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Georgia: 1 (1,837), one of the 13 original States of the American Union, lies to the S., fronting the Atlantic between Florida and S. Carolina; is divided into 136 counties, Atlanta being the capital and Savannah the chief port; it is well watered with rivers; is low and swampy for some miles inland, but it rises into plateaux in the interior, and the Appalachians and Blue Mountains intersect it in the NW.; excellent crops of wheat and fruit are grown among the hills, rice in the lowlands, while immense quantities of cotton are raised on the islands skirting the coast; the vast forests of pitch-pine supply an increasing lumber trade; the mountain lands are rich in minerals; the State was named after George II. in 1733 by the founder, James Oglethorpe. 2, The former name of an independent kingdom, which extended along the southern slopes of the Caucasus, and which, since the beginning of the century, has belonged to Russia under the name of Gruzia, and now forms the central portion of Russian Transcaucasia; the Georgians number at present about a million; they are a people of splendid physique, whose history reaches back to the time of Alexander the Great, and who attained their zenith in the 12th century; subsequently they suffered from Persian and Turkish invasion, and eventually, as we have said, fell into the hands of Russia; at present there is a Georgian literature growing, especially in Tiflis, if that is any sign of advance.

Gera (30), a thriving city on the White Elster, 35 m. SW. of Leipzig; has broad streets and fine buildings, with a castle; chief manufactures woollen.

Geraint, Sir, one of the Knights of the Round Table, the husband of Enid, whose fidelity he for a time distrusted, but who proved herself a true wife by the care with which she nursed him when he was wounded.

Gérard, Étienne Maurice, Comte, marshal of France, born at Damvillers, Lorraine; in 1791 he entered the army and fought under Bernadotte in various campaigns; at Austerlitz he won his brigade, and subsequently fought at Jena, Erfurt, and Wagram; he joined Napoleon after his flight from Elba, and was wounded at Wavre; on the downfall of the Emperor he quitted France, but returned in 1817; in 1822 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, and in 1831 assisted in driving the Dutch out of Flanders; he was War Minister under Louis Philippe (1773-1855).

Gérard, François Pascal Simon, Baron, painter, born at Rome, of French and Italian parentage; came to Paris when a youth, where he studied painting under David; in 1795 his "Blind Belisarius" brought him to the front, whilst subsequent work as a portrait-painter raised him above all his contemporaries; his masterpiece, "Entry of Henri IV. into Paris," brought him a barony at the hands of Louis XVIII.; his historical paintings, characterised by minute accuracy of detail, include "Napoleon in his Coronation Robes," "Battle of Austerlitz," &c. (1770-1837).

Gerhardt, Karl Friedrich, chemist, born at Strasburg; after a training at Carlsruhe and Leipzig, worked in Liebig's laboratory at Giessen; in 1838 he began lecturing in Paris, and made experiments along with Cahours on essential oils, which bore fruit in an important treatise; in 1844 he received the chair of Chemistry at Montpellier, but returned to Paris four years later; there he matured and published his theories of types, homologous series, &c., which have greatly influenced the science of chemistry; in 1855 he became professor of Chemistry in Strasburg (1816-1856).

Gerhardt, Paul, a celebrated German hymn-writer of the Lutheran Church, born at Gräfenhainichen, in Saxony; in 1657 he became dean of St. Nicholas in Berlin, an appointment he held till 1666, when he was deposed for his embittered opposition to the union of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches; he was subsequently pastor at Lübben; his hymns, 123 in number, rank amongst the finest of their class (1607-1676).

Gerizzim, a mountain of 2848 ft. in height in the S. of the valley of Shechem, opposite Ebal (q. v.), and from the slopes of which the blessings were responded to by half the tribes of Israel on their arrival in Canaan (Josh. viii. 30-35); the Samaritans erected a temple on this mountain, ruins of which still remain.

Germ Theory, the doctrine that certain diseases are due to fermentation caused by the presence of germs in the system in the form of minute organisms called bacteria.

German Catholics, a sect formed in 1844 by secession from the Catholic Church of Germany, under the leadership of Johann Ronge, on account of the mummery under papal patronage connected with the exhibition of the Holy Coat of Trèves and the superstitious influence ascribed to it.

German Voltaire, name given sometimes to Wieland and sometimes, but less appropriately, to Goethe.

Germanicus, Cæsar, Roman general, son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia, daughter of Mark Antony; he served with distinction under his uncle Tiberius in Dalmatia and Pannonia; was awarded a triumph, and in A.D. 12 was elected consul; his success and popularity as leader of the army on the Rhine provoked the jealousy of Tiberius, who transferred him to the East, where he subsequently died; his son Caligula succeeded Tiberius on the imperial throne (15 B.C.-A.D. 19).

Germany (49,428), constituted an empire in 1871, occupies a commanding position in Central Europe, and stretches from Switzerland in the S. to the German Ocean and Baltic Sea on the N.; Austria lies to the SE., Russia to the NE., while France, Belgium, and the Netherlands flank the W.; is made up of 26 States of widely varying size and importance, comprising four kingdoms (of which Prussia is by far the largest and most influential), six grand-duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free towns (Lübeck, Bremen, Hamburg), and one imperial province, Alsace-Lorraine; the main physical divisions are (1) the great lowland plain stretching from the centre to the Baltic and North Sea, well watered by the Ems, Weser, Elbe, Oder, Vistula, and their tributaries, in which, bating large sandy tracts, agriculture employs a large class, and cereals, tobacco, and beetroot are raised; (2) the mountainous district, in the interior of which the Fichtelgebirge is the central knot, in which vast forests abound, and rich deposits of coal, fire-clays, iron, and other metals are worked, giving rise to iron-works and potteries; (3) the basin of the Rhine, on the W., where the vine is largely cultivated, and extensive manufactures of silks, cottons, and hardware are carried on; fine porcelain comes from Saxony and vast quantities of beer from Bavaria; Westphalia is the centre of the steel and iron works; throughout Germany there are 26,000 m. of railway line (chiefly State railways), 57,000 m. of telegraph line, while excellent roads, canals, and navigable rivers facilitate communication; 65 per cent. of the people are Protestants; education is compulsory and more highly developed than in any other European country; the energies of the increasing population have in recent years found scope for their action in their growing colonial possessions; the military system imposes upon every German a term of seven years' service, three in active service, and the remainder in the reserve, and till his forty-sixth year he is liable to be called out on any great emergency; under the emperor the government is carried on by a Federal Council, the members of which are appointed by the governments of the various estates, and the Reichstag, elected by universal suffrage and ballot for three years.

Gérôme, Léon, a celebrated French painter, born at Vésoul; he studied at Paris under Paul Delaroche, with whom he subsequently travelled in Italy; he travelled in the East and familiarised himself with Eastern scenes; in 1863 he was appointed professor of Painting in the Paris School of Fine Arts; among his most famous pictures, all characterised by vivid colouring and strong dramatic effect, are "The Age of Augustus and the Birth of Christ," "Roman Gladiators in the Amphitheatre," "Cleopatra and Cæsar," &c.; b. 1824.

Gerry, Elbridge, American statesman, born in Marblehead, Mass.; in 1773, eight years after graduating at Harvard, he was elected to the Massachusetts Assembly, and in 1789 to the first National Congress; as envoy to France in 1797 he assisted in establishing diplomatic relations with that country, and after his recall in 1810 was chosen governor of his native State; during his tenancy of this office, by an unfair redistribution of the electoral districts in the State he gave undue advantage to his own political party, a proceeding which led to the coining of the word "gerrymandering"; subsequently he held office as Vice-President of the Republic (1744-1814).

Gerson, John Charlier de, an eminent ecclesiastical scholar, born at Gerson, in the diocese of Rheims; in 1395 he became chancellor of his old university at Paris, and earned in that office a high reputation for learning, becoming known as Doctor Christianissimus; he was a prominent member of the councils of Pisa and Constance, advocating, as a remedy for the Western Schism, the resignation of the rival Popes; in consequence of his denunciation of the Duke of Burgundy for the murder of the Duke of Orleans he was forced to become a refugee in Germany for some time, but finally retired into the monastery of Lyons; his various works reveal an intellect of keen intelligence, but somewhat tinged with a cloudy mysticism (1363-1429).

Gerstäcker, Friedrich, German author and traveller, born in Hamburg; when 21 he emigrated to New York, and for six years led a wandering life in different parts of America, working the while now at one occupation now at another, a narrative of which he published on his return to Germany; in 1849 he undertook a journey round the world which occupied him three years; in 1860-61 he crossed S. America; in 1862 he was in Africa with Duke Ernst of Gotha, and in 1863 in Central America; his many writings, descriptive of these countries, exhibit a fresh and graphic style, and have had a wide popularity; he is the author also of several thrilling stories (1816-1872).

Gervase of Tilbury, a mediæval historical writer, born at Tilbury, in Essex; said to have been a nephew of King Henry II.; he held a lectureship in Canon Law at Bologna, and through the influence of Emperor Otto IV. was made marshal of the kingdom of Arles; he was the author of "Otia Imperiala," a historical and geographical work; d. about 1235.

Gervinus, Georg Gottfried, German historian and Shakespearian critic, born at Darmstadt; he was elected to the chair of History at Göttingen in 1836, an appointment which was cancelled the following year by his signing the protest against the abolition of the Hanoverian constitution; in 1844 he was appointed honorary professor at Heidelberg, and subsequently contributed greatly to the establishment of constitutional liberty in Germany by means of his writings and by founding the Deutsche Zeitung there; in 1848 he became a member of the National Assembly, but shortly afterwards withdrew, disgusted with the course things were taking; he now engaged in literary studies, the fruit of which appeared in his celebrated volumes of Shakespearian criticism (1805-1871).

Geryon, a king of Erytheia (i. e. red island), on the western borders of the world, with three bodies and three heads, who had a herd of oxen guarded by a giant shepherd and his dog, the two-throated Orthros, which were carried off by Hercules at the behest of his fate.

Gesenius, an eminent German Hebraist and Biblical scholar, born in Prussian Saxony, whose labours form an epoch in the study of the Hebrew Scriptures; was 30 years professor of the language in Halle; produced a Hebrew Grammar and Lexicon, and commentary on Isaiah on rationalistic lines (1785-1842).

Gesner, Konrad von, Swiss scholar and naturalist, born at Zurich; hampered by ill-health and poverty in his youth, he yet contrived by unremitting diligence to obtain an excellent education at Strasburg, Bourges, and Paris; in his twenty-first year he obtained an appointment in Zurich University, and in 1537 became professor of Greek at Lausanne; abandoning the idea he entertained of entering the Church, he determined to adopt the medical profession instead, graduated at Basel in 1540, and a year later went to Zurich to occupy the chair of Natural History and to practise as a doctor; his chief works are the "Bibliotheca Universalis" (a catalogue and summary of all Hebrew, Greek, and Latin works then known to exist), and the "Historia Animalium"; these monuments of learning have won him the cognomen of the German Pliny (1516-1565).

Gessler, Albrecht, a governor of the forest cantons of Switzerland, who figures in Swiss legend as an oppressor who was shot as related in the tradition of Tell.

Gessner, Salomon, Swiss poet and artist, born at Zurich; served an apprenticeship to a bookseller in Berlin, and after a sojourn in Hamburg returned to Zurich, where the rest of his life was spent; he published several volumes of poetry, chiefly pastoral and of no great value; his "Death of Abel" is his most notable performance; his paintings are mainly landscapes of a conventional type, several of which he engraved, revealing better abilities as an engraver than as an artist (1730-1788).

Gesta Romanorum (the exploits of the Romans), a collection of short didactic stories, not however solely Roman, written in the Latin tongue, probably towards the close of the 13th century, the authorship of which is uncertain, though it is generally recognised as of English origin; the stories are characterised by naïve simplicity, and have served as materials for many notable literary productions; thus Shakespeare owes to this work the plot of Pericles and the incidents of the caskets and the pound of flesh in the "Merchant of Venice," Parnell his "Hermit," Byron his "Three Black Crows," and Longfellow his "King Robert of Sicily."

Gethsemane, somewhere on the E. of Kedron, half a mile from Jerusalem, at the foot of Mount Olivet, the scene of the Agony of Christ.

Gettysburg (3), a town in Pennsylvania, built on a group of hills 50 m. SW. of Harrisburg; during the Civil War it was the scene of General Meade's famous victory over the Confederates under General Lee on July 3, 1863.

Geyser, fountains which from time to time, under the expansion of steam, eject columns of steam and hot water, and which are met with in Iceland, North America, and New Zealand, of which the most remarkable is the Great Geyser, 70 m. N. of Reikiavik, in Iceland, which ejects a column of water to 60 ft. in height, accompanied with rumblings underground; these eruptions will continue some 15 minutes, and they recur every few hours.

Gfrörer, August Friedrich, a learned German historian, born in the Black Forest; educated for the Protestant ministry; in 1828, after residence at Geneva and Rome, started as a tutor of theology, and two years later became librarian at Stuttgart; published a number of historical works, including a "Life of Gustavus Adolphus," "Pope Gregory VII.," a "History of Primitive Christianity," "Church History to the Fourteenth Century"; in this last work he showed a strong leaning to Catholicism; was appointed to the chair of History in the university of Freiburg; was elected to the Frankfort parliament, and finally openly professed the Catholic faith (1803-1861).

Ghâts, or Ghauts, Eastern and Western, two mountain ranges running parallel with the E. and W. coasts of S. India, the latter skirting the Malabar coast between 30 and 40 m. from the sea, rising to nearly 5000 ft., and exhibiting fine mountain and forest scenery, and the former skirting the E. of the Deccan, of which tableland it here forms the buttress, and has a much lower mean level; the two ranges converge into one a short distance from Cape Comorin.

Ghazali, Abu Mohammed al-, Arabian philosopher, born at Tûs, Persia; in 1091 he was appointed professor of Philosophy in Bagdad; four years later he went to Mecca, and subsequently taught at Damascus, Jerusalem, and Alexandria; finally, he returned to his native town and there founded a Sufic college; of his numerous philosophic and religious works the most famous is the "Destruction of the Philosophers," in which he combats the theories and conclusions of the current Arabian scholasticism (1058-1111).

Ghazipur (45), a city of India, on the Ganges, 44 m. NE. of Benares, capital of the district of that name (1,077), in the North-West Provinces; is the head-quarters of the Government Opium Department, and trades in rose-water, sugar, tobacco, &c.; contains the ruins of the Palace of Forty Pillars.

Ghazni (10), a fortified city of Afghanistan, 7726 ft. above the sea, 85 m. SW. of Cabul; it is the chief strategical point on the military route between Kandahar and Cabul; in the 11th and 12th centuries it was the capital of the Kingdom Of Ghaznevids, which stretched from the plains of Delhi to the Black Sea, and which came to an end in 1186.

Gheel (12), a town in Belgium, situated on a fertile spot in the midst of the sandy plain called the Campine, 26 m. SE. of Antwerp; it has been for centuries celebrated as an asylum for the insane, who (about 1300) are now boarded out among the peasants; these cottage asylums are under government control, and the board of the patients in most cases is guaranteed.

Ghent (150), a city of Belgium, capital of East Flanders, situated at the junction of the Scheldt and the Lys, 34 m. NW. of Brussels; rivers and canals divide it into 26 quarters, connected by 270 bridges; in the older part are many quaint and interesting buildings, notably the cathedral of St. Bavon (13th century); it is the first industrial city of Belgium, and is a great emporium of the cotton, woollen, and linen trades; the floriculture is famed, and the flower-shows have won it the name of the "City of Flowers."

Ghetto, an Italian word applied to the quarters set apart in Italian cities for the Jews, and to which in former times they were restricted; the term is now applied to the Jews' quarters in any city.

Ghibellines, a political party in Italy who, from the 11th to the 14th centuries, maintained the supremacy of the German emperors over the Italian States in opposition to the Guelphs (q. v.).

Ghiberti, Lorenzo, an Italian sculptor and designer, born at Florence; his first notable work was a grand fresco in the palace of Malatesta at Rimini in 1400, but his most famous achievement, which immortalised his name, was the execution of two doorways, with bas-relief designs, in the baptistery at Florence; he spent 50 years at this work, and so noble were the designs and so perfect the execution that Michael Angelo declared them fit to be the gates of Paradise (about 1378-1455).

Ghika, Helena. See Dora d'Istria.

Ghilan (200), a province of NW. Persia, between the SW. border of the Caspian Sea and the Elburz Mountains; is low-lying, swampy, and unhealthy towards the Caspian, but the rising ground to the S. is more salubrious; wild animals are numerous in the vast forests; the soil, where cleared, is fertile and well cultivated; the Caspian fisheries are valuable; the people are of Iranian descent, and speak a Persian dialect.

Ghirlandajo (i. e. Garland-maker), nickname of Domenico Curradi, an Italian painter, born at Florence; acquired celebrity first as a designer in gold; he at 24 turned to painting, and devoted himself to fresco and mosaic work, in which he won wide-spread fame; amongst his many great frescoes it is enough to mention here "The Massacre of the Innocents," at Florence, and "Christ calling Peter and Andrew," at Rome; Michael Angelo was for a time his pupil (1449-1494).

Ghuzni. See Ghazni.

Giants, in the Greek mythology often confounded with, but distinct from, the Titans (q. v.), being a mere earthly brood of great stature and strength, who thought by their violence to dethrone Zeus, and were with the assistance of Hercules overpowered and buried under Etna and other volcanoes, doomed to continue their impotent grumbling there.

Giant's Causeway, a remarkable headland of columnar basaltic rock in North Ireland, projecting into the North Channel from the Antrim coast at Bengore Head, 7 m. NE. of Portrush; is an unequal surface 300 yds. long and 30 ft. wide, formed by the tops of the 40,000 closely packed, vertical columns which rise to a height of 400 ft. The legend goes that it was the beginning of a roadway laid down by a giant.

Giaour, the Turkish name for an unbeliever in the Mohammedan faith, and especially for a Christian in that regard.

Gibbon, Edward, eminent historian, born at Putney, near London, of good parentage; his early education was greatly hindered by a nervous complaint, which, however, disappeared by the time he was 14; a wide course of desultory reading had, in a measure, repaired the lack of regular schooling, and when at the age of 15 he was entered at Magdalen College, Oxford, he possessed, as he himself quaintly puts it, "a stock of erudition which might have puzzled a doctor, and a degree of ignorance of which a schoolboy might have been ashamed"; 14 months later he became a convert to Roman Catholicism, and in consequence was obliged to quit Oxford; in the hope of reclaiming him to the Protestant faith he was placed in the charge of the deistical poet Mallet, and subsequently under a Calvinist minister at Lausanne; under the latter's kindly suasion he speedily discarded Catholicism, and during five years' residence established his learning on a solid foundation; time was also found for the one love episode of his life—an amour with Suzanne Curchod, an accomplished young lady, who subsequently became the wife of the French minister M. Neckar, and mother of Madame de Staël; shortly after his return to England in 1758 he published in French an Essay on the Study of Literature, and for some time served in the militia; in 1774, having four years previously inherited his father's estate, he entered Parliament, and from 1779 to 1782 was one of the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations; in 1776 appeared the first volume of his great history "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," the conception of which had come to him in 1764 in Rome whilst "musing amongst the ruins of the Capitol"; in 1787 his great work was finished at Lausanne, where he had resided since 1783; modern criticism, working with fresh sources of information, has failed to find any serious flaw in the fabric of this masterpiece in history, but the cynical attitude adopted towards the Christian religion has always been regarded as a defect; "a man of endless reading and research," was Carlyle's verdict after a final perusal of the "Decline," "but of a most disagreeable style, and a great want of the highest faculties of what we would call a classical historian, compared with Herodotus, for instance, and his perfect clearness and simplicity in every part"; he, nevertheless, characterised his work to Emerson once as "a splendid bridge from the old world to the new" (1737-1794).

Gibbons, Grinling, a celebrated wood-carver, born at Rotterdam, but brought up in England; through the influence of Evelyn he obtained a post in the Board of Works, and his marvellous skill as a wood-carver won him the patronage of Charles II., who employed him to furnish ornamental carving for the Chapel of Windsor; much of his best work was done for the nobility, and in many of their mansions his carving is yet extant in all its grace and finish, the ceiling of a room at Petworth being considered his masterpiece; he also did some notable work in bronze and marble (1648-1721).

Gibbons, Orlando, an eminent English musician, composer of many exquisite anthems, madrigals, &c., born at Cambridge; in 1604 he obtained the post of organist in the Chapel Royal, London, and two years later received the degree of Mus. Bac. of Cambridge, while Oxford recognised his rare merits in 1622 by creating him a Mus. Doc.; in the following year he became organist of Westminster Abbey, and in 1625 was in official attendance at Canterbury on the occasion of Charles I.'s marriage, but he did not live to celebrate the ceremony, for which he wrote the music; he is considered the last and greatest of the old Church musicians of England (1583-1625).

Gibeon, a place on the northern slopes of a hill 6 or 7 m. S. of Bethel, and the spot over which Joshua bade the sun stand still; its inhabitants, for a trick they played on the invading Israelites, wore condemned to serve them as "hewers of wood and drawers of water."

Gibraltar, a promontory of rock, in the S. of Spain, about 2 m. square and over 1400 ft. in height, connected with the mainland by a spit of sand, forming a strong fortress, with a town (25) of the name at the foot of it on the W. side, and with the Strait of Gibraltar on the S., which at its narrowest is 15 m. broad; the rock above the town is a network of batteries, mounted with heavy cannon, and the town itself is a trade entrepôt for N. Africa; the rock has been held as a stronghold by the British since 1704.

Gibson, John, sculptor, born at Gyffin, near Conway, Wales, of humble parentage; after serving an apprenticeship to a cabinet-maker in Liverpool, he took to carving in wood and stone, and supported by Roscoe became a pupil of Canova and afterwards of Thorwaldsen in Rome; here he made his home and did his best work; mention may be made of "Theseus and the Robber," "Amazon thrown from her horse," statues of George Stephenson, Peel, and Queen Victoria; in 1836 he was elected a member of the Royal Academy (1790-1866).

Gibson, Thomas Milner, politician, born at Trinidad; graduated at Cambridge; entered Parliament in the Conservative interest, but becoming a convert to Free-Trade principles, he went over to the Liberal ranks, and became an active and eloquent supporter of the Manchester policy; returned for Manchester in 1841 and 1846, was made a Privy Councillor and Vice-President of the Board of Trade; his earnest advocacy of peace at the Crimean crisis lost him his seat in Manchester, but Ashton-under-Lyne returned him the same year; under Palmerston he was for seven years (1859-66) President of the Board of Trade; his name is honourably associated with the repeal of the Advertisement, Newspaper Stamp, and Paper Duties; in 1868 he retired from public life (1806-1884).

Gideon, one of the most eminent of the Judges of Israel, famous for his defeat of the Midianites at Gilboa, and the peace of 40 years' duration which it ensured to the people under his rule.

Giesebrecht, Wilhelm von, historian, born at Berlin; was professor of History at Königsberg and at Münich; his chief work is "Geschichte der Deutschen Kaiserzeit" (1814-1889).

Gieseler, Johann Karl Ludwig, a learned Church historian, born near Minden; after quitting Halle University adopted teaching as a profession, but in 1813 served in the war against France; on the conclusion of the war he held educational appointments at Minden; was nominated in 1819 to the chair of Theology at Bonn, and in 1831 was appointed to a like professorship in Göttingen; his great work is a "History of the Church" in 6 vols. (1793-1854).

Giessen (21), the chief town of Hesse-Darmstadt, situated at the confluence of the Wieseck and the Lahn, 40 m. N. of Frankfort-on-the-Main; has a flourishing university, and various manufactories.

Gifford, Adam, Lord, a Scottish judge, born in Edinburgh; had a large practice as a barrister, and realised a considerable fortune, which he bequeathed towards the endowment of four lectureships on Natural Theology in connection with each of the four universities in Scotland; was a man of a philosophical turn of mind, and a student of Spinoza; held office as a judge from 1870 to 1881 (1820-1887).

Gifford, William, an English man of letters, born in Ashburton, Devonshire; left friendless and penniless at an early age by the death of his parents, he first served as a cabin-boy, and subsequently for four years worked as a cobbler's apprentice; through the generosity of a local doctor, and afterwards of Earl Grosvenor, he obtained a university training at Oxford, where in 1792 he graduated; a period of travel on the Continent was followed in 1794 by his celebrated satire the "Baviad," and in two years later by the "Mæviad"; his editorship of the Anti-Jacobin (1797-1798) procured him favour and office at the hands of the Tories; the work of translation, and the editing of Elizabethan poets, occupied him till 1809, when he became the first editor of the Quarterly Review; his writing is vigorous, and marked by strong partisanship, but his bitter attacks on the new literature inaugurated by Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, and others reveal a prejudiced and narrow view of literature (1757-1826).

Gigman, Carlyle's name for a man who prides himself on, and pays all respect to, respectability; derived from a definition once given in a court of justice by a witness who, having described a person as respectable, was asked by the judge in the case what he meant by the word; "one that keeps a gig," was the answer.

Gil Blas, a romance by Le Sage, from the name of the hero, a character described by Scott as honestly disposed, but being constitutionally timid, unable to resist temptation, though capable of brave actions, and intelligent, but apt to be deceived through vanity, with sufficient virtue to make us love him, but indifferent to our respect.

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, navigator, born in Devonshire, half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh; in 1583 established a settlement in Newfoundland.

Gilbert, Sir John, English artist, President of the Royal Society of Water-Colour Painters; was for long an illustrator of books, among the number an edition of Shakespeare; he was a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (1817-1897).

Gilbert, William Schwenck, barrister, notable as a play-writer and as the author of the librettos of a series of well-known popular comic operas set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan; b. 1836.

Gilbert Islands, or Kingsmill Group (37), a group of islands in the Pacific, of coral formation, lying on the equator between 172° and 177° E. long; they are 16 in number, were discovered in 1788, and annexed by Britain in 1892.

Gilboa, Mount, a range of hills on the SE. of the Plain of Esdraëlon, in Palestine, attaining a height of 1698 ft.

Gilchrist, Alexander, biographer of William Blake (q. v.), born at Newington Green, son of a Unitarian minister; although called to the bar, literary and art criticism became his main pursuit; settled at Guildford in 1853, where he wrote his Life of the artist Etty; became in 1856 a next-door neighbour of Carlyle at Chelsea, and had all but finished his Life of Blake when he died (1828-1861).—His wife, Anne Gilchrist, née Burrows, was during her life an active contributor to magazines; she completed her husband's Life of Blake, and in 1883 published a Life of Mary Lamb (1828-1885).

Gildas, a monkish historian of Britain, who wrote in the 6th century a Latin work entitled "De Excidio Britanniæ," which afterwards appeared in two parts, a History and an Epistle.

Gilead, a tableland extending along the E. of the Jordan, at a general level of 2000 ft. above the sea, the highest point near Ramoth-Gilead being 3597 ft.

Giles, St., the patron saint of cripples, beggars, and lepers; was himself a cripple, due to his refusal to be cured of a wound that he might learn to mortify the flesh; was fed by the milk of a hind that visited him daily; had once at his monastery a long interview with St. Louis, without either of them speaking a word to the other.

Gilfillan, George, a critic and essayist, born at Comrie, minister of a Dissenting congregation in Dundee from 1836 to his death; a writer with a perfervid style; author of "Gallery of Literary Portraits," "Bards of the Bible," etc., and editor of Nichol's "British Poets," which extended to 48 vols. (1817-1878).

Gillespie, George, a celebrated Scotch divine, born at Kirkcaldy; trained at St. Andrews, and ordained to a charge at Wemyss; in 1642 he was called to Edinburgh, and in the following year appointed one of a deputation of four to represent Scotland at the Westminster Assembly; his chief work is "Aaron's Rod Blossoming," a vigorous statement and vindication of his Presbyterianism; in 1648 he was Moderator of the General Assembly (1613-1648).

Gilpin, John, a London citizen, on an adventure of whose life Cowper has written a humorous poem.

Gilpin, William, of Boldre, an English author, who by his series of "Picturesque Tours" exercised an influence on English literature similar to that of White's "Selborne," at the same time (1724-1804).

Gilray, James, English caricaturist, born in Chelsea; distinguished for his broad humour and keen satire; his works were numerous and highly popular; died insane (1757-1815).

Gioberti, Vincenzo, an Italian philosophical and political writer, born at Turin; in 1825 he was appointed to the chair of Theology in his native city, and in 1831 chaplain to the Court of Charles Albert of Sardinia; two years later was exiled on a charge of complicity in the plots of the Young Italy party, and till 1847 remained abroad, chiefly in Brussels, busy with his pen on literary, philosophical, and political subjects; in 1848 he was welcomed back to Italy, and shortly afterwards rose to be Prime Minister of a short-lived government; his later years were spent in diplomatic work at Paris; in philosophy he reveals Platonic tendencies, while his political ideal was a confederated Italy, with the Pope at the head and the king of Sardinia as military guardian (1801-1852).

Giordano, Luca, Italian painter, born at Naples; studied under various celebrated masters at Naples, Rome, Lombardy, and other places, finally returning to Naples; in 1692 he received a commission from Charles II. of Spain to adorn the Escurial, and in the execution of this work remained at Madrid till 1700, when he again settled in his native city; he was famous in his day for marvellous rapidity of workmanship, but this fluency combined with a too slavish adherence to the methods of the great masters has somewhat robbed his work of individuality; his frescoes in the Escurial at Madrid and others in Florence and Rome are esteemed his finest work (1632-1705).

Giorgione (i. e. Great George), the sobriquet given to Giorgio Barbarella, one of the early masters of the Venetian school, born near Castelfranco, in the NE. of Italy; at Venice he studied under Giovanni Bellini, and had Titian as a fellow-pupil; his portraits are among the finest of the Italian school, and exhibit a freshness of colour and conception and a firmness of touch unsurpassed in his day; his works deal chiefly with scriptural and pastoral scenes, and include a "Holy Family" in the Louvre, "Virgin and Child" in Venice, and "Moses Rescued" (1447-1511).

Giotto, a great Italian painter, born at a village near Florence; was a shepherd's boy, and at 10 years of age, while tending his flock and drawing pictures of them, was discovered by Cimabue, who took him home and made a pupil of him; "never," says Ruskin, "checked the boy from the first day he found him, showed him all he knew, talked with him of many things he himself felt unable to paint; made him a workman and a gentleman, above all, a Christian, yet left him a shepherd.... His special character among the great painters of Italy was that he was a practical person; what others dreamt of he did; he could work in mosaic, could work in marble, and paint; could build ... built the Campanile of the Duomo, because he was then the best master of sculpture, painting, and architecture in Florence, and supposed in such business to be without a superior in the world.... Dante was his friend and Titian copied him.... His rules in art were: You shall see things as they are; and the least with the greatest, because God made them; and the greatest with the least, because God made you, and gave you eyes and a heart; he threw aside all glitter and conventionality, and the most significant thing in all his work is his choice of moments." Cimabue still painted the Holy Family in the old conventional style, "but Giotto came into the field, and saw with his simple eyes a lowlier worth; and he painted the Madonna, St. Joseph, and the Christ,—yes, by all means if you choose to call them so, but essentially—Mamma, Papa, and the Baby; and all Italy threw up its cap" (1276-1336). See Ruskin's "Mornings in Florence."