Gogol, Nicolai Vasilievitch, a popular Russian novelist, born in Poltava; in 1829 he started as a writer in St. Petersburg, but met with little success till the appearance of his "Evenings in a Farm near Dikanka"; the success of the included sketches of provincial life induced him to produce a second series in 1834, which are characterised by the same freshness and fidelity to nature; in 1837 appeared his masterpiece "Dead Souls," in which all his powers of pathos, humour, and satire are seen at their best; for some time he tried public teaching, being professor of History at St. Petersburg, and from 1836 to 1846 lived chiefly at Rome; many of his works, which rank beside those of Puschkin and Turgenieff, are translated into English (1809-1852).

Golconda, a fortified town in the Nizam's dominions, 7 m. W. of Hyderabad; famous for its diamonds, found in the neighbourhood; beside it are the ruins of the ancient city, the former capital of the old kingdom; the fort is garrisoned, and is the treasury of the Nizam; it is also a State prison.

Gold Coast (1,475, of whom 150 are Europeans), a British crown colony on the Gulf of Guinea, West Africa, with a coast-line of 350 m.; from the low and marshy foreshore the country slopes upward and inward to Ashanti; the climate is very unhealthy; palm-oil, india-rubber, gold dust, &c., are exported; Cape Coast Castle is the capital.

Golden Age, the age of happy innocence under the reign of Cronos or Saturn, in which, as fabled, the earth yielded all fulness without toil, and every creature lived at peace with every other; the term is applied to the most flourishing period in the history of a nation. See Ages.

Golden Ass, a romance of Apuleius (q. v.).

Golden Bull, an Imperial edict, issued by the Emperor Charles IV., which determined the law in the matter of the Imperial elections, and that only one member of each electoral house should have a vote; so called from the gold case enclosing the Imperial seal attached.

Golden Fleece, the fleece of a ram which Phryxos (q. v.), after he had sacrificed him to Zeus, gave to Æëtes, king of Colchis, who hung it on a sacred oak, and had it guarded by a monstrous dragon, and which it was the object of the Argonautic expedition under Jason to recover and bring back to Greece, an object which they achieved. See Argonauts.

Golden Fleece, Order of the, an order of knighthood founded by Philip III., Duke of Burgundy and the Netherlands in 1429, and instituted for the protection of the Church.

Golden Horn, the inlet on which Constantinople is situated.

Golden Legend, a collection of lives of saints and other tales, such as that of the "Seven Sleepers" and "St. George and the Dragon," made in the 13th century by Jacques de Voragine, a Dominican monk, to the glory especially of his brotherhood.

Golden Rose, a cluster of roses on a thorny stem, all of gold; perfumed, and blessed by the Pope on the fourth Sunday in Lent, and sent to a prince who has during the year shown most zeal for the Church.

Goldoni, Carlo, the founder of Italian comedy, born at Venice; in his youth he studied medicine and subsequently law, but in 1732 appeared as a dramatist with his tragedy "Belisario"; moving from place to place as a strolling-player, he in 1736 returned to Venice, and finding his true vocation in comedy-writing, turned out a rapid succession of sparkling character plays after the manner of Molière; in 1761 he went to Paris as a playwright to the Italian theatre; became Italian master to Louis XV.'s daughters, and subsequently was pensioned; his comedies displaced the burlesques and farces till then in vogue on the stage in Italy (1707-1793).

Goldschmidt, Madame. See Lind, Jenny.

Goldsmith, Oliver, English man of letters, born at Pallas or Pallasmore, co. Longford, Ireland, and celebrated in English literature as the author of the "Vicar of Wakefield"; a born genius, but of careless ways, and could not be trained to any profession, either in the Church, in law, or in medicine, though more or less booked for all three in succession; set out on travel on the Continent without a penny, and supported himself by his flute and other unknown means; came to London, tried teaching, then literature, doing hack-work, his first work in that department being "An Inquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe," which was succeeded by his "Citizen of the World"; became a member of the "Literary Club," and associated with Johnson, Reynolds, Burke, and others; produced poems, "The Traveller" and the "Deserted Village," besides comedies, such as "She Stoops to Conquer"; lived extravagantly, and died in debt; wrote histories of Greece and Rome, and "Animated Nature"; was a charming writer (1728-1774).

Golf, a game played with a bent club and a small ball on commons with short grass, in which the player who drives the ball into a succession of small holes in the ground, usually 18, with the fewest strokes, or who reckons up the most holes in the round by taking them with the fewest strokes, is the winner; an old popular Scotch game, and first introduced into English on Blackheath by James I., which has of late years been revived, and in connection with which clubs have established themselves far and wide over the globe, even at Bagdad.

Goliath, a Philistine giant of Gath slain by David with pebbles from a brook by a sling (1 Sam. xvii.).

Gomarists, a sect of Calvinists in Holland, so called from their leader Gomarus (1563-1641), a bitter enemy of Arminius (q. v.).

Goncourt, Edmond and Jules de, French novelists, born, the former at Nancy, the latter at Paris; a habit of elaborate note-taking whilst on sketching tours first drew the brothers towards literature, and inoculated them with the habit of minute and accurate observation which gave value to their subsequent writings; their first real venture was a series of historical studies, designed to reproduce with every elaboration of detail French society in the later half of the 18th century, including a "History of French Society during the Revolution"; later they found their true province in the novel, and a series of striking works of fiction became the product of their joint labours, works which have influenced subsequent novelists not a little; "Les Hommes de Lettres" (1860) was the first of these, and "Madame Gervaisais" (1869) is perhaps their best; their collaboration was broken in 1870 by the death of Jules; but Edmond still continued to write, and produced amongst other novels "La Fille Élisa"; the "Journal" of the brothers appeared in 1888 in six vols. (Edmond, 1822-1888; Jules, 1830-1870).

Gondar (4), a once populous city and the capital of Amhara (q. v.), situated on a basaltic ridge in the Wogra Mountains, 23 m. N. of Lake Tzana; there are ruins of an old castle, churches and mosques, and establishments for the training of Abyssinian priests.

Goneral, an unnatural daughter of King Lear.

Gonsalez, a Spanish hero of the 10th century, celebrated for his adventures, and whose life was twice saved by his wife.

Gonzaga, the name of a princely family from Germany, settled in Mantua, from which the dukes were descended who ruled the territory from 1328 to 1708.

Gonzalvo di Cordova (the popular name of Gonzalo Hernandez y Aguilar), a renowned Spanish soldier, born at Montilla, near Cordova; he first became prominent in the wars with the Moors of Granada and with Portugal, and was rewarded with an estate and pensioned; in 1498 he so distinguished himself in assisting the king of Naples (Ferdinand II.) to drive out the French that he became known henceforth as El Gran Capitan, and was created Duke of San Angelo; subsequent heroic achievements in Naples, which won the kingdom for Spain (1503), roused a feeling of jealousy in the Spanish king, so that Gonzalvo was recalled and ill-requited for his great services (1453-1515).

Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, held sacred from early times by the Church in commemoration of the crucifixion of Christ, observed originally with fasting and prayer.

Good Regent, the Regent Murray (q. v.).

Good Templars, a total abstinence fraternity organised in New York in 1851, which has lodges, subordinate, district, and grand, now all over the world; they exact a pledge of lifelong abstinence, and advocate the suppression of the vice by statute; there is a juvenile section pledged to abstinence from tobacco, gambling, and bad language, as well as drink.

Goodfellow, Robin, a merry domestic spirit, full of tricks and practical jokes, and a constant attendant upon the English fairy court.

Goodman of Ballengeich, a name assumed by James V. of Scotland in his disguised perambulations about Edinburgh o' nights.

Goodsir, John, eminent Scotch anatomist, born at Anstruther; was trained at St. Andrews and Edinburgh, in which latter city he served an apprenticeship in dentistry; he settled in Anstruther and there wrote his noted essay on "Teeth"; in 1840 he became keeper of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, and lecturer on Diseases of the Bone in 1842; four years later he succeeded Dr. Monro in the chair of Anatomy in Edinburgh University, which he adorned, having for some time previously acted as assistant (1814-1867).

Goodwin Sands, a famous sandbank stretching 10 m. along the E. coast of Kent, about 5½ m. from the shore; with the flowing of the tidal current the hidden sands are apt to shift and change their outline, and when storms of great violence sweep over them, despite their being well marked by four lightships and nine buoys, they have often been the occasion of a long series of melancholy shipwrecks; the shoal forms a splendid breakwater for the Downs, an excellent anchorage, stretching between the Goodwins and the shore; they are supposed popularly to be the remnants of an estate which belonged to the great Earl of Godwin (q. v.), but this supposition is a mere fable.

Goody Two Shoes, a character in a nursery story published in 1765, and supposed to have been written by Goldsmith when in straits.

Goodyear, Charles, the inventor of vulcanised rubber, born at New Haven, Connecticut; his career was a troubled one; he failed as an iron-founder, and when, after 10 years labour, amidst every disadvantage of poverty and privation, he in 1844 produced his new method of hardening rubber by means of sulphur, he became involved in a fresh series of troubles, as well as poverty, consequent on the infringement of his inventions; his patents latterly amounted to 60, and medals and honours, were awarded him both in London and Paris (1800-1860).

Goorkhas or Gurkhas, a brave and powerful native race in Nepal claiming Hindu descent; in 1814 they were subdued by the British, and have since rendered valuable service to Britain in the Mutiny, in the Afghan and in the Sikh Wars; there are now ten regiments of Goorkhas.

Gordian Knot, a knot by which the yoke was fastened to the beam of the chariot of Gordius (q. v.), and which no one could untie except the man who was destined to be the conqueror of Asia; Alexander the Great being ambitious to achieve this feat, tried hard to undo it, but failing, cut it with his sword and marched on to conquest.

Gordianus, the name of three Roman Emperors, father, son, and grandson. Marcus Antonius Gordianus, surnamed Africanus, rose to be an ædile, consul twice, and subsequently became proconsul of Africa; on the deposition of the Emperor Maximinus in 238, he, then in his eightieth year, was proclaimed emperor, his son (b. A.D. 192) being associated with him in the imperial office; grief at the death of his son, killed in battle, caused him to commit suicide a month after he had assumed the purple; he was a man of refined and generous nature. Marcus Antonius Gordianus, grandson of preceding, was early raised to the dignity of Cæsar, and in 238 rose to the rank of Augustus; his most important achievement was his driving back of the Persians beyond the Euphrates and his relief of Antioch; he was assassinated in 244 by his own soldiers while preparing to cross the Euphrates.

Gordius, a boor, the father of Midas (q. v.), who was proclaimed king of Phrygia because he happened, in response to the decree of an oracle, to be the first to ride into Gordium during a particular assembly of the people; he rode into the city on a waggon, to which the yoke was attached by the Gordian knot, and which he dedicated to Zeus.

Gordon, General Charles George, born at Woolwich, son of an artillery officer; entered the Royal Engineers; served in the Crimea as an officer in that department, and was, after the war, employed in defining the boundaries of Asiatic Turkey and Russia; being employed in 1860 on a mission to square up matters with the Chinese, on the settlement of the quarrel lent himself to the Emperor in the interest of good order, and it was through him that the Taiping Rebellion in 1863-64 was extinguished, whereby he earned the title of "Chinese" Gordon; he returned to England in 1865, and was for the next six years engaged in completing the defences of the Thames at Gravesend; he was Vice-Consul of the delta of the Danube during 1871-73, at the end of which term he conducted an expedition into Africa under the Khedive of Egypt, and was in 1877 appointed governor of the Soudan, in which capacity, by the confidence his character inspired, he succeeded in settling no end of troubles and allaying lifelong feuds; he relinquished this post in 1880, and in 1884, the English Government having resolved to evacuate the Soudan, he was commissioned to superintend the operation; he started off at once, and arrived at Khartoum in February of that year, where, by the end of April, all communication between him and Cairo was cut off; an expedition was fitted out for his relief, but was too late in arriving, the place was stormed by the Arabs, and he with his comrades fell dead under a volley of Arab musketry, January 28; from the commencement to the close of his career he distinguished himself as a genuine Christian and a brave man (1833-1885).

Gordon, Lord George, Anti-Papal agitator, born in London, son of the Duke of Gordon; he adopted the navy as a profession, and rose to be lieutenant; entered Parliament, and soon made himself conspicuous by his indiscriminate attacks on both Whigs and Tories; gave a passionate support to the London Protestant Association formed for the purpose of bringing about the repeal of the Catholic Emancipation Bill of 1778; in 1780, as President of the Association, took the leading part in the famous No Popery riots in London; was tried but acquitted, mainly through the eloquent defence of Erskine; subsequently he was excommunicated for contempt of court, and eventually, after endeavouring to escape prosecution for two treasonable pamphlets, was apprehended, and died in Newgate (1751-1793).

Gordon, Sir John Watson, a portrait-painter, born in Edinburgh; was a pupil of Raeburn's, and his successor as a painter of portraits; executed portraits of most of the eminent Scotchmen of his time, and among the number Sir Walter Scott, the Duke of Buccleuch, Lord Cockburn, Dr. Chalmers, and Professor Wilson (1788-1864).

Gore, Charles, canon of Westminster, a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, is an exponent of High Church tenets; the editor of Lux Mundi, and the author of the Bampton Lecture for 1891, on "The Incarnation of the Son of God"; b. 1853.

Görgei, Arthur, a Hungarian patriot; at the age of 27 entered the army, and designed to devote himself to the study of chemistry and the administration of his estate; but on the outbreak of the Revolution in 1848 he joined the revolutionists; crushed the Croatians at Ozora; at the head of a patriot army faced the Austrians under Windischgrätz on the western frontier, and despite a temporary repulse, succeeded in asserting the supremacy of the Hungarian cause in a series of victories; Russian assistance accorded to Austria, however, changed the fortune of war; Kossuth resigned, and Görgei became dictator; but hopeless of success, he immediately negotiated a peace with the Russians; in 1851 he published a vindication of his policy and surrender, and in 1885 was exonerated by his compatriots from the charges of treachery brought against him by Kossuth; b. 1818.

Gorgias, a celebrated Greek sophist, born at Syracuse, in Sicily; settled in Athens, a swashbuckler of a man, who attached himself to the Eleatics (q. v.), and especially Zeno, in order that by their dialectic "he might demonstrate that nothing exists, or if something exists, that it cannot be known, or if it can be known, that it cannot be communicated"; his work bore characteristically enough the title "Of the Non-Existent, or of Nature"!

Gorgons, three sisters, Medusa, Euryale, and Stheino, with hissing serpents on their heads instead of hair, of whom Medusa, the only one that was mortal, had the power of turning into stone any one who looked on her. See Perseus.

Gorham, George Cornelius, an English ecclesiastic; being presented to the vicarage of Bramford Speke, N. Devon, was refused institution by Dr. Philpotts, the bishop of Exeter, because he was unsound in the matter of baptismal regeneration, upon which he appealed to the Court of Arches, which confirmed the bishop's decision, but the sentence of the court was reversed by the Privy Council, and institution granted (1787-1857).

Görlitz (62), a fortified town in Prussian Silesia, 52 m. W. of Liegnitz, on the Meuse, where Jacob Boehme (q. v.) lived and died.

Gortschakoff, Michael, Russian general, brother of the succeeding; served in the war between Russia and Turkey in 1828-1829; commanded in the Danubian Principalities in 1853; distinguished himself in the defence of Sebastopol (1795-1861).

Gortschakoff, Prince, an eminent Russian general; was engaged in Finland in 1809, in the Turkish War in 1810, in the French War 1812-14, and the Crimean War (1789-1866).

Goschen, George Joachim, English statesman, born in London; entered Parliament in the Liberal interest in 1863; served in office under Lord John Russell and Mr. Gladstone; was opposed to Home Rule, joined the Liberal-Unionist party and holds office under Lord Salisbury as First Lord of the Admiralty; b. 1831.

Goshen, a fertile district along a branch of the Nile, in the eastern part of the delta of Lower Egypt; assigned by Pharaoh to the children of Israel when they came to sojourn in the land.

Gospels, the name by which the four accounts in the New Testament of the character, life, and teaching of Christ are designated; have been known since as early as the 3rd century, of which the first three are called "Synoptic," because they are summaries of the chief events, and go over the same ground in the history, while the author of the fourth gospel follows lines of his own; the former aim mainly at mere narrative, while the object of the latter is dogmatic, as well as probably to supply deficiencies in the former; moreover, the interest of John's account centres in the person of Christ and that of the others in His gospel; the writers were severally represented as attended, Matthew by a man, Mark by a lion, Luke by an ox, and John by an eagle.

Gosport (25), a fortified port and market-town in Hants, on the W. side of Portsmouth harbour, opposite Portsmouth, with which it is connected by a floating bridge; its industries embrace flourishing iron-works, barracks, the Royal Clarence Victualling Yard, and Haslar shipyard for the repair of gunboats.

Gosse, Edmund, poet, essayist, and critic, born in London, the son of the succeeding; author of "History of Eighteenth Century Literature," a collection of lyrics, and a series of monographs, in particular "Life of Gray"; b. 1849.

Gosse, Philip Henry, naturalist, horn at Worcester, in business in Newfoundland, Canada, and the United States; spent his leisure hours in the study of natural history, chiefly insects; after a visit of two years to Jamaica wrote an account of its birds; compiled several works introductory to the study of animal life, and latterly devoted himself to the study of marine animals (1810-1888).

Gotha (30), northern capital of the duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and seat of the reigning prince, the present Duke of Edinburgh, situated on the Leine Canal, 6 m. from the northern border of the Thuringian Forest; is picturesquely laid out, and has considerable manufactures, the famous Perthes' geographical publishing-house; Friedenstein Castle, the ducal residence, built in 1643, has a library of 200,000 vols. and 6000 MSS.

Gotham, a village of N. Nottinghamshire, the natives of which were made a laughing-stock of for their foolish sayings and doings, an instance of the latter being their alleged joining hand in hand round a bush to hedge in a cuckoo.

Gothamites, American cockneys, New York being called Gotham.

Gothard, St., the central mountain mass (9850 ft. high) of the Middle Alps and core of the whole Alpine system; it forms a watershed for rivers flowing in four different directions, including the Rhône and the Rhine; the famous pass (6936 ft.) from Lake Lucerne to Lake Maggiore forms an excellent carriage-way, has two hotels and a hospice at its summit; on the lower slopes is the St. Gothard railway (opened 1882), with its celebrated tunnel (9¼ m.), the longest in the world.

Gothenburg (109), the second town of Sweden, at the mouth of the Gotha, 284 m. SW. of Stockholm, is a clean and modernly built town, intersected by several canals; it has a splendid harbour, and one of the finest botanical gardens in Europe; its industries include shipbuilding, iron-works, sugar-refining, and fisheries; its licensing system has become famous; all shops for the sale of liquor are in the hands of a company licensed by government; profits beyond a five per cent. dividend to the shareholders are handed over to the municipality.

Gothic Architecture, a varied style of architecture distinguished by its high and sharply-pointed arches, clustered columns, which had its origin in the Middle Ages, and prevailed from the 12th to the 15th centuries, though the term Gothic was originally applied to it as indicating a barbarous degeneracy from the classic, which it superseded.

Gothland: 1 (2,595), the southernmost of the three old provinces of Sweden; chiefly mountainous, but with many fertile spaces; forest and lake scenery give a charm to the landscape; Gothenburg is the chief town. 2 (51), a Swedish island in the Baltic, 44 m. E. of the mainland, area 1217 sq. m.; forms, with other islands, the province of Gothland or Wisby; agriculture, fishing, and shipping are the main industries; Wisby is the chief town (also called Gottland).

Goths, a tribe of Teutons who in formidable numbers invaded the Roman empire from the east and north-east from as early as the third century, and though they were beaten back at the battle of Châlons, eventually broke it up.

Gottfried von Strasburg, a medieval German poet and one of the famous minnesingers; flourished in Strasburg at the close of the 12th century and beginning of the 13th; his great poem "Tristan und Isolde," completed in 1210, extends to 19,552 lines, and has a grace and freshness suggestive of Chaucer.

Göttingen (24), an ancient Hanoverian town, prettily situated in the valley of the Leine, 50 m. S. of Hanover; is chiefly noteworthy on account of its university (1734), with its library of 500,000 vols. and 5000 MSS.; the students exceed 800, and are instructed by 120 professors; there is a flourishing book-trade.

Gottsched, Johann Christoph, a German literary notability, born near Königsberg, professor of philosophy and belles-lettres at Leipzig; was throughout his life the literary dictator of Germany; did much to vindicate the rights and protect the purity of the German tongue, as well as to improve the drama, but he wrote and patronised a style of writing that was cold, stiff, and soulless (1700-1766).

Gough, Hugh, Viscount, a distinguished English general, born at Woodstown, in Limerick; he first saw service at the Cape and in the West Indies; afterwards fought with distinction in the Peninsular war; subsequently, as major-general, he took part in the Indian campaign of 1827, and in 1840 commanded the forces in China; during seven years (1843-50) he was commander-in-chief of the Indian army, and carried through successfully the Sikh Wars, which added the Punjab to the British dominions; in 1849 he was created a viscount, and a field-marshal in 1862 (1779-1869).

Gough, J. B., temperance orator, born in Kent; bred a bookbinder; early a victim to intemperance; took the pledge in 1842, and became an eloquent and powerful advocate of the temperance cause both in England and America (1817-1886).

Goujon, Jean, a celebrated French sculptor and architect, born at Paris; he did the reliefs on the Fountain of the Innocents and the façade of the old Louvre; was a Huguenot, but died before the massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572.

Gould, John, eminent ornithologist, born at Lyme Regis, Devonshire; his works are entitled "A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains," "The Birds of Europe," "The Birds of Australia," "The Birds of Asia," "The Birds of Great Britain," and "Humming-Birds," of which last he had an almost complete collection, only one wanting; the volumes in which these works were published were large folios and very expensive, with coloured illustrations of the birds described, the whole done under Mr. Gould's own eye, and in many cases by his own hand (1804-1881).

Gounod, Charles François, an eminent French composer, born at Paris; a prize gained at the Paris Conservatoire followed by a government pension enabled him to continue his studies at Rome, where he gave himself chiefly to the study of religious music; the "Messe Solenelle" was published on his return to Paris; turning his attention to opera he produced "Sappho" in 1851, a popular comic opera "Le Médecin malgré lui" in 1858, and a year later his famous setting of "Faust," which placed him in the front rank of composers; other operas followed, with various masses, anthems, hymns, &c.; his oratorio "Redemption," perhaps his masterpiece, appeared in 1882 (1818-1893).

Govan (63), a town in Lanarkshire, Scotland, on S. bank of the Clyde, virtually a western suburb of Glasgow; the staple industry is shipbuilding.

Gow, Nathaniel, youngest son of Neil, won celebrity as a composer of songs and other pieces; his 200 compositions include the popular "Caller Herrin'" (1766-1831).

Gow, Neil, a famous Scotch fiddler, born at Inver, near Dunkeld, of lowly origin; during his long life he enjoyed a wide popularity amongst the Scotch nobility, his especial patron being the Duke of Atholl; Raeburn painted his portrait on several occasions; he composed over a hundred strathspeys, laments, &c., giving a fresh impulse and character to Scotch music, but his fame rests mainly on his violin playing (1727-1807).

Gower, John, an English poet, contemporary and friend of Chaucer, but of an older school; was the author of three works: "Speculum Meditantis," the "Thinker's Mirror," written in French, lost for long, but recovered lately; "Vox Clamantis," the "Voice of One Crying," written in Latin, an allegorising, moralising poem, "cataloguing the vice of the time," and suggested by the Wat Tyler insurrection, 1381; and "Confessio Amantis," "Confession of a Lover," written in English, treating of the course of love, the morals and metaphysics of it, illustrated by a profusion of apposite tales; was appropriately called by Chaucer the "moral Grower"; his tomb is in St. Mary's, Southwark (1325-1408).

Gowkthrapple, a "pulpit-drumming" Covenanter preacher in "Waverley," described by Scott as in his own regard a "chosen vessel."

Gowrie Conspiracy, a remarkable and much disputed episode in the reign of James VI. of Scotland; the story goes that Alexander Ruthven and his brother, the Earl of Gowrie, enticed the king to come to Gowrie House in Perth on the 5th August 1600 for the purpose of murdering or kidnapping him, and that in the scuffle Ruthven and Gowrie perished. Historians have failed to trace any motive incriminating the brothers, while several good reasons have been brought to light why the king might have wished to get rid of them.

Gozo (17), an island in the Mediterranean which, together with Malta and Comino, forms a British crown colony; lies 4 m. NW. of Malta. Babato is the chief town.

Gozzi, Count Carlo, Italian dramatist, born at Venice; was 39 when his first dramatic piece, "Three Oranges," brought him prominently before the public; he followed up this success with a series of dramas designed to uphold the old methods of Italian dramatic art, and to resist the efforts of Goldoni and Chiari to introduce French models; these plays dealing with wonderful adventures and enchantments in the manner of Eastern tales ("dramatic fairy tales," he called them), enjoyed a wide popularity, and spread to Germany and France. Schiller translated "Turandot" (1722-1806).—His elder brother, Count Gasparo Gozzi, was an active littérateur; the author of various translations, essays on literature, besides editor of a couple of journals; was press censor in Venice for a time, and was in his later days engaged in school and university work (1713-1786).

Gracchus, Caius Sempronius, Roman tribune and reformer, brother of the succeeding, nine years his junior; devoted himself and his oratory on his brother's death to carry out his measures; was chosen tribune in 123 B.C., and re-elected in 122; his measures of reform were opposed and undone by the Senate, and being declared a public enemy he was driven to bay, his friends rallying round him in arms, when a combat took place in which 3000 fell, upon which Gracchus made his slave put him to death; "overthrown by the Patricians," he is said, "when struck with the fatal stab, to have flung dust toward heaven, and called on the avenging deities; and from this dust," says one, "there was born Marius—not so illustrious for exterminating the Cimbri as for overturning in Rome the tyranny of the nobles."

Gracchus, Tiberius Sempronius, Roman tribune and reformer, eldest son of Cornelia, and brought up by her; proposed, among others, a measure for the more equal distribution of the public land, which he had to battle for against heavy odds three successive times, but carried it the third time; was killed with others of his followers afterwards in a riot, and his body thrown into the Tiber and refused burial, 138 B.C., aged 40.

Grace, the term in Scripture for that which is the free gift of God, unmerited by man and of eternal benefit to him.

Grace, Dr. W. G., the celebrated cricketer, born near Bristol; distinguished as a batsman, fielder, and bowler; earned the title of champion, which was spontaneously and by universal consent conferred on him; has written on cricket; b. 1848.

Grace Cup, a silver bowl with two handles passed round the table after grace at all banquets in London City.

Graces, The, reckoned at one time two in number, but originally they appear to have been regarded as being, what at bottom they are, one. At last they are spoken of as three, and called Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia: Thalia, the blooming one, or life in full bloom; Euphrosyne, the cheerful one, or life in the exuberance of joy and sympathy; and Aglaia, the shining one, or life in its effulgence of sunny splendour and glory. But these three are one, involved each in the other, and made perfect in one. There is not Thalia by herself, or Aglaia, but where one truly is, there, in the same being also, the other two are. They are three sisters, as such always inseparable, and in their inseparability alone are Graces. Their secret is not learned from one, but from all three; and they give grace only with fulness, buoyancy, and radiancy of soul, or life, united all in one. They are in essence the soul in its fulness of life and sympathy, pouring itself rhythmically through every obstruction, before which the most solid becomes fluid, transparent, and radiant of itself.

Graciosa, a princess in a fairy tale, persecuted by her stepmother, and protected by Prince Percinet, her lover.

Gracioso, a fool in a Spanish comedy, who ever and anon appears on the stage during the performance with his jokes and gibes.

Gradgrind, a character in "Hard Times," who weighs and measures everything by a hard and fast rule and makes no allowances.

Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, Duke of, English statesman in the reign of George III.; held various offices of State under Rockingham, Chatham, and North; was bitterly assailed in the famous "Junius Letters" (1735-1811).

Graham, Sir John, companion of Sir William Wallace, who fell at the battle of Falkirk.

Graham, John, Viscount Dundee. See Claverhouse.

Graham, Thomas, celebrated Scottish chemist, born in Glasgow, where in 1830 he became professor of Chemistry in the Andersonian University; seven years later he was appointed to a similar chair in University College, London; in 1855 he resigned his professorship on succeeding Herschel as Master of the Mint; his name is honourably associated with important researches relating to the diffusion of gases and liquids, and with contributions to the atomic theory of matter (1805-1869).

Grahame, James, a Scottish poet, born in Glasgow; bred a lawyer; took to the Church; author of a poem on the "Sabbath," instinct with devout feeling, and containing good descriptive passages (1765-1811).

Graham's Dyke, a Roman wall extending between the Firths of Forth and Clyde.

Grahamstown (16), capital of the eastern province of Cape Colony, 25 m. from the sea and 106 m. NE. of Port Elizabeth; is beautifully situated 1728 ft. above sea-level at the base of the Zuurberg Mountains; has an exceedingly salubrious climate; some fine buildings, and is the seat both of a Catholic and a Protestant bishop.

Graiæ, three old women in the Greek mythology, born with grey hair, had only one tooth and one eye among them, which they borrowed from each other as they wanted them; were personifications of old age.

Grail, The Holy, the cup or vessel, said to have been made of an emerald stone, that was used by Christ at the Last Supper, and in which Joseph of Arimathea caught up the blood that flowed from His wounds on the Cross; it was brought to England by Joseph, it is alleged, but after a term disappeared; to recover it formed an object of quest to the Knights of the Round Table, in which Sir Galahad succeeded, when it was seen by certain other knights, but it has not been seen since, for none is permitted to see it or can set eye on it but such as are of a pure heart.