n], son of King Lot and Morguase (Arthur’s sister). His brothers were Agravain, Ga´heris, and Ga´reth. The traitor Mordred was his half-brother, being the adulterous offspring of Morgause and Prince Arthur. Lot was king of Orkney. Gawain was the second of the fifty knights created by King Arthur; Tor was the first, and was dubbed the same day (pt. i. 48). When the adulterous passion of Sir Launcelot for Queen Guenever came to the knowledge of the king, Sir Gawain insisted that the king’s honor should be upheld. Accordingly, King Arthur went in battle array to Benwicke (Brittany), the “realm of Sir Launcelot,” and proclaimed war. Here Sir Gawain fell, according to the prophecy of Merlin, “With this sword shall Launcelot slay the man that in this world he loved the best” (pt. i. 44). In this same battle the king was told that his bastard son Mordred had usurped his throne, so he hastened back with all speed, and in the great battle of the West received his mortal wound (pt. iii. 160-167).—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur (1470).

Of Arthurian knights, Gawain is called the “Courteous,” Sir Kay the “Rude and Boastful,” Mordred the “Treacherous,” Launcelot the “Chivalrous,” Galahad the “Chaste,” Mark the “Dastard,” Sir Palomides (3 syl.) the “Saracen,” i.e. unbaptized, etc.

Gawky (Lord), Richard Grenville (1711-1770).

Gaw´rey, a flying woman, whose wings served the double purpose of flying and dress.—R. Pultock, Peter Wilkins (1750).

Gay (Walter), in the firm of Dombey and Son; an honest, frank, and ingenuous 68youth, who loved Florence Dombey, and comforted her in her early troubles. Walter Gay was sent in the merchantman called The Son and Heir, as junior partner, to Barbadoes, and survived a shipwreck. After his return from Barbadoes, he married Florence.—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).

Gayless (Charles), the penniless suitor of Melissa. His valet is Sharp.—Garrick, The Lying Valet (1741).

Gaylords (The). Village family in good circumstances.

Squire Gaylord, shrewd lawyer, with one tender place in his heart—his love for his only child.

Mrs. Gaylord, a calvinistic invalid, in awe of her imperious lord.

Marcia Gaylord, headstrong village beauty, who elopes with Bartley Hubbard, a newspaper man; goes with him to Boston; shares his capricious fortunes; adores and is madly jealous of him and goes home to nurse her sick mother, without her husband’s consent. He sues for a divorce, prevented by her father’s arrival prepared to give the other side of the question.—W. D. Howells, A Modern Instance.

Gay´ville (Lord), the affianced husband of Miss Alscrip “the heiress,” whom he detests; but he ardently loves Miss Alton, her companion. The former is conceited, overbearing, and vulgar, but very rich; the latter is modest, retiring, and lady-like, but very poor. It turns out that £2000 a year of “the heiress’s” property was entailed on Sir William Charleton’s heirs, and therefore descended to Mr. Clifford in right of his mother. This money Mr. Clifford settles on his sister, Miss Alton (whose real name is Clifford). Sir Clement Flint tears the conveyance, whereby Clifford retains the £2000 a year, and Sir Clement settles the same amount on Lord Gayville, who marries Miss Alton, alias Miss Clifford.

Lady Emily Gayville, sister of Lord Gayville. A bright, vivacious, and witty lady, who loves Mr. Clifford. Clifford also greatly loves Lady Emily, but is deterred from proposing to her because he is poor and unequal to her in a social position. It turns out that he comes into £2000 a year in right of his mother, Lady Charlton; and is thus enabled to offer himself to the lady, by whom he is accepted.—General Burgoyne, The Heiress (1781).

Gayworthys’ (The), New England household.

Dr. Gayworthy. Excellent man and physician. His heart is bound up in his step-grandson in whose favor he makes a will.

Johanna and Rebecca Gayworthy; one round, laughing and fair; the other, slight, brown, delicate, serious-eyed. Each has a lover and each her disappointment and victory.

Mrs. Vorse or “Sister Prue,” step-daughter, a widow with one son—Gershom, who is wild for sea-life, and gets it.

Mrs. Gair, née Gayworthy; the town-sister, diplomatic and suave. She secretes the doctor’s will and manœuvres Gershom off to sea.

Sadie, or Say Gair; upright little girl, who grows into a sound-hearted woman, and brings crooked things straight after many days and much striving, by marrying Gershom.—A.D.T. Whitney, The Gayworthys (1865).

Gaz´ban, the black slave of the old fire-worshipper, employed to sacrifice the 69Mussulmans to be offered on the “mountain of fire.”—Arabian Nights (“Amgiad and Assad”).

Gazette (Sir Gregory), a man who delights in news, without having the slightest comprehension of politics.—Samuel Foote, The Knights.

Ge´ber, an Arabian alchemist, born at Thous, in Persia (eighth century). He wrote several treatises on the “art of making gold,” in the usual mystical jargon of the period; and hence our word gibberish (“senseless jargon”).

This art the Arabian Geber taught ...

The Elixir of Perpetual Youth.

Longfellow, The Golden Legend.

Geddes (Joshua), the quaker.

Rachael Geddes, sister of Joshua.

Philip Geddes, grandfather of Joshua and Rachael Geddes.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Geierstein [Gi´.er.stine], Arnold, count of.

Count Albert of Geierstein, brother of Arnold Biederman, disguised (1) as the black priest of St. Paul’s; (2) as president of the secret tribunal; (3) as monk at Mont St. Victoire.

Anne of Geierstein, called “The Maiden of the Mist,” daughter of Count Albert, and baroness of Arnheim.

Count Heinrich of Geierstein, grandfather of Count Arnold.

Count Williewald of Geierstein, father of Count Arnold.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Geislaer (Peterkin), one of the insurgents at Liège [Le.aje].—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).

Geith (George), a model of untiring industry, perseverance, and moral courage. Undaunted by difficulties, he pursued his onward way, and worked as long as breath was left him.—Mrs. Trafford [Riddell], George Geith.

Gelert, Llewellyn’s favorite hound. One day, Llewellyn returned from hunting, when Gêlert met him smeared with gore. The chieftain felt alarmed, and instantly went to look for his baby son. He found the cradle overturned, and all around was sprinkled with gore and blood. He called his child, but no voice replied, and thinking the hound had eaten it, he stabbed the animal to the heart. The tumult awoke the baby boy, and on searching more carefully, a huge wolf was found under the bed, quite dead. Gêlert had slain the wolf and saved the child.

And now a gallant tomb they raise,

With costly sculpture decked;

And marbles, storied with his praise.

Poor Gêlert’s bones protect.

Hon. W.R. Spencer, Beth Gêlerts (“Gêlerts Grave”).

⁂ This tale, with a slight difference, is common to all parts of the world. It is told in the Gesta Romanorum of Follicŭlus, a knight, but the wolf is a “serpent,” and Folliculus, in repentance, makes a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In the sanskrit version, given in the Pantschatantra (A.D. 540), the tale is told of the brahmin Devasaman, an “ichneumon” and “black snake” taking the places of the dog and the wolf. In the Arabic version by Nasr-Allah (twelfth century), a “weasel” is substituted for the dog; in the Mongolian Uligerun a “polecat;” in the Persian Sindibadnâmeh, a “cat;” and in the Hitopadesa (iv. 3), an “otter.” In the Chinese Forest of Pearls from the Garden of the Law, the dog is an “ichneumon,” as in the Indian version (A.D. 668). In Sandabar, 70and also in the Hebrew version, the tale is told of a dog. A similar tale is told of Czar Piras of Russia; and another occurs in the Seven Wise Masters.

Gel´latly (Davie) idiot servant of the baron of Bradwardine (3 syl.).

Old Janet Gellatly, the idiot’s mother.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

⁂ In some editions the word is spelt “Gellatley.”

Geloi´os. Silly laughter personified. Geloios is slain by Encra´tês (temperance) in the battle of Mansoul. (Greek, gĕloios, “facetious”).

Gem of Normandy, Emma, daughter of Richard “the Fearless,” duke of Normandy. She first married Ethelred II. of England, and then Canute, but survived both, and died in 1052.

Gems emblems of the Twelve Apostles.

Andrew, the bright blue sapphire, emblematic of his heavenly faith.

Bartholomew, the red carnelian, emblematic of his martyrdom.

James, the white chalcedony, emblematic of his purity.

James the Less, the topaz, emblematic of delicacy.

John, the emerald, emblematic of his youth and gentleness.

Matthew, the amethyst, emblematic of sobriety. Matthew was once a “publican,” but was “sobered” by the leaven of Christianity.

Matthias, the chrysolite, pure as sunshine.

Peter, the jasper, hard and solid as the rock of the Church.

Philip, the friendly sardonyx.

Simeon of Cana, the pink hyacinth, emblematic of sweet temper.

Thaddeus, the chrysoprase, emblematic of serenity and trustfulness.

Thomas, the beryl, indefinite in lustre, emblematic of his doubting faith.

Gems symbolic of the Months.

January, the jacinth or hyacinth, symbolizing constancy and fidelity.

February, the amethyst, symbolizing peace of mind and sobriety.

March, the blood-stone or jasper, symbolizing courage and success in dangerous enterprise.

April, the sapphire and diamond, symbolizing repentance and innocence.

May, the emerald, symbolizing success in love.

June, the agate, symbolizing long life and health.

July, the carnelian, symbolizing cure of evils resulting from forgetfulness.

August, the sardonyx or onyx, symbolizing conjugal felicity.

September, the chrysolite, symbolizing preservation from folly, or its cure.

October, the aqua-marine, opal, or beryl, symbolizing hope.

November, the topaz, symbolizing fidelity and friendship.

December, the turquoise or ruby, symbolizing brilliant success.

⁂ Some doubt exists between May and June, July and August. Thus some give the agate to May, and the emerald to June; the carnelian to August, and the onyx to July.

Gem´ini (“the twins”). Castor and Pollux are the two principal stars of this constellation; the former has a bluish tinge, and the latter a damask red.

As heaven’s high twins, whereof in Tyrian blue

The one revolveth; through his course immense

Might love his fellow of the damask hue.

Jean Ingelow, Honours, i.

71Gemini. Mrs. Browning makes Eve view in the constellation Gemini a symbol of the increase of the human race, and she loved to gaze on it.—E. B. Browning, A Drama of Exile (1850).

Geneu´ra. (See Gineura).

⁂ Queen Guinever or Guenever is sometimes called “Geneura,” or “Genevra.”

Gene´va Bull (The), Stephen Marshall, a Calvinistic preacher.

Geneviève (St.) the patron saint of Paris, born at Nanterre. She was a shepherdess, but went to Paris when her parents died, and was there during Attila’s invasion (A.D. 451). She told the citizens that God would spare the city, and “her prediction came true.” At another time, she procured food for the Parisians suffering from famine. At her request, Clovis built the church of St. Pierre et St. Paul, afterwards called Ste. Geneviève. Her day is January 3. Her relics are deposited in the Panthèon now called by her name (419-512).

Genii or Ginu, an intermediate race between angels and men. They ruled on earth before the creation of Adam—D’Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, 357 (1697). Also spelt Djinn and Jinn.

⁂ Solomon is supposed to preside over the whole race of genii. This seems to have arisen from a mere confusion of words of somewhat similar sound. The chief of the genii was called a suleyman, which got corrupted into a proper name.

Genius and Common Sense, T. Moore says that Common Sense and Genius once went out together on a ramble by moonlight. Common Sense went prosing on his way, arrived home in good time, and went to bed; but Genius, while gazing at the stars, stumbled into a river, and died.

⁂ This story is told of Thalês, the philosopher, by Plato. Chaucer has also an allusion thereto in his Miller’s Tales.

So ferde another clerk with ’stronomye:

He walkêd in the feeldês for to prye

Upon the sterrês, what ther shuld befall,

Til he was in a marlê pit i-fall,

Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, (1388).

Genna´ro the natural son of Lucrezia di Borgia (daughter of Pope Alexander VI.) before her marriage with Alfonso, duke of Ferra´ra. He was brought up by a Neapolitan fisherman. In early manhood he went to Venice, heard of the scandalous cruelty of Lucrezia, and with the heedless petulance of youth, mutilated the duke’s escutcheon by striking out the B, thus converting Borgia into Orgia (orgies). Lucrezia demanded vengeance, and Gennaro was condemned to death by poison. When Lucrezia discovered that the offender was her own son, she gave him an antidote to the poison, and set him free. Not long after this, at a banquet given by Negro´ni Lucrezia revealed herself to Gennaro as his mother, and both expired of poison in the banquet hall.—Donizetti, Lucrezia di Borgia (1834).

Gennil (Ralph), a veteran in the troop of Sir Hugo de Lacy.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

Genove´va, wife of Siegfried, count palatine of Brabant. Being suspected of infidelity, she was driven into the forest of Ardennes, where she gave birth to a son, who was suckled by a white doe. After a time Siegfried discovered his error, and both mother and child were restored to 72their proper home.—German Popular Stories.

Tieck and Müller have popularized the tradition, and Raupach has made it the subject of a drama.

Gentle Shepherd (The), George Grenville. In one of his speeches he exclaimed in the House, “Tell me where!” when Pitt hummed the line of a popular song, “Gentle Shepherd, tell me where!” and the House was convulsed with laughter (1712-1770).

Gentle Shepherd (The), the title and chief character of Allan Ramsay’s pastoral (1725).

Gentleman of Europe (The First), George IV. (1762, 1820-1830).

It was the “first gentleman in Europe” in whose high presence Mrs. Rawdon passed her examination, and took her degree in reputation; so it must be flat disloyalty to doubt her virtue. What a noble appreciation of character must there not have been in Vanity Fair when that august sovereign was invested with the title of Premier Gentilhomme of all Europe!—Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1843).

Gentleman of Europe (First), Louis d’Artois.

Gentleman Smith, William Smith, actor, noted for his gentlemanly deportment on the stage (1730-1790).

Geoffrey, archbishop of York.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Geoffrey, the old ostler of John Mengs (inn-keeper at Kirchhoff).—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Geoffrey Crayon, the hypothetical name of the author of the Sketch-Book by Washington Irving (1818-1820).

George (Honest). General Monk, George, duke of Albemarle, was so called by the votaries of Cromwell (1608-1670).

George (Mr.), a stalwart, handsome, simple-hearted fellow, son of Mrs. Rouncewell, the housekeeper at Chesney Wold. He was very wild as a lad, and ran away from his mother to enlist as a soldier; but on his return to England he opened a shooting-gallery in Leicester Square, London. When Sir Leicester Dedlock, in his old age, fell into trouble, George became his faithful attendant.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1853).

George (St.), the patron saint of England. He was born at Lydda, but brought up in Cappadocia, and suffered martyrdom in the reign of Diocletian, April, 23, A.D. 303. Mr. Hogg tells us of a Greek inscription at Ezra, in Syria, dated 346, in which the martyrdom of St. George is referred to. At this date was living George, bishop of Alexandria, with whom Gibbon, in his Decline and Fall, has confounded the patron saint of England; but the bishop died in 362, or fifty-nine years after the prince of Cappadocia. (See Red Cross Knight.)

⁂ Mussulmans revere St. George under the name of “Gherghis.”

St. George’s Bones were taken to the church in the City of Constantine.

St. George’s Head. One of his heads was preserved at Rome. Long forgotten, it was rediscovered in 751, and was given in 1600 to the church of Ferrara. Another of his heads was preserved in the church of Mares-Moutier, in Picardy.

St. George’s Limbs. One of his arms fell from heaven upon the altar of Pantaleon, at Cologne. Another was preserved in a religious house of Barala, and was transferred thence in the ninth century 73to Cambray. Part of an arm was presented by Robert of Flanders to the City of Toulouse; another part was given to the abbey of Auchin, and another to the Countess Matilda.

George and the Dragon (St.). St. George, son of Lord Albert of Coventry, was stolen in infancy by “the weird lady of the woods,” who brought the lad up to deeds of arms. His body had three marks; a dragon on the breast, a garter round one of the legs, and a blood-red cross on the right arm. When he grew to manhood, he fought against the Saracens. In Libya he heard of a huge dragon, to which a damsel was daily given for food, and it so happened that when he arrived the victim was Sabra, the king’s daughter. She was already tied to the stake when St. George came up. On came the dragon; but the knight, thrusting his lance into the monster’s mouth, killed it on the spot. Sabra, being brought to England, became the wife of her deliverer, and they lived happily in Coventry till death.—Percy, Reliques III. iii. 2.

St. George and the Dragon, on old guinea-pieces, was the design of Pistrucci. It was an adaptation of a didrachm of Tarentum, B.C. 250.

⁂ The encounter between George and the dragon took place at Berytus (Beyrut).

The tale of St. George and the dragon is told in the Golden Legends of Jacques de Voragine.—See S. Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of The Middle Ages.

George I. and the duchess of Kendal (1719). The duchess was a German, whose name was Erangard Melrose de Schulemberg. She was created duchess of Munster, in Ireland, baroness Glastonbury, Countess of Feversham, and duchess of Kendal (died 1743).

George II. His favorite was Mary Howard, duchess of Suffolk.

George II., when angry, vented his displeasure by kicking his hat about the room. We are told that Xerxes vented his displeasure at the loss of his bridges by ordering the Hellespont to be fettered, lashed with 300 stripes, and insulted.

George III., and the Fair Quakeress. When George III. was about 20 years of age he fell in love with Hannah Lightfoot, daughter of a linen-draper in Market Street, St. James’s. He married her in Kew Church, 1759, but of course the marriage was not recognized. (See Lovers.)

⁂ The following year (September, 1760), he married the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Hannah Lightfoot married a Mr. Axford, and passed out of public notice.

George IV. and Mrs. Mary Robinson, generally called Perdita. Mary Darby, at the age of 15, married Mr. Robinson, who lived a few months on credit, and was then imprisoned for debt. Mrs. Robinson sought a livelihood on the stage, and George IV., then Prince of Wales and a mere lad, saw her as “Perdita,” fell in love with her, corresponded with her under the assumed name of “Florizel,” and gave her a bond for £20,000, subsequently cancelled for an annuity of £500 (1758-1800).

⁂ George IV. was born 1762, and was only 16 in 1778, when he fell in love with Mrs. Robinson. The young prince suddenly abandoned her, and after two other love affairs, privately married, at Carleton House (in 1785), Mrs. Fitzherbert, a lady of good family, and a widow, seven years his senior. The marriage being contrary to the law, he married the Princess Caroline 74of Brunswick, in 1795; but still retained his connection with Mrs. Fitzherbert, and added a new favorite, the Countess of Jersey.

George [de Laval], a friend of Horace de Brienne (2 syl.). Having committed forgery, Carlos (alias Marquis d’Antas), being cognizant of it, had him in his power; but Ogarita (alias Martha) obtained the document, and returned it to George.—E. Stirling, Orphan of the Frozen Sea (1856).

George-a-Green, the pinner or pound-keeper of Wakefield, one of the chosen favorites of Robin Hood.

Veni Wakefield peramænum,

Ubi quærens Georgium Greenum,

Non inveni, sed in lignum,

Fixim reperi Georgii signum,

Ubi allam bibi feram,

Donec Georgio fortior eram.

Drunken Barnaby (1640).

Once in Wakefield town, so pleasant,

Sought I George-a-Green, the peasant;

Found him not, but spied instead, sir,

On a sign, “The George’s Head,” sir:

Valiant grown with ale like nectar.

What cared I for George or Hector?

⁂ Robert Green has a drama entitled George-a-Green, the Pinner of Wakefield (1589).

Georgian Women (The) Allah, wishing to stock his celestial harem, commissioned an imaum to select for him forty of the loveliest women he could find. The imaum journeyed into Frankistan, and from the country of the Ingliz carried off the king’s daughter. From Germany he selected other maidens; but when he arrived at Gori (north-west of Tiflis) he fell in love with one of the beauties, and tarried there. Allah punished him by death, but the maidens remained in Gori, and became the mothers of the most beautiful race of mortals in the whole earth.—A Legend.

Georgina [Vesey], daughter of Sir John Vesey. Pretty, but vain and frivolous. She loved, as much as her heart was susceptible of such a passion, Sir Frederick Blount, but wavered between her liking and the policy of marrying Alfred Evelyn, a man of great wealth. When she thought the property of Evelyn was insecure, she at once gave her hand to Sir Frederick.—Lord E. Bulwer Lytton, Money (1840).(1840).

Geraint´ (Sir) of Devon, one of the knights of the Round Table. He was married to E´nid, only child of Yn´iol. Fearing lest Enid should be tainted by the queen, Sir Geraint left the court, and retired to Devon. Half sleeping and half waking, he overheard part of Enid’s words, and fancying her to be unfaithful to him, treated her for a time with great harshness; but Enid nursed him when he was wounded with such wifely tenderness that he could no longer doubt her fealty, and a complete understanding being established, “they crowned a happy life with a fair death.”—Tennyson, Idylls of the King (“Geraint and Enid”).

Ger´aldin (Lord), son of the earl of Glenallen. He appears first as William Lovell, and afterwards as Major Neville. He marries Isabella Wardour (daughter of Sir Arthur Wardour).

Sir Aymer de Geraldin, an ancestor of Lord Geraldin.—Sir W. Scott, the Antiquary (time, George III.)

Ger´aldine (3 syl.), a young man who comes home from his travels to find his playfellow (who should have been his wife) married to old Wincott, who receives him hospitably as a friend of his father’s, 75takes delight in hearing tales of his travels, and treats him most kindly. Geraldine and the wife mutually agree not in any wise to wrong so noble and confiding an old gentleman.—John Heywood, The English Traveller (1576-1645).

Geraldine (Lady), an orphan, the ward of her uncle Count de Valmont, and the betrothed of Florian (“the foundling of the forest,” and the adopted son of the count). This foundling turns out to be his real son, who had been rescued by his mother and carried into the forest to save him from the hands of Longueville, a desperate villain.—W. Dimond, The Foundling of the Forest.

Geraldine (The Fair), the lady whose praises are sung by Henry Howard, earl of Surrey. Supposed to be Elizabeth Fitzgerald, daughter of Gerald FitzgeraldFitzgerald, ninth earl of Kildare. She married the earl of Lincoln.

Gerard (John), an English botanist (1545-1607), who compiled the Catalogus Arborum, Fruticum, et Plantorum, tam Indigenarum quam Exoticarum, in Horto Johanis Gerardi. Also author of the Herbal or General History of Plants (1597).

Of these most helpful herbs yet tell we but a few,

To those unnumbered sorts of simples here that grew...

Not skillful Gerard yet shall ever find them all.

Drayton, Polyolbion xiii. (1613).

Gerard, attendant of Sir Patrick Charteris (provost of Perth).—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Gerhard the Good, a merchant of Cologne, who exchanges his rich freight for a cargo of Christian slaves, that he may give them their liberty. He retains only one, who is the wife of William, king of England. She is about to marry the merchant’s son, when the king suddenly appears, disguised as a pilgrim. Gerhard restores the wife, ships both off to England, refuses all recompense, and remains a merchant as before.—Rudolf of Ems (a minnesinger), Gerhard the Good (thirteenth century).

Ger´ion. So William Browne, in his Britannia’s Pastorals (fifth song), calls Philip of Spain. The allusion is to Geryon of Gadês (Cadiz), a monster with three bodies (or, in other words, a king over three kingdoms) slain by Herculês.

⁂ The three kingdoms over which Philip reigned were Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.

Gerlinda or Girlint, the mother of Hartmuth, king of Norway. When Hartmuth carried off Gudrun the daughter of Hettel (Attila), who refused to marry him, Gerlinda put her to the most menial work, such as washing the dirty linen. But her lover, Herwig, king of Heligoland, invaded Norway, and having gained a complete victory, put Gerlinda to death.—An Anglo-Saxon Poem (thirteenth century).

German Literature (Father of), Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781).

Germany, formerly called Tongres. The name was changed (according to fable) in compliment to Ger´mana, sister of Julius Cæsar, and wife of Salvius Brabon, duke of Brabant.—Jehan de Maire, Illustrations de Gaule, iii. 20-23.

Geoffrey of Monmouth says that Ebraucus, one of the descendants of Brute, king of Britain, had twenty sons, all of whom, except the eldest, settled in Tongres which was then called Germany, because it was the land of the germans or brothers.

76These germans did subdue all Germany,

Of whom it hight.

Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 10 (1590).

Geron´imo, the friend of Sganarelle (3 syl.). SganarelleSganarelle asks him if he would advise his marrying. “How old are you?” asks Geronimo; and being told that he is 63, and the girl under 20, says, “No.” Sganarelle, greatly displeased at his advice, declares he is hale and strong, that he loves the girl, and has promised to marry her. “Then do as you like,” says Geronimo.—Molière, Le Mariage Force (1664).

⁂ This joke is borrowed from Rabelais. Panurge asks Pantagruel whether he advises him to marry. “Yes,” says the prince; whereupon Panurge states several objections. “Then don’t,” says the prince. “But I wish to marry,” says Panurge. “Then do it by all means,” says the prince. Every time the prince advises him to marry, Panurge objects; and every time the prince advises the contrary, the advice is equally unacceptable.—Pantagruel, iii. 9 (1545).

Géronte´ (2 syl.), father of Léandre and Hyacinthe; a miserly old hunks. He has to pay Scapin £1500 for the “ransom” of Léandre, and after having exhausted every evasion, draws out his purse to pay the money, saying, “The Turk is a villain!” “Yes,” says Scapin. “A rascal!” “Yes,” says Scapin. “A thief!” “Yes,” says Scapin. “He would wring from me £1500! would he?” “Yes,” says Scapin. “Oh, if I catch him, won’t I pay him out?” “Yes,” says Scapin. Then putting his purse back into his pocket, Géronte´ walks off, saying, “Pay the ransom, and bring back the boy.” “But the money; where’s the money?” says Scapin. “Oh, didn’t I give it you?” “No,” says Scapin. “I forgot,” says Géronte, and he pays the money (act ii. 11).—Molière, Les Fourberies de Scapin (1671).

In the English, version called The Cheats of Scapin, by Otway, Géronte is called “Gripe” Hyacinthe is called “Clara,” Léandre is Anglicized into “Leander,” and the sum of money borrowed is £200.

Geronte (2 syl.), the father of Lucinde (2 syl.). He wanted his daughter to marry Horace, but as she loved Léandre, in order to avoid a marriage she detested she pretended to have lost the power of articulate speech, and only answered, “Han, hi, hon!” “Han, hi, hon, han!” Sganarelle, “le médecin malgré lui,” seeing that this jargon was put on, and ascertaining that Léandre was her lover, introduced him as an apothecary, and the young man soon effected a perfect cure with “pills matrimoniac.”—Molière, Le Médecin Malgré Lui (1666).

Ger´rard, king of the beggars, disguised under the name of Clause. He is the father of Florez, the rich merchant of Bruges.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Beggars’ Bush (1622).

Ger´trude (2 syl.), Hamlet’s mother. On the death of her husband, who was king of Denmark, she married Claudius, the late king’s brother. Gertrude was accessory to the murder of her first husband, and Claudius was principal. Claudius prepared poisoned wine, which he intended for Hamlet; but the queen not knowing it was poisoned drank it and died; Hamlet, seeing his mother fall dead, rushed on the king and killed him.—Shakespeare, Hamlet (1596).

⁂ In the Historie of Hamblett, Gertrude is called “Geruth.”

Gertrude, daughter of Albert, patriarch 77of Wy´oming. One day an Indian brought to Albert a lad (nine years old) named Henry Waldegrave (2 syl.), and told the patriarch he had promised the boy’s mother, at her death, to place her son under his care. The lad remained at Wyoming for three years, and was then sent to his friends. When grown to manhood, Henry Waldegrave returned to Wyoming, and married Gertrude; but three months afterwards Brandt, at the head of a mixed army of British and Indians attacked the settlement, and both Albert and Gertrude were shot. Henry Waldegrave then joined the army of Washington, which was fighting for American independence.—Campbell, Gertrude of Wyoming (1809).

Gertrude. Brave heroine of Maria S. Cummins’s Lamplighter. She raises herself by sheer force of energy and talent from the lowly station in which she was born to a position of highest respectability and influence (1853).

Gerun´dio (Fray), i.e. Friar Gerund, the hero and title of a Spanish romance, by the Jesuit De l’Isla. It is a satire on the absurdities and bad taste of the popular preachers of the time (1758).

Ge´ryon’s Sons, the Spaniards; so called from Geryon, an ancient king of Spain, whose oxen were driven off by Her´culês. This task was one of the hero’s “twelve labors.” Milton uses the expression in Paradise Lost, xi. 410 (1665).

Geryon´eo, a human monster with three bodies. He was of the race of giants, being the son of Geryon, the tyrant who gave all strangers “as food to his kine, the fairest and the fiercest kine alive.” Geryoneo promised to take the young widow Belgê (2 syl.) under his protection; but it was like the wolf protecting the lamb, for “he gave her children to a dreadful monster to devour.” In her despair she applied to King Arthur for help, and the British king, espousing her cause, soon sent Geryoneo “down to the house of dole.”—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 10, 11 (1596).

⁂ “Geryoneo” is the house of Austria, and Philip of Spain in particular. “King Arthur” is England, and the earl of Leicester in particular. The “Widow Belgê” is the Netherlands; and the monster that devoured her children the inquisition, introduced by the duke of Alva. “Geryoneo” had three bodies, for Philip ruled over three kingdoms—Spain, Germany and the Netherlands. The earl of Leicester, sent in 1585 to the aid of the Netherlands, broke off the yoke of Philip.

Ges´mas, the impenitent thief crucified with our Lord. In the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, he is called Gestas. The penitent thief was Dismas, Dysmas, Demas, or Dumacus.

Three bodies on three crosses hang supine;

Dismas and Gesmas and the power Divine.

Dismas seeks heaven, Gesmas his own damnation.

The Mid-one seeks our ransom and salvation.

Translation of a Latin Charm.

Gessler (Albrecht), the brutal and tyrannical governor of Switzerland, appointed by Austria over the three forest cantons. When the people rose in rebellion, Gessler insulted them by hoisting his cap on a pole, and threatening death to any one who refused to bow down to it in reverence. William Tell refused to do so, and was compelled to shoot at an apple placed on the head of his own son. Having dropped an arrow by accident, Gessler demanded why he had brought a second. “To shoot you,” said the intrepid mountaineer, 78“if I fail in my task.” Gessler then ordered him to be cast into Kusnacht Castle, “a prey to the reptiles that lodged there.” Gessler went in the boat to see the order executed, and as the boat neared land, Tell leapt on shore, pushed back the boat, shot Gessler, and freed his country from Austrian domination.—Rossini, Guglielmo Tell (1829).

Geta, according to Sir Walter Scott, the representative of a stock slave and rogue in the new comedy of Greece and Rome (? Getês).

The principal character, upon whose devices and ingenuity the whole plot usually turns, is the Geta of the piece—a witty, roguish, insinuating, and malignant slave, the confidant of a wild and extravagant son, whom he aids in his pious endeavors to cheat a suspicious, severe, and griping father.—Sir Walter Scott, The Drama.

Ghengis Khan, a title assumed by Tamerlane or Timour the Tartar (1336-1405).

Giaffir [Djaf.fir], pacha of Aby´dos, and father of Zuleika [Zu.lee´.kah]. He tells his daughter he intends her to marry the governor of Magne´sia, but Zuleika has given her plight to her cousin Selim. The lovers take to flight; Giaffir pursues and shoots Selim; Zuleika dies of grief; and the father lives on, a broken-hearted old man, calling to the winds, “Where is my daughter?” and echo answers, “Where?”—Byron, Bride of Abydos (1813).

Giam´schid [Jam.shid], suleyman of the Peris. Having reigned seven hundred years, he thought himself immortal; but God, in punishment, gave him a human form, and sent him to live on earth, where he became a great conqueror, and ruled over both the East and West. The bulwark of the Peris’ abode was composed of green chrysolite, the reflection of which gives to the sky its deep blue-green hue.

Soul beamed forth in every spark

That darted from beneath the lid,

Bright as the jewel of Giamschid,

ByronByron, The Giaour (1813).

She only wished the amorous monarch had shown more ardor for the carbuncle of Giamschid.—W. Beckford, Vathek (1786).

Giants of Mythology and Fable. Strabo makes mention of the skeleton of a giant 60 cubits in height. Pliny tells us of another 46 cubits. Boccaccio describes the body of a giant from bones discovered in a cave near Trapani, in Sicily, 200 cubits in length. One tooth of this “giant” weighed 200 ounces; but Kircher says the tooth and bones were those of a mastodon.

Ac´amas, one of the Cyclops.—Greek Fable.

Adamastor, the giant Spirit of the Cape. His lips were black, teeth blue, eyes shot with livid fire, and voice louder than thunder.—Camoëns, Lusiad, v.

Ægæon, the hundred-handed giant. One of the Titans.—Greek Fable.

Ag´rois, one of the giants called Titans. He was killed by the Parcæ.—Greek Fable.

Alcyoneus [Al´.sĭ.ŏ.nuce] or Al´cion, brother of Porphyrĭon. He stole some of the Sun’s oxen, and Jupiter sent Herculês against him, but he was unable to prevail, for immediately the giant touched the earth he received fresh vigor. Pallas, seizing him, carried him beyond the moon, and he died. His seven daughters were turned into halcyonshalcyons, or kingfishers.—Apollonios of Rhodes, Argonautic Expedition, i. 6.

Al´gebar´. The giant Orīon is so called by the Arabs.

79Alifanfaron or Alipharnon, emperor of Trapoban.—Don Quixote.

Aloe´os, (4 syl.), son of Titan and Terra.—Greek Fable.

Aloi´des (4 syl.), sons of Alēĕus (4 syl.), named Otos and Ephialtês (q.v.).

Am´erant, a cruel giant slain by Guy of Warwick.—Percy, Reliques.

Angoulaffre, the Saracen giant. He was 12 cubits high, his face measured 3 feet in breadth, his nose was 9 inches long, his arms and legs 6 feet. He had the strength of thirty men, and his mace was the solid trunk of an oak tree, 300 years old. The tower of Pisa lost its perpendicularity by the weight of this giant leaning against it to rest himself. He was slain in single combat by Roland, at Fronsac.—L’Epine, Croquemitaine.

Antæos, 60 cubits (85 feet) in height.—Plutarch.

Arges (2 syl.), one of the Cyclops.—Greek Fable.

Aschapart, a giant 30 feet high, and with 12 inches between his eyes. Slain by Sir Bevis of Southampton.—British Fable.

Atlas, the giant of the Atlas Mountains, who carries the world on his back. A book of maps is called an “atlas” from this giant.—Greek Fable.

Balan, “bravest and strongest of the giant race.”—Amădis of Gaul.

Belle, famous for his three leaps, which gave names to the places called Wanlip, Burstall, and Bellegrave.—British Fable.

Belle´rus, the giant from whom Cornwall derived its name “Bellerium.”—British Fable. Milton: Lycidas.

Blunderbore (3 syl.), the giant who was drowned because Jack scuttled his boat.—Jack the Giant-killer.

Briare´os (4 syl.), a giant with a hundred hands. One of the Titans.—Greek Fable.

Brobdingnag, a country of giants, to whom an ordinary-sized man was “not half so big as a round little worm pricked from the lazy finger of a maid.”—Swift, Gulliver’s Travels.

Brontes (2 syl.), one of the Cyclops.—Greek Fable.

Burlong, a giant mentioned in the romance of Sir Tryamour.

Cacus, of Mount Aventine, who dragged the oxen of Hereculês into his cave tail foremost.—Greek Fable.

Calig´orant, the Egyptian giant, who entrapped travellers with an invisible net.—Ariosto.

Caraculiambo, the giant that Don Quixote intended should kneel at the foot of Dulcin´ea.—Cervantes, Don Quixote.

Ceus or Cœus, son of Heaven and Earth. He married Phœbê, and was the father of Latōna.—Greek Fable.

Chalbroth, the stem of all the giant race.—Rabelais, Pantagruel.

Christopherus, or St. Christopher, the giant who carried Christ across a ford, and was well-nigh borne down with the “child’s” ever-increasing weight.—Christian Legend.

Clytious, one of the giants who made war upon the gods. Vulcan killed him with a red-hot iron mace.—Greek Fable.

Colbrand, the Danish giant slain by Guy of Warwick.—British Fable.

Corflambo, a giant who was always attended by a dwarf.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 8.

Cormoran´, the Cornish giant who fell into a pit twenty feet deep, dug by Jack and filmed over with a thin layer of grass and gravel.—Jack the Giant-killer.

Cormorant, a giant discomfited by Sir Brian.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, vi. 4.

80Coulin, the British giant pursued by Debon, and killed by falling into a deep chasm.—British Fable.

Cyclops, giants with only one eye, and that in the middle of the forhead. They lived in Sicily, and were blacksmiths.—Greek Fable.

Despair, of Doubting Castle, who found Christian and Hopeful asleep on his grounds, and thrust them into a dungeon. He evilly entreated them, but they made their escape by the key “Promise.”—Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, i.

Dondasch, a giant contemporary with Seth. “There were giants in the earth in those days.”—Oriental Fable.

Encel´ados, “most powerful of the giant race.” Overwhelmed under Mount Etna.—Greek Fable.

Ephialtes (4 syl.), a giant who grew nine inches every month.—Greek Fable.

Erix, son of Goliah [si.] and grandson of Atlas. He invented legerdemain.—Duchat, [Oe]uvres de Rabelais (1711).

Eu´rytos, one of the giants that made war with the gods. Bacchus killed him with his thyrsus.—Greek Fable.

Ferracute, a giant 36 feet in height, with the strength of forty men.—Turpin’s Chronicle.

Ferragus, a Portuguese giant.—Valentine and Orson.

Fierabras, of Alexandria, “the greatest giant that ever walked the earth.”—Mediæval Romance.

Fion, son of Comnal, an enormous giant, who could place his feet on two mountains, and then stoop and drink from a stream in the valley between.—Gaelic Legend.

Fiorgwyn, the gigantic father of Frigga.—Scandinavian Mythology.

Fracassus, father of Ferrăgus, and son of Morgantê.

Primus erat quidam Fracassus prole gigantis,

Cujus stirps olim Morganto venit ab illo.

Qui bacchioconem campanæ ferre solebat,

Cum quo mille hominum colpos fracasset in uno Merlin Cocaius [i.e. Théophile Folengo],

Histoire Macaronique (1606).

Gabbara, the father of Goliah [sic] of Secondille, and inventor of the custom of drinking healths.—Duchat, [Oe]uvres de Rabelais (1711).

Galapas, the giant slain by King Arthur.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur.

Galligantus, the giant who lived with Hocus-Pocus the conjuror.—Jack the Giant-killer.

Garagantua, same as Gargantua (q.v.).

Gargantua, a giant so large that it required 900 ells of linen for the body of his shirt, and 200 more for the gussets; 406 ells of velvet for his shoes, and 1100 cow-hides for their soles. His toothpick was an elephant’s tusk, and 17,913 cows were required to give him milk. This was the giant who swallowed five pilgrims, with their staves, in a salad.—Rabelais, Gargantua.

Gemmagog, son of the giant Oromedon, and inventor of Poulan shoes, i.e. shoes with a spur behind, and turned-up toes fastened to the knees. These shoes were forbidden by Charles V. of France, in 1365, but the fashion revived again.—Duchat, [Oe]uvres de Rabelais (1711).

Geryon´eo, a giant with three bodies [Philip II. of Spain].—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 11.

Giralda, the giantess. A statue of victory on the top of an old Moorish tower in Seville.

Godmer, son of Albion, a British giant slain by Canu´tus, one of the companions of Brute.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 10.

Goem´agot, the Cornish giant who wrestled with Cori´neus (3 syl.), and was hurled over a rock into the sea. The place where he fell was called “Lam Goëmagot.”—Geoffrey, British History.

81Gogmagog, king of the giant race of Albion when Brute colonized the island. He was slain by Cori´neus. The two statues of Guildhall represent Gogmagog and Corineus. The giant carries a pole-axe and spiked balls. This is the same as Goëmagot.

Grangousia, the giant king of Utopia.—Rabelais, Pantagruel.

Grantorto, the giant who withheld the inheritance of Ire´na.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, v.

Grim, the giant slain by Greatheart, because he tried to stop pilgrims on their way to the Celestial City.—Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, ii.

Grum´bo, the giant up whose sleeve Tom Thumb crept. The giant, thinking some insect had crawled up his sleeve, gave it a shake, and Tom fell into the sea, when a fish swallowed him.—Tom Thumb.

Gyges, who had fifty heads and a hundred hands. He was one of the Titans.—Greek Fable.

Hapmouche, the giant “fly-catcher.” He invented the drying and smoking of neats’ tongues.—Duchat, Œuvres de Rabelais (1711).

Hippol´ytos, one of the giants who made war with the gods. He was killed by Hermês.—Greek Fable.

Hrasvelg, the giant who keeps watch over the Tree of Life, and devours the dead.—Scandinavian Mythology.

Hurtali, a giant in the time of the Flood. He was too large of stature to get into the ark, and therefore rode straddle-legs on the roof. He perpetuated the giant race. Atlas was his grandson.

Indracittran, a famous giant of Indian mythology.

Jotun, the giant of Jötunheim or Giant-land, in Scandinavian story.

Juliance, a giant of Arthurian romance.

Kifri, the giant of atheism and infidelity.

Kottos, a giant with a hundred hands. One of the Titans.—Greek Fable.

Malambru´no, the giant who shut up Antonoma´sia and her husband in the tomb of the deceased queen of Candaya.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. iii. 45.

Margutte (3 syl.), a giant 10 feet high, who died of laughter when he saw a monkey pulling on his boots.—Pulci, Morgante Maggiore.

Maugys, the giant warder with whom Sir Lybius does battle.—Libeaux.

Maul, the giant of sophistry, killed by Greatheart, who pierced him under the fifth rib.—Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, ii.

Mont-Rognon, one of Charlemagne’s paladins.

Morgante (3 syl.), a ferocious giant, who died by the bite of a crab.—Pulci, Morgante Maggiore.

Mugillo, a giant famous for his mace with six balls.

Offerus, the pagan name of St. Christopher, whose body was 12 ells in height.—Christian Legend.

Ogias, an antediluvain giant, mentioned in the apocrypha condemned by Pope Gelasius I. (492-496).

Orgoglio, a giant thrice the height of an ordinary man. He takes captive the Red Cross Knight, but is slain by King Arthur.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, i.

Ori´on, a giant hunter, noted for his beauty. He was slain by Diana, and made a constellation.—Greek Fable.

Otos, a giant, brother of Ephialtês. They both grew nine inches every month. According to Pliny, he was 46 cubits (66 feet) in height.—Greek Fable.

Pallas, one of the giants called Titans. Minerva flayed him, and used his skin for armor; hence she was called Pallas Minerva.—Greek Fable.

82Pantag´ruel, son of Gargantua, and last of the race of giants.

Polybo´tes (4 syl.), one of the giants who fought against the gods. The sea-god pursued him to the island of Cos, and, tearing away a part of the island, threw it on him and buried him beneath the mass.—Greek Fable.

Polyphe´mos, king of the Cyclops. His skeleton was found at Trapa´ni, in Sicily, in the fourteenth century, by which it is calculated that his height was 300 feet.—Greek Fable.

Porphyr´ion, one of the giants who made war with the gods. He hurled the island of Delos against Zeus; but Zeus, with the aid of Herculês, overcame him.—Greek Fable.

Pyrac´mon, one of the Cyclops.—Greek Fable.

Ritho, the giant who commanded King Arthur to send his beard to complete the lining of a robe.—Arthurian Romance.

Slay-good, a giant slain by Greatheart. Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, ii.

Ster´opes (3 syl.), one of the Cyclops.—Greek Fable.

Tartaro, the Cyclops of Basque legendary lore.

Teutoboch´us, a king, whose remains were discovered in 1613, near the river Rhone. His tomb was 30 feet long.—Mazurier, Histoire Véritable du Géant Teutobochus (1618).

Thaon, one of the giants who made war with the gods. He was killed by the Parcæ.—Hesiod, Theogony.

Titans, a race of giants.—Greek Fable.

Tit´yos, a giant whose body covered nine acres of land. He tried to defile Latōna, but Apollo cast him into Tartarus, where a vulture fed on his liver, which grew again as fast as it was devoured.—Greek Fable.

Typhœus, a giant with a hundred heads, fearful eyes, and most terrible voice. He was the father of the Harpies. Zeus [Jupiter] killed him with a thunderbolt, and he lies buried under Mount Etna.—Hesiod, Theogony.

Typhon, son of Typhœus, a giant with a hundred heads. He was so tall that he touched heaven with his head. His offspring were Gorgon, Geryon, Cerberos, and the hydra of Lernê. He lies buried under Mount Etna.—Homer, Hymns.

Widenostrils, a huge giant, who lived on windmills, andand died from eating a lump of fresh butter.—Rabelais, Pantagruel iv. 17.

Yohak, the giant guardian of the caves of Babylon.—Southey, Talaba, v.

⁂ Those who wish to pursue this subject further, should consult the notes of Duchat, bk. ii. 1 of his Œuvres de Rabelais.

Giants in Real Life.

Anak, father of the Anakim. The Hebrew spies said they themselves were mere grasshoppers in comparison to these giants.—Josh. xv. 14; Judges i. 20; Numb. xiii. 33.

Anak, 7 feet 8 inches at the age of 26. Exhibited in London, 1862-5. Born at Ramonchamp, in the Vosges (1 syl.), 1840. His real name was Joseph Brice.

Andron´icus II., 10 feet. Grandson of Alexius Comnēnus. Nicetas asserts that he had seen him.

Bamford (Edward), 7 feet 4 inches. Died in 1768, and was buried in St. Dunstan’s Churchyard.

Bates (Captain), 7 feet 11 inches; of Kentucky. Exhibited in London, 1871.

Blacker (Henry), 7 feet 4 inches, and most symmetrical. Born at Cuckfield, Sussex, in 1724. Generally called “The British Giant.”

Bradley, 7 feet 8 inches at death. 83Born at Market Weighton, in Yorkshire. His right hand is preserved in the museum of the College of Surgeons (1798-1820).

Brice (Joseph), 7 feet 8 inches. His hand could span 15½ inches.

Busby (John), 7 feet 9 inches; of Darfield. His brother was about the same height.

Chang-Woo-Goo, 7 feet 6 inches; of Fychou. The Chinese giant. Exhibited in London, 1865-6.

Charlemagne, 8 feet nearly. He could squeeze together three horse-shoes at once with his hands.

Cotter (Patrick), 8 feet 7½ inches. The Irish giant. A cast of his hand is preserved in the museum of the College of Surgeons (died 1802).

Elea´zer, 7 cubits (10 feet 6 inches). The Jewish giant mentioned by Josephus. He lived in the reign of Vitellius.

Eleizegue (Joachim), 7 feet 10 inches. The Spanish giant. Exhibited in London.

Evans (William), 8 feet at death. Porter to Charles I. (died 1632).

Frank (Big), 7 feet 8 inches; weight 22 stone; girth round the chest, 58 inches. He was an Irishman, whose name was Francis Sheridan (died 1870).

Frenz (Louis), 7 feet 4 inches. The French giant.

Gabara, 9 feet 9 inches. An Arabian giant. Pliny says he was the tallest man seen in the days of Claudius.

Gilly, 8 feet. A Swede; exhibited as a show in the early part of the nineteenth century.

Goli´ath, 6 cubits and a span (? 9 feet 4 inches).—1 Sam. xvii. 4, etc. His “brother” was also a giant.—2 Sam. xxi. 19; 1 Chron. xx. 5.

Gordon (Alice), 7 feet. An Essex giantess (died 1737).

Hale (Robert), 7 feet 6 inches; born at Somerton. Generally called “The Norfolk Giant” (1820-1862).

Har´drada (Harold), “5 ells of Norway in height” (nearly 8 feet). The Norway giant.

La Pierre, 7 feet 1 inch; of Stratgard, in Denmark.

Louis, 7 feet 4 inches. The French giant. His left hand is preserved in the museum of the College of Surgeons.

Loushkin, 8 feet 5 inches. The Russian giant, and drum-major of the Imperial Guards.

M’Donald (James), 7 feet 6 inches; of Cork (died 1760).

M’Donald (Samuel), 6 feet 10 inches. A Scotchman; usually called “Big Sam” (died 1802).

Magrath (Cornelius), 7 feet 8 inches. He was an orphan, reared by Bishop Berkley, and died at the age of 20 (1740-1760).

Maximi´nus, 8 feet 6 inches. The Roman emperor (235-238).

Mellon (Edmund), 7 feet 6 inches. Born at Port Leicester, Ireland (1665-1684).

Middleton (John), 9 feet 3 inches. “His hand was 17 inches long, and 8½ inches broad.” He was born at Hale, in Lancashire, in the reign of James I.—Dr. Plott, History of Staffordshire.

Miller (Maximilian Christopher), 8 feet. His hand measured 12 inches, and his fore-finger 9 inches long. The Saxon giant. Died in London (1674-1734).

Murphy, 8 feet 10 inches. An Irish giant, contemporary with O’Brien. Died at Marseilles.

O’Brien or Charles Byrne, 8 feet 4 inches. The Irish giant. His skeleton is preserved in the museum of the College of Surgeons (1761-1783).

84Og, king of Bashan. “His bed was 9 cubits by 4 cubits” (? 13½ feet by 6 feet).—Deut. iii. 11.

⁂ The Great Bed of Ware is 12 feet by 12 feet.

Osen (Heinrich), 7 feet 6 inches; weight, 300 lbs. or 37-1/4 stone. Born in Norway.

Porus, an Indian king who fought against Alexander near the river Hydaspês (B.C. 327). He was a giant “5 cubits in height” [7½ feet], with strength in proportion.—Quintus Curtius, De rebus gestis Alexandri Magni.

Riechart (J. H.), 8 feet 3 inches, of Friedberg. His father and mother were both giants.

Salmeron (Martin), 7 feet 4 inches. A Mexican.

Sam (Big), 6 feet 10 inches. (See “M’Donald.”)

Sheridan (Francis), 7 feet 8 inches. (See “Frank.”)

Swan (Miss Anne Hanen), 7 feet 11 inches; of Nova Scotia.

⁂ In 1682, a giant 7 feet 7 inches was exhibited in Dublin. A Swede 8 feet 6 inches was in the body-guard of a king of Prussia. A human skeleton 8 feet 6 inches is preserved in the museum of Trinity College, Dublin.

Becanus says he had seen a man nearly 10 feet high, and a woman fully 10 feet. Gasper Bauhin speaks of a Swiss 8 feet in height. Del Rio says he saw a Piedmontes in 1572 more than 9 feet in stature. C.S.F. Warren, M.A., says (in Notes and Queries, August 14, 1875) that his father knew a lady 9 feet high; “her head touched the ceiling of a good-sized room.” Vanderbrook says he saw a black man, at Congo, 9 feet high.

Giant of Literature, Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1783).

Giant’s Leap (Lam Goëmagot) or “Goëmagot’s Leap.” Now called Haw, near Plymouth. The legend is that Cori´neus (3 syl.) wrestled with Goëmagot, king of the Albion giants, heaved the monster on his shoulder, carried him to the top of a high rock, and cast him into the sea.

At the beginning of the encounter, Corineus and the giant, standing front to front, held each other strongly in their arms, and panted aloud for breath; but Goëmagot presently grasping CroineusCroineus with all his might, broke three of his ribs, two on the right side and one on his left. Corineus, highly enraged, roused up his whole strength, snatched up the giant, ran with him on his shoulders to the neighboring cliff, and heaved him into the sea.... The place where he fell is called Lam Goëmagot to this day.—Geoffrey, British History, i. 16 (1142).

Giaour [djow´.er]. Byron’s tale called The Giaour is supposed to be told by a Turkish fisherman who had been employed all the day in the gulf of Ægi´na, and landed his boat at night-fall on the Piræ´us, now called the harbor of Port Leonê. He was eye-witness of all the incidents, and in one of them a principal agent (see line 352: “I hear the sound of coming feet....”). The tale is this: Leilah, the beautiful concubine of the Caliph Hasson, falls in love with a giaour, flees from the seraglio, is overtaken by an emir, put to death, and cast into the sea. The giaour cleaves Hassan’s skull, flees for his life, and becomes a monk. Six years afterwards he tells his history to his father confessor on his death-bed, and prays him to “lay his body with the humblest dead, and not even to inscribe his name on his tomb.” Accordingly, he is called “the Giaour,” and is known by no other name (1813).

Giauha´re (4 syl.), daughter of the king of Saman´dal, the mightiest of the undersea empires. When her father was made 85captive by king Saleh, she emerged for safety to a desert island, where she met Bed´er, the young king of Persia, who proposed to make her his wife; but Griauharê “spat on him,” and changed him “into a white bird with red beak and red legs.” The bird was sold to a certain king, and, being disenchanted, resumed the human form. After several marvellous adventures, Beder again met the under-sea princess, proposed to her again, and she became his wife and queen of Persia.—Arabian Nights (“Beder and Griauharê”).

Gibbet, a foot-pad and a convict, who “left his country for his country’s good.” He piqued himself on being “the best-behaved man on the road.”

’Twas for the good of my country I should be abroad.—George Farquhar, The Beaux’ Stratagem, iii. 3 (1707).

I thought it rather odd ... and said to myself, as Gibbet said when he heard that Aimwell had gone to church, “That looks suspicious.”—James Smith.

Gibbet (Master), secretary to Martin Joshua Bletson (parliamentary commissioner).—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).

Gib´bie (Guse), a half-witted lad in the service of Lady Bellenden.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).

Like Goose Gibbie of famous memory, he first kept the turkeys, and then, as his years advanced, was promoted to the more important office of minding the cows.—Keightley.

Gibby, a Scotch Highlander in attendance on Colonel Briton. He marries Inis, the waiting-woman of Isabella.—Mrs. Centlivre, The Wonder (1714).

Gibou, (Madame), a type of feminine vulgarity. A hard-headed, keen-witted, coarsely clever, and pragmatical maîtresse femme, who believes in nothing but a good digestion and money in the Funds.—Henri Monnier, Scènes Populaires (1852.)

Mde. Pochet and Mde. Gibou are the French “Mrs. Gamp and Mrs. Harris.”

Gibson (Janet), a young dependent on Mrs. Margaret Bertram of Singleside.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Gifford (John). This pseudonym has been adopted by three authors: (1) John Richards Green, Blackstone’s Commentaries Abridged, 1823; (2) Edward Foss, An Abridgment of Blackstone’s Commentaries (1821); (3) Alexander Whellier, The English Lawyer.

Gifford (William), author of The Baviad, a poetical satire, which annihilated the Delia Crusca school of poets (1794). In 1796, Gifford published The Mœviad, to expose the low state of dramatic authorship.

He was a man with whom I had no literary sympathies.... He had, however, a heart full of kindness for all living creatures except authors: them he regarded as a fishmonger regards eels, or as Izaak Walton did worms.—Southey.

Giggleswick Fountain ebbs and flows eight times a day. The tale is that Giggleswick was once a nymph living with the Oreads on Mount Craven. A satyr chanced to see her, and resolved to win her; but Giggleswick fled to escape her pursuer, and praying to the “topic gods” (the local genii), was converted into a fountain, which still pants with fear. The tale is told by Drayton, in his Polyolbion, xxviii. (1622).

Gilbert, butler to Sir Patrick Charteris, provost of Perth.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

86Gilbert (Miss), an ambitious girl with a taste for literary celebrity. She writes one book which is a slight success, another which “takes.” Petted from her childhood, and spoiled by the tolerable measure of adulation she receives subsequently, she needs the discipline of mortification and schooling to tone her down to what an originally fine nature was designed to become. She becomes the happy wife of a self-made man who has done his work well.—Josiah Gilbert Holland, Miss Gilbert’s Career (1859).

Gilbert (Sir), noted for the sanative virtue of his sword and cere-cloth. Sir Launcelot touched the wounds of Sir Meliot with Sir Gilbert’s sword and wiped them with a cere-cloth, and “anon a wholer man was he never in all his life”—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 116 (1470).

Gilbert with the White Hand, one of the companions of Robin Hood, mentioned often in The Lyttell Geste of Robyn Hode (fytte v. and vii.).

Thair saw I Maitlaind upon auld Beird Gray

Robene Hude and Gilbert “with the quhite hand,”

Quhom Hay of Nauchton slew in Madin-land.

Scottish Poems, i. 122.

Gil´bertscleugh, cousin to Lady Margaret Bellenden.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).

Gil Blas, son of Blas of Santilla´ne, ’squire or “escudero” to a lady, and brought up by his uncle, Canon Gil Perês. Gil Blas went to Dr. Godinez’s school, of Oviedo [O.ve.á.do.] and obtained the reputation of being a great scholar. He had fair abilities, a kind heart, and good inclinations, but was easily led astray by his vanity. Full of wit and humor, but lax in his morals. Duped by others at first, he afterwards played the same devices on those less experienced. As he grew in years, however, his conduct improved, and when his fortune was made he became an honest, steady man.—Lesage, Gil Blas (1715).

(Lesage has borrowed largely from the romance of Espinel, called Vida del Escudero Marcos de Obregon (1618), from which he has taken his prologue, the adventure of the parasite (bk. i. 2), the dispersion of the company of Cacabelos by the muleteer (bk. i. 3),the incident of the robber’s cave (bk. i. 4, 5), the surprise by the corsairs, the contributions levied by Don Raphael and Ambrose (bk. i. 15, 16), the service with the duke of Lerma, the character of Sangrado (called by Espinel Sagredo), and even the reply of Don Matthias de Silva when asked to fight a duel early in the morning, “As I never rise before one, even for a party of pleasure, it is unreasonable to expect that I should rise at six to have my throat cut,” bk. iii. 8.)

Gilda, beautiful daughter of the jester, Rigoletto. She is beloved by his master, the duke, who abducts her, Rigoletto conniving at the deed under the impression that the wife of his enemy occupies the chamber given without his knowledge to Gilda.—Verdi, Rigoletto.

Gildas de Ruys (St.) near Vannes, in France. This monastery was founded in the sixth century, by St. Gildas, “The Wise” (516-565).

For some of us knew a thing or two

In the abbey of St. Gildas de Ruys.

Longfellow, The Golden Legend.

Gil´deroy, a famous robber. There were two of the name, both handsome 87Scotchmen, both robbers and both were hanged. One lived in the seventeenth century and “had the honor” of robbing Cardinal Richelieu and Oliver Cromwell. The other was born in Roslin, in the eighteenth century, and was executed in Edinburgh for “stealing sheep, horses and oxen.” In the Percy Reliques, I. iii. 12, is the lament of Gilderoy’s widow at the execution of her “handsome” and “winsome” Gilderoy; and Campbell has a ballad on the same subject. Both are entitled “Gilderoy,” and refer to the latter robber; but in Thomson’s Orpheus Caledonius, ii, is a copy of the older ballad.

⁂ Thomson’s ballad places Gilderoy in the reign of Mary, “queen of Scots,” but this is not consistent with the tradition of his robbing Richelieu and Cromwell. We want a third Gilderoy for the reign of Queen Mary—one living in the sixteenth century.

Gilding a Boy. A naked boy was gilded all over, to adorn a pageant when Leo X. was made Pope, and died of suffocation.—Vasari, Life of Puntormo.

Gildip´pe (3 syl.) wife of Edward, an English baron, who accompanied her husband to Jerusalem, and performed prodigies of valor in the war (bk. ix.). Both she and her husband were slain by Solyman (bk. xx.).—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

Giles, a farmer in love with Patty, “the maid of the mill” and promised to him by her father; but Patty refuses to marry him. Ultimately, “the maid of the mill” marries Lord Aimworth. Giles is a blunt, well-meaning, working farmer, with no education, no refinement, no notion of the amenities of social life.—Bickerstaff, The Maid of the Mill.

Giles (1 syl.), serving-boy to Claud Halcro.—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time William III.).

Giles (1 syl.), warder of the Tower.—Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Giles (1 syl.), jailer of Sir Reginald Front de Bœuf.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Giles (Will), apprentice of Gibbie Girder, the cooper at Wolf’s Hope village.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time,f William III.).

Giles, the “farmer’s boy,” “meek, fatherless, and poor,” the hero of Robert Bloomfield’s principal poem, which is divided into “Spring,” “Summer,” “Autumn,” and “Winter”“Winter” (1798).

Giles of Antwerp, Giles Coignet, the painter (1530-1600).

Gillfillan (Habakkuk), called “Gifted Gilfillan,” a Camero´nian officer and enthusiast.—Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

Gill (Harry), a farmer, who forbade old Goody Blake to carry home a few sticks, which she had picked up from his land, to light a wee-bit fire to warm herself by. Old Goody Blake cursed him for his meanness, saying he should never from that moment cease from shivering with cold; and, sure enough, from that hour, a-bed or up, summer or winter, at home or abroad, his teeth went “chatter, chatter, chatter still.” Clothing was of no use, fires of no avail, for, spite of all, he muttered, “Poor Harry Gill is very cold.”—Wordsworth, Goody Blake and Harry Gill (1798).

88Gill (Mrs. Peter). Bustling matron with a genius for innovation. She conducts her household affairs according to sanitary and sanatory principles; discovers that condiments are pernicious and that beans are excellent for the complexion; is bent upon a water-cure, and finds out and invents so many “must bes” and “don’ts” as to ruin the comfort of husband and children.—Robert B. Roosevelt, Progressive Petticoats (1874).

Gil´lamore (3 syl.) or Guillamur, king of Ireland, being slain in battle by Arthur, Ireland was added by the conqueror to his own dominions.

How Gillamore again to Ireland he pursued ...

And having slain the king, the country waste he laid.

Drayton, Polyolbion, iv. (1612).

Gil´lian, landlady of Don John and Don Frederic.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Chances (1620).

Gillian (Dame), tirewoman to Lady Eveline, and wife of Raoul the huntsman.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

Gilliflowers. A nosegay of these flowers was given by the fairy Amazo´na to Carpil´lona in her flight. The virtue of this nosegay was, that so long as the princess had it about her person, those who knew her before would not recognize her.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“Princess Carpillona,” 1682).

Gills (Solomon), ship’s instrument maker. A slow, thoughtful old man, uncle of Walter Gay, who was in the house of Mr. Dombey, merchant. Gills was very proud of his stock-in-trade, but never seemed to sell anything.—C. Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846).

Gilpin (John), a linen-draper and train-band captain, living in London. His wife said to him, “Though we have been married twenty years, we have taken no holiday;” and at her advice the well-to-do linen-draper agreed to make a family party, and dine at the Bell, at Edmonton. Mrs. Gilpin, her sister, and four children went in the chaise, and Gilpin promised to follow on horseback. As madam had left the wine behind, Gilpin girded it in two stone bottles to his belt, and started on his way. The horse, being fresh, began to trot, and then to gallop; and John, being a bad rider, grasped the mane with both his hands. On went the horse, off flew John Gilpin’s cloak, together with his hat and wig. The dogs barked, the children screamed, the turnpike men (thinking he was riding for a wager) flung open their gates. He flew through Edmonton, and never stopped till he reached Ware, when his friend the calender gave him welcome, and asked him to dismount. Gilpin, however, declined, saying his wife would be expecting him. So the calender furnished him with another hat and wig, and Gilpin harked back again, when similar disasters occurred, till the horse stopped at his house in London.—W. Cowper, John Gilpin (1786).

⁂ John Gilpin was a Mr. Beyer, of Paternoster Row, who died in 1791, and it was Lady Austin who told the anecdote to the poet. The marriage adventure of Commodore Trunnion in Peregrine Pickle is a similar adventure.

Gines de Passamonte, one of the galley-slaves set free by Don Quixote. Gines had written a history of his life and adventures. After being liberated, the slaves set upon the knight; they assaulted him with stones, robbed him and Sancho of everything they valued, broke to pieces “Mambrino’s helmethelmet,” and then made off 89with all possible speed, taking Sancho’s ass with them. After a time the ass was recovered (pt. I. iv. 3).

“Hark ye, friend,” said the galley-slave, “Gines is my name, and Passamonte the title of my family.”—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iii. 8 (1605).

⁂ This Gines re-appears in pt. II. ii. 7 as “Peter the showman,” who exhibits the story of “Melisendra and Don Gayferos.” The helmet also is presented whole and sound at the inn, where it becomes a matter of dispute whether it is a basin or a helmet.

Gineura, the troth-plight bride of Ariodantês, falsely accused of infidelity, and doomed to die unless she found within a month a champion to do battle for her honor. The duke who accused her felt confident that no champion would appear, but on the day appointed Ariodantês himself entered the lists. The duke was slain, the lady vindicated, and the champion became Gineura’s husband.—Arisoto, Orlando Furioso (1516).

Shakespeare, in Much Ado about Nothing, makes Hero falsely accused of infidelity, through the malice of Don John, who induces Margaret (the lady’s attendant) to give Borachio a rendezvous at the lady’s chamber window. While this was going on, Claudio, the betrothed lover of Hero, was brought to a spot where he might witness the scene, and, believing Margaret to be Hero, was so indignant, that next day at the altar he denounced Hero as unworthy of his love. Benedict challenged Claudio for slander, but the combat was prevented by the arrest and confession of Borachio. Don John, finding his villainy exposed, fled to Messina.

Spencer has introduced a similar story in his Faëry Queen, v. 11 (the tale of “Irena,” q.v.).

Gin´evra, the young Italian bride who, playing hide-and-seek, hid herself in a large trunk. The lid accidentally fell down, and was held fast by a spring-lock. Many years afterwards the trunk was sold and the skeleton discovered.—Rogers, Italy (1792).

T. Haynes Bayley wrote a ballad called The Mistletoe Bough, on the same tradition. He calls the bridegroombridegroom “young Lovell.”

A similar narrative is given by Collet, in his Causes Célèbres.

Marwell Old Hall, once the residence of the Seymours, and subsequently of the Dacre family, has a similar tradition attached to it, and “the very chest is now the property of the Rev. J. Haygarth, rector of Upham.”—Post-Office Directory.

Bramshall, Hampshire, has a similar tale and chest.

The same tale is also told of the great house at Malsanger, near Basingstoke.

Gingerbread (Giles), the hero of an English nursery tale.

Jack the Giant-killer, Giles Gingerbread, and Tom Thumb will flourish in wide-spreading and never-ceasing popularity.—Washington Irving.

Ginn or Jân (singular masculine Jinnee, feminine Jinniyeh), a species of beings created long before Adam. They were formed of “smokeless fire” or fire of the simoom, and were governed by monarchs named suleyman, the last of whom was Jân-ibn-Jân or Gian-ben-Gian, who “built the pyramids of Egypt.” Prophets were sent to convert them, but on their persistent disobedience, an army of angels drove them from the earth. Among the Ginn was one named Aza´zel. When Adam was created, and God commanded the angels to worship him, Azazel refused, saying, “Why should the spirits 90of fire worship a creature made of earth?” Whereupon God changed him into a devil, and called him Iblis or Eblis (“despair”). Spelt also Djinn.

Gi´ona, a leader of the anabaptists, once a servant of Comte d’Oberthal, but discharged from his service for theft. He joined the rebellion of the anabaptists, but, with the rest of the conspirators, betrayed the “prophet-king,” John of Leyden, when the emperor arrived with his army.—Meyerbeer, Le Prophète (1849).

Giovan´ni (Don), a Spanish libertine of the aristocratic class. His valet, Leporello, says, “He had 700 mistresses in Italy, 800 in Germany, 91 in France and Turkey, and 1003 in Spain.” When the measure of his iniquity was full, a legion of foul fiends carried him off to the devouring gulf.—Mozart’s opera, Don Giovanni (1787).

(The libretto of this opera is by Lorenzo da Ponte).

⁂ The origin of this character was Don Juan Teno´rio, of Seville, who lived in the fourteenth century. The traditions concerning him were dramatized by Tirso de Mo´lina; thence passed into Italy and France. Glück has a musical ballad called Don Juan (1765); Molière, a comedy on the same subject (1665); and Thomas Corneille (brother of the Grand Corneille) brought out, in 1673, a comedy on the same subject, called Le Festin de Pierre, which is the second title of Molière’s Don Juan. Goldoni, called “The Italian Molière,” has also a comedy on the same favorite hero.

Gipsey, the favorite greyhound of Charles I.

One evening his [Charles I.] dog scraping at the door, he commanded me [Sir Philip Warwick] to let in Gipsey.—Memoirs, 329.

Gypsey Ring, a flat gold ring, with stones let into it, at given distances. So called because the stones were originally Egyptian pebbles—that is, agate and jasper.

⁂ The tale is, that the gypsies are wanderers because they refused to shelter the Virgin and Child in their flight into Egypt.—Aventinus, Annales Boiorum, viii.

Giralda of Seville, called by the Knight of the Mirrors a giantess, whose body was of brass, and who, without ever shifting her place, was the most unsteady and changeable female in the world. In fact, this Giralda was no other than the brazen statue on a steeple in Seville, serving for a weathercock.

“I fixed the changeable Giralda ... I obliged her to stand still; for during the space of a whole week no wind blew but from the north.”—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. i. 14 (1615).

Girder (Gibbie, i.e. Gilbert), the cooper at Wolf’s Hope village.

Jean Girder, wife of the cooper.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).

Girdle (Armi´da’s), a cestus worn by Armi´da, which, like that of Venus, possessed the magical charm of provoking irresistible love.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

Girdle (Flor´imel’s), the prize of a grand tournament, in which Sir Sat´yrane (3 syl.), Sir Brianor, Sir Sanglier, Sir Artĕgal, Sir Cambel, Sir Tri´amond, Brit´omart, and others took part. It was accidentally dropped by Florimel in her flight (bk. iii. 7, 31), picked up by Sir Satyrane, and employed by him for binding the monster which frightened Florimel to flight, but 91afterwards came again into Sir Satyrane’s possession, when he placed it for safety in a golden coffer. It was a gorgeous girdle, made by Vulcan for Venus, and embossed with pearls and precious stones; but its chief merit was

It gave the virtue of chaste love

And wifehood true to all that it did bear;

But whosoever contrary doth prove,

Might not the same about her middle wear,

But it would loose, or else asunder tear.

Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. 7 (1590).

Girdle (Venus’s), a girdle on which was embroidered the passions, desires, joys, and pains of love. It was usually called a cestus, which means “embroidered,” and was worn lower down than the cin´gulum or matron’s girdle, but higher up than the zone or maiden’s girdle. It was said to possess the magical power of exciting love. Homer describes it thus:

In this was every art, and every charm,

To win the wisest, and the coldest warm;

Fond love, the gentle vow, the gay desire,

The kind deceit, the still reviving fire,

Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs,

Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes.

Pope, Iliad, xiv.

Girdle of Opakka, foresight and prudence.

“The girdle of Opakka, with which Kifri the enchanter is endued, what is it,” said Shemshelnar, “but foresight and prudence—the best ‘girdle’ for the sultans of the earth?”—Sir G. Morell [i.e. J. Ridley], Tales of the Genii (“History of Mahoud,” tale vii., 1751).

Girdles, impressed with mystical characters, were bound with certain ceremonies round women in gestation, to accelerate the birth and alleviate the pains of labor. It was a Druid custom, observed by the Gaels, and continued in practice till quite modern times.

Aldo offered to give Erragon “a hundred steeds, children of the rein; a hundred hawks with fluttering wing, ... and a hundred girdles to bind high-bosomed maids, friends of the births of heroes.”—Ossian, The Battle of Lora.

Girnington (The laird of), previously Frank Hayston, laird of Bucklaw, the bridegroom of Lucy Ashton. He is found wounded by his bride on the wedding night, recovers and leaves the country; but the bride goes mad and dies.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).

Giulia (Donna), suspected wife of Don Alonzo in Richard Mansfield’s play Don Juan. She becomes the fast friend of the youthful lovers, although forced by her husband’s brutality to decoy Juan into the trap set for him by Alonzo (1891).

Gjallar, Heimdall’s horn, which he blows to give the gods notice when any one approaches the bridge Bifröst.—Scandinavian Mythology.

Gladiator (The Dying). This famous statue, found at Nettuno (the ancient Antium), was the work of Agasĭas, a sculptor of Ephesus.

Glads´moor (Mr.), almoner of the earl of Glenallan, at Glenallan House.—Sir W.W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Glamorgan, according to British fable, is gla or glyn Morgan (valley or glen of Morgan). Cundah´ and Morgan (says Spenser) were sons of Goneril and Regan, the two elder daughters of King Leyr. Cundah chased Morgan into Wales, and slew him in the glen which perpetuates his name.

Then gan the bloody brethren both to raine:

But fierce Cundah gan shortly to envy

92His brother Morgan ...

Raisd warre, and him in batteill overthrew;

Whence as he to those woody hilles did fly,

Which hight of him Gla-morgan, there him slew.

Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 10, 33 (1590).

This is not quite in accordance with Geoffrey’s account:

Some restless spirits ... inspired Margan with vain conceits, ... who marched with an army through Cunedagius’s country, and began to burn all before him; but he was met by Cunedagius, with all his forces, who attacked Margan ... and, putting him to flight, ... killed him in a town of Kambria, which since his death has been called Margan to this day.—British History, ii. 15 (1142).

Glasgow (The Bishop of).—Sir W. Scott, Castle Dangerous, xix. (time, Henry I.).