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GASTON DE FOIX-GATESHEAD.

it, and attached to the foot, but in which many varieties of beautiful structure are exhibited, and which is generally horny, sometimes calcareous. Some shells are simply conical, and there are numerous diversities of form. The shell is secreted by the mantle. See MOLLUSCS, SHELLS, and UNIVALVES. The viscera are contained in a thin sac-part of the mantle-which fills the upper part of the shell. The organ of locomotion, called the foot, is in general a muscular disc, developed from the ventral surface of the body; sometimes, as in limpets, capable of acting as a sucker, and exhibiting other even more remarkable modifications, so that in some it becomes an organ for swimming. G. generally creep by means of this disc adhering to surfaces, and contracting in transverse wrinkles or undulations, which begin from behind. The G. generally secrete a peculiar kind of slime. Some of them also produce other peculiar secretions, of which the Tyrian purple affords an example. G. have a great power of renewing lost parts; tentacles are thus restored, and even the eyes which they bear at their tips, the mouth with all its apparatus, or the head itself."

GASTON DE FOIX. See Foix. GASTRA'LGIA, or GASTRODY'NIA. CARDIALGIA.

See

supported on the raised foot, the other leg is carried forward. From their close association with the erect position, they are much less developed in othe mammals than in the human subject.

GASTRO'DIA, a genus of orchids. G. sesamoides is a native of Van Diemen's Land, the roots of which form large coral-like masses, and are sometimes called native potatoes, being edible; but they are watery and insipid.

GASTRO'STOMY (Gr. gaster, the belly or stomach, and stoma, mouth), an operation which has been two or three times performed for the relief of stricture of the gullet, to relieve the patient from the imminent risk of starvation, by introducing food directly into the stomach through an external opening. The well-known case of Alexis St Martin, and numerous experiments on the lower animals, have led to this attempt, not unreasonably, to save life; it has not as yet, however, been successful.

GASTRO'TOMY (Gr. gaster and tome, an incision), an incision into the cavity of the Abdomen (q. v.) for the purpose of removing some diseased texture or foreign body. The term has also been applied to Cæsarean Section (q. v.).

GATES, HORATIO, a general in the American army in the war of independence, was born in EngGASTRIC JUICE. See DIGESTION, ORGANS land in 1728. He served under General Braddock, AND PROCESS OF.

GASTRITIS AND GASTRO-ENTERITIS (inflammation of the stomach, &c.). See STOMACH, DISEASES OF, also ENTERITIS.

GASTROCHÆ'NA, a genus of lamellibranchiate molluscs, having a delicate shell of two equal valves, gaping very much in front; the animal sometimes taking possession of an already existing cavity, which it often lines with a calcareous lining, so as to form a tube, to which the valves of its shell are cemented; sometimes burrowing for itself in sand, madrepores, or calcareous rocks, and lining its hole with a shelly layer. G. modiolina, a rare British

Gastrochæna Modiolina :

a

a, one of the tubes broken open, shewing the valves. mollusc, common in the Mediterranean, perforates shells and limestone, making holes about two inches deep and half an inch in diameter. It sometimes bores right through an oyster into the ground below, and makes for itself a flask-shaped case, with its neck fixed in the oyster-shell. The tubes of some of the tropical species which live in sand are very curious. To the family Gastrochænidæ are referred Aspergillum and Clavagella.

GASTROCNE'MIUS MUSCLE, THE, is the muscle forming the greater part of the calf of the leg. It arises by two heads from the two condyles of the thigh-bone, and is inserted by the TENDO ACHILLIS (see the diagram in the article Foor) at the posterior part of the heel-bone. In man, these muscles possess great power, and are constantly called in use in standing, walking, leaping, &c. In walking, they raise the heel, and, with it, the entire body from the ground; and the body being thus

and was severely wounded near Pittsburg in the disastrous campaign of 1755, in which Braddock lost his life. On the breaking out of the revolution, G. espoused the popular cause. His military experience and skill procured his rapid promotion, and in 1776 he was appointed major-general. In August 1777, he took the chief command of the American forces north of Albany, then amounting to about 6000 men, besides some detached bodies of militia. Having been reinforced by the troops under General Lincoln, he defeated Burgoyne (October 7 and 8), and soon after compelled that general to surrender with all his army, consisting of about 5600 men. This success, by far the most important that had been gained by the Americans during the war, procured G. the reputation of a consummate general, and some were even desirous to make him commander-in-chief in the place of Washington.

In 1780, G. was appointed to the command of the southern army, which, though amounting to near 6000 men, was composed chiefly of militia. He was totally defeated near Camden, South Carolina, by Lord Cornwallis (whose force was greatly inferior in numbers to that of G.), with the loss of 900 men killed, and as many more taken prisoners. Congress ordered, soon after, an inquiry into the conduct of G., who was, after a protracted trial, honourably acquitted, and reinstated in his command. He died in 1806. His experience,' says Bancroft, adapted him for good service in bringing the army into order, but he was shallow in his natural endowments and in his military culture.'

GATESHEAD, a town of England, in the county of Durham, and an ancient borough under the Episcopal palatines of that county, was formerly governed by a bailiff and burgesses, and became a parliamentary and municipal borough under the Reform Act of 1832, and the Municipal Corporations Reform Act of 1835. It is situated on the south bank of the Tyne, directly opposite Newcastle, to which it is joined by two bridges, and with which it is otherwise so closely connected as virtually to form one town with it. The older portions of the town are poorly built, but great extensions have been made westward and southward, in which directions much ground has been laid out in new streets and detached villas. There are numerous dissenting as well as

GATEWAY-GAULT.

present a passport at the gate of the city before entering it, we still find these barriers kept up.

established churches, a grammar-school founded in 1700, a mechanics' institute, and an hospital (King James's), consisting of the master (who is the rector of Gateshead for the time being) and three brethren cities of the Philistines, was situated on the frontiers GATH (in Heb. a 'wine-press'), one of the five chief who have residences, and twelve others who receive of Judah, and was in consequence a place of much allowances without residence. It has also an excel- importance in the wars between the Philistines and lent dispensary, which was established after a the Israelites. It formed, in fact, the key of both dreadful visitation of cholera in 1831-1832, which countries, and was strongly fortified. The famous carried off 1028 of the population. The numerous Goliath, whose gigantic height and swaggering air coal-mines in the neighbourhood, iron-works and so frightened the troops of King Saul, and who was foundries, glass-works, brick, tile, and soap works, slain by the stripling David with pebbles from the ship-building, chemical-works, &c., furnish employ-brook, was a native of this place. Jerome describes ment to the inhabitants. There are also extensive it in his time as a 'very large village.' The site of manufactures of anchors, machinery, chain-cables, ancient Gath is probably the little eminence, about iron-wire and other ropes. At Gateshead Fell are 200 feet high, now known as Tell-es-Sâfret, at the quarries from which the famous grindstones erron-foot of what were once called the Mountains of eously called, but proverbially known as 'Newcastle grindstones,' are obtained, and exported to all parts of the world. In October 1854, a large portion of the lower part of G., as well as considerable property in Newcastle immediately opposite, was destroyed by an awful explosion and fire, which also caused the death of upwards of 50 persons. G. sends one member to the House of Commons. Pop. in 1851, 25,568; in 1861, 33,589. G. is supposed to have been at one time a Roman station, or outwork to the Roman station at Newcastle, several coins and other relics having been found from time to time. The derivation of the name has been long matter of dispute, but the probability is, that it simply means the head of the gate or road with which the Romans connected Newcastle with the southern military divisions and defences.

GATEWAY, the passage or opening in which a gate or large door is hung. This may be either an open way with side pillars or a covered way vaulted or roofed over. The gateway being a most important point in all fortified places, is usually protected by various devices. It is flanked by towers with loopholes, from which assailants may be attacked, and is frequently overhung by a machicolated battlement, from which missiles of every description were poured upon the besiegers. City gates, and gates of large castles, have in all ages been the subjects of great care in construction; and when from some cause, such as the cessation of constant fighting, or a change in the mode of warfare, gateways have lost their importance in a military point of view, they have maintained their position as important architectural works, and where no longer useful, have become ornamental. In very ancient times, we read of the 'gate' as the most prominent part of a city, where proclamations were made, and where the kings administered justice. The Greek and Roman gates were frequently of great magnificence. The propylæa at Athens is a beautiful example, and the triumphal arches of the Romans are the ornamental offspring of their city gates. Most of the towns in this country have lost their walls and city gates; but a few, such as York and Chester, still retain them, and give us an idea of the buildings which formerly existed, but which now remain only in the name of the streets where they once stood. Our castles retain more of their ancient gateways, and from these we may imagine the frowning aspect every town presented during the middle ages. Abbeys, colleges, and every class of buildings were shut in and defended by similar barriers; many of these still exist in Oxford and Cambridge, and the abbey gates of Canterbury and Bury St Edmund's are well-known specimens of monastic gateways. The feeling of personal freedom, which is so strong in this country, must no doubt have tended greatly to hasten the demolition of these marks of feudalism; but on the continent, where every man has to

Judah.

Canada East, has its origin in a connected chain
GATINEAU, a large river of North America in
of large lakes lying immediately north of the
It flows in an almost
48th parallel of latitude.
undeviating course south-south-west, and falls into
the Ottawa, in lat. 45° 24' N., long. 75° 43′ W., 12
miles below the town of Aylmer. The length of
this river has not been definitely ascertained, but it
is said that canoes have navigated it for upwards
of 300 miles. Steamers have ascended it for four

miles.

GATSCHI'NA, a town of Russia, in the government of Petersburg, and about 30 miles south-southwest of the city of that name, is charmingly situated on a small lake formed by the Ishora. It is regularly built, has an educational institution for foundlings, a horticultural school, and some manufactures of porcelain; but is especially worthy of mention for its royal palace, a structure at once simple in its style and imposing in its effect. This palace, which contains 600 apartments, and is surrounded by one of the finest pleasure-gardens in Europe, was the favourite seat of the Emperor Paul I., who bestowed municipal rights upon the town Pop. variously stated at from

of G. in 1797.
4500 to 7000.

GAU (of doubtful origin, possibly allied to Gr. ge, land), a German word meaning, in a general way, country (as opposed to the town), district; but applied specially to a political division of ancient Germany, having relation to the arrangements for war and the administration of justice. A gau embraced several communities or villages, and had one or more grafs (q. v.) and judges over it. As the grafdoms became more and more hereditary, the gau, as a political division, fell into disuse (about the 12th c.), and only in the names of some places do the traces of it remain. The Abbot Bessel gave a complete account of the geography of the German gaus in his Chronicon Gottwicense; and Spruner's Historical Atlas contains a map of them. The nature of the gau system is fully discussed in the works of Eichhorn, Waitz, and Bethmann-Hollweg. See HUNDRED.

[blocks in formation]

GAULTHERIA-GAUSS.

sand. It consists of an upper part, hard and sandy, and containing green particles scattered through it; and of a lower portion, a stiff dark gray, blue, or brown clay, smooth and uniform in texture, and very plastic, which is manufactured into tiles, bricks, and even common pottery. Concretions of iron pyrites and other nodules are not uncommon in the Gault. The contained fossils are for the most part beautifully preserved, having been protected from decay by being buried in the tenacious and compact mud which forms the Gault beds. The most abundant remains are those of cephalopodous molluscs, as ammonites, scaphites, and turrilites.

The Gault occurs at Folkstone, and stretches west through Kent and Surrey into Hampshire, and then, turning eastwards through Sussex, it is seen on the coast near Beechy Head. It also stretches in a narrow line from Dorsetshire, in a northeasterly direction, through the centre of England, till it reaches the coast at Hinstanton, in Norfolk. Its maximum thickness is 150 feet. In Surrey, the Gault supplies considerable quantities of phosphatic nodules, largely used by agriculturists for fertilising

soils.

The Blackdown beds in Dorsetshire are probably contemporaneous with the Gault, the one having been deposited near the shore, while the fine mud of the Gault was carried out to sea. The Blackdown beds, however, contain Greensand fossils mixed with those of the Gault, so that the exact age of the deposit is still doubtful.

GAULTHE'RIA, a genus of small procumbent or nearly procumbent evergreen shrubs, of the natural order Ericea, the fruit of which is a 5-valved capsule, covered with the enlarged and fleshy tube of the calyx. They are natives of temperate regions. G. procumbens is a common

SHALLON (G. shallon) is a comparatively large species, two or three feet high, with purple berries, which are agreeable to the palate, and form a considerable part of the food of Indians in the north-west of America, of which the plant is a native. It grows well under the shade of woods, and has of late been planted in many places in Britain, to afford food for pheasants and other kinds of game.-G. hispida is a native of Van Diemen's Land, bearing snow-white berries, and known by the name of WAX-CLUSTER. The berries are eaten.-Other species, some of which are fragrant, some produce edible berries, and all are beautiful little shrubs, are found in the Himalaya Mountains, the mountains of South America, Australia, &c. The Australian G. antipoda is said to be a finer fruit than G. hispida.

GAUR, or GOUR (Bos Gaurus), a species of ox, inhabiting some of the mountain jungles of India. It is of very large size, although apparently inferior to the Arnee (q.v.). It bears a considerable resemblance to the Gayal (q. v.), but differs from it in the form of its head, and in the total want of a dewlap, in which it more nearly agrees with the Banteng from it by important anatomical peculiarities. See of the Eastern, Archipelago, although distinguished BANTENG. The back is strongly arched, having a

[graphic]
[graphic]

Procumbent Gaultheria (Gaultheria procumbens): a, fruit; b, flower.

plant in North America as far south as Virginia, and bears the names of PARTRIDGE BERRY, DEER BERRY, WINTER GREEN, and MOUNTAIN TEA. It is about four or five inches in height, with small whitish flowers and red 'berries,' which are eat

able, but not safe in any considerable quantity, because of the pungent volatile oil which they contain. Brandy in which they have been steeped is used as a tonic. The whole plant has an agreeable aromatic odour and taste, owing to the presence of volatile oil, which, when extracted, is used in medicine as a stimulant, also by druggists for flavouring sirups, and to a considerable extent in perfumery, under the name of Oil of Winter Green. The leaves are used both as an astringent and as a stimulant; and an infusion of them is ased as tea in America, for which purpose those of nother species are also employed in Nepal.-The

Gaur (Bos Gaurus).-From Routledge's Natural History.

remarkable ridge of no great thickness, which rises above its general line, owing to an unusual elongation of the spinous processes of the vertebræ. The hair is remarkably short and sleek. The G. is formidable even to the tiger, and safe from his attacks. It is usually found in herds of from ten to twenty. It is extremely abundant in the high insulated tableland of Myn Pat, in South Bahar, and in the adjoining steep and narrow valleys. It is supposed to be incapable of domestication; frequent attempts for this purpose are said to have been made in Nepal.

GAURITZ, a river of the south coast of the Cape Colony, in South Africa, forms the eastern boundary of the district of Zwellendam, entering the sea a little to the west of Mossel Bay. Like nearly all useless for the purposes of navigation. the streams of this region, it is rapid, and almost

GAUSS, KARL FRIEDRICH, one of the most illustrious mathematicians of modern times, was born at Brunswick on the 30th of April 1777. In 1795, he went to the university of Göttingen, where, at this early age, he made a number of important discoveries, one of which may be mentioned, as it had occupied the attention of geometers from the time of Euclid, viz., the division of the circle into 17 equal parts

649

GAUZE GAVELKIND.

weaving were left so loose and open. Inferior qualities of gauze are made of a mixture of silk and cotton.

GAVAʼZZI, ALESSANDRO, a popular Italian preacher and reformer, distinguished by his patriotic zeal in promoting the civil and religious progress of his country, was born at Bologna in 1809. At the early age of 16, he became a monk of the Barnabite order, and subsequently was appointed professor of rhetoric at Naples, where he speedily acquired great reputation as an orator. By his uncompromising advocacy of church and state reformation, he earned at once the enthu siastic admiration of the progressive party among his countrymen, and the bitter enmity of the priestly and ruling powers.

He soon afterwards returned to Brunswick, and there, in 1801, published his Disquisitiones Mathematie, work treating of indeterminate analysis or transcendental arithmetic, which contains, besides other important theorems, a new demonstration of that of Fermat concerning triangular numbers. While G. was at work on these speculations, he was in great measure ignorant of what had been done in the same subject by previous mathematicians, which accounts for the presence in his work of a number of old theorems. But the discovery of the planet Ceres on the first day of the 19th c. guided the energies of G. into a new field of research. He was one of the first to calculate the elements of its orbit, according to methods of his own invention, and his assiduous application, and the accuracy of his results, excited general admiration. On the discovery of Pallas by Olbers in 1802, G. set himself to calculate its orbit; and his results, valuable at the time, are even now models of ingenuity and research. For these labours, he received, in 1810, from the French Institute, the medal founded by Lalande. In 1807, he was appointed director of the The pope sanctioned his political Observatory at Göttingen, an office peculiarly suited to his tastes, and about this time commenced to labours, and appointed him almoner of a body of prepare for publication his celebrated work, Theoria 16,000 Roman troops, who volunteered for the Motus Corporum Caelestium in Sectionibus Conicis campaign of Lombardy in 1848, and quitted Rome Ambientium, which appeared in 1809. In this work, to proceed to Vicenza. To G.'s fervid and patriotic G. has developed a method of calculating, in the oratory may be attributed, in no slight degree, the most simple, and at the same time most exact universal spirit of self-sacrifice evoked throughout manner, the orbits of the bodies in the solar system. Italy during this period of her history. He was It is also to him that the credit is chiefly due of called the Pietro Eremita, or Peter the Hermit of discovering the great comet of 1811, the elements been recalled by the pope, G. continued in Florence, The Roman legion having of whose orbit he calculated with the most sur-Genoa, and Bologna, to agitate in favour of the prising accuracy.

On the accession of Pius IX. to the papal chair, G. was one of the foremost supporters of the liberal policy that inaugurated that pontiff's reign; and having repaired to Rome, he devoted himself to the diffusion of political enlightenment and patriotic aspirations among the masses of the Roman population.

the national crusade.

national movement. On the establishment of the

In 1821, G. was charged by the Hanoverian government with the triangulation of the kingdom of republic at Rome, he was appointed almoner-inUnder his superin Hanover, and the measurement of an arc of the chief to the national army. meridian. In executing this work, G. found that the tendence, efficient military hospitals were organised appliances then in use did not allow of the vertices and attended by a band of Roman ladies, who of the triangles being seen from a considerable dis- volunteered their services and co-operation in the tance with sufficient distinctness, and to remedy care of the wounded. Rome having fallen, G. this defect, he invented the Heliotrope (q. v.). About escaped to England, where he delivered numerous 1831, Wilhelm Edward Weber arrived at Göttingen, and religious aims of his country. Recent events addresses and lectures, illustrative of the political and communicated to G. a part of his own enthu-have enabled him to return again to Italy, and he is siasm for magnetic researches. It would take up too much space to give a full account of the many discoveries he made in this new branch of study; suffice it to say, that he has invented a magnet ometer' which measures the magnetic intensity' with great accuracy, and that he has probably contributed more to the advancement of this branch of science than any one before him. G. was pronounced by La Place to be the greatest mathematician of Europe. He died at Göttingen on the 23d of February 1855. Among his most celebrated works, besides the two above mentioned, are the Disquisitio de Elementis Elipticis Palladis ex Oppositionibus Annorum 1803-1809 (1810); Theoria Combinationis Observationum Erroribus Minimis Obnoxia (Göttingen, 1823), containing a full explanation of his peculiar method above mentioned; Intensitas vis Magnetica Terrestris ad Mensuram Absolutam Revocata (1832), &c.

GAUZE, a light transparent silken fabric, supposed to have derived its name from having first been manufactured in Gaza, a city of Palestine. France and Switzerland produce considerable quantities of gauze. The chief seats of the manufacture in Great Britain are Paisley and Glasgow, and the surrounding districts. The openness of texture is obtained by crossing the warp threads between each thread of the weft, so that the weft passes through a succession of loops in the warp, and the threads are thus kept apart, without the liability to sliding from their places, which would take place if simple

the advocacy of the civil and religious progress of once more the foremost of his fellow-countrymen in his native land. He has for some time completely broken with the papacy, not only in its temporal, but in its religious aspect; yet he is not, and does not wish to be considered as exactly a Protestant. He proclaims the necessity of a return to primitive and apostolic Christianity, but is not disposed to accept for Italy any ready-made theological system Justification by Faith,' is apparently the same, at from abroad. His leading doctrine, however, least in form, as that held by the reformers of the 16th century.

GA'VELKIND. Lappenberg, who, though a foreigner, when endorsed by his translator Thorpe, may be considered as the very highest authority on the subject of English social antiquities, thus speaks of the custom of gavelkind: A fact worthy of notice is the existence down to recent times of the old British law of succession in Wales, Kent, and some parts of Northumberland, called gavelkind. As far as we are enabled to understand it, in its mixture with Anglo-Saxon law, all the sons of the father inherited, but the youngest possessed the homestead; the eldest, or the next following capable of bearing arms, had the heriot-that is, the arms offensive and defensive of his father, and his horse. Even the son of an outlaw could not be deprived of the entire succession, but of the half only' (vol. i. p. 39). Though a Celtic origin is here,

GAVIAL-GAY.

as by Blackstone (Stephen, iv. p. 548), probably with reason, ascribed to this tenure, it seems to be the general opinion of legal antiquaries (Selden, Analect. 1. 2, c. 7; Stephen, vol. i. 213) that it prevailed over the whole kingdom in Anglo-Saxon times, and that in Kent and elsewhere it was among the 'liberties' which the people were permitted to retain at the Conquest. Most of the many derivations which have been suggested for the word are, moreover, Teutonic-gif eal cyn, equivalent to Lord Coke's gave all kinde, or the custom which gives to all children alike, being the most probable. In Wales, gavelkind obtained universally till the time of Henry VIII. (34 and 35 Henry VIII. c. 26), and in some parts of England it is not yet abolished. In Kent, all lands that have not been disgavelled by act of parliament, are held to be gavelkind-a fact which ought to be borne in mind in all transactions with Kentish property. In addition to the characteristics of this tenure already noticed, Blackstone mentions the following: 1. The tenant is of age sufficient to alien his estate by feoffment at the age of 15. 2. The estate does not escheat in case of an attainder for felony; their maxim being, "the father to the bough, the son to the plough." 3. In most places, the tenant had a power of devising lands by will before the statute authorising the devise of lands generally was made.'

GAVIAL (Gavialis), a genus of reptiles of the Crocodile (q. v.) family, conspicuously differing from true crocodiles and from alligators in the great length and slenderness of the muzzle. Another peculiar character is a large cartilaginous swelling at the extremity of the muzzle in the males, around the orifice of the nostrils. The teeth are very numerous, about 120; they are more equal in size than those of the other animals of this family, although some of the first are rather larger than the rest, the longest of the lower jaw being received into notches in the upper, as in the true crocodiles. The head is very broad, the narrow muzzle begins abruptly, and in it the branches of the bone of the lower jaw are united and prolonged as one. There are two great perforations in the bones of the skull behind the eyes, externally marked by depressions.

Gavial (Gavialis Gangeticus).

The plates which cover the back and the nape of the neck are united. The crest of the tail is much elevated; the feet are webbed to the extremity of the toes; the whole habits as aquatic as those of the crocodile of the Nile. The only perfectly ascertained species, G. Gangeticus, inhabits the Ganges. It attains a greater size than any other

of the recent Crocodilida, frequently attaining the length of 25 feet; but owing to the slenderness of its muzzle, it is esteemed less dangerous than a true crocodile of smaller size. The form of the muzzle seems particularly to adapt it for preying on fish. The cartilaginous swelling at the extremity of the muzzle seems to have given rise to Elian's statement, that the crocodile of the Ganges had a horn at the tip of its snout. Fossil gavials, different from the existing species, have been found in Eocene deposits, as at Bracklesham, in England.

GAVINANA, or CAVINANA, a village of 622 inhabitants, picturesquely situated amid the Tuscan Apennines, in the valley of the river Lima, owes its interest to the memorable battle fought around its walls in 1530, between the republican forces of Florence, led by their great captain, Ferruccio, and the Imperialists headed by Philibert, Prince of Orange. The Florentines were defeated with the loss of their commander; and the death of Ferruccio, whose name in Tuscany has become final blow to the liberties of the republic. synonymous with chivalry and patriotism, gave the

GAVOTTE, a piece of music of a lively charac ter, peculiarly suitable for dancing, but more adapted for the stage than for private performance. It consists of two repetitions of eight bars each, beginning with an up-beat, and is in alla-breve time. The fundamental rhythm of the gavotte is therefore

[graphic]

by which the second bar has a remarkable cæsura Formerly, the gavotte was often introduced into sonatas and other pieces, where its form was not so strictly adhered to; still the eight-bar repetition was always considered necessary.

GAY, JOHN, was born at Barnstaple, in Devonshire, in 1688. Although of an ancient family, his father was in reduced circumstances, and G. was apprenticed to a London silk-mercer; but disliking his occupation, he was finally released from it by his master. In 1711, he published a descriptive poem, dedicated to Pope. The year after, he was appointed secretary to the Duchess of Monmouth. His next work was The Shepherd's Week, in Six Pastorals, which gained considerable applause. About the same time he produced Trivia and The Fan, full of descriptions of low city-life, a good deal in Swift's style-indeed, he was assisted by Swift in the former work. In 1713, appeared his comedy, The Wife of Bath, which did not succeed. Next year, he relinquished his situation in the family of the Duchess of Monmouth, and accompanied Lord Clarendon, then envoy-extraordinary to Hanover, as his secretary. Within two months, he was again in London, where, at the instigation of Pope, he wrote a poem on the Royal Family, and shortly afterwards produced his play, What d'ye Call It? Encouraged by its success, he brought out another play entitled Three Hours after Marriage, which failed signally. In 1720, he published his poems by subscription, and is said to have realised £1000 thereby. He at the same time received a present of South Sea stock, and was considered a rich man, when all his sudden fortune was lost in the collapse of that famous bubble. In 1724, he produced his play of The Captives, and wrote a volume of Fables in 1726. When Swift came to live with Pope at Twickenham in 1726, he talked to G. of a Newgate pastoral, and The Beggars' Opera was the result. The success of this piece was immense; it had a run of sixtythree nights, and took captive town and country. G. afterwards wrote a sequel, entitled Polly, but

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