Of his other works, none of which are much read, the principal are:View of the Reign of Frederic II. of Prussia, with a Parallel between that Prince and Philip II. of Macedon(1789), rather a panegyric than a critical history; translations of Aristotle’sRhetoric(1823) andEthics and Politics(1786-1797); of theOrationsof Lysias and Isocrates (1778); andHistory of the World from Alexander to Augustus(1807), which, although deficient in style, was commended for its learning and research.
Of his other works, none of which are much read, the principal are:View of the Reign of Frederic II. of Prussia, with a Parallel between that Prince and Philip II. of Macedon(1789), rather a panegyric than a critical history; translations of Aristotle’sRhetoric(1823) andEthics and Politics(1786-1797); of theOrationsof Lysias and Isocrates (1778); andHistory of the World from Alexander to Augustus(1807), which, although deficient in style, was commended for its learning and research.
GILLINGHAM,a market town in the northern parliamentary division of Dorsetshire, England, 105 m. W.S.W. from London by the London & South-Western railway. Pop. (1901) 3380. The church of St Mary the Virgin has a Decorated chancel. There is a large agricultural trade, and manufactures of bricks and tiles, cord, sacking and silk, brewing and bacon-curing are carried on. The rich undulating district in which Gillingham is situated was a forest preserved by King John and his successors, and the site of their lodge is traceable near the town.
GILLINGHAM,a municipal borough of Kent, England, in the parliamentary borough of Chatham and the mid-division of the county, on the Medway immediately east of Chatham, on the South-Eastern & Chatham railway. Pop. (1891) 27,809; (1901) 42,530. Its population is largely industrial, employed in the Chatham dockyards, and in cement and brick works in the neighbourhood. The church of St Mary Magdalene ranges in date from Early English to Perpendicular, retaining also traces of Norman work and some early brasses. A great battle between Edmund Ironside and Canute,c.1016, is placed here; and there was formerly a palace of the archbishops of Canterbury. Gillingham was incorporated in 1903, and is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. The borough includes the populous districts of Brompton and New Brompton. Area, 4355 acres.
GILLOT, CLAUDE(1673-1722), French painter, best known as the master of Watteau and Lancret, was born at Langres. His sportive mythological landscape pieces, with such titles as “Feast of Pan” and “Feast of Bacchus,” opened the Academy of Painting at Paris to him in 1715; and he then adapted his art to the fashionable tastes of the day, and introduced the decorativefêtes champêtres, in which he was afterwards surpassed by his pupils. He was also closely connected with the opera and theatre as a designer of scenery and costumes.
GILLOTT, JOSEPH(1799-1873); English pen-maker, was born at Sheffield on the 11th of October 1799. For some time he was a working cutler there, but in 1821 removed to Birmingham, where he found employment in the “steel toy” trade, the technical name for the manufacture of steel buckles, chains and light ornamental steel-work generally. About 1830 he turned his attention to the manufacture of steel pens by machinery, and in 1831 patented a process for placing elongated points on the nibs of pens. Subsequently he invented other improvements, getting rid of the hardness and lack of flexibility, which had been a serious defect in nibs, by cutting, in addition to the centre slit, side slits, and cross grinding the points. By 1859 he had built up a very large business. Gillott was a liberal art-patron, and one of the first to recognize the merits of J. M. W. Turner. He died at Birmingham on the 5th of January 1873. His collection of pictures, sold after his death, realized £170,000.
GILLOW, ROBERT(d. 1773), the founder at Lancaster of a distinguished firm of English cabinet-makers and furniture designers whose books begin in 1731. He was succeeded by his eldest son Richard (1734-1811), who after being educated at the Roman Catholic seminary at Douai was taken into partnership about 1757, when the firm became Gillow & Barton, and his younger sons Robert and Thomas, and the business was continued by his grandson Richard (1778-1866). In its early days the firm of Gillow were architects as well as cabinet-makers, and the first Richard Gillow designed the classical Custom House at Lancaster. In the middle of the 18th century the business was extended to London, and about 1761 premises were opened in Oxford Street on a site which was continuously occupied until 1906. For a long period the Gillows were the best-known makers of English furniture—Sheraton and Heppelwhite both designed for them, and replicas are still made of pieces from the drawings of Robert Adam. Between 1760 and 1770 they invented the original form of the billiard-table; they were the patentees (about 1800) of the telescopic dining-table which has long been universal in English houses; for a Captain Davenport they made, if they did not invent, the first writing-table of that name. Their vogue is indicated by references to them in the works of Jane Austen, Thackeray and the first Lord Lytton, and more recently in one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operas.
GILLRAY, JAMES(1757-1815), English caricaturist, was born at Chelsea in 1757. His father, a native of Lanark, had served as a soldier, losing an arm at Fontenoy, and was admitted first as an inmate, and afterwards as an outdoor pensioner, at Chelsea hospital. Gillray commenced life by learning letter-engraving, in which he soon became an adept. This employment, however, proving irksome, he wandered about for a time with a company of strolling players. After a very checkered experience he returned to London, and was admitted a student in the Royal Academy, supporting himself by engraving, and probably issuing a considerable number of caricatures under fictitious names. Hogarth’s works were the delight and study of his early years. “Paddy on Horseback,” which appeared in 1779, is the first caricature which is certainly his. Two caricatures on Rodney’s naval victory, issued in 1782, were among the first of the memorable series of his political sketches. The name of Gillray’s publisher and printseller, Miss Humphrey—whose shop was first at 227 Strand, then in New Bond Street, then in Old Bond Street, and finally in St James’s Street—is inextricably associated with that of the caricaturist.Gillraylived with Miss (often called Mrs) Humphrey during all the period of his fame. It is believed that he several times thought of marrying her, and that on one occasion the pair were on their way to the church, when Gillray said: “This is a foolish affair, methinks, Miss Humphrey. We live very comfortably together; we had better let well alone.” There is no evidence, however, to support the stories which scandalmongers invented about their relations. Gillray’s plates were exposed in Humphrey’s shop window, where eager crowds examined them. A number of his most trenchant satires are directed against George III., who, after examining some of Gillray’s sketches, said, with characteristic ignorance and blindness to merit, “I don’t understand these caricatures.” Gillray revenged himself for this utterance by his splendid caricature entitled, “A Connoisseur Examining a Cooper,” which he is doing by means of a candle on a “save-all”; so that the sketch satirizes at once the king’s pretensions to knowledge of art and his miserly habits.
The excesses of the French Revolution made Gillray conservative; and he issued caricature after caricature, ridiculing the French and Napoleon, and glorifying John Bull. He is not, however, to be thought of as a keen political adherent of either the Whig or the Tory party; he dealt his blows pretty freely all round. His last work, from a design by Bunbury, is entitled “Interior of a Barber’s Shop in Assize Time,” and is dated 1811. While he was engaged on it he became mad, although he had occasional intervals of sanity, which he employed on his last work. The approach of madness must have been hastened by his intemperate habits. Gillray died onthe 1st of June 1815, and was buried in St James’s churchyard, Piccadilly.
The times in which Gillray lived were peculiarly favourable to the growth of a great school of caricature. Party warfare was carried on with great vigour and not a little bitterness; and personalities were freely indulged in on both sides. Gillray’s incomparable wit and humour, knowledge of life, fertility of resource, keen sense of the ludicrous, and beauty of execution, at once gave him the first place among caricaturists. He is honourably distinguished in the history of caricature by the fact that his sketches are real works of art. The ideas embodied in some of them are sublime and poetically magnificent in their intensity of meaning; while the coarseness by which others are disfigured is to be explained by the general freedom of treatment common in all intellectual departments in the 18th century. The historical value of Gillray’s work has been recognized by accurate students of history. As has been well remarked: “Lord Stanhope has turned Gillray to account as a veracious reporter of speeches, as well as a suggestive illustrator of events.” His contemporary political influence is borne witness to in a letter from Lord Bateman, dated November 3, 1798. “The Opposition,” he writes to Gillray, “are as low as we can wish them. You have been of infinite service in lowering them, and making them ridiculous.” Gillray’s extraordinary industry may be inferred from the fact that nearly 1000 caricatures have been attributed to him; while some consider him the author of 1600 or 1700. He is invaluable to the student of English manners as well as to the political student. He attacks the social follies of the time with scathing satire; and nothing escapes his notice, not even a trifling change of fashion in dress. The great tact Gillray displays in hitting on the ludicrous side of any subject is only equalled by the exquisite finish of his sketches—the finest of which reach an epic grandeur and Miltonic sublimity of conception.
Gillray’s caricatures are divided into two classes, the political series and the social. The political caricatures form really the best history extant of the latter part of the reign of George III. They were circulated not only over Britain but throughout Europe, and exerted a powerful influence. In this series, George III., the queen, the prince of Wales, Fox, Pitt, Burke and Napoleon are the most prominent figures. In 1788 appeared two fine caricatures by Gillray. “Blood on Thunder fording the Red Sea” represents Lord Thurlow carrying Warren Hastings through a sea of gore: Hastings looks very comfortable, and is carrying two large bags of money. “Market-Day” pictures the ministerialists of the time as horned cattle for sale. Among Gillray’s best satires on the king are: “Farmer George and his Wife,” two companion plates, in one of which the king is toasting muffins for breakfast, and in the other the queen is frying sprats; “The Anti-Saccharites,” where the royal pair propose to dispense with sugar, to the great horror of the family; “A Connoisseur Examining a Cooper”; “Temperance enjoying a Frugal Meal”; “Royal Affability”; “A Lesson in Apple Dumplings”; and “The Pigs Possessed.” Among his other political caricatures may be mentioned: “Britannia between Scylla and Charybdis,” a picture in which Pitt, so often Gillray’s butt, figures in a favourable light; “The Bridal Night”; “The Apotheosis of Hoche,” which concentrates the excesses of the French Revolution in one view; “The Nursery with Britannia reposing in Peace”; “The First Kiss these Ten Years” (1803), another satire on the peace, which is said to have greatly amused Napoleon; “The Handwriting upon the Wall”; “The Confederated Coalition,” a fling at the coalition which superseded the Addington ministry; “Uncorking Old Sherry”; “The Plum-Pudding in Danger”; “Making Decent,”i.e.“Broad-bottomites getting into the Grand Costume”; “Comforts of a Bed of Roses”; “View of the Hustings in Covent Garden”; “Phaëthon Alarmed”; and “Pandora opening her Box.” The miscellaneous series of caricatures, although they have scarcely the historical importance of the political series, are more readily intelligible, and are even more amusing. Among the finest are: “Shakespeare Sacrificed”; “Flemish Characters” (two plates); “Twopenny Whist”; “Oh! that this too solid flesh would melt”; “Sandwich Carrots”; “The Gout”; “Comfort to the Corns”; “Begone Dull Care”; “The Cow-Pock,” which gives humorous expression to the popular dread of vaccination; “Dilletanti Theatricals”; and “Harmony before Matrimony” and “Matrimonial Harmonics”—two exceedingly good sketches in violent contrast to each other.A selection of Gillray’s works appeared in parts in 1818; but the first good edition was Thomas M‘Lean’s, which was published, with a key, in 1830. A somewhat bitter attack, not only on Gillray’s character, but even on his genius, appeared in theAthenaeumfor October 1, 1831, which was successfully refuted by J. Landseer in theAthenaeuma fortnight later. In 1851 Henry G. Bohn put out an edition, from the original plates, in a handsome folio, the coarser sketches being published in a separate volume. For this edition Thomas Wright and R. H. Evans wrote a valuable commentary, which is a good history of the times embraced by the caricatures. The next edition, entitledThe Works of James Gillray, the Caricaturist: with the Story of his Life and Times(Chatto & Windus, 1874), was the work of Thomas Wright, and, by its popular exposition and narrative, introduced Gillray to a very large circle formerly ignorant of him. This edition, which is complete in one volume, contains two portraits of Gillray, and upwards of 400 illustrations. Mr J. J. Cartwright, in a letter to theAcademy(Feb. 28, 1874), drew attention to the existence of a MS. volume, in the British Museum, containing letters to and from Gillray, and other illustrative documents. The extracts he gave were used in a valuable article in theQuarterly Reviewfor April 1874. See also theAcademyfor Feb. 21 and May 16, 1874.There is a good account of Gillray in Wright’sHistory of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and Art(1865); See also the articleCaricature.
Gillray’s caricatures are divided into two classes, the political series and the social. The political caricatures form really the best history extant of the latter part of the reign of George III. They were circulated not only over Britain but throughout Europe, and exerted a powerful influence. In this series, George III., the queen, the prince of Wales, Fox, Pitt, Burke and Napoleon are the most prominent figures. In 1788 appeared two fine caricatures by Gillray. “Blood on Thunder fording the Red Sea” represents Lord Thurlow carrying Warren Hastings through a sea of gore: Hastings looks very comfortable, and is carrying two large bags of money. “Market-Day” pictures the ministerialists of the time as horned cattle for sale. Among Gillray’s best satires on the king are: “Farmer George and his Wife,” two companion plates, in one of which the king is toasting muffins for breakfast, and in the other the queen is frying sprats; “The Anti-Saccharites,” where the royal pair propose to dispense with sugar, to the great horror of the family; “A Connoisseur Examining a Cooper”; “Temperance enjoying a Frugal Meal”; “Royal Affability”; “A Lesson in Apple Dumplings”; and “The Pigs Possessed.” Among his other political caricatures may be mentioned: “Britannia between Scylla and Charybdis,” a picture in which Pitt, so often Gillray’s butt, figures in a favourable light; “The Bridal Night”; “The Apotheosis of Hoche,” which concentrates the excesses of the French Revolution in one view; “The Nursery with Britannia reposing in Peace”; “The First Kiss these Ten Years” (1803), another satire on the peace, which is said to have greatly amused Napoleon; “The Handwriting upon the Wall”; “The Confederated Coalition,” a fling at the coalition which superseded the Addington ministry; “Uncorking Old Sherry”; “The Plum-Pudding in Danger”; “Making Decent,”i.e.“Broad-bottomites getting into the Grand Costume”; “Comforts of a Bed of Roses”; “View of the Hustings in Covent Garden”; “Phaëthon Alarmed”; and “Pandora opening her Box.” The miscellaneous series of caricatures, although they have scarcely the historical importance of the political series, are more readily intelligible, and are even more amusing. Among the finest are: “Shakespeare Sacrificed”; “Flemish Characters” (two plates); “Twopenny Whist”; “Oh! that this too solid flesh would melt”; “Sandwich Carrots”; “The Gout”; “Comfort to the Corns”; “Begone Dull Care”; “The Cow-Pock,” which gives humorous expression to the popular dread of vaccination; “Dilletanti Theatricals”; and “Harmony before Matrimony” and “Matrimonial Harmonics”—two exceedingly good sketches in violent contrast to each other.
A selection of Gillray’s works appeared in parts in 1818; but the first good edition was Thomas M‘Lean’s, which was published, with a key, in 1830. A somewhat bitter attack, not only on Gillray’s character, but even on his genius, appeared in theAthenaeumfor October 1, 1831, which was successfully refuted by J. Landseer in theAthenaeuma fortnight later. In 1851 Henry G. Bohn put out an edition, from the original plates, in a handsome folio, the coarser sketches being published in a separate volume. For this edition Thomas Wright and R. H. Evans wrote a valuable commentary, which is a good history of the times embraced by the caricatures. The next edition, entitledThe Works of James Gillray, the Caricaturist: with the Story of his Life and Times(Chatto & Windus, 1874), was the work of Thomas Wright, and, by its popular exposition and narrative, introduced Gillray to a very large circle formerly ignorant of him. This edition, which is complete in one volume, contains two portraits of Gillray, and upwards of 400 illustrations. Mr J. J. Cartwright, in a letter to theAcademy(Feb. 28, 1874), drew attention to the existence of a MS. volume, in the British Museum, containing letters to and from Gillray, and other illustrative documents. The extracts he gave were used in a valuable article in theQuarterly Reviewfor April 1874. See also theAcademyfor Feb. 21 and May 16, 1874.
There is a good account of Gillray in Wright’sHistory of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and Art(1865); See also the articleCaricature.
GILLYFLOWER,a popular name applied to various flowers, but principally to the clove,Dianthus Caryophyllus, of which the carnation is a cultivated variety, and to the stock,Matthiola incana, a well-known garden favourite. The word is sometimes written gilliflower or gilloflower, and is reputedly a corruption of July-flower, “so called from the month they blow in.” Henry Phillips (1775-1838); in hisFlora historica, remarks that Turner (1568) “calls it gelouer, to which he adds the word stock, as we would say gelouers that grow on a stem or stock, to distinguish them from the clove-gelouers and the wall-gelouers. Gerard, who succeeded Turner, and after him Parkinson, calls it gilloflower, and thus it travelled from its original orthography until it was called July-flower by those who knew not whence it was derived.” Dr Prior, in his useful volume on thePopular Names of British Plants, very distinctly shows the origin of the name. He remarks that it was “formerly spelt gyllofer and gilofre with theolong, from the Frenchgiroflée, Italiangarofalo(M. Lat.gariofilum), corrupted from the LatinCaryophyllum, and referring to the spicy odour of the flower, which seems to have been used in flavouring wine and other liquors to replace the more costly clove of India. The name was originally given in Italy to plants of the pink tribe, especially the carnation, but has in England been transferred of late years to several cruciferous plants.” The gillyflower of Chaucer and Spenser and Shakespeare was, as in Italy,Dianthus Caryophyllus; that of later writers and of gardeners,Matthiola. Much of the confusion in the names of plants has doubtless arisen from the vague use of the French termsgiroflée,œilletandviolette, which were all applied to flowers of the pink tribe, but in England were subsequently extended and finally restricted to very different plants. The use made of the flowers to impart a spicy flavour to ale and wine is alluded to by Chaucer, who writes:
“And many a clove gilofreTo put in ale”;
“And many a clove gilofre
To put in ale”;
also by Spenser, who refers to them by the name of sops in wine, which was applied in consequence of their being steeped in the liquor. In both these cases, however, it is the clove-gillyflower which is intended, as it is also in the passage from Gerard, in which he states that the conserve made of the flowers with sugar “is exceeding cordiall, and wonderfully above measure doth comfort the heart, being eaten now and then.” The principal other plants which bear the name are the wallflower,Cheiranthus Cheiri, called wall-gillyflower in old books; the dame’s violet,Hesperis matronalis, called variously the queen’s, the rogue’s and the winter gillyflower; the ragged-robin,Lychnis Flos-cuculi, called marsh-gillyflower and cuckoo-gillyflower; the water-violet,Hottonia palustris, called water-gillyflower; and the thrift,Armeria vulgaris, called sea-gillyflower. As a separate designation it is nowadays usually applied to the wallflower.
GILMAN, DANIEL COIT(1831-1908), American educationist, was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on the 6th of July 1831. He graduated at Yale in 1852, studied in Berlin, was assistant librarian of Yale in 1856-1858 and librarian in 1858-1865, and was professor of physical and political geography in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University and a member of theGoverning Board of this School in 1863-1872. From 1856 to 1860 he was a member of the school board of New Haven, and from August 1865 to January 1867 secretary of the Connecticut Board of Education. In 1872 he became president of the University of California at Berkeley. On the 30th of December 1874 he was elected first president of Johns Hopkins University (q.v.) at Baltimore. He entered upon his duties on the 1st of May 1875, and was formally inaugurated on the 22nd of February 1876. This post he filled until 1901. From 1901 to 1904 he was the first president of the Carnegie Institution at Washington, D.C. He died at Norwich, Conn., on the 13th of October 1908. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Harvard, St John’s, Columbia, Yale, North Carolina, Princeton, Toronto, Wisconsin and Clark Universities, and William and Mary College. His influence upon higher education in America was great, especially at Johns Hopkins, where many wise details of administration, the plan of bringing to the university as lecturers for a part of the year scholars from other colleges, the choice of a singularly brilliant and able faculty, and the marked willingness to recognize workers in new branches of science were all largely due to him. To the organization of the Johns Hopkins hospital, of which he was made director in 1889, he contributed greatly. He was a singularly good judge of men and an able administrator, and under him Johns Hopkins had an immense influence, especially in the promotion of original and productive research. He was always deeply interested in the researches of the professors at Johns Hopkins, and it has been said of him that his attention as president was turned inside and not outside the university. He was instrumental in determining the policy of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University while he was a member of its governing board; on the 28th of October 1897 he delivered at New Haven a semi-centennial discourse on the school, which appears in hisUniversity Problems. He was a prominent member of the American Archaeological Society and of the American Oriental Society; was one of the original trustees of the John F. Slater Fund (for a time he was secretary, and from 1893 until his death was president of the board); from 1891 until his death was a trustee of the Peabody Educational Fund (being the vice-president of the board); and was an original member of the General Education Board (1902) and a trustee of the Russell Sage Foundation for Social Betterment (1907). In 1896-1897 he served on the Venezuela Boundary Commission appointed by President Cleveland. In 1901 he succeeded Carl Schurz as president of the National Civil Service Reform League and served until 1907. Some of his papers and addresses are collected in a volume entitledUniversity Problems in the United States(1888). He wrote, besides,James Monroe(1883), in the American Statesmen Series; aLife of James D. Dana, the geologist (1899);Science and Letters at Yale(1901), andThe Launching of a University(1906), an account of the early years of Johns Hopkins.
GILMORE, PATRICK SARSFIELD(1829-1892), American bandmaster, was born in Ireland, and settled in America about 1850. He had been in the band of an Irish regiment, and he had great success as leader of a military band at Salem, Massachusetts, and subsequently (1859) in Boston. He increased his reputation during the Civil War, particularly by organizing a monster orchestra of massed bands for a festival at New Orleans in 1864; and at Boston in 1869 and 1872 he gave similar performances. He was enormously popular as a bandmaster, and composed or arranged a large variety of pieces for orchestra. He died at St Louis on the 24th of September 1892.
GILPIN, BERNARD(1517-1583), the “Apostle of the North,” was descended from a Westmorland family, and was born at Kentmere in 1517. He was educated at Queen’s College, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1540, M.A. in 1542 and B.D. in 1549. He was elected fellow of Queen’s and ordained in 1542; subsequently he was elected student of Christ Church. At Oxford he first adhered to the conservative side, and defended the doctrines of the church against Hooper; but his confidence was somewhat shaken by another public disputation which he had with Peter Martyr. In 1552 he preached before King Edward VI. a sermon on sacrilege, which was duly published, and displays the high ideal which even then he had formed of the clerical office; and about the same time he was presented to the vicarage of Norton, in the diocese of Durham, and obtained a licence, through William Cecil, as a general preacher throughout the kingdom as long as the king lived. On Mary’s accession he went abroad to pursue his theological investigations at Louvain, Antwerp and Paris; and from a letter of his own, dated Louvain, 1554, we get a glimpse of the quiet student rejoicing in an “excellent library belonging to a monastery of Minorites.” Returning to England towards the close of Queen Mary’s reign, he was invested by his mother’s uncle, Tunstall, bishop of Durham, with the archdeaconry of Durham, to which the rectory of Easington was annexed. The freedom of his attacks on the vices, and especially the clerical vices, of his times excited hostility against him, and he was formally brought before the bishop on a charge consisting of thirteen articles. Tunstall, however, not only dismissed the case, but presented the offender with the rich living of Houghton-le-Spring; and when the accusation was again brought forward, he again protected him. Enraged at this defeat, Gilpin’s enemies laid their complaint before Bonner, bishop of London, who secured a royal warrant for his apprehension. Upon this Gilpin prepared for martyrdom; and, having ordered his house-steward to provide him with a long garment, that he might “goe the more comely to the stake,” he set out for London. Fortunately, however, for him, he broke his leg on the journey, and his arrival was thus delayed till the news of Queen Mary’s death freed him from further danger. He at once returned to Houghton, and there he continued to labour till his death on the 4th of March 1583. When the Roman Catholic bishops were deprived he was offered the see of Carlisle; but he declined this honour and also the provostship of Queen’s, which was offered him in 1560. At Houghton his course of life was a ceaseless round of benevolent activity. In June 1560 he entertained Cecil and Dr Nicholas Wotton on their way to Edinburgh. His hospitable manner of living was the admiration of all. His living was a comparatively rich one, his house was better than many bishops’ palaces, and his position was that of a clerical magnate. In his household he spent “every fortnight 40 bushels of corn, 20 bushels of malt and an ox, besides a proportional quantity of other kinds of provisions.” Strangers and travellers found a ready reception; and even their horses were treated with so much care that it was humorously said that, if one were turned loose in any part of the country, it would immediately make its way to the rector of Houghton. Every Sunday from Michaelmas till Easter was a public day with Gilpin. For the reception of his parishioners he had three tables well covered—one for gentlemen, the second for husbandmen, the third for day-labourers; and this piece of hospitality he never omitted, even when losses or scarcity made its continuance difficult. He built and endowed a grammar-school at a cost of upwards of £500, educated and maintained a large number of poor children at his own charge, and provided the more promising pupils with means of studying at the universities. So many young people, indeed, flocked to his school that there was not accommodation for them in Houghton, and he had to fit up part of his house as a boarding establishment. Grieved at the ignorance and superstition which the remissness of the clergy permitted to flourish in the neighbouring parishes, he used every year to visit the most neglected parts of Northumberland, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Westmorland and Cumberland; and that his own flock might not suffer, he was at the expense of a constant assistant. Among his parishioners he was looked up to as a judge, and did great service in preventing law-suits amongst them. If an industrious man suffered a loss, he delighted to make it good; if the harvest was bad, he was liberal in the remission of tithes. The boldness which he could display at need is well illustrated by his action in regard to duelling. Finding one day a challenge-glove stuck up on the door of a church where he was to preach, he took it down with his own hand, and proceeded to the pulpit to inveigh against the unchristian custom. His theological position was not in accord with any ofthe religious parties of his age, and Gladstone thought that the catholicity of the Anglican Church was better exemplified in his career than in those of more prominent ecclesiastics (pref. to A. W. Hutton’s edition of S. R. Maitland’sEssays on the Reformation). He was not satisfied with the Elizabethan settlement, had great respect for the Fathers, and was with difficulty induced to subscribe. Archbishop Sandys’ views on the Eucharist horrified him; but on the other hand he maintained friendly relations with Bishop Pilkington and Thomas Lever, and the Puritans had some hope of his support.
A life of Bernard Gilpin, written by George Carleton, bishop of Chichester, who had been a pupil of Gilpin’s at Houghton, will be found in Bates’sVitae selectorum aliquot virorum, &c. (London, 1681). A translation of this sketch by William Freake, minister, was published at London, 1629; and in 1852 it was reprinted in Glasgow, with an introductory essay by Edward Irving. It forms one of the lives in Christopher Wordsworth’sEcclesiastical Biography(vol. iii., 4th ed.), having been compared with Carleton’s Latin text. Another biography of Gilpin, which, however, adds little to Bishop Carleton’s, was written by William Gilpin, M.A., prebendary of Ailsbury (London, 1753 and 1854). See alsoDict. Nat. Biog.
A life of Bernard Gilpin, written by George Carleton, bishop of Chichester, who had been a pupil of Gilpin’s at Houghton, will be found in Bates’sVitae selectorum aliquot virorum, &c. (London, 1681). A translation of this sketch by William Freake, minister, was published at London, 1629; and in 1852 it was reprinted in Glasgow, with an introductory essay by Edward Irving. It forms one of the lives in Christopher Wordsworth’sEcclesiastical Biography(vol. iii., 4th ed.), having been compared with Carleton’s Latin text. Another biography of Gilpin, which, however, adds little to Bishop Carleton’s, was written by William Gilpin, M.A., prebendary of Ailsbury (London, 1753 and 1854). See alsoDict. Nat. Biog.
GILSONITE(so named after S. H. Gilson of Salt Lake City), orUintahite, orUintaite, a description of asphalt occurring in masses several inches in diameter in the Uinta (or Uintah) valley, near Fort Duchesne, Utah. It is of black colour; its fracture is conchoidal, and it has a lustrous surface. When warmed it becomes plastic, and on further beating fuses perfectly. It has a specific gravity of 1.065 to 1.070. It dissolves freely in hot oil of turpentine. The output amounted to 10,916 short tons for the year 1905, and the value was $4.51 per ton.
GILYAKS,a hybrid people, originally widespread throughout the Lower Amur district, but now confined to the Amur delta and the north of Sakhalin. They have been affiliated by some authorities to the Ainu of Sakhalin and Yezo; but they are more probably a mongrel people, and Dr A. Anuchin states that there are two types, a Mongoloid with sparse beard, high cheek-bones and flat face, and a Caucasic with bushy beard and more regular features. The Chinese call themYupitatse, “Fish-skin-clad people,” from their wearing a peculiar dress made from salmon skin.
See E. G. Ravenstein,The Russians on the Amur(1861); Dr A. Anuchin,Mem. Imp. Soc. Nat. Sc.xx., Supplement (Moscow, 1877); H. von Siebold,Über die Aino(Berlin, 1881); J. Deniker in Revue d’ethnographie (Paris, 1884); L. Schrenck,Die Völker des Amurlandes(St Petersburg, 1891).
See E. G. Ravenstein,The Russians on the Amur(1861); Dr A. Anuchin,Mem. Imp. Soc. Nat. Sc.xx., Supplement (Moscow, 1877); H. von Siebold,Über die Aino(Berlin, 1881); J. Deniker in Revue d’ethnographie (Paris, 1884); L. Schrenck,Die Völker des Amurlandes(St Petersburg, 1891).
GIMBAL,a mechanical device for hanging some object so that it should keep a horizontal and constant position, while the body from which it is suspended is in free motion, so that the motion of the supporting body is not communicated to it. It is thus used particularly for the suspension of compasses or chronometers and lamps at sea, and usually consists of a ring freely moving on an axis, within which the object swings on an axis at right angles to the ring.
The word is derived from the O. Fr.gemel, from Lat.gemellus, diminutive ofgeminus, a twin, and appears also ingimmelorjimbeland asgemel, especially as a term for a ring formed of two hoops linked together and capable of separation, used in the 16th and 17th centuries as betrothal and keepsake rings. They sometimes were made of three or more hoops linked together.
GIMLET(from the O. Fr.guimbelet, probably a diminutive of the O.E.wimble, and the Scandinavianwammle, to bore or twist; the modern French isgibelet), a tool used for boring small holes. It is made of steel, with a shaft having a hollow side, and a screw at the end for boring the wood; the handle of wood is fixed transversely to the shaft. A gimlet is always a small tool. A similar tool of large size is called an “auger” (seeTool).
GIMLI,in Scandinavian mythology, the great hall of heaven whither the righteous will go to spend eternity.
GIMP,orGymp. (1) (Of somewhat doubtful origin, but probably a nasal form of the Fr.guipure, fromguiper, to cover or “whip” a cord over with silk), a stiff trimming made of silk or cotton woven around a firm cord, often further ornamented by a metal cord running through it. It is also sometimes covered with bugles, beads or other glistening ornaments. The trimming employed by upholsterers to edge curtains, draperies, the seats of chairs, &c., is also called gimp; and in lace work it is the firmer or coarser thread which outlines the pattern and strengthens the material. (2) A shortened form of gimple (the O. E.wimple), the kerchief worn by a nun around her throat, sometimes also applied to a nun’s stomacher.
GIN,an aromatized or compounded potable spirit, the characteristic flavour of which is derived from the juniper berry. The word “gin” is an abbreviation of Geneva, both being primarily derived from the Fr.genièvre(juniper). The use of the juniper for flavouring alcoholic beverages may be traced to the invention, or perfecting, by Count de Morret, son of Henry IV. of France, of juniper wine. It was the custom in the early days of the spirit industry, in distilling spirit from fermented liquors, to add in the working some aromatic ingredients, such as ginger, grains of paradise, &c., to take off the nauseous flavour of the crude spirits then made. The invention of juniper wine, no doubt, led some one to try the juniper berry for this purpose, and as this flavouring agent was found not only to yield an agreeable beverage, but also to impart a valuable medicinal quality to the spirit, it was generally made use of by makers of aromatized spirits thereafter. It is probable that the use of grains of paradise, pepper and so on, in the early days of spirit manufacture, for the object mentioned above, indirectly gave rise to the statements which are still found in current text-books and works of reference as to the use of Cayenne pepper,cocculus indicus, sulphuric acid and so on, for the purpose of adulterating spirits. It is quite certain that such materials are not used nowadays, and it would indeed, in view of modern conditions of manufacture and of public taste, be hard to find a reason for their use. The same applies to the suggestions that such substances as acetate of lead, alum or sulphate of zinc are employed for the fining of gin.
There are two distinct types of gin, namely, the Dutchgenevaorhollandsand the British gin. Each of these types exists in the shape of numerous sub-varieties. Broadly speaking, British gin is prepared with a highly rectified spirit, whereas in the manufacture of Dutch gin a preliminary rectification is not an integral part of the process. The old-fashioned Hollands is prepared much after the following fashion. A mash consisting of about one-third of malted barley or bere and two-thirds rye-meal is prepared, and infused at a somewhat high temperature. After cooling, the whole is set to ferment with a small quantity of yeast. After two to three days the attenuation is complete, and the wash so obtained is distilled, and the resulting distillate (the low wines) is redistilled, with the addition of the flavouring matter (juniper berries, &c.) and a little salt. Originally the juniper berries were ground with the malt, but this practice no longer obtains, but some distillers, it is believed, still mix the juniper berries with the wort and subject the whole to fermentation. When the redistillation over juniper is repeated, the product is termeddouble(geneva, &c.). There are numerous variations in the process described, wheat being frequently employed in lieu of rye. In the manufacture of British gin,1a highly rectified spirit (seeSpirits) is redistilled in the presence of the flavouring matter (principally juniper and coriander), and frequently this operation is repeated several times. The product so obtained constitutes the “dry” gin of commerce. Sweetened or cordialized gin is obtained by adding sugar andflavouring matter (juniper, coriander, angelica, &c.) to the dry variety. Inferior qualities of gin are made by simply adding essential oils to plain spirit, the distillation process being omitted. The essential oil of juniper is a powerful diuretic, and gin is frequently prescribed in affections of the urinary organs.
1The precise origin of the term “Old Tom,” as applied to unsweetened gin, appears to be somewhat obscure. In the English case ofBoord & Sonv.Huddart(1903), in which the plaintiffs established their right to the “Cat Brand” trade-mark, it was proved before Mr Justice Swinfen Eady that this firm had first adopted about 1849 the punning association of the picture of a Tom cat on a barrel with the name of “Old Tom”; and it was at one time supposed that this was due to a tradition that a cat had fallen into one of the vats, the gin from which was highly esteemed. But the term “Old Tom” had been known before that, and Messrs Boord & Son inform us that previously “Old Tom” had been a man, namely “old Thomas Chamberlain of Hodge’s distillery”; an old label book in their possession (1909) shows a label and bill-head with a picture of “Old Tom” the man on it, and another label shows a picture of a sailor lad on shipboard described as “Young Tom.”
1The precise origin of the term “Old Tom,” as applied to unsweetened gin, appears to be somewhat obscure. In the English case ofBoord & Sonv.Huddart(1903), in which the plaintiffs established their right to the “Cat Brand” trade-mark, it was proved before Mr Justice Swinfen Eady that this firm had first adopted about 1849 the punning association of the picture of a Tom cat on a barrel with the name of “Old Tom”; and it was at one time supposed that this was due to a tradition that a cat had fallen into one of the vats, the gin from which was highly esteemed. But the term “Old Tom” had been known before that, and Messrs Boord & Son inform us that previously “Old Tom” had been a man, namely “old Thomas Chamberlain of Hodge’s distillery”; an old label book in their possession (1909) shows a label and bill-head with a picture of “Old Tom” the man on it, and another label shows a picture of a sailor lad on shipboard described as “Young Tom.”
GINDELY, ANTON(1829-1892), German historian, was the son of a German father and a Slavonic mother, and was born at Prague on the 3rd of September 1829. He studied at Prague and at Olmütz, and, after travelling extensively in search of historical material, became professor of history at the university of Prague and archivist for Bohemia in 1862. He died at Prague on the 24th of October 1892. Gindely’s chief work is hisGeschichte des dreissigjährigen Krieges(Prague, 1869-1880), which has been translated into English (New York, 1884); and his historical work is mainly concerned with the period of the Thirty Years’ War. Perhaps the most important of his numerous other works are:Geschichte der böhmischen Brüder(Prague, 1857-1858);Rudolf II. und seine Zeit(1862-1868), and a criticism of Wallenstein,Waldstein während seines ersten Generalats(1886). He wrote a history of Bethlen Gabor in Hungarian, and edited theMonumenta historiae Bohemica. Gindely’s posthumous work,Geschichte der Gegenreformation in Böhmen, was edited by T. Tupetz (1894).
See theAllgemeine deutsche Biographie, Band 49 (Leipzig, 1904).
See theAllgemeine deutsche Biographie, Band 49 (Leipzig, 1904).
GINGALL,orJingal(Hindostanijanjal), a gun used by the natives throughout the East, usually a light piece mounted on a swivel; it sometimes takes the form of a heavy musket fired from a rest.
GINGER(Fr.gingembre, Ger.Ingwer), the rhizome or underground stem ofZingiber officinale(nat. ord. Zingiberaceae), a perennial reed-like plant growing from 3 to 4 ft. high. The flowers and leaves are borne on separate stems, those of the former being shorter than those of the latter, and averaging from 6 to 12 in. The flowers themselves are borne at the apex of the stems in dense ovate-oblong cone-like spikes from 2 to 3 in. long, composed of obtuse strongly-imbricated bracts with membranous margins, each bract enclosing a single small sessile flower. The leaves are alternate and arranged in two rows, bright green, smooth, tapering at both ends, with very short stalks and long sheaths which stand away from the stem and end in two small rounded auricles. The plant rarely flowers and the fruit is unknown. Though not found in a wild state, it is considered with very good reason to be a native of the warmer parts of Asia, over which it has been cultivated from an early period and the rhizome imported into England. From Asia the plant has spread into the West Indies, South America, western tropical Africa, and Australia. It is commonly grown in botanic gardens in Britain.
The use of ginger as a spice has been known from very early times; it was supposed by the Greeks and Romans to be a product of southern Arabia, and was received by them by way of the Red Sea; in India it has also been known from a very remote period, the Greek and Latin names being derived from the Sanskrit. Flückiger and Hanbury, in theirPharmacographia, give the following notes on the history of ginger. On the authority of Vincent’sCommerce and Navigation of the Ancients, it is stated that in the list of imports from the Red Sea into Alexandria, which in the second century of our era were there liable to the Roman fiscal duty, ginger occurs among other Indian spices. So frequent is the mention of ginger in similar lists during the middle ages, that it evidently constituted an important item in the commerce between Europe and the East. It thus appears in the tariff of duties levied at Acre in Palestine about 1173, in that of Barcelona in 1221, Marseilles in 1228 and Paris in 1296. Ginger seems to have been well known in England even before the Norman Conquest, being often referred to in the Anglo-Saxon leech-books of the 11th century. It was very common in the 13th and 14th centuries, ranking next in value to pepper, which was then the commonest of all spices, and costing on an average about 1s. 7d. per ℔. Three kinds of ginger were known among the merchants of Italy about the middle of the 14th century: (1)BellediorBaladi, an Arabic name, which, as applied to ginger, would signify country or wild, and denotes common ginger; (2)Colombino, which refers to Columbum, Kolam or Quilon, a port in Travancore, frequently mentioned in the middle ages; and (3)Micchino, a name which denoted that the spice had been brought from or by way of Mecca. Marco Polo seems to have seen the ginger plant both in India and China between 1280 and 1290. John of Montecorvino, a missionary friar who visited India about 1292, gives a description of the plant, and refers to the fact of the root being dug up and transported. Nicolo di Conto, a Venetian merchant in the early part of the 15th century, also describes the plant and the collection of the root, as seen by him in India. Though the Venetians received ginger by way of Egypt, some of the superior kinds were taken from India overland by the Black Sea. The spice is said to have been introduced into America by Francisco de Mendoça, who took it from the East Indies to New Spain. It seems to have been shipped for commercial purposes from San Domingo as early as 1585, and from Barbados in 1654; so early as 1547 considerable quantities were sent from the West Indies to Spain.
1. Flower.
2. Flower in vertical section.
3. Fertile stamen, enveloping the style which projects above it.
4. Piece of leafy stem. 1-3 enlarged.
s, Sepals.
p, Petals.
l, Labellum, representing two barren stamens.
st, Fertile stamen.
y, Staminode.
x, Tip of style bearing the stigma.
z, Style.
gl, Honey-secreting glands.
Ginger is known in commerce in two distinct forms, termed respectively coated and uncoated ginger, as having or wanting the epidermis. For the first, the pieces, which are called “races” or “hands,” from their irregular palmate form, are washed and simply dried in the sun. In this form ginger presents a brown, more or less irregularly wrinkled or striated surface, and when broken shows a dark brownish fracture, hard, and sometimes horny and resinous. To produce uncoated ginger the rhizomes are washed, scraped and sun-dried, and are often subjected to a system of bleaching, either from the fumes of burning sulphur or by immersion for a short time in a solution of chlorinated lime. The whitewashed appearance that much of the ginger has, as seen in the shops, is due to the fact of its being washed in whiting and water, or even coated with sulphate oflime. This artificial coating is supposed by some to give the ginger a better appearance; it often, however, covers an inferior quality, and can readily be detected by the ease with which it rubs off, or by its leaving a white powdery substance at the bottom of the jar in which it is contained. Uncoated ginger, as seen in trade, varies from single joints an inch or less in length to flattish irregularly branched pieces of several joints, the “races” or “hands,” and from 3 to 4 in. long; each branch has a depression at its summit showing the former attachment of a leafy stem. The colour, when not whitewashed, is a pale buff; it is somewhat rough or fibrous, breaking with a short mealy fracture, and presenting on the surfaces of the broken parts numerous short bristly fibres.
The principal constituents of ginger are starch, volatile oil (to which the characteristic odour of the spice is due) and resin (to which is attributed its pungency). Its chief use is as a condiment or spice, but as an aromatic and stomachic medicine it is also used internally. “The stimulant, aromatic and carminative properties render it of much value in atonic dyspepsia, especially if accompanied with much flatulence, and as an adjunct to purgative medicines to correct griping.” Externally applied as a rubefacient, it has been found to relieve headache and toothache. The rhizomes, collected in a young green state, washed, scraped and preserved in syrup, form a delicious preserve, which is largely exported both from the West Indies and from China. Cut up into pieces like lozenges and preserved in sugar, ginger also forms a very agreeable sweetmeat.
The principal constituents of ginger are starch, volatile oil (to which the characteristic odour of the spice is due) and resin (to which is attributed its pungency). Its chief use is as a condiment or spice, but as an aromatic and stomachic medicine it is also used internally. “The stimulant, aromatic and carminative properties render it of much value in atonic dyspepsia, especially if accompanied with much flatulence, and as an adjunct to purgative medicines to correct griping.” Externally applied as a rubefacient, it has been found to relieve headache and toothache. The rhizomes, collected in a young green state, washed, scraped and preserved in syrup, form a delicious preserve, which is largely exported both from the West Indies and from China. Cut up into pieces like lozenges and preserved in sugar, ginger also forms a very agreeable sweetmeat.
GINGHAM,a cotton or linen cloth, for the name of which several origins are suggested. It is said to have been made at Guingamp, a town in Brittany; theNew English Dictionaryderives the word from Malayging-gang, meaning “striped.” The cloth is now of a light or medium weight, and woven of dyed or white yarns either in a single colour or different colours, and in stripes, checks or plaids. It is made in Lancashire and in Glasgow, and also to a large extent in the United States. Imitations of it are obtained by calico-printing. It is used for dresses, &c.
GINGI,orGingee, a rock fortress of southern India, in the South Arcot district of Madras. It consists of three hills, connected by walls enclosing an area of 7 sq. m., and practically impregnable to assault. The origin of the fortress is shrouded in legend. When occupied by the Mahrattas at the end of the 17th century, it withstood a siege of eight years against the armies of Aurangzeb. In 1750 it was captured by the French, who held it with a strong force for eleven years. It surrendered to the English in 1761, in the words of Orme, “terminated the long hostilities between the two rival European powers in Coromandel, and left not a single ensign of the French nation avowed by the authority of its government in any part of India.”
GINGUENÉ, PIERRE LOUIS(1748-1815), French author, was born on the 27th of April 1748 at Rennes, in Brittany. He was educated at a Jesuit college in his native town, and came to Paris in 1772. He wrote criticisms for theMercure de France, and composed a comic opera,Pomponin(1777).The Satire des satires(1778) and theConfession de Zulmé(1779) followed.The Confessionwas claimed by six or seven different authors, and though the value of the piece is not very great, it obtained great success. His defence of Piccini against the partisans of Gluck made him still more widely known. He hailed the first symptoms of the Revolution, joined Giuseppe Cerutti, the author of theMémoire pour le peuple français(1788), and others in producing theFeuille villageoise, a weekly paper addressed to the villages of France. He also celebrated in an indifferent ode the opening of the states-general. In hisLettres sur les confessions de J.-J. Rousseau(1791) he defended the life and principles of his author. He was imprisoned during the Terror, and only escaped with life by the downfall of Robespierre. Some time after his release he assisted, as director-general of the “commission exécutive de l’instruction publique,” in reorganizing the system of public instruction, and he was an original member of the Institute of France. In 1797 the directory appointed him minister plenipotentiary to the king of Sardinia. After fulfilling his duties for seven months, very little to the satisfaction of his employers, Ginguené retired for a time to his country house of St Prix, in the valley of Montmorency. He was appointed a member of the tribunate, but Napoleon, finding that he was not sufficiently tractable, had him expelled at the first “purge,” and Ginguené returned to his literary pursuits. He was one of the commission charged to continue theHistoire littéraire de la France, and he contributed to the volumes of this series which appeared in 1814, 1817 and 1820. Ginguené’s most important work is theHistoire littéraire d’Italie(14 vols., 1811-1835). He was putting the finishing touches to the eighth and ninth volumes when he died on the 11th of November 1815. The last five volumes were written by Francesco Salfi and revised by Pierre Daunou.
In the composition of his history of Italian literature he was guided for the most part by the great work of Girolamo Tiraboschi, but he avoids the prejudices and party views of his model.