Graunde Armoure’s sword, Clare Prudence.

Grave´airs (Lady), a lady of very dubious virtue, in The Careless Husband, by Colley Cibber (1704).

Mrs. Hamilton [1730-1788], upon her entrance, was saluted with a storm of hisses, and advancing to the footlights said, “Gemmen and ladies, I s’pose as how you hiss me because I wouldn’t play ‘Lady Graveairs’ last night at Mrs. Bellamy’s benefit. I would have done so, but she said as how my audience stunk, and were all tripe people.” The pit roared with laughter, and the whole house shouted “Mrs. Tripe!” a title which the fair speechifier retained ever after.—Memoir of Mrs. Hamilton (1803.)

Gray, (Old Alice), a former tenant of the Ravenswood family.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).

Gray (Dr. Gideon), the surgeon at Middlemas.

Mrs. Gray, the surgeon’s wife.

Menie Gray, the “surgeon’s daughter,” taken to India and given to Tippoo Saib as an addition to his harem, but, being rescued by Hyder Ali, was restored to Hartley; after which she returned to her country.—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon’s Daughter (time, George II.).

Gray (Daniel). A Christian of the olden type; Puritan by ancestry, rigid in creed, austere in manner. Supposed to be a portrait of the author’s father.

Yet so true of heart and faithful in duty to God and man that—

Gray (Duncan) wooed a young lass called Maggie, but as Duncan looked asklent, Maggie “coost her head” and bade Duncan behave himself. “Duncan fleeched, and Duncan prayed,” but Meg was deaf to his pleadings; so Duncan took himself off in dudgeon. This was more than Maggie meant, so she fell sick and like to die. As Duncan “could na be her death,” he came forward manfully again, and then “they were crouse [merry] and canty bath. Ha, ha! the wooing o’t.”—R. Burns, Duncan Gray (1792).

Gray (Mary), daughter of a country gentleman of Perth. When the plague broke out in 1668, Mary Gray and her friend Bessy Bell retired to an unfrequented spot called Burn Braes, where they lived in a secluded cottage and saw no one. A young gentleman brought them food, but he caught the plague, communicated it to the two ladies, and all three died.—Allan Ramsay, Bessy Bell and Mary Gray.

Gray (Auld Robin). Jennie, a Scotch lass, was loved by young Jamie; “but saving a crown, he had naething else besides.” To make that crown a pound, young Jamie went to sea, and both were to be for Jennie. He had not been gone many days when Jennie’s mother fell sick, her father broke his arm, and their cow was stolen; then auld Robin came forward and maintained them both. Auld Robin loved the lass, and “wi’ tears in his ’ee,” said, “Jennie, for their sakes, oh, marry me!” Jennie’s heart said “nay,” for she looked for Jamie back; but her father urged her, and the mother pleaded with her eye, and so she consented. They had not been married above a month when Jamie returned. They met; she gave him one kiss, and though she “gang like a ghaist,” she made up her mind, like a brave good lassie, to be a gude wife, for auld Robin was very kind to her (1772).

This ballad was composed by Lady Anne Lindsay, daughter of the earl of Balcarres (afterwards Lady Barnard). It was written to an old Scotch tune called The Bridegroom Grat when the Sun went down. Auld Robin Gray was her father’s herdsman. When Lady Anne was writing the ballad, and was piling distress on Jennie, she told her sister that she had sent Jamie to sea, made the mother sick, and broken the father’s arm, but wanted a fourth calamity. “Steal the cow, sister Anne,” said the little Elizabeth; and so “the cow was stolen awa’,” and the song completed.

Grayson (Mrs.). Brave wife who, weaponless and alone, when an Indian tries to enter the block-house by an upper window, clamps his wrist to the window sill in such a way that, as his foot slips, he is suspended by it. He hangs thus for a moment, and the wrist breaks. She lets him go, and he falls to ground without.—William Gilmore Simms, The Yemassee (1835).

Graysteel, the sword of Kol, fatal to its owner. It passed into several hands, and always brought ill-luck with it.—Icelandic Edda.

Gray Swan. Ship in which a sailor-boy sails away, not to return for twenty years, when he comes back to his mother and incites her to defence of the missing son by feigning to blame him for his twenty years’ silence. Her spirited vindication of her darling causes him to discover himself to her.—Alice Cary, Poems (1876).

Great Captain (The), Gonsalvo de Cor´dova, el Gran Capitan (1453-1515).

Manuel I. [Comnēnus], emperor of Trebizond, is so called also (1120, 1143-1180).

Great Cham of Literature, Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784).

Great Commoner (The), William Pitt (1759-1806).

Great Dauphin (The), Louis, the son of Louis XIV. (1661-1711).

⁂ The “Little Dauphin” was the duke of Bourgoyne, son of the Great or Grand Dauphin. Both died before Louis XIV.

Great Duke (The), the duke of Wellington (1769-1852).

Great-Head or Canmore, Malcolm III. of Scotland (* 1057-1093).

Great Heart. The valiant guide reappears in George Wood’s satire. Modern Pilgrims, published in 1855.

Great-heart (Mr.), the guide of Christiana and her family to the Celestial City. Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, ii. (1685).

Great Magician (The) or The Great Magician of the North, Sir Walter Scott. So called by Professor John Wilson (1771-1832).

Great Marquis (The), James Graham, marquis of Montrose (1612-1650).

Great Marquis (The), Dom Sebastiano Jose de Carvalho, Marquis de Pombal, greatest of all the Portuguese statesmenstatesmen (1699-1782).

Great Moralist (The), Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784).

Great Unknown (The), Sir Walter Scott, who published his Waverley Novels anonymously (1771-1832).

Great Unwashed (The). The artisan class were first so called by Sir W. Scott.

Greaves (Sir LauncelotLauncelot), a well-bred young English squire of the George II. period; handsome, virtuous, and enlightened, but crack-brained. He sets out, attended by an old sea-captain, to detect fraud and treason, abase insolence, mortify pride, discourage slander, disgrace immodesty, and punish ingratitude. Sir Launcelot, in fact, is a modern Don Quixote, and Captain Crow is his Sancho Panza. T. Smollet, The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves (1760).

Smollett became editor of the Critical Review, and an attack in that journal on Admiral Knowles led to a trial for libel. The author was sentenced to pay a fine of £100, and suffer three months imprisonment. He consoled himself in prison by writing his novel of Launcelot Greaves.—Chambers, English Literature, ii. 65.

Grecian Daughter (The), Euphrasia, daughter of Evander, a Greek who dethroned Dionysius the Elder, and became king of Syracuse. In his old age he was himself dethroned by Dionysius the Younger, and confined in a dungeon in a rock, where he was saved from starvation by his daughter, who fed him with “the milk designed for her own babe.” Timoleon having made himself master of Syracuse, Dionysius accidentally encountered Evander, his prisoner, and was about to kill him, when Euphrasia rushed forward and stabbed the tyranttyrant to the heart.—A. Murphy, The Grecian Daughter (1772).

⁂ As an historical drama, this plot is much the same as if the writer had said that James I. (of England) abdicated and retired to St. Germain, and when his son James II. succeeded to the crown, he was beheaded at White hall; for Murphy makes Dionysius the Elder to have been dethroned, and going to Corinth to live (act i.), and Dionysius the Younger to have been slain by the dagger of Euphrasia; whereas Dionysius the Elder never was dethroned, but died in Syracuse at the age of 63; and Dionysius the Younger was not slain in Syracuse, but being dethroned, went to Corinth, where he lived and died in exile.

Greedy (Justice), thin as a thread paper, always eating and always hungry. He says to Sir Giles Overreach (act iii. 1), “Oh, I do much honor a chine of beef! Oh, I do reverence a loin of veal!” As a justice, he is most venial—the promise of a turkey will buy him, but the promise of a haunch of venisonvenison will out-buy him.—Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts (1628).

Greek Church (Fathers of the): Eusebius, Athana´sius, Basil “the great,” Gregory Nazianze´nus, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril of Jerusalem, Chrys´ostom, Epipha´nius, Cyril of Alexandria, and Ephraim, deacon of Edessa.

Greeks (Last of the) Philopœ´men of Megalop´olis, whose great object was to infuse into the Achæans a military spirit, and establish their independence (B.C. 252-183).

Greeks joined Greeks. Clytus said to Alexander that Philip was the greater warrior:

⁂ Slightly altered into When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war. This line of Nathaniel Lee has become a household phrase.

To play the Greek, to act like a harlot. When Cressid says of Helen, “Then she’s a merry Greek indeed,” she means that Helen is no better than a fille publique. Probably Shakespeare had his eye upon “fair Hiren,” in Peel’s play called The Turkish Mahomet and Hyren the Fair Greek. “A fair Greek” was at one time a euphemism for a courtezan.

Green (Mr. Paddington), clerk at Somerset House.

Mrs. Paddington Green, his wife.—T.M. Morton, If I had a Thousand a Year.

Green (Verdant), a young man of infinite simplicity, who goes to college, and is played upon by all the practical jokers of alma mater. After he has bought his knowledge by experience, the butt becomes the “butter” of juveniles greener than himself. Verdant Green wore spectacles, which won for him the nickname of “Gig-lamps.”—Cuthbert Bede [Rev. Edw. Bradley], Verdant Green (1860).

Green (Widow), a rich, buxom dame of 40, who married first for money, and intended to choose her second husband “to please her vanity.” She fancied Waller loved her, and meant to make her his wife, but Sir William Fondlove was her adorer. When the politic widow discovered that Waller had fixed his love on another, she gave her hand to the old beau, Sir William; for if the news got wind of her love for Waller, she would become the laughing-stock of all her friends.—S. Knowles, The Love-Chase (1837).

Green Bird (The), a bird that told one everything it was asked. An oracular bird, obtained by Fairstar after the failure of Cherry and her two brothers. It was this bird who revealed to the king that Fairstar was his daughter and Cherry his nephew. Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“Fairstar and Prince Cherry,” 1682).

Green Horse (The), the 5th Dragoon Guards (not the 5th Dragoons). So called from their green velvet facings.

Green Howard, (The), the 19th Foot. So called from the Hon. Charles Howard, their colonel from 1738 to 1748.

Green Knight (The), Sir Pertolope (3 syl.), called by Tennyson “Evening Star” or “Hesperus.” He was one of the four brothers who kept the passages of Castle Perilous, and was overthrown by Sir Gareth.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 127 (1470); Tennyson, Idylls (“Gareth and Lynette”).

⁂ Tennyson in his “Gareth and Lynette” chooses to call the Green Knight “Evening Star,” and the Blue Knight “Morning Star.” In the old romance the combat with the “Green Knight” was at dawn, and with the “Blue Knight” at sunset.—See Notes and Queries (February 16, 1878).

Green Knight (The), a pagan knight, who demanded Fezon in marriage, but being overcome by Orson, was obliged to resign his claim.—Valentine and Orson (fifteenth century).

Green Linnets, the 39th Foot. Their facings are green.

Green Man (The). The man who used to let off fireworks was so called in the reign of James I.

Have you any squibs, any green man in your shows?—John Kirke [R. Johnson], The Seven Champions of Christendom (1617).

Green Man (The), a gentleman’s gamekeeper, at one time clad in green.

Greenhalgh, messenger of the earl of Derby.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Greenhorn (Mr. Gilbert), an attorney, in partnership with Mr. Gabriel Grinderson.

Mr. Gernigo Greenhorn, father of Mr. Gilbert.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Greenleaf (Gilbert), the old archer at Douglas Castle.—Sir W. Scott, Castle Dangerous (time, Henry I.).

Gregory, a faggot-maker of good education, first at a charity school, then as waiter on an Oxford student, and then as the fag of a travelling physician. When compelled to act the doctor, he says the disease of his patient arises from “propria quæ maribus tribuuntur mascula dicas, ut sunt divorum, Mars, Bacchus, Apollo, virorum.” And when Sir Jasper says, “I always thought till now that the heart is on the left side and the liver on the right,” he replies, “Ay, sir, so they were formerly, but we have changed all that.” In Molière’s comedy, Le Médecin Malgré Lui, Gregory is called “Sganarelle,” and all these jokes are in act ii. 6.—Henry Fielding, The Mock Doctor.

Gregory, father and son, hangmen in the seventeenth century. In the time of the Gregorys, hangmen were termed “esquires.” In France, executioners were termed “monsieur,” even to the breaking out of the Revolution.

Gregson (Widow), Darsie Latimer’s landlady at Shepherd’s Bush.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Gregson (Gilbert), the messenger of Father Buonaventura.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Gre´mio, an old man who wishes to marry Bianca, but the lady prefers Lucentio, a young man.—Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew (1594).

Grendel, the monster from which Beowulf delivered Hrothgar, king of Denmark. It was half monster, half man, whose haunt was the marshes among “a monster race.” Night after night it crept stealthily into the palace called Heorot, and slew sometimes as many as thirty of the inmates. At length Beowulf, at the head of a mixed band of warriors, went against it and slew it.—Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon epic (sixth century).

Grenville (Sir Richard), the commander of The Revenge, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Out of his crew, ninety were sick on shore, and only a hundred able-bodied men remained on board. The Revenge was one of the six ships under the command of Lord Thomas Howard. While cruising near the Azores, a Spanish fleet of fifty-three ships made towards the English, and Lord Howard sheered off, saying, “My ships are out of gear, and how can six ships-of-the-line fight with fifty-three?” Sir Richard Grenville, however, resolved to stay and encounter the foe, and “ship after ship the whole night long drew back with her dead; some were sunk, more were shattered;” and the brave hundred still fought on. Sir Richard was wounded and his ship riddled, but his cry was still “Fight on!” When resistance was no longer possible, he cried, “Sink the ship, master gunner! sink her! Split her in twain, nor let her fall into the hands of the foe!” But the Spaniards boarded her and praised Sir Richard for his heroic daring. “I have done my duty for my queen and faith,” he said, and died. The Spaniards sent the prize home, but a tempest came on, and The Revenge, shot-shattered, “went down, to be lost evermore in the main.”—Tennyson, The Revenge, a ballad of the fleet (1878).

Froude has an essay on the subject. Canon Kingsley, in Westward Ho! has drawn Sir Richard Grenville, and alludes to the fight. Arber published three small volumes on Sir Richard’s noble exploit. Gervase Markham has a long poem on the subject. Sir Walter Raleigh says: “If Lord Howard had stood to his guns, the Spanish fleet would have been annihilated.” Probably Browning’s Hervé Riel was present to the mind of Tennyson when he wrote the ballad of The Revenge.

Gresham and the Pearl. When Queen Elizabeth visited the Exchange, Sir Thomas Gresham pledged her health in a cup of wine containing a precious stone crushed to atoms, and worth £15,000.

⁂ It is devoutly to be hoped that Sir Thomas was above such absurd vanity. Very well for Queen Cleopatra, but more than ridiculous in such an imitation.

Gresham and the Grasshopper. There is a vulgar tradition that Sir Thomas Gresham was a foundling, and that the old beldame who brought him up was attracted to the spot where she found him, by the loud chirping of a grasshopper.

⁂ This tale arose from the grasshopper, which forms the crest of Sir Thomas.

To Sup with Sir Thomas Gresham, to have no supper. Similarly, “to dine with Duke Humphrey,” is to have nowhere to dine. The Royal Exchange was at one time a common lounging-place for idlers.

Gretchen. Viragoish wife of Rip Van Winkle, in Washington Irving’s story of that name.

Gretchen, a German diminutive of Margaret; the heroine of Goethe’s Faust. Faust meets her on her return from church, falls in love with her, and at last seduces her. Overcome with shame, Gretchen destroys the infant to which she gives birth, and is condemned to death. Faust attempts to save her; and, gaining admission to the dungeon, finds her huddled on a bed of straw, singing wild snatches of ballads, quite insane. He tries to induce her to flee with him, but in vain. At daybreak Gretchen dies, and Faust is taken away.

Gretchen is a perfect union of homeliness and simplicity, though her love is strong as death; yet is she a human woman throughout, and never a mere abstraction. No other character ever drawn takes so strong a hold on the heart.

Greth´el (Gammer), the hypothetical narrator of the tales edited by the brothers Grimm.

⁂ Said to be Frau Viehmänin, wife of a peasant in the suburbs of Hessê Cassel, from whose mouth the brothers transcribed the tales.

Grey (Lady Jane), a tragedy by N. Rowe, (1715).

In French, Laplace (1745), Mde. de Staël (1800), Ch. Brifaut (1812), and Alexandre Soumet (1844), produced tragedies on the same subject. Paul Delaroche has a fine picture called “Le Supplice de Jane Grey” (1835).

Gribouille, the wiseacre who threw himself into a river that his clothes might not get wetted by the rain.—A French Proverbial Saying.

Gride (Arthur), a mean old usurer, who wished to marry Madeline Bray, but Madeline loved Nicholas Nickleby, and married him. Gride was murdered.—C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838).

Grier (Mrs.), straight-laced pietist, who says “if she didn’t think the heathen would be lost she wouldn’t see the use of the plan of salvation.”—Margaret Deland, John Ward, Preacher.

Grieux (le chevalier de), the hero of a French novel by the Abbé Antoine François Prévost (1697-1763). The passionate love of the hero, the Chevalier de Grieux, for Manon, leads him into a hundred dangers, the consequences of her frivolity and inconstancy. But he dares and suffers all for her sake, and at last, when she is sent into shameful exile by the authorities, he follows her, shares her privations, and remains with her till she dies.

Grieve (Jackie), landlord of an ale-house near Charlie’s Hope.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Griffin (Allan), landlord of the Griffin inn, at Perth.—Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Griffin-feet, the mark by which the Desert Fairy was known in all her metamorphoses.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“The Yellow Dwarf,” 1682).

Griffiths (Old), steward of the earl of Derby.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time Charles II.).

Griffiths (Samuel), London agent of Sir Arthur Darsie Redgauntlet.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time George III.).

Griflet (Sir), knighted by King Arthur at the request of Merlin, who told the king that Sir Griflet would prove “one of the best knights of the world, and the strongest man of arms.”arms.”—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 20 (1470).

Griggsby’s Station. Old home of a newly-made rich family, for which they pine,—

Grildrig, a mannikin.

She gave me the name “Grildrig,” which the family took up, and afterwards the whole kingdom. The word imports what the Latin calls manunculus the Italian homunceletion, and the English mannikin.—Dean Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (“Voyage to Brobdingnag,” 1726).

Grim, a fisherman who rescued, from a boat turned adrift, an infant named Habloc, whom he adopted and brought up. This infant was the son of the king of Denmark, and when restored to his royal father, the fisherman, laden with rich presents, built the village, which he called after his own name, Grims-by or “Grim’s town.”

⁂ The ancient seal of the town contained the names of “Gryme” and “Habloc.”

Grim (Giant,) a huge giant, who tried to stop pilgrimspilgrims on their way to the Celestial City. He was slain by Mr. Greatheart.—Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, ii. (1684).

Grimalkin, a cat, the spirit of a witch. Any witch was permitted to assume the body of a cat nine times. When the “first Witch” (in Macbeth) hears a cat mew, she says, “I come, Grimalkin” (act i. sc. 1).

Grime, the partner of Item the usurer. It is to Grime that Item appeals when he wants to fudge his clients. “Can we do so, Mr. Grime?” brings the stock answer, “Quite impossible, Mr. Item.”—Holcroft, The Deserted Daughter (1784), altered into The Steward.

Grimes (Peter) the drunken thievish son of a steady fisherman. He had a boy, whom he killed by ill-usage, and two others he made away with; but escaped conviction through defect of evidence. As no one would live with him, he turned mad, was lodged in the parish poor-house, confessed his crimes in delirium, and died.—Crabbe, Borough, xxii, (1810).

Grimes´by (Gaffer), an old farmer at Marlborough.—Sir. W. Scott, Kenilworth (time, Elizabeth).

Grimwig, an irascible old gentleman, who hid a very kind heart under a rough exterior. He was Mr. Brownlow’s great friend, and was always declaring himself ready to “eat his head” if he was mistaken on any point on which he passed an opinion.—C. Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837).

Grinderson (Mr. Gabriel), partner of Mr. Greenhorn. They are the attorneys who press Sir Arthur Wardour for the payment of debts. Sir. W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Grip, the clever raven of Barnaby Rudge. During the Gordon riots it learnt the cry of “No Popery!” Other of its phrases were: “I’m a devil!” “Never say die!” “Polly, put the kettle on!” etc.—C. Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1841).

Gripe (1 syl.), a scrivener, husband of Clarissa, but with a tendre for Araminta, the wife of his friend Moneytrap. He is a miserly, money-loving, pig-headed hunks, but is duped out of £250 by his foolish liking for his neighbors wife.—Sir John Vanbrugh, The Confederacy (1695).

Gripe (1 syl.), the English name of Géronte, in Otway’s version of Molière’s comedy of Les Fourberies de Scapin. His daughter, called in French, Hyacinthe, is called “Clara,” and his son Leandre is Anglicized into “Leander.”—Th. Otway, The Cheats of Scapin.

Gripe (Sir Francis), a man of 64, guardian of Miranda, an heiress, and father of Charles. He wants to marry his ward for the sake of her money, and as she cannot obtain her property without his consent to her marriage, she pretends to be in love with him, and even fixes the day of espousals. “Grady,” quite secure that he is the man of her choice, gives his consent to her marriage, and she marries Sir George Airy, a man of 24. The old man laughs at Sir George, whom he fancies he is duping, but he is himself the dupe all through.—Mrs. Centlivre, The Busy Body (1709).

December 2, 1790, Munden made his bow to the Covent Garden audience as SirSir Francis Gripe.”—Memoir of J.S. Munden (1832).

Gripus, a stupid, venal judge, uncle of Alcmēna, and the betrothed of Phædra (Alcmena’s waiting-maid), in Dryden’s comedy of Amphitryon. Neither Gripus nor Phædra is among the Dramatis personæ of Molière’s comedy of Amphitryon.

Grisilda or Griselda, the model of patience and submission, meant to allegorize the submission of a holy mind to the will of God. Grisilda was the daughter of a charcoal-burner, but became the wife of Walter, marquis of Saluzzo. Her husband tried her, as God tried Job, and with the same result: (1) He took away her infant daughter, and secretly conveyed it to the queen of Pa´via to be brought up, while the mother was made to believe that it was murdered. (2) Four years later she had a son, which was also taken from her, and was sent to be brought up with his sister. (3) Eight years later, Grisilda was divorced, and sent back to her native cottage, because her husband, as she was told, intended to marry another. When, however, Lord Walter saw no indication of murmuring or jealousy, he told Grisilda that the supposed rival was her own daughter, and her patience and submission met with their full reward.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (“The Clerk’s Tale,” 1388).

Griskinis´sa, wife of Artaxaminous, king of Utopia. The king felt in doubt, and asked his minister of state this knotty question:

The minister reminds the king that Distaffina is betrothed to his general.

Grissel or Grizel. Octavia, the wife of Mark Antony, and sister of Augustus, is called the “patient Grizel of Roman story.” Forms of the name Griselda.

Griz´el Dal´mahoy (Miss), the seamstress.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Griz´zie, maid-servant to Mrs. Saddletree.—Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Grizzie, one the servants of the Rev. Josiah Gargill.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well (time, George III.).

Griz´zle, chambermaid at the Golden Arms inn, at Kippletringan.—Sir W. Scott, Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Grizzle (Lord), the first peer of the realm in the court of King Arthur. He is in love with the Princess Huncamunca, and as the lady is promised in marriage to the valiant Tom Thumb, he turns traitor, and “leads his rebel rout to the palace gate.” Here Tom Thumb encounters the rebels, and Glumdalca, the giantess, thrusts at the traitor, but misses him. Then the “pigmy giant-killer” runs him through the body. The black cart comes up to drag him off, but the dead man tells the carter he need not trouble himself, as he intends “to bear himself off,” and so he does.—Tom Thumb, by Fielding the novelist (1730), altered by Kane O’Hara, author of Midas (1778).

Groat´settar (Miss Clara), niece of the old lady Glowrowrum, and one of the guests at Burgh Westra.

Miss Maddie Groatsettar, niece of the old lady Glowrowrum, and one of the guests at Burgh Westra.—Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).

Groffar´ius, king of Aquitania, who resisted Brute, the mythical great-grandson of Æneas, who landed there on his way to Britain.—M. Drayton, Polyolbion, i. (1612).

Gronovius, father and son, critics and humanists (father, 1611-1671; son, 1645-1716).

I have more satisfaction in beholding you than I should have in conversing with Grævius and Gronovius. I had rather possess your approbation than that of the elder Scaliger.—Mrs. Cowley, Who’s the Dupe? i. 3.

(Scaliger, father (1484-1558), son (1540-1609), critics and humanists).

Groom (Squire), “a downright, English, Newmarket, stable-bred gentleman-jockey, who, having ruined his finances by dogs, grooms, cocks, and horses ... thinks to retrieve his affairs by a matrimonial alliance with a City fortune.” (canto i. 1). He is one of the suitors of Charlotte Goodchild; but, supposing the report to be true that she has lost her money, he says to her guardian:

“Hark ye! Sir Theodore; I always make my match according to the weight my thing can carry. When I offered to take her into my stable, she was sound and in good case; but I hear her wind is touched. If so, I would not back her for a shilling. Matrimony is a long course, ... and it won’t do.”do.”—C. Macklin, Love â la Mode ii. 1 (1779).

This was Lee Lewes’s great part [1740-1803]. One morning at rehearsal, Lewes said something not in the play. “Hoy, hoy!” cried Macklin; “what’s that? what’s that?” “Oh,” replied Lewes, “’tis only a bit of my nonsense.” “But,” said Macklin, gravely, “I like my nonsense, Mr. Lewes, better than yours.”—J. O’Keefe.

Grotto of Eph´esus. Near Ephesus was a grotto containing a statue of Diana, to which was attached a pipe of reeds. If a young woman, charged with dishonor, entered this grotto, and the reed gave forth musical sounds, she was declared to be a pure virgin; but if it gave forth hideous noises, she was denounced and never seen more. Corinna put the grotto to the test, at the desire of Glaucon of Lesbos, and was never seen again by the eye of man.—E. Bulwer Lytton, Tales of Milētus, iii. (See Chastity, for other tests.)

Groveby (Old), of Gloomstock Hall, aged 65. He is the uncle of Sir Harry Groveby. Brusque, hasty, self-willed, but kind-hearted.

Sir Harry Groveby, nephew of old Groveby, engaged to Maria “the maid of the Oaks.”—J. Burgoyne, The Maid of the Oaks.

Groves (Jem), landlord of the Valiant Soldier, to which was attached “a good dry skittle-ground.”—C. Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, xxix. (1840).

Grub (Jonathan), a stock broker, weighted with the three plagues of life—a wife, a handsome marriageable daughter, and £100,000 in the Funds, “any one of which is enough to drive a man mad; but all three to be attended to at once is too much.”

Mrs. Grub, a wealthy city woman, who has moved from the east to the fashionable west quarter of London, and has abandoned merchants and tradespeople for the gentry.

Emily Grub, called Milly, the handsome daughter of Jonathan. She marries Captain Bevil of the Guards.—O’Brien, Cross Purposes.

Grub´binol, a shepherd who sings with Bumkinet a dirge on the death of Blouzelinda.

(An imitation of Virgil’s Ecl., v. “Daphnis.”)

Gru´dar and Bras´solis. Cairbar and Grudar both strove for a spotted bull “that lowed on Golbun Heath,” in Ulster. Each claimed it as his own, and at length fought, when Grudar fell. Cairbar took the shield of Grudar to Brassolis, and said to her, “Fix it on high within my hall; ’tis the armor of my foe;” but the maiden, “distracted, flew to the spot, where she found the youth in his blood,” and died.

Fair was Brassolis on the plain. Stately was Grudar on the hill.—Ossian, Fingal, I.

Grueby (John), servant to Lord George Gordon. An honest fellow, who remained faithful to his master to the bitter end. He twice saved Haredale’s life; and, although living under Lord Gordon and loving him, detested the crimes into which his master was betrayed by bad advice and false zeal.—C. Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1841).

Grugeon, one of Fortunio’s seven attendants. His gift was that he could eat any amount of food without satiety. When Fortunio first saw him, he was eating 60,000 loaves for his breakfast.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“Fortunio,” 1682).

Grum´ball (The Rev. Dr.), from Oxford, a papist conspirator with Redgauntlet.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.)

Grumbo, a giant in the tale of Tom Thumb. A raven having picked up Tom Thumb, dropped him on the flat roof of the giant’s castle. When old Grumbo went there to sniff the air, Tom crept up his sleeve; the giant, feeling tickled, shook his sleeve, and Tom fell into the sea below. Here he was swallowed by a fish, and the fish, being caught, was sold for King Arthur’s table. It was thus that Tom got introduced to the great king, by whom he was knighted.

Grumio, one of the servants of Petruchio.—Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew (1594).

Grundy (Mrs.). Dame Ashfield, a farmer’s wife, is jealous of a neighboring farmer named Grundy. She tells her husband that Farmer Grundy got five shillings a quarter more for his wheat than they did; that the sun seemed to shine on purpose for Farmer Grundy; that Dame Grundy’s butter was the crack butter of the market. She then goes into her day-dreams, and says, “If our Nelly were to marry a great baronet, I wonder what Mrs. Grundy would say?” Her husband makes answer:

“Why dan’t thee letten Mrs. Grundy alone? I do verily think when thee goest to t’other world, the vurst question thee’ll ax ’ill be, if Mrs. Grundy’s there?”—Th. Morton, Speed the Plough, i. 1 (1798).

Gryll, one of those changed by Acras´ia into a hog. He abused Sir Guyon for disenchanting him; whereupon the palmer said to the knight, “Let Gryll be Gryll, and have his hoggish mind.”—Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 12 (1590).