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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bramshall, Hampshire, has a similar tale and chest.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gipsey, the favorite greyhound of Charles I.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Girdle of Opakka, foresight and prudence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Glasgow Arms, an oak tree with a bird above it, and a bell hanging from one of the branches; at the foot of the tree a salmon with a ring in its mouth. The legend is that St. Kentigern built the city and hung a bell in an oak tree to summon the men to work. This accounts for the “oak and bell.” Now for the rest: A Scottish queen, having formed an illicit attachment to a soldier, presented her paramour with a ring, the gift of her royal husband. This coming to the knowledge of the king, he contrived to abstract it from the soldier while he was asleep, threw it into the Clyde, and then asked his queen to show it him. The queen, in great alarm, ran to St. Kentigern, and confessed her crime. The father confessor went to the Clyde, drew out a salmon with the ring in its mouth, handed it to the queen, and by this means both prevented a scandal and reformed the repentant lady.

A similar legend is told of Dame Rebecca Berry, wife of Thomas Elton of Stratford Bow, and relict of Sir John Berry, 1696. She is the heroine of the ballad called The Cruel Knight. The story runs thus: A knight, passing by a cottage, heard the cries of a woman in labor. By his knowledge of the occult sciences, he knew that the infant was doomed to be his future wife; but he determined to elude his destiny. When the child was of a marriageable age, he took her to the seaside, intending to drown her, but relented, and, throwing a ring into the sea, commanded her never to see his face again, upon pain of death, till she brought back that ring with her. The damsel now went as cook to a noble family, and one day, as she was preparing a cod-fish for dinner, she found the ring in the fish, took it to the knight, and thus became the bride of Sir John Berry. The Berry arms show a fish, and in the dexter chief a ring.

Glass (Mrs.), a tobacconist, in London, who befriended Jeanie Deans while she sojourned in town, whither she had come to crave pardon from the queen for Effie Deans, her half-sister, lying under sentence of death for the murder of her infant born before wedlock.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Glass Armor. When Cherry went to encounter the dragon that guarded the singing apple, he arrayed himself in glass armor, which reflected objects like a mirror. Consequently, when the monster came against him, seeing its reflection in every part of the armor, it fancied hundreds of dragons were coming against it, and ran away in alarm into a cave, which Cherry instantly closed up, and thus became master of the situation.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“Princess Fairstar,” 1682).

Glasse (Mrs.), author of a cookery-book immortalized by the saying, “First catch [skin] your hair, then cook it.” Mrs. Glasse is the nom de plume of Dr. John Hill (1716-1775).

Glas´tonbury, in Arthurian romance, was the burial place of King Arthur. Selden, in his Illustrations of Drayton, gives an account of Arthur’s tomb “betwixt two pillars,” and says that “Henry II. gave command to Henry de Bois (then abbot of Glastonbury) to make great search for the body of the British king, which was found in a wooden coffin some 16 foote deepe, and afterwards they found a stone on whose lower side was fixed a leaden cross with the name inscribed.”

Glastonbury Thorn. The legend is that Joseph of Arimatheēa stuck his staff into the ground in “the sacred isle of Glastonbury,” and that this thorn blossoms “on Christmas Day” every year. St. Joseph was buried at Glastonbury.

Glatisant, the questing beast. It had the head of a serpent, the body of a libbard, buttocks of a lion, foot of a hart, and in its body “there was a noise like that of thirty couple of hounds questing” (i.e. in full cry). Sir Palomi´dês the Saracen was forever following this beast.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, ii. 52, 53, 149 (1470).

Glau´ce (2 syl.), nurse of the Princess Brit´omart. She tried by charms to “undo” her lady’s love for Sir Artegal, “but love that is in gentle heart begun, no idle charm can remove.” Finding her sorcery useless, she took the princess to consult Merlin, and Merlin told her that by marrying Artegal she would found a race of kings from which would arise “a royal virgin that shall shake the power of Spain.” The two now started in quest of the knight, but in time got separated. Glaucê became “the squire” of Sir Scu´damore, but re-appears (bk. iii. 12) after the combat between Britomart and Artegal, reconciles the combatants, and the princess consents “to be the love of Artegal, and to take him for her lord” (bk. iv. 5, 6).—Spenser, Faëry Queen (1590, 1596).

Glaucus, accomplished young Athenian, whose house in Pompeii is a marvel of beauty and taste. He loves Ione, and is beloved by Nydia, the blind flower-girl. He is rescued from a terrible fate in the ampitheatre by the eruption of Vesuvius, escapes from the city, guided by Nydia, and weds Ione.—E. L. Bulwer, Last Days of Pompeii (1834).

Glaucus, a fisherman of Boæ´tia. He observed that all the fish which he laid on the grass received fresh vigor, and immediately leaped into the sea. This grass had been planted by Kronos, and when Glaucus tasted it, he also leaped into the sea, and became a prophetic marine deity. Once a year he visited all the coasts of Greece, to utter his predictions. Glaucus is the sailors’ patron deity.

Glaucus, son of Hippolytus. Being smothered in a tub of honey, he was restored to life by [a] dragon given him by Escula´pios (probably a medicine so called.)—Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 23.

Glaucus, of Chios, inventor of the art of soldering metal. Pausanias, Itinerary of Greece.

A second Glaucus, one who ruins himself by horses. This refers to Glaucus, son of Sis´yphos, who was killed by his horses. Some say he was trampled to death by them, and some that he was eaten by them.

Glauci et Diomēdis permutatio, a very foolish exchange. Homer (Iliad, vi.) tells us that Glaucus changed his golden armor for the iron one of Diomēdês. The French say, C’est le troc de Glaucus et de Diomede. This Glaucus was the grandson of Bellerophon. (In Greek, “Glaukos.”)

Glegg (Mrs.),one of the Dodson sisters in George Eliot’s Mill on the Floss, and the least amiable. When displeased or thwarted she takes to her bed, reads Baxter’s Saints’ Rest, and lives on water-gruel.

Glenallan (Joscelind, dowager countess of), whose funeral takes place by torchlight in the Catholic chapel.

The earl of Glenallan, son of the dowager countess.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Glenalvon, heir of Lord Randolph. When young Norval, the son of Lady Randolph, makes his unexpected appearance, Glenalvon sees in him a rival, whom he hates. He pretends to Lord Randolph that the young man is a suitor of Lady Randolph’s, and, having excited the passion of jealousy, contrives to bring his lordship to a place where he witnesses their endearments. A fight ensues, in which Norval slays Glenalvon, but is himself slain by Lord Randolph, who then discovers too late that the supposed suitor was his wife’s son.—Home, Douglas (1757).

Glencoe (2 syl.), the scene of the massacre of M’Ian and thirty-eight of his glenmen, in 1692. All Jacobites were commanded to submit to William III. by the end of December, 1691. M’Ian was detained by a heavy fall of snow, and Sir John Dalrymple, the master of Stair, sent Captain Campbell to make an example of “the rebel.”

⁂ Talfourd has a drama entitled Glencoe, or the Fall of the M’Donalds.

Glendale (Sir Richard), a papist conspirator with Redgauntlet.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Glendin´ning (Elspeth) or Elspeth Brydone (2 syl.), widow of Simon Glendinning, of the Tower of Glendearg.

Halbert and Edward Glendinning, sons of Elspeth Glendinning.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (time, Elizabeth).

Glendinning (Sir Halbert), the knight of Avenel, husband of Lady Mary of Avenel (2 syl.).—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).

Glendoveer´, plu. Glendoveers, the most beautiful of the good spirits of Hindû mythology.

Glendow´er (Owen), a Welsh nobleman, descended from Llewellyn (last of the Welsh kings). Sir Edmund Mortimer married one of his daughters. Shakespeare makes him a wizard, but very highly accomplished.—Shakespeare, 1 Henry IV. (1597).

Glengar´ry. So M’Donald of Glengarry (who gave in his adhesion to William III.) is generally called.

Glenpro´sing (The old lady), a neighbor of old Jasper Yellowley.—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).

Glenthorn (Lord), the hero of Miss Edgeworth’s novel called Ennui. Spoiled by indolence and bad education, he succeeds, by a course of self-discipline, in curing his mental and moral faults, and in becoming a useful member of society (1809).

The history of Lord Glenthorn affords a striking picture of ennui, and contains some excellent delineations of character.—Chambers, English Literature, ii. 569.

Glenvar´loch (Lord), or Nigel Olifaunt, the hero of Scott’s novel called The Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Glinter, the palace of Foresti “the peace-maker,” son of Balder. It was raised on pillars of gold, and had a silver roof.

Gloria´na, “the greatest glorious queen of Faëry-land.”

By Gloriana I mean [true] Glory in my general intention, but in my particular I conceive the most excellent and glorious person of our sovereign the queen [Elizabeth], and her kingdom is Faerye-land.—Spenser, Introduction to The Faëry Queen (1590).

Glorious John, John Dryden (1631-1701).

Glorious Preacher (The), St. John Chrysostom (i.e. John Goldenmouth, 354-407).

Glory (Old), Sir Francis Burdett (1770-1844).

Glory (Mc Whirk). Irish girl rescued from wretched dependence by a benevolent woman, and made at home in a comfortable dwelling. She has a big, warm heart that yearns over everything helpless and hurt, and, whereas, in her childhood, she mourned over “the good times” she was “not in,” she comes to rejoice constantly in the blessed truth that she is “in” them all.—A.D.T. Whitney, Faith Gartney’s Girlhood (1863).

Glossin (Mr. Gilbert), a lawyer, who purchases the Ellangowan estate, and is convicted by Counsellor Pleydell of kidnapping Henry Bertram, the heir. Both Glossin and Dirk Hatteraick, his accomplice, are sent to prison, and in the night Hatteraick first strangles the lawyer and then hangs himself.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Gloucester (The duke of), brother of Charles II.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).

Gloucester (Richard, duke of), in the court of King Edward IV.—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.)

Gloucester, (The earl of), in the court of King Henry II.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

Glover (Simon), the old glover of Perth, and father of the “fair maid.”

Catharine Glover, “the fair maid of Perth,” daughter of Simon the glover, and subsequently bride of Henry Smith the armorer.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Glover (Heins), the betrothed of Trudchen [i.e. Gertrude] Pavillon, daughter of the syndic’s wife.—Sir W. Scott, Quentin Durward (time, Edward IV.).

Glowrowrum (The old lady), a friend of Magnus Troil.—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).

Glück, a German musical composer, greatly patronized by Marie Antoinette. Young France set up against him the Italian Piccini. Between 1774 and 1780 every street, coffee-house, school and drawing-room in Paris canvassed the merits of these two composers, not on the score of their respective talents, but as the representatives of the German and Italian schools of music. The partisans of the German school were called Glückists, and those of the Italian school Piccinists.

⁂ A similar contest raged in England between the Bononcinists and Handelists.Handelists. The prince of Wales was the leader of the Handel or German party, and the duke of Marlborough of the Bononcini or Italian school. (See Tweedledum.)

Glumdalca, queen of the giants, captive in the court of King Arthur. The king cast love-glances at her, and made Queen Dollallolla jealous; but the giantess loved Lord Grizzle, and Lord Grizzle loved the Princess Huncamunca, and Huncamunca loved the valiant Tom Thumb.—Tom Thumb, by Fielding the novelist (1730), altered by O’Hara, author of Midas (1778).

Glum-dal´clitch, a girl nine years old “and only forty feet high.” Being such a “little thing,” the charge of Gulliver was committed to her during his sojourn in Brobdingnag.—Swift, Gulliver’s Travels.

Glumms, the male population of the imaginary country Nosmnbdsgrsutt, visited by Peter Wilkins. The Glumms, like the females, called gawreys (q.v.), had wings, which served both for flying and dress—R. Pultock, Peter Wilkins (1750).

Glutton (The), Vitellius, the Roman emperor (born a.d. 15, reigned 69, died 69). Visiting the field after the battle of Bedriac, in Gaul, he exclaimed, “The body of a dead enemy is a delightful perfume.”

⁂ Charles IX. of France, when he went in grand procession to visit the gibbet on which Admiral Coligny was hanging, had the wretched heartlessness to exclaim, in doggerel verse;

Glutton (The), Gabius Apicius, who lived during the reign of Tiberius. He spent £800,000 on the luxuries of the table, and when only £80,000 of his large fortune remained, he hanged himself, thinking death preferable to “starvation on such a miserable pittance.”

Glynn (The Marshes of). Title of a poem by Sidney Lanier, descriptive of a marsh on the Southern coast.

Gna, the messenger of Frigga.—Scandinavian Mythology.

Goats. The Pleiades are called in Spain The Seven Little Goats.

So it happened that we passed close to the Seven Little Goats.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. iii. 5 (1615).

⁂ Sancho Panza affirmed that two of the goats were of a green color, two carnation, two blue, and one motley; “but,” he adds, “no he-goat or cuckold ever passes beyond the horns of the moon.”

Goatsnose, a prophet, born deaf and dumb, who uttered his predictions by signs.—Rabelais, Pantag´ruel, iii. 20 (1545).

Gobbo (Old), the father of Launcelot. He was stone blind.

Launcelot Gobbo, son of Old Gobbo. He left the service of Shylock the Jew for that of Bassa´nio, a Christian. Launcelot Gobbo is one of the famous clowns of Shakespeare.—Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice (1698).

Gob´ilyve (Godfrey), the assumed name of False Report. He is described as a dwarf, with great head, large brows, hollow eyes, crooked nose, hairy cheeks, a pied beard, hanging lips, and black teeth. His neck was short, his shoulders awry, his breast fat, his arms long, his legs “kewed,” and he rode “brigge-a-bragge on a little nag.” He told Sir Graunde Amoure he was wandering over the world to find a virtuous wife, but hitherto without success. Lady Correction met the party, and commanded Gobilyve (3 syl.) to be severely beaten for a lying varlet.—Stephen Hawes, The Passe-tyme of Plesure, xxix., xxxi., xxxii. (1515).

Gobseck, a grasping money-lender, the hero and title of one of Balzac’s novels.

God.

Full of the god, full of wine, partly intoxicated.

God made the country, and man made the town.—Cowper’s Task (“The Sofa”). Varro, in his De Re Rustica, has: “Divina“Divina Natura agros dedit, ars humana ædificavit urbes.”

God sides with the strongest. Napoleon I. said, “Le bon Dieu est toujours du coté des gros bataillons.” Julius Cæsar made the same remark.

Godam, a nickname applied by the French to the English, in allusion to a once popular oath.

Godfrey (de Bouillon), the chosen chief of the allied crusaders, who went to wrest Jerusalem from the hands of the Saracens. He was calm, circumspect, prudent, and brave. Godfrey despised “worldly empire, wealth, and fame.”—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

Godfrey (Sir Edmondbury), a magistrate killed by the papists. He was very active in laying bare their nefarious schemes, and his body was found pierced with his own sword, in 1678.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

⁂ Dryden calls Sir Edmondbury “Agag,” and Dr. Titus Otes he calls “Corah.”

Godfrey (Miss), an heiress, daughter of an Indian governor.—Sam. Foote, The Liar (1761).

God´inez (Doctor), a schoolmaster, “the most expert flogger in Oviedo” [Ov.e.a.´do]. He taught Gil Blas, and “in six years his worthy pupil understood a little Greek, and was a tolerable Latin scholar.”—Lesage, Gil Blas, i. (1716).

Godi´va or Godgifu, wife of Earl Leofric. The tale is that she begged her husband to remit a certain tax which oppressed the people of Coventry. Leofric said he would do so only on one condition—that she would ride naked through the city at midday. So the lady gave orders that all people should shut up their windows and doors; and she rode naked through the town, and delivered the people from the tax. The tale further says that all the people did as the lady bade them except Peeping Tom, who looked out, and was struck blind.

⁂ This legend is told at length by Drayton in his Polyolbion, xiii. (1613).

Godless Florins, English two-shilling pieces issued by Shiel when master of the mint. He was a Roman Catholic, and left out F.D. (defender of the faith) from the legend. They were issued and called in the same year (1849).

Godmanchester Hogs and Huntingdon Sturgeon.

During a very high flood in the meadows between Huntingdon and Godmanchester, something was seen floating, which the Godmanchester people thought was a black hog, and the Huntingdon folk declared was a sturgeon. When rescued from the waters, it proved to be a young donkey.—Lord Braybrooke (Pepys, Diary, May 22, 1667).

Godmer, a British giant, son of Albion, slain by Canu´tus, one of the companions of Brute.

Goëmot or Goëmagot, a British giant, twelve cubits high, and of such prodigious strength that he could pull up a full-grown oak at one tug. Same as Gogmagog (q.v.).

On a certain day, when Brutus was holding a solemn festival to the gods ... this giant, with twenty more of his companions, came in upon the Britons, among whom he made a dreadful slaughter; but the Britons at last ... killed them every one but Goëmagot ... him Brutus preserved alive, out of a desire to see a combat between the giant and Corineus, who took delight in such encounters.... Corineus carried him to the top of a high rock, and tossed him into the sea.—Geoffrey, British History, i. 16 (1142).

Goëmagot’s Leap, or “Lam Goemagot,” now called Haw, near Plymouth; the place where the giant fell when Corin’eus (3 syl.) tossed him down the craggy rocks, by which he was mangled to pieces.—Geoffrey, British History, i. 16 (1142).

⁂ Southey calls the word Lan-gœ-mā-gog. (See Gogmagog).

Goer´vyl, sister of Prince Madoc, and daughter of Owen, late king of North Wales. She accompanied her brother to America, and formed one of the colony of Caer-madoc, south of the Missouri (twelfth century).—Southey, Madoc (1805).

Goetz von Berlichingen, or Gottfried of the Iron Hand, a famous German burgrave, who lost his right hand at the siege of Landshut. The iron hand which replaced the one he had lost is still shown at Jaxthausen, the place of his birth. Gottfried took a prominent part in the wars of independence against the electors of Brandenberg and Bavaria, in the sixteenth century (1480-1562).

⁂ Goethe has made this the title and subject of an historical drama.

Goffe (Captain), captain of the pirate vessel.—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).

Gog, according to Ezek. xxxviii., xxxix., was “prince of Magog”Magog”, (a country or people). Calmet says Camby´sês, king of Persia, is meant; but others think Antiochus Epiph´anês is alluded to.

Gog, in Rev. xx. 7-9, means Antichrist. Gog and Magog, in conjunction, mean all princes of the earth who are enemies of the Christian Church.

⁂ Sale says Gog is a Turkish tribe.—Al Korân, xviii. note.

Gog and Magog. Prester John in his letter to Manuel Comnēnus, emperor of Constantinople, speaks of Gog and Magog as two separate nations tributary to him. These, with thirteen others, he says, are now shut up behind inaccessible mountains, but at the end of the world they will be let loose, and overrun the whole earth.—Albericus Trium Fontium, Chronicles (1242).

Sale tells us that Gog and Magog are called by the Arabs “Yajui” and “Ma-jûj,” which are two nations or tribes descended from Japhet, son of Noah. Gog, according to some authorities, is a Turkish tribe; and Magog is the tribe called “Gilân” by Ptolemy, and “Geli” or “Gelæ” by Strabo.—Al Korân, xviii. note.

Respecting the re-appearance of Gog and Magog, the Korân says: “They [the dead] shall not return ... till Gog and Magog have a passage opened for them, and they [the dead] shall hasten from every high hill,” i.e. the resurrection (ch. xxi.).

Gog and Magog. The two statues of Guildhall so called are in reality the statues of Gogmagog or Goëmagot and Corineus, referred to in the next article. (See also Corineus.) The Albion giant is known by his pole-axe and spiked ball. Two statues so called stood on the same spot in the reign of Henry V.; but those now seen were made by Richard Saunders, in 1708, and are fourteen feet in height.

In Hone’s time, children and country visitors were told that every day, when the giants heard the clock strike twelve, they came down to dinner.—Old and New London, i. 387.

Another tale was that they then fell foul of each other in angry combat.

Gog´magog, king of the Albion giants, eighteen feet in height, killed by Corin in a wrestling match, and flung by him over the Hoe or Haw of Plymouth. For this achievement, Brute gave his follower all that horn of land now called Cornwall, Cor´n[w]all, a contraction of Corinall. The contest is described by Drayton in his Polyolbion, i. (1612).