See article by P. Weizsäcker in Roscher’sLexikon der Mythologie. In the articleGreek Art, fig. 53 (Pl. I.) gives an illustration of Ganymede borne aloft by an eagle.
See article by P. Weizsäcker in Roscher’sLexikon der Mythologie. In the articleGreek Art, fig. 53 (Pl. I.) gives an illustration of Ganymede borne aloft by an eagle.
GAO,Gao-Gao, orGaro, a town of French West Africa, in the Upper Senegal and Niger colony, on the left bank of the Niger, 400 m. by river below Timbuktu. Pop. about 5000. The present town dates from the French occupation in 1900; of the ancient city there are scanty ruins, the chief being a truncated pyramid, the remains of the tomb (16th century) of Mahommed Askia, the Songhoi conqueror, and those of the great mosque. According to tradition a city stood on this spot in very ancient times and its inhabitants are said to have had intercourse with the Egyptians. It is known, however, that the city of which the French settlement is the successor was founded by the Songhoi, probably in the 7th or 8th century, and became the capital of their empire. Garo (Ga-rho) appears to have been the correct name of the Songhoi city, though it was also known as Gogo and Kuku (Kaougha)1. In the 12th century Idrisi describes Kuku asa populous unwalled town devoted to commerce and industry; it is possible, however, that Idrisi is referring not to Gao but to another town somewhat to the south—at that period the middle course of the Niger had many prosperous towns along its banks. In the 14th century Gao was conquered by the king of Melle, and its great mosque was built (c.1325) by the Melle sovereign Kunkur Musa on his return from a pilgrimage to Mecca. In the 15th century the Songhoi regained power and Gao attained its greatest prosperity in the reign of Askia. It did not enjoy the commercial importance of Jenné nor the intellectual supremacy of Timbuktu, but was the political centre of the western Sudan for a long period. On the break up of the Songhoi power the city declined in importance. It became subject in 1590 to theRumaof Timbuktu, from whom it was wrested in 1770 by the Tuareg, the last named surrendering possession to the French. The first European to reach Gao was Mungo Park (1805); he was followed in 1851 by Heinrich Barth, and in 1896 by the French naval lieutenant Hourst. Gao is now the headquarters of a military district. A caravan route leads from it to Kano and Bornu. From Gao upwards the Niger is navigable for over 1000 m.
SeeTimbuktu. For the Gao region of the Niger see an article by F. Dubois inL’Afrique française(January 1909).
SeeTimbuktu. For the Gao region of the Niger see an article by F. Dubois inL’Afrique française(January 1909).
1There was another city called Kaoka or Gaoga east of Lake Chad in the country now known as Bagirmi. It was the seat of the Bulala dynasty, an offshoot of the royal family of Kanem, whose rule in the 15th century extended from the Shari to Darfur. The existence of the state was first mentioned by Leo Africanus. To the Bornuese it was known as Bulala or Kuka Bulala, a name which persists as that of a district in French Congo (seeBornu). The similarity of the name Gaoga to that of the Songhoi capital has given rise to much confusion.
1There was another city called Kaoka or Gaoga east of Lake Chad in the country now known as Bagirmi. It was the seat of the Bulala dynasty, an offshoot of the royal family of Kanem, whose rule in the 15th century extended from the Shari to Darfur. The existence of the state was first mentioned by Leo Africanus. To the Bornuese it was known as Bulala or Kuka Bulala, a name which persists as that of a district in French Congo (seeBornu). The similarity of the name Gaoga to that of the Songhoi capital has given rise to much confusion.
GAOL,orJail, a prison (q.v.). The two forms of the word are due to the parallel dual forms in Old Central and Norman French respectively,jaioleorjaole, andgaioleorgayolle. The common origin is the med. Lat.gabiola, a diminutive formed fromcavea, a hollow, a den, from which the English “cave” is derived. The form “gaol” still commonly survives in English, and is in official usage,e.g.“gaol-delivery,” but the common pronunciation of both words, “jail,” shows the real surviving word.
GAON(Heb. for “Excellency,” pluralGeonim), the title given to the heads of the two Jewish academies in Babylonia, Sura and Pumbeditha. Though the name is far older, it is chiefly applied to Rabbis who lived between the close of the Talmud and the transference of the centre of Judaism from Asia to Europe—i.e.from the end of the 6th to the middle of the 11th centuryA.D.The Geonim were required to do homage to the Exilarchs (seeExilarch) but were otherwise independent. They exercised wide authority and were appealed to in settlement of the social and religious affairs of the diaspora. To them must be assigned the arrangement of the main lines of the present Synagogue liturgy. Their chief literary activity took the form of Answers to Questions—a form which was extensively used in later centuries. The most noted of the Geonim, who will be found treated under their respective names, were Aḥai, Amram, Ṣemach, Saadiah, Sherira and Hai. Hai Gaon died in 1038, closing the period of the Geonim after an activity of four and a half centuries.
A full list of the Geonim is given in tabular form in theJewish Encyclopaedia, vol. v. p. 571.
A full list of the Geonim is given in tabular form in theJewish Encyclopaedia, vol. v. p. 571.
(I. A.)
GAP,the capital of the French department of the Hautes Alpes. Pop. (1906) town, 6888; commune, 10,823. It is built at a height of 2418 ft. on the right bank of the Luye (an affluent of the Durance), in an agreeable position, and is dominated afar by snowy peaks on the N.E. The little city has the look of a Provençal town, being white. The 17th-century cathedral church has been entirely reconstructed (1866-1905). In the prefecture is the tomb of the constable de Lesdiguières (1543-1626), dating from about 1613, and due to a Lorraine sculptor, Jacob Richier. The same building contains various scientific and archaeological collections, as well as the very rich archives, which include many MSS. from the monastery of Durbon, &c. There are a few small manufactories of purely local importance. Gap is connected by railway with Briançon (51½ m.) and with Grenoble (85½ m.), while from the railway junction of Veynes (16½ m. W. of Gap) it is 122 m. by rail to Marseilles. The episcopal see of Gap, now in the ecclesiastical province of Aix en Provence, is first certainly mentioned in the 6th century, and in 1791 was enlarged by the annexation of that of Embrun (then suppressed).
Gap is theVapincumof the Romans, and was founded by Augustus about 14B.C.It long formed part of Provence, but in 1232 most of the region passed by marriage to the dauphins of Viennois. The town itself, however, remained under the rule of the bishops until 1512, when it was annexed to the crown of France. The bishops continued to bear the title of count of Gap until the Revolution. The town was sacked by the Huguenots in 1567 and 1577, and by the duke of Savoy in 1692. It was the birthplace of the reformer Guillaume Farel (1489-1565), who first preached his doctrines there about 1561-1562, but then took refuge in Switzerland.
See J. Roman,Histoire de la ville de Gap(Gap, 1892).
See J. Roman,Histoire de la ville de Gap(Gap, 1892).
(W. A. B. C.)
GAPAN,a town of the province of Nueva Ecija, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 3 m. E. of San Isidro, the capital. Pop. (1903) 11,278. It is situated in a rich rice-growing region, and extensive forests in its vicinity contain fine hardwoods. Its climate is comparatively cool and healthy. The principal native dialects spoken are Tagalog and Pampangan. Gapan is the oldest town of the province.
GARARISH(Kararish), a semi-nomadic tribe of Semitic origin, dwelling along the right bank of the Nile from Wādi Halfa to Merawi. Many members of the tribe are agriculturists, others act as guides or transport drivers. They declare themselves kinsfolk of the Ababda, but they are more Arab than Beja.
GARASHANIN, ILIYA(1812-1874), Servian statesman, was the son of a Servian peasant, who made money by exporting cattle and pigs to Austria and by his intelligence and wealth attained to a certain influence in the country. He wanted to give his son as good an education as possible, and therefore sent him to Hungary to learn first in a Greek and then in a German school. Highly gifted, and having passed through a regular although somewhat short school training, the young Iliya very quickly came to the front. In 1836 Prince Milosh appointed him a colonel and commander of the then just organized regular army of Servia. In 1842 he was called to the position of assistant to the home minister, and from that time until his retirement from public life in 1867 he was repeatedly minister of home affairs, distinguishing himself by the energy and justice of his administration. But he rendered far greater services to his country as minister for foreign affairs. He was the first Servian statesman who had a political programme, and who worked to replace the Russian protectorate over Servia by the joint protectorate of all the great powers of Europe. As minister for foreign affairs in 1853 he was decidedly opposed to Servia joining Russia in war against Turkey and the western powers. His anti-Russian views resulted in Prince Menshikov, while on his mission in Constantinople, 1853, peremptorily demanding from the prince of Servia (Alexander Karageorgevich) his dismissal. But although dismissed, his personal influence in the country secured the neutrality of Servia during the Crimean War. He enjoyed esteem in France, and it was due to him that France proposed to the peace conference of Paris (1856) that the old constitution, granted to Servia by Turkey as suzerain and Russia as protector in 1839, should be replaced by a more modern and liberal constitution, framed by a European international commission. But the agreement of the powers was not secured. Garashanin induced Prince Alexander Karageorgevich to convoke a national assembly, which had not been called to meet for ten years. The assembly was convoked for St Andrew’s Day 1858, but its first act was to dethrone Prince Alexander and to recall the old Prince Milosh Obrenovich. When after the death of his father Milosh (in 1860) Prince Michael ascended the throne, he entrusted the premiership and foreign affairs to Iliya Garashanin. The result of their policy was that Servia was given a new, although somewhat conservative, constitution, and that she obtained, without war, the evacuation of all the fortresses garrisoned by the Turkish troops on the Servian territory, including the fortress of Belgrade (1867). Garashanin was preparing a general rising of the Balkan nationsagainst the Turkish rule, and had entered into confidential arrangements with the Rumanians, Bosnians, Albanians, Bulgarians and Greeks, and more especially with Montenegro. But the execution of his plans was frustrated by his sudden resignation (at the end of 1867), and more especially by the assassination of Prince Michael a few months later (the 10th of June 1868). Although he was a Conservative in politics, and as such often in conflict with the leader of the Liberal movement, Yovan Ristich, he certainly was one of the ablest statesmen whom Servia had in the 19th century.
(C. Mi.)
GARAT, DOMINIQUE JOSEPH(1740-1833), French writer and politician, was born at Bayonne on the 8th of September 1749. After receiving a good education under the direction of a relation who was a curé, and having been an advocate at Bordeaux, he came to Paris, where he obtained introductions to the most distinguished writers of the time, and became a contributor to theEncyclopédie méthodiqueand theMercure de France. He gained considerable reputation by an éloge on Michel de L’Hôpital in 1778, and was afterwards three times crowned by the Academy for éloges on Suger, Montausier and Fontenelle. In 1785 he was named professor of history at theLycée, where his lectures enjoyed an equal popularity with those of G.F. Laharpe on literature. Being chosen a deputy to the states-general in 1789, he rendered important service to the popular cause by his narrative of the proceedings of the Assembly contributed to theJournal de Paris. Possessing strongly optimist views, a mild and irresolute character, and indefinite and changeable convictions, he played a somewhat undignified part in the great political events of the time, and became a pliant tool in carrying out the designs of others. Danton had him named minister of justice in 1792, and in this capacity had entrusted to him what he called thecommission affreuseof communicating to Louis XVI. his sentence of death. In 1793 he became minister of the interior. In this capacity he proved himself quite inefficient. Though himself uncorrupt, he winked at the most scandalous corruption in his subordinates, and in spite of the admirably organized detective service, which kept him accurately informed of every movement in the capital, he entirely failed to maintain order, which might easily have been done by a moderate display of firmness. At last, disgusted with the excesses which he had been unable to control, he resigned (August 15, 1793). On the 2nd of October he was arrested for Girondist sympathies but soon released, and he escaped further molestation owing to the friendship of Barras and, more especially, of Robespierre, whose literaryamour-proprehe had been careful to flatter. On the 9th Thermidor, however, he took sides against Robespierre, and on the 12th of September 1794 he was named by the Convention as a member of the executive committee of public instruction. In 1798 he was appointed ambassador to Naples, and in the following year he became a member, then president, of the Council of the Ancients. Alter the revolution of the 18th Brumaire he was chosen a senator by Napoleon and created a count. During the Hundred Days he was a member of the chamber of representatives. In 1803 he was chosen a member of the Institute of France, but after the restoration of Louis XVIII. his name was, in 1816, deleted from the list of members. After the revolution of 1830 he was named a member of the new Academy of Moral and Political Science. He died at Ustaritz near Bayonne, April 25, 1833. His writings are characterized by elegance, grace and variety of style, and by the highest kind of rhetorical eloquence; but his grasp of his subject is superficial, and as his criticisms have no root in fixed and philosophical principles they are not unfrequently whimsical and inconsistent. He must not be confounded with his elder brother Dominique (1735-1799), who was also a deputy to the states-general.
The works of Garat include, besides those already mentioned,Considérations sur la Révolution Française(Paris, 1792);Mémoires sur la Révolution, ou exposé de ma conduite(1795);Mémoires sur la vie de M. Suard, sur ses écrits, et sur le XVIIIesiècle(1820); éloges on Joubert, Kléber and Desaix; several notices of distinguished persons; and a large number of articles in periodicals. Valuable materials for the history of Garat’s tenure of the ministry, notably the police reports of Dutard, are given in W.A. Schmidt’sTableaux de la Révolution Française(3 vols., Leipzig, 1867-1870).
The works of Garat include, besides those already mentioned,Considérations sur la Révolution Française(Paris, 1792);Mémoires sur la Révolution, ou exposé de ma conduite(1795);Mémoires sur la vie de M. Suard, sur ses écrits, et sur le XVIIIesiècle(1820); éloges on Joubert, Kléber and Desaix; several notices of distinguished persons; and a large number of articles in periodicals. Valuable materials for the history of Garat’s tenure of the ministry, notably the police reports of Dutard, are given in W.A. Schmidt’sTableaux de la Révolution Française(3 vols., Leipzig, 1867-1870).
GARAT, PIERRE-JEAN(1764-1823), French singer, nephew of Dominique Joseph Garat, was born in Bordeaux on the 25th of April 1764. Gifted with a voice of exceptional timbre and compass he devoted himself, from an early age, to the cultivation of his musical talents. On account of his manifesting a distaste for the legal profession, for which his father wished him to study, he was deprived of his allowance, but through the patronage of a friend he obtained the office of secretary to Comte d’Artois, and was afterwards engaged to give musical lessons to the queen of France. At the beginning of the Revolution he accompanied Rode to England, where the two musicians appeared together in concerts. He returned to Paris in 1794. After the Revolution he became a professional singer, and on account of a song which he had composed in reference to the misfortunes of the royal family he was thrown into prison. On regaining his liberty he went to Hamburg, where he at once achieved extraordinary success; and by his subsequent appearances in Paris, and his visits to Italy, Spain, Germany and Russia, he made for himself a reputation as a singer unequalled by any other of his own time. He was a keen partisan of Gluck in opposition to Handel. On the institution of the Conservatoire de Musique he became its professor of singing. He also composed a number of songs, many of which have considerable merit. He died on the 1st of March 1823 in Paris.
GARAY, JÁNOS(1812-1853), Hungarian poet and author, was born on the 10th of October 1812, at Szegszárd, in the county of Tolna. From 1823 to 1828 he studied at Fünfkirchen, and subsequently, in 1829, at the university of Pest. In 1834 he brought out an heroic poem, in hexameters, under the titleCsatár. After this he issued in quick succession various historical dramas, among which the most successful wereArbócz, Országh IlonaandBáthori Erzsébet,—the first two published at Pest in 1837 and the last in 1840. Garay was an energetic journalist, and in 1838 he removed to Pressburg, where he edited the political journalHirnök(Herald). He returned to Pest in 1839, when he was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 1842 he was admitted into the Kisfaludy Society, of which he became second secretary. Garay enriched Hungarian literature with numerous lyrical poems, ballads and tales. The first collection of his poems was published at Pest in 1843; and his prose tales appeared in 1845, under the title ofTollrajzok(Sketches with the Pen). His historical ballads and legends, styledArpádok(Pest, 1847, 2nd ed. 1848), showed him to be a master in the art of ballad-writing. Some of his lyrical poems also are excellent, as, for example,Balatoni Kagylók(Shells from the Balaton Lake) (Pest, 1848). His legendBosnyák Zsófia(Pest, 1847), and his poetical romanceFrangepán Kristófné(Christopher Frangepan’s Wife) (Pest, 1846), gained the prize of the Kisfaludy Society. His last and most famous work was an historical poem in twelve cantos, with the titleSzent László(Saint Ladislaus) (Eger, 1852, 2nd ed., Pest, 1853, 3rd ed. 1863). Garay was professor of Hungarian language and literature to the university of Pest in 1848-1849. After about four years’ illness he died on the 5th of November 1853, in great want. A collective edition of his poems was published at Pest the year after his death by F. Ney (2nd ed. 1860), and several of his poems were translated by Kertbeny.
SeeGaray János Összes költeményei(2nd ed., Pest, 1860); andDichtungen von Johann Garay(2nd ed., Vienna, 1856).
SeeGaray János Összes költeményei(2nd ed., Pest, 1860); andDichtungen von Johann Garay(2nd ed., Vienna, 1856).
GARBLE(a word derived from the Arab.gharbala, to sift, and related toghirbal, a sieve; the Arabic words are of foreign origin, probably from the Lat.cribrum, a sieve), originally a medieval commercial term in the Mediterranean ports, meaning to sort out, or to sift merchandize, such as corn, spices, &c., in order to separate what was good from the refuse or waste; hence to select the best of anything for retention. Similarly a “garbler” was an official who was appointed to sort out, or test the work of those who had already sorted, the spices or drugs offered for sale in the London markets. In this original sense the word is now obsolete, but by inversion, or rather perversion, “garble” now means to sort out or select, chiefly from books or other literary works, or from public speeches, some portion which twists, mutilates, or renders ineffective the meaning of the author or speaker.
GARÇÃO, PEDRO ANTONIO JOAQUIM CORRÊA(1724-1772), Portuguese lyric poet, was the son of Philippe Corrêa da Serra, afidalgoof the royal house who held an important post in the foreign office; his mother was of French descent. The poet’s health was frail, and after going through a Jesuit school in Lisbon and learning English, French and Italian at home, he proceeded in 1742 to the university of Coimbra with a view to a legal career. He took his degree in 1748, and two years later was created a knight of the Order of Christ. In 1751 his marriage with D. Maria Salema brought him a rich dower which enabled him to live in ease and cultivate letters; but in later years a law-suit reduced him to poverty. From 1760 to 1762 he edited theLisbon Gazette. In 1756, in conjunction with Cruz e Silva and others, Garção founded theArcadia Lusitanato reform the prevailing bad taste in literature, identified withSeicentismo, which delighted in conceits, windy words and rhetorical phrases. TheArcadiafulfilled its mission to some extent, but it lacked creative power, became dogmatic, and ultimately died of inanition. Garção was the chief contributor to its proceedings, bearing the name of “Corydon Erimantheo,” and his orations and dissertations, with many of his lyrics, were pronounced and read at its meetings. He lived much in the society of the English residents in Lisbon, and he is supposed to have conceived a passion for an English married lady which completely absorbed him and contributed to his ruin. In the midst of his literary activity and growing fame, he was arrested on the night of the 9th of April 1771, and committed to prison by Pombal, whose displeasure he had incurred by his independence of character. The immediate cause of his incarceration would appear to have been his connexion with a love intrigue between a young friend of his and the daughter of a Colonel Elsden, but he was never brought to trial, and the matter must remain in doubt. After much solicitation, his wife obtained from the king an order for her husband’s release on the 10th of November 1772, but it came too late. Broken by infirmities and the hardships of prison life, Garção expired that very day in the Limoeiro, at the age of forty-seven.
Taking Horace as his model, and aided by sound judgment, scholarship and wide reading, Garção set out to raise and purify the standard of poetical taste, and his verses are characterized by a classical simplicity of form and expression. His sonnetsad sodalesshow a charming personality; his vigorous and elegant odes and epistles are sententious in tone and reveal an inspired poet and a man chastened by suffering. His two comedies in hendecasyllables, theTheatro Novo(played in January 1766) and theAssemblêa, are excellent satires on the social life of the capital; and in theCantata de Dido, included in the latter piece, the spirit of Greek art is allied to perfection of form, making this composition perhaps the gem of Portuguese 18th century poetry.
Garção wrote little and spent much time on thelabor limae. His works were published posthumously in 1778, and the most complete and accessible edition is that of J.A. de Azevedo Castro (Rome, 1888). An English version of theCantata de Didoappeared in the Academy (January 19th, 1895). See Innocencio da Silva,Diccionario bibliographico Portuguez, vol. vi. pp. 386-393, and vol. xvii. pp. 182-184; also Dr Theophilo Braga,A Arcadia Lusitana(Oporto, 1899).
Garção wrote little and spent much time on thelabor limae. His works were published posthumously in 1778, and the most complete and accessible edition is that of J.A. de Azevedo Castro (Rome, 1888). An English version of theCantata de Didoappeared in the Academy (January 19th, 1895). See Innocencio da Silva,Diccionario bibliographico Portuguez, vol. vi. pp. 386-393, and vol. xvii. pp. 182-184; also Dr Theophilo Braga,A Arcadia Lusitana(Oporto, 1899).
(E. Pr.)
GARCIA (DEL POPOLO VICENTO), MANOEL(1775-1832), Spanish singer and composer, was born in Seville on the 22nd of January 1775. He became a chorister at the cathedral of Seville, and studied music under the best masters of that city. At seventeen he made his début on the stage at Cadiz, in an operetta, in which were included songs of his own composition. Soon afterwards he appeared at Madrid in the twofold capacity of singer and composer. His reputation being established, he proceeded to Paris, where he appeared for the first time, in 1808, in Paer’s operaGriselda. Here also he was received with great applause, his style of singing being especially appreciated. This he further improved by careful study of the Italian method in Italy itself, where he continued his successes. His operaIl Califo di Bagdadwas favourably received at Naples in 1812, but his chief successes were again due to his perfection as a vocalist. His operaLa Morte di Tassowas produced in 1821 in Paris, where it was followed in 1823 by hisIl Fazzoletto. In 1824 he went to London, and thence proceeded to America (1825) with a company of artistes, amongst whom were his son Manoel and his daughter Maria, better known under her subsequent name of Malibran. In New York was produced his operaLa Figlia dell’ ariain 1827. He extended his artistic tour as far as Mexico, and was on the point of returning to Europe in order to retire from public life when he was robbed of his well-earned wealth by brigands on his way to Vera Cruz. Settled again in Paris in 1829, he soon retired from the stage, and devoted himself exclusively to teaching. He died in Paris on the 2nd of June 1832. His method of teaching was famous, and some of the most celebrated singers of the early part of the century were amongst his pupils. He also wrote an excellent book on the art of singing calledMetodo di canto, of which the essence was subsequently incorporated by his son Manoel in his admirableTraité complet de l’art du chant(1847). His operas have not survived their day. He wrote nearly forty in all, but with the exception of those quoted, andEl Poeta calculista, produced when he was thirty, none are remarkable. Besides the children already mentioned, his daughter Paulina, Madame Viardot (1821-1910), worthily continued the tradition for the best singing with which his name had become associated.
His son,Manoel Garcia(1805-1906), who celebrated his hundredth birthday in London on the 17th of March 1905, was born at Madrid, and after his father’s death devoted himself to teaching. He was a professor at the Paris Conservatoire from 1830 to 1848, from that time to 1895 was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He became famous for his invention of the laryngoscope about 1850, apart from his position as the greatest representative of the old “bel canto” style of singing.
GARCÍA DE LA HUERTA, VICENTE ANTONIO(1734-1787), Spanish dramatist, was born at Zafra on the 9th of March 1734, and was educated at Salamanca. At Madrid he soon attracted attention by his literary arrogance and handsome person; and at an early age became chief of the National Library, a post from which he was dismissed owing to the intrigues of his numerous enemies. The publication of his unsatisfactory collection of Spanish plays entitledTheatro Hespanol(1785-1786) exposed him to severe censures, which appear to have affected his reason. He died at Madrid on the 12th of March 1787, without carrying into effect his avowed intention of reviving the national drama. HisAgamemnón vengadoderives from Sophocles, hisJaireis translated from Voltaire, and even his once famousRaquel, though Spanish in subject, is classic in form.
GARCÍA DE PAREDES, DIEGO(1466-1534), Spanish soldier and duellist, was a native of Trujillo in Estremadura, Spain. He never commanded an army or rose to the position of a general, but he was a notable figure in the wars of the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century, when personal prowess had still a considerable share in deciding the result of actions. His native town and its district, which lie between Talavera and Madrid, produced many of the most notedconquistadoresof America, including the Pizarro family. Diego himself served in his youth in the war of Granada. His strength, daring and activity fitted him to shine in operations largely composed of night marches, escalades, surprises and hand-to-hand combats. The main scene of his achievements was in Italy, and he betook himself to it—on his own showing—not in search of glory, but because he had killed a relation of his own, Ruy Sanchez de Vargas, in a street fight arising out of a quarrel about a horse. He fled to Rome, then under the rule of the Borgias. Diego was a distant relation to the cardinal of Santa Cruz (Carvajal), a favourite with Pope Alexander VI., who was in conflict with the barons of the Romagna and took Diego into his service. He remained a soldier of the pope till he killed a man in a personal quarrel and found it necessary to pass over to the enemy. Now he became acquainted with the Colonnas, who appreciated his services. The wars between Ferdinand V. of Aragon (the Catholic king) and Louis XII. gave him a more creditable opening. The Spanish general Gonsalvo de Córdoba, who knew his value, employed him and trusted him; and he took part in all the wars of Italy on thefrontier of Navarre, and once against the Turks on the Danube, till 1530. His countrymen made him the hero of many Münchausen-like stories of personal prowess. It was said that he held a bridge single-handed against 200 Frenchmen, that he stopped the wheel of a water-mill, and so forth. In the “Brief Summary” of his life and deeds attributed to him, and printed at the end of theChronicle of the Great Captain, published in 1584 at Alcalá de Henares, he lays no claim to having done more than was open to a very athletic man. He was killed at Bologna in 1534 by a fall while engaged in a jumping-match with some of the younger officers of the army. His body was carried to his native town Trujillo, and buried in the church of Santa Maria Mayor in 1545.
GARCÍA GUTIÉRREZ, ANTONIO(1812-1884), Spanish dramatist, was born at Chiclana (Cadiz) on the 5th of July 1812, and studied medicine in his native town. In 1832 he removed to Madrid, and earned a scanty living by translating plays of Scribe and the elder Dumas; despairing of success, he was on the point of enlisting when he suddenly sprang into fame as the author ofEl Trovador, which was played for the first time on the 1st of March 1836. García Gutiérrez never surpassed this first effort, which placed him among the leaders of the romantic movement in Spain, and which became known all over Europe through Verdi’s music. His next great success wasSimón Bocanegra(1843), but, as his plays were not lucrative, he emigrated to Spanish America, working as a journalist in Cuba and Mexico till 1850, when he returned to Spain. The best works of his later period are azarzuelaentitledEl Grumete(1853),La Venganza catalana(1864) andJuan Lorenzo(1865). He became head of the archaeological museum at Madrid, and died there on the 6th of August 1884. HisPoesías(1840) and another volume of lyrics, entitledLuz y tinieblas(1842), are unimportant; but the brilliant versification of his plays, and his power of analysing feminine emotions, give him a foremost place among the Spanish dramatists of the 19th century.
GARD, a department in the south of France, consisting of part of the old province of Languedoc. Pop. (1906) 421,166. Area 2270 sq. m. It is bounded N. by the departments of Lozère and Ardèche, E. by the Rhone, which separates it from Vaucluse and Bouches-du-Rhône, S. by the Mediterranean, S.W. by Hérault and W. by Aveyron. Gard is divided into three sharply-defined regions. Its north-western districts are occupied by the range of the Cévennes, which on the frontier of Lozère attain a height of 5120 ft. The whole of this region is celebrated for its fruitful valleys, its gorges, its beautiful streams, its pastures, and the chestnut, mulberry and other fruit trees with which the mountains are often clothed to their summits. The Garrigues, a dry, hilly region of limestone, which lends itself to the cultivation of cereals, the vine and olive, stretches from the foot of the Cévennes over the centre of the department, covering about half its area. The southern portion, which extends to the sea, and was probably at one time covered by it, is a low plain with numerous lakes and marshes. Though unhealthy, it is prosperous, and comprises the best arable land and vineyards in Gard.
Besides the Rhone, which bounds the department on the E., and the Ardèche, the lower course of which forms part of its boundary on the N., the principal rivers are the Cèze, Gard, Vidourle and Hérault. The most northern of these is the Cèze, which rises in the Cévennes, and after a course of about 50 m. in an E.S.E. direction falls into the Rhone above Roquemaure. The Gard, or Gardon, from which the department takes its name, is also an affluent of the Rhone, and, rising in the Cévennes from several sources, traverses the centre of the department, having a length of about 60 m. In the upper part of its course it flows through a succession of deep mountain gorges, and from the melting of the snows on the Cévennes is subject to inundations, which often cause great damage. Its waters not infrequently rise 18 or 20 ft. in a few hours, and its bed is sometimes increased in width to nearly a mile. Near Remoulins it is crossed by a celebrated Roman aqueduct—the Pont du Gard (seeAqueduct). The Vidourle flows in a S.S.E. direction from its source near Le Vigan, and after a course of about 50 m. falls into the sea. Below Sommières it forms the western boundary of the department. The Hérault has its source and part of its course in the west of Gard. The Canal de Beaucaire extends from the Rhone at Beaucaire to Aigues-Mortes, which communicates with the Mediterranean at Grau-du-Roi by means of the Grand-Roubine canal.
The climate is warm in the south-east, colder in the north-west; it is rather changeable, and rain-storms are common. The cold and violent north-west wind known as the mistral is its worst drawback. Les Fumades (near Allègre) and Euzet have mineral springs. The chief grain crops are wheat and oats. Rye, barley and potatoes are also grown. Gard is famed for its cattle, its breed of small horses, and its sheep, the wool of which is of a very fine quality. In the rearing of silk-worms it ranks first among French departments. The principal fruit trees are the olive, mulberry and chestnut. The vine is extensively cultivated and yields excellent red and white wines. The department is rich in minerals, and the mines of coal, iron, lignite, asphalt, zinc, lead and copper, which are for the most part situated in the neighbourhoods of Alais and La Grand’-Combe, constitute one of the chief sources of its wealth. Great quantities of salt are obtained from the salt marshes along the coast. The quarries of building and other stone employ a considerable number of workmen. The fisheries are productive. The manufactures are extensive, and include those of silk, of which Alais is the chief centre, cotton and woollen fabrics, hosiery, ironware, hats (Anduze), liquorice, gloves, paper, leather, earthenware and glass. There are also breweries and distilleries, and important metallurgical works, the chief of which are those of Bessèges. The exports of Gard include coal, lignite, coke, asphalt, building-stone, iron, steel, silk, hosiery, wine, olives, grapes and truffles.
The department is served by the Paris-Lyon railway. It is divided into the arrondissements of Nîmes, Alais, Uzès and Le Vigan, with 40 cantons and 351 communes. The chief town is Nîmes, which is the seat of a bishopric of the province of Avignon and of a court of appeal. Gard belongs to the 15th military region, which has its headquarters at Marseilles, and to the académie (educational division) of Montpellier. Nîmes, Alais, Uzès, Aigues-Mortes, Beaucaire, Saint-Gilles, Bessèges, La Grand’-Combe and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon are the principal places. Opposite the manufacturing town of Pont-St-Esprit the Rhone is crossed by a fine medieval bridge more than 1000 yds. long built by the Pontiff brethren. Le Vigan, an ancient town with several old houses, carries on silk-spinning.
GARDA, LAKE OF(theLacus Benacusof the Romans), the most easterly and the most extensive of the great Lombard lakes, being only surpassed in the Alpine region by those of Geneva and Constance. Save the extreme northern extremity (Riva, which was secured from Venice by Tirol in 1517), the whole lake is Italian, being divided between the provinces of Verona and Brescia. Its broad basin orographically represents the southern portion of the valley of the Adige, though that river now flows through a narrow trench which is separated from the lake by the long narrow ridge of the Monte Baldo (7277 ft.). Nowadays the lake is fed by the Sarca, that flows in at its north end from the glaciers of the Adamello, while at the southern extremity of the lake the Mincio flows out, on its way to join the Po. The area of the lake is about 143 sq. m., its length is 32¼ m., its greatest breadth is about 10 m., the height of its surface above sea-level is 216 ft. and the greatest depth yet measured is 1916 ft. Its upper or northern end is narrow, but between Garda (E.) and Salò (W.) the lake expands gradually into a nearly circular basin, which at the southern extremity is divided into two parts by the long low promontory of Sermione, that projects from the southern shore between Peschiera and Desenzano. Owing to this conformation the lake is much exposed to sudden and violent winds, which Virgil alludes to in his well-known line (Georg. ii. line 160):fluctibus et fremitu assurgens, Benace, marino. The most dangerous of these winds is theBoreaorSuer, that sweeps down from the north as through a funnel. In the southern portion of the lake theVinessa, an E.S.E. wind, is most dreaded. TheOrais a regular wind coming from the east which, on reaching thelake, blows from S. to N. The steep grey limestone crags of Monte Baldo, on the eastern side of the lake, contrast strongly with the rich vegetation on the western and southern shores. The portion of the western shore that extends from Gargnano to Salò is the most sheltered and warmest part of the region, so that not merely does it resemble one continuous garden (producing lemons, figs, mulberries, olives, &c.), but is frequented in winter, and has been given the name of theRiviera Benacense. The lovely promontory of Sermione, at the southern end of the lake, has also an extremely luxuriant vegetation, while it contains many remains of buildings of Roman and later date, having been the Sirmio of Catullus, who resided here and celebrated its beauties in many of his poems. In 1827 a boat with paddles set in motion by horses was put on the lake, but the first steamer dates only from 1844. At the south end of the lake, E. and W. respectively of the promontory of Sermione, are the towns of Peschiera (14¼ m. by rail from Verona on the east) and of Desenzano (17½ m. by rail from Brescia on the west), which are 8¾ m. distant from each other. On the west shore of the lake are Salò, Toscolano, Gargnano and Limone, while the rugged east shore can boast only of Bardolino and Garda. At the northern tip of the lake, and in Tirol, is Riva, the most considerable town on the lake, and 15½ m. by rail from the Mori station on the main Brenner line.
(W. A. B. C.)
GARDANE, CLAUDE MATTHIEU,Count(1766-1818), French general and diplomatist, was born on the 30th of January 1766. He entered the army and rose rapidly during the revolutionary wars, becoming captain in 1793. In May 1799 he distinguished himself by saving a division of the French army which was about to be crushed by the Russians at the battle of Bassignana, and was named at once brigadier-general by Moreau. He incurred Napoleon’s displeasure for an omission of duty shortly before the battle of Marengo (June 14th, 1800), but in 1805 was appointed to be aide-de-camp of the emperor. His chief distinction, however, was to be won in the diplomatic sphere. In the spring of 1807, when Russia and Prussia were at war with France, and the emperor Alexander I. of Russia was also engaged in hostilities with Persia, the court of Teheran sent a mission to the French emperor, then at the castle of Finkenstein in the east of Prussia, with a view to the conclusion of a Franco-Persian alliance. This was signed on the 4th of May 1807, at that castle; and Napoleon designed Gardane as special envoy for the cementing of that alliance. The secret instructions which he drew up for Gardane, and signed on the 30th of May, are of interest as showing the strong oriental trend of the emperor’s policy. France was to guarantee the integrity of Persia, to recognize that Georgia (then being invaded by the Russians) belonged to the shah, and was to make all possible efforts for restoring that territory to him. She was also to furnish to the shah arms, officers and workmen, in the number and to the amount demanded by him. Napoleon on his side required Persia to declare war against Great Britain, to expel all Britons from her territory, and to come to an understanding with the Afghans with a view to a joint Franco-Perso-Afghan invasion of India. Gardane, whose family was well known in the Levant, had a long and dangerous journey overland, but was cordially received at Teheran in December 1807. The conclusion of the Franco-Russian treaty at Tilsit in July 1807 rendered the mission abortive. Persia longed only for help against Russia and had no desire, when all hope of that was past, to attack India. The shah, however, promised to expel Britons and to grant to France a commercial treaty. For a time French influence completely replaced that of England at Teheran, and the mission of Sir John Malcolm to that court was not allowed to proceed. Finally, however, Gardane saw that nothing much was to be hoped for in the changed situation of European affairs, and abruptly left the country (April 1809). This conduct was not wholly approved by Napoleon, but he named him count and in 1810 attached him to Masséna’s army in Portugal. There, during the disastrous retreat from Santarem to Almeida, he suffered a check which brought him into disfavour. The rest of his career calls for no notice. He died in 1818. The report which he sent to Champagny (dated April 23rd, 1809) on the state of Persia and the prospects of a successful invasion of India is of great interest. He admitted the difficulties of this enterprise, but thought that a force of picked French troops, aided by Persians and Afghans, might under favourable conditions penetrate into India by way of Kandahar, or through Sind, especially if the British were distracted by maritime attacks from Mauritius.
See Count Alfred de Gardane,Mission du général Gardane en Perse(Paris, 1865); and P.A.L. de Driault,La Politique orientale de Napoléon: Sébastiani et Gardane(Paris, 1904).
See Count Alfred de Gardane,Mission du général Gardane en Perse(Paris, 1865); and P.A.L. de Driault,La Politique orientale de Napoléon: Sébastiani et Gardane(Paris, 1904).
(J. Hl. R.)
GARDELEGEN,a town of Germany, in Prussian Saxony, on the right bank of the Milde, 20 m. W. from Stendal, on the main line of railway Berlin-Hanover. Pop. (1905) 8193. It has a Roman Catholic and three Evangelical churches, a hospital, founded in 1285, and a high-grade school. There are considerable manufactures, notably agricultural machinery and buttons, and its beer has a great repute. Gardelegen was founded in the 10th century, and was for a long time the seat of a line of counts. It suffered considerably in the Thirty Years’ War, and in 1775 was burned by the French. On the neighbouring heath Margrave Louis I. of Brandenburg gained, in 1343, a victory over Otto the Mild of Brunswick.
GARDEN(from O. Fr.gardin, mod. Fr.jardin; this, like our words “garth,” a paddock attached to a building, and “yard,” comes from a Teutonic word for an enclosure which appears in Gothic asgardsand O.H. Ger.gart, cf. Dutchgaardeand Ger.garten), the ground enclosed and cultivated for the growth of fruit, flowers or vegetables (seeHorticulture). The word is also used for grounds laid out ornamentally, used as places of public entertainment. Such were the famous Ranelagh and Vauxhall Gardens in London; it is similarly used in zoological gardens, and as a name in towns for squares, terraces or streets. From the fact that Epicurus (q.v.) taught in the gardens at Athens, the disciples of his school of philosophy were known asοἱ ἀπὸ τῶν κήπων(so Diog. Laërtius x. 10); and Cicero (De finibusv. 1. 3, and elsewhere) speaks of theHorti Epicuri. Thus as the “Academy” refers to the Platonic and the “Porch” (στοά) to the Stoic school, so the “Garden” is the name given to the Epicurean school of philosophy. Apollodorus was known asκηποτύραννος, the tyrant of the garden.
GARDENIA,in botany, a genus of the natural order Rubiaceae, containing about sixty species of evergreen trees and shrubs, natives of the warmer parts of the old world. Several are grown in stoves or greenhouses for their handsome, sweet-scented white flowers. The flowers are developed singly at the end of a branch or in the leaf-axils, and are funnel- or salver-shaped with a long tube. The double forms ofGardenia florida(a native of China) andG. radicans(a native of Japan) are amongst the most beautiful and highly perfumed of any in cultivation. Gardenias are grown chiefly for cut flowers, and are readily propagated by cuttings. They require plenty of heat and moisture in the growing season, and must be kept free from insects such as the mealy bug, green fly, red spider and scale-insect.
GARDINER, JAMES(1688-1745), Scottish soldier, was born at Carriden in Linlithgowshire, on the 11th of January 1688. At the age of fourteen he entered a Scottish regiment in the Dutch service, and was afterwards present at the battle of Ramillies, where he was wounded. He subsequently served in different cavalry regiments, and in 1730 was advanced to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and in 1743 to that of colonel. He fell at the battle of Prestonpans, the 21st of September 1745. The circumstances of his death are described in Sir Walter Scott’sWaverley. In his early years he was distinguished for his recklessness and profligacy, but in 1719 a supernatural vision, as he regarded it, led to his conversion, and from that time he lived a life of great devoutness and of thorough consistency with his Christian profession. Dr Alexander Carlyle of Inveresk, author of an autobiography, says that he was “very ostentatious” about his conversion—speaks of him as weak, and plainly thinks there was a great deal of delusion in Col. Gardiner’s account of his sins.