The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 209

GABERLUNZIE, a licensed beggar, or any of the mendicant cla.s.s, so called from the wallet he carried.

GABINUS, a Roman tribune in 66 B.C., afterwards consul; party to the banishment of Cicero, 57 B.C.

GABOON and FRENCH CONGO (5,000), a French Colony in W. Africa fronting the Atlantic, between the Cameroon country and the Congo State, and stretching inland as far as the head-waters of the Congo River; in the NW. is the great Gaboon estuary, 40 m. long and 10 broad at its mouth, with Libreville on its N. bank; along the coast the climate is hot and unhealthy, but it improves inland; the natives belong to the Bantu stock; the French settled in it first in 1842, but only since the explorations of De Brazza in 1876-86 have they begun to extend and colonise it.

GABRIEL, an angel, one of the seven archangels, "the power of G.o.d,"

who is represented in the traditions of both the Jews and the Moslems as discharging the highest functions, and in Christian tradition as announcing to the Virgin Mary her election of G.o.d to be the mother of the Messiah; he ranks fully higher among Moslems than Jews.

GABRIEL, a French architect, born in Paris (1710-1782).

GABRIELLES D'ESTReES, the mistress of Henry IV. of France, who for State reasons was not allowed to marry her (1571-1599).

GAD, one of the Jewish tribes inhabiting the E. of the Jordan.

GADAMES or GHADAMES (7 to 10), an oasis and town in Africa, situated in the SW. corner of Tripoli, on the N. border of the Sahara; the fertility of the oasis is due to hot springs, from which the place takes its name; high walls protect the soil and the fruit of it, which is abundant, from sand-storms; it is an entrepot for trade with the interior; the inhabitants are Berber Mohammedans.

GADDI, GADDO, a Florentine painter and worker in mosaic, friend of Cimabue and Giotto (1239-1312).

GADDI, TADDEO, son of the preceding, and pupil of Giotto both in architecture and fresco-painting (1300-1366).

GADDI, AGNOLO, son of the preceding, and a painter of frescoes (1350-1396).

GADES, the ancient name of CADIZ (q. v.).

GADs.h.i.+LL, an eminence in Kent, 3 m. NW. of Rochester, a.s.sociated with the name of Falstaff, also of d.i.c.kens, who resided here from 1856 to 1870, and where he died.

GAETA (17), a fortified seaport of S. Italy, finely situated on a steep promontory 50 m. NW. of Naples; it was a favourite watering-place of the ancient Roman n.o.bility, and the beauty of its bay is celebrated by Virgil and Horace; it is rich in cla.s.sic remains, and in its day has witnessed many sieges; the inhabitants are chiefly employed with fis.h.i.+ng and a light coast trade.

GAGE, THOMAS, English general, son of Viscount Gage; he served in the Seven Years' War, and took part in 1755 in Braddock's disastrous expedition in America; in 1760 he became military governor of Montreal, and three years later commander-in-chief of the British forces in America; as governor of Ma.s.sachusetts he precipitated the revolution by his ill-timed severity, and after the battle of Bunker's Hill was recalled to England (1721-1787).

GAIA or GE, in the Greek mythology the primeval G.o.ddess of the earth, the _alma mater_ of living things, both in heaven and on earth, called subsequently Demeter, i. e. Gemeter, Earth-mother.

GAILLARD, French historian, born at Amiens; devoted his life to history (1726-1806).

GAINSBOROUGH, THOMAS, one of England's greatest artists in portrait and landscape painting, born at Sudbury, Suffolk; he early displayed a talent for drawing, and at 14 was sent to London to study art; when 19 he started as a portrait-painter at Ipswich, having by this time married Margaret Burr, a young lady with 200 a year; patronised by Sir Philip Thicknesse, he removed in 1760 to Bath, where he rose into high favour, and in 1774 he sought a wider field in London; he shared the honours of painting portraits with Reynolds and of landscape with Wilson; his portraits have more of grace, if less of genius, than Reynolds, while his landscapes inaugurated a freer and more genial manner of dealing with nature, while as a colourist Ruskin declares him the greatest since Rubens; among his most famous pictures are portraits of Mrs. Siddons, the d.u.c.h.ess of Devons.h.i.+re, and the Hon. Mrs. Graham, "Shepherd Boy in the Shower," "The Seash.o.r.e," &c. (1727-1788).

GAIUS, a Roman jurist of the 2nd century, whose "Inst.i.tutes" served for the basis of Justinian's.

GALAHAD, SIR, son of Lancelot, one of the Knights of the Round Table; distinguished for the immaculate purity of his character and life; was successful in his search for the Holy Graal.

GALAOR, a hero of Spanish romance, brother of Amadis de Gaul, the model of a courtly paladin, and always ready with his sword to avenge the wrongs of the widow and the orphan.

GALAPaGOS, a spa.r.s.ely populated group of islands (13 in number), barren on the N., but well wooded on the S., situated on the equator, 600 m. W. of Ecuador, and which, although belonging to Ecuador, all bear English names, bestowed upon them, it would appear, by the buccaneers of the 17th century; Albemarle Island makes up more than half of their area; they are volcanic in formation, and some of their 2000 craters are not yet inactive; their fauna is of peculiar scientific interest as exhibiting many species unknown elsewhere; besides the islands proper there is a vast number of islets and rocks.

GALATA, a faubourg of Constantinople where the European merchants reside.

GALATEA, a nymph whom Polyphemus made love to, but who preferred Acis to him, whom therefore he made away with by crus.h.i.+ng him under a rock, in consequence of which the nymph threw herself into the sea.

GALATIA, a high-lying Roman province in Asia Minor that had been invaded and taken possession of by a horde of Gauls in the 3rd century B.C., whence the name.

GALATIANS, EPISTLE TO THE, an epistle of St. Paul to the churches in Galatia, which was an especial favourite with Luther, as, with its doctrine of spiritual freedom in Christ, it might well be, for it corroborated the great revelation first made to him by a neighbour monk; "man is not saved by singing ma.s.ses, but by the grace of G.o.d"; it is a didactic epistle, in a.s.sertion, on the one hand, of freedom from the law, and, on the other, of the power of the spirit.

GALATZ or GALACZ (59), the great river-port of Roumania, on the Danube, 8 m. above the Sulina mouth of the river and 166 m. NE. of Bucharest; the new town is well laid out, and contains some fine buildings; its harbour is one of the finest on the Danube; a great export trade is carried on in cereals, while textiles and metals are the chief imports.

GALAXY, the Milky Way, a band of light seen after sunset across the heavens, consisting of an innumerable mult.i.tude of stars, or suns rather, stretching away into the depths of s.p.a.ce.

GALBA, a Roman emperor from June 68 to January 69, elected at the age of 70 by the Gallic legions to succeed Nero, but for his severity and avarice was slain by the Praetorian guard, who proclaimed Otho emperor in his stead.

GALE, THEOPHILUS, a Nonconformist divine; author of the "Court of the Gentiles," in which he attempts to prove that the theology and philosophy of the Gentiles was borrowed from the Scriptures (1628-1678).

GALE, THOMAS, dean of York; edited cla.s.sics, wrote on early English history (1636-1702).

GALEN, or CLAUDIUS GALENUS, a famous Greek physician, born at Pergamus, in Illyria, where, after studying in various cities, he settled in 158; subsequently he went to Rome, and eventually became physician to the emperors M. Aurelius, L. Verus, and Severus; of his voluminous writings 83 treatises are still extant, and these treat on a varied array of subjects, philosophical as well as professional; for centuries after his death his works were accepted as authoritative in the matter of medicine (131-201).

GALE'RIUS, VALERIUS MAXIMUS, Roman emperor, born in Dacia, of lowly parentage; rose from a common soldier to be the son-in-law of the Emperor Diocletian, who in 292 raised him to the dignity of a Caesar; in 305, on the death of Diocletian, he became head of the Eastern Empire, which he continued to be till his death in 311; his name is a.s.sociated with a cruel persecution of the Christians under Diocletian.