[1] The name of the hero, written always ideographically, was for a
long time provisionally read _Izdubar_; but a tablet discovered by T.
G. Pinches gave the equivalent _Gilgamesh_ (see Jastrow, _Religion of
Babylonia and Assyria_, p. 468).
GILGIT, an outlying province in the extreme north-west of India, over
which Kashmir has reasserted her sovereignty. Only a part of the basin
of the river Gilgit is included within its political boundaries. There
is an intervening width of mountainous country, represented chiefly by
glaciers and ice-fields, and intersected by narrow sterile valleys,
measuring some 100 to 150 m. in width, to the north and north-east,
which separates the province of Gilgit from the Chinese frontier beyond
the Muztagh and Karakoram. This part of the Kashmir borderland includes
Kanjut (or Hunza) and Ladakh. To the north-west, beyond the sources of
the Yasin and Ghazar in the Shandur range (the two most westerly
tributaries of the Gilgit river) is the deep valley of the Yarkhun or
Chitral. Since the formation of the North-West Frontier Province in
1901, the political charge of Chitral, Dir and Swat, which was formerly
included within the Gilgit agency, has been transferred to the chief
commissioner of the new province, with his capital at Peshawar. Gilgit
proper now forms a _wazarat_ of the Kashmir state, administered by a
_wazir_. Gilgit is also the headquarters of a British political agent,
who exercises some supervision over the _wazir_, and is directly
responsible to the government of India for the administration of the
outlying districts or petty states of Hunza, Nagar, Ashkuman, Yasin and
Ghizar, the little republic of Chilas, &c. These states acknowledge the
suzerainty of Kashmir, paying an annual tribute in gold or grain, but
they form no part of its territory.
Within the wider limits of the former Gilgit agency are many mixed
races, speaking different languages, which have all been usually classed
together under the name Dard. The Dard, however, is unknown beyond the
limits of the Kohistan district of the Indus valley to the south of the
Hindu Koh, the rest of the inhabitants of the Indus valley belonging to
Shin republics, or Chilas. The great mass of the Chitral population are
Kho (speaking Khowar), and they may be accepted as representing the
aboriginal population of the Chitral valley. (See HINDU KUSH.) Between
Chitral and the Indus the "Dards" of Dardistan are chiefly Yeshkuns and
Shins, and it would appear from the proportions in which these people
occupy the country that they must have primarily moved up from the
valley of the Indus in successive waves of conquest, first the Yeshkuns,
and then the Shins. No one can put a date to these invasions, but
Biddulph is inclined to class the Yeshkuns with the Yuechi who conquered
the Bactrian kingdom about 120 B.C. The Shins are obviously a Hindu race
(as is testified by their veneration for the cow), who spread themselves
northwards and eastwards as far as Baltistan, where they collided with
the aboriginal Tatar of the Asiatic highlands. But the ethnography of
"Dardistan," or the Gilgit agency (for the two are, roughly speaking,
synonymous), requires further investigation, and it would be premature
to attempt to frame anything like an ethnographical history of these
regions until the neighbouring provinces of Tangir and Darel have been
more fully examined. The _wazarat_ of Gilgit contains a population
(1901) of 60,885, all Mahommedans, mostly of the Shiah sect, but not
fanatical. The dominant race is that of the Shins, whose language is
universally spoken. This is one of the so-called Pisacha languages, an
archaic Aryan group intermediate between the Iranian and the Sanskritic.
In general appearance and dress all the mountain-bred peoples extending
through these northern districts are very similar. Thick felt coats
reaching below the knee, loose "pyjamas" with cloth "putties" and boots
(often of English make) are almost universal, the distinguishing feature
in their costume being the felt cap worn close to the head and rolled up
round the edges. They are on the whole a light-hearted, cheerful race of
people, but it has been observed that their temperament varies much with
their habitat--those who live on the shadowed sides of mountains being
distinctly more morose and more serious in disposition than the dwellers
in valleys which catch the winter sunlight. They are, at the same time,
bloodthirsty and treacherous to a degree which would appear incredible
to a casual observer of their happy and genial manners, exhibiting a
strange combination (as has been observed by a careful student of their
ways) of "the monkey and the tiger." Addicted to sport of every kind,
they pursue no manufacturing industries whatsoever, but they are
excellent agriculturists, and show great ingenuity in their local
irrigation works and in their efforts to bring every available acre of
cultivable soil within the irrigated area. Gold washing is more or less
carried on in most of the valleys north of the river Gilgit, and gold
dust (contained in small packets formed with the petals of a cup-shaped
flower) is an invariable item in their official presents and offerings.
Gold dust still constitutes part of the annual tribute which, strangely
enough, is paid by Hunza to China, as well as to Kashmir.
_Routes in the Gilgit Agency._--One of the oldest recorded routes
through this country is that which connects Mastuj in the Chitral
valley with Gilgit, passing across the Shandur range (12,250). It now
forms the high-road between Gilgit and Chitral, and has been
engineered into a passable route. From the north three great
glacier-bred affluents make their way to the river of Gilgit, joining
it at almost equal intervals, and each of them affords opportunity for
a rough passage northwards. (1) The Yasin river, which follows a
fairly straight course from north to south for about 40 m. from the
foot of the Darkot pass across the Shandur range (15,000) to its
junction with the river Gilgit, close to the little fort of Gupis, on
the Gilgit-Mastuj road. Much of this valley is cultivated and
extremely picturesque. At the head of it is a grand group of glaciers,
one of which leads up to the well-known pass of Darkot. (2) 25 m. (by
map measurement) below Gupis the Gilgit receives the Ashkuman affluent
from the north. The little Lake of Karumbar is held to be its source,
as it lies at the head of the river. The same lake is sometimes called
the source of the river Yarkhun or Chitral; and it seems possible that
a part of its waters may be deflected in each direction. The Karumbar,
or Ashkuman, is nearly twice the length of the Yasin, and the upper
half of the valley is encompassed by glaciers, rendering the route
along it uncertain and difficult. (3) 40 m. or so below the Ashkuman
junction, and nearly opposite the little station of Gilgit, the river
receives certain further contributions from the north which are
collected in the Hunza and Nagar basins. These basins include a system
of glaciers of such gigantic proportions that they are probably
unrivalled in any part of the world. The glacial head of the Hunza is
not far from that of the Karumbar, and, like the Karumbar, the river
commences with a wide sweep eastwards, following a course roughly
parallel to the crest of the Hindu Kush (under whose southern slopes
it lies close) for about 40 m. Then striking south for another 40 m.,
it twists amidst the barren feet of gigantic rock-bound spurs which
reach upwards to the Muztagh peaks on the east and to a mass of
glaciers and snow-fields on the west, hidden amidst the upper folds of
mountains towering to an average of 25,000 ft. The next great bend is
again to the west for 30 m., before a final change of direction to the
south at the historical position of Chalt and a comparatively straight
run of 25 m. to a junction with the Gilgit. The valley of Hunza lies
some 10 m. from the point of this westerly bend, and 20 (as the crow
flies) from Chalt. Much has been written of the magnificence of Hunza
valley scenery, surrounded as it is by a stupendous ring of
snow-capped peaks and brightened with all the radiant beauty that
cultivation adds to these mountain valleys; but such scenery must be
regarded as exceptional in these northern regions.
_Glaciers and Mountains._--Conway and Godwin Austen have described the
glaciers of Nagar which, enclosed between the Muztagh spurs on the
north-east and the frontier peaks of Kashmir (terminating with
Rakapushi) on the south-west, and massing themselves in an almost
uninterrupted series from the Hunza valley to the base of those
gigantic peaks which stand about Mount Godwin Austen, seem to be set
like an ice-sea to define the farthest bounds of the Himalaya. From
its uttermost head to the foot of the Hispar, overhanging the valley
above Nagar, the length of the glacial ice-bed known under the name of
Biafo is said to measure about 90 m. Throughout the mountain region of
Kanjut (or Hunza) and Nagar the valleys are deeply sunk between
mountain ranges, which are nowhere less than 15,000 ft. in altitude,
and which must average above 20,000 ft. As a rule, these valleys are
bare of vegetation. Where the summits of the loftier ranges are not
buried beneath snow and ice they are bare, bleak and splintered, and
the nakedness of the rock scenery extends down their rugged spurs to
the very base of them. On the lower slopes of tumbled debris the sun
in summer beats with an intensity which is unmitigated by the cloud
drifts which form in the moister atmosphere of the monsoon-swept
summits of the Himalaya. Sun-baked in summer and frost-riven in
winter, the mountain sides are but immense ramps of loose rock debris,
only awaiting the yearly melting of the upper snow-fields, or the
advent of a casual rainstorm, to be swept downwards in an avalanche of
mud and stones into the gorges below. Here it becomes piled and massed
together, till the pressure of accumulation forces it out into the
main valleys, where it spreads in alluvial fans and silts up the
plains. This formation is especially marked throughout the high level
valleys of the Gilgit basin.
_Passes._--Each of these northern affluents of the main stream is
headed by a pass, or a group of passes, leading either to the Pamir
region direct, or into the upper Yarkhun valley from which a Pamir
route diverges. The Yasin valley is headed by the Darkot pass (15,000
ft.), which drops into the Yarkhun not far from the foot of the
Baroghil group over the main Hindu Kush watershed. The Ashkuman is
headed by the Gazar and Kora Bohrt passes, leading to the valley of
the Ab-i-Punja; and the Hunza by the Kilik and Mintaka, the connecting
links between the Taghdumbash Pamir and the Gilgit basin. They are all
about the same height--15,000 ft. All are passable at certain times of
the year to small parties, and all are uncertain. In no case do they
present insuperable difficulties in themselves, glaciers and
snow-fields and mountain staircases being common to all; but the
gorges and precipices which distinguish the approaches to them from
the south, the slippery sides of shelving spurs whose feet are washed
by raging torrents, the perpetual weary monotony of ascent and descent
over successive ridges multiplying the gradient indefinitely--these
form the real obstacles blocking the way to these northern passes.
_Gilgit Station._--The pretty little station of Gilgit (4890 ft. above
sea) spreads itself in terraces above the right bank of the river
nearly opposite the opening leading to Hunza, almost nestling under
the cliffs of the Hindu Koh, which separates it on the south from the
savage mountain wilderness of Darel and Kohistan. It includes a
residency for the British political officer, with about half a dozen
homes for the accommodation of officials, barracks suitable for a
battalion of Kashmir troops, and a hospital. Evidences of Buddhist
occupation are not wanting in Gilgit, though they are few and
unimportant. Such as they are, they appear to prove that Gilgit was
once a Buddhist centre, and that the old Buddhist route between Gilgit
and the Peshawar plain passed through the gorges and clefts of the
unexplored Darel valley to Thakot under the northern spurs of the
Black Mountain.
_Connexion with India._--The Gilgit river joins the Indus a few miles
above the little post of Bunji, where an excellent suspension bridge
spans the river. The valley is low and hot, and the scenery between
Gilgit and Bunji is monotonous; but the road is now maintained in
excellent condition. A little below Bunji the Astor river joins the
Indus from the south-east, and this deep pine-clad valley indicates
the continuation of the highroad from Gilgit to Kashmir via the
Tragbal and Burzil passes. Another well-known route connecting Gilgit
with the Abbottabad frontier of the Punjab lies across the Babusar
pass (13,000 ft.), linking the lovely Hazara valley of Kaghan to
Chilas; Chilas (4150 ft.) being on the Indus, some 50 m. below Bunji.
This is a more direct connexion between Gilgit and the plains of the
Punjab than that afforded by the Kashmir route via Gurais and Astor,
which latter route involves two considerable passes--the Tragbal
(11,400) and the Burzil (13,500); but the intervening strip of
absolutely independent territory (independent alike of Kashmir and the
Punjab), which includes the hills bordering the road from the Babusar
pass to Chilas, renders it a risky route for travellers unprotected by
a military escort. Like the Kashmir route, it is now defined by a good
military road.
_History._--The Dards are located by Ptolemy with surprising accuracy
(_Daradae_) on the west of the Upper Indus, beyond the head-waters of
the Swat river (_Soastus_), and north of the _Gandarae_, i.e. the
Gandharis, who occupied Peshawar and the country north of it. The
_Dardas_ and _Chinas_ also appear in many of the old Pauranic lists of
peoples, the latter probably representing the _Shin_ branch of the
Dards. This region was traversed by two of the Chinese pilgrims of the
early centuries of our era, who have left records of their journeys,
viz. Fahien, coming from the north, c. 400, and Hsuan Tsang, ascending
from Swat, c. 631. The latter says: "Perilous were the roads, and dark
the gorges. Sometimes the pilgrim had to pass by loose cords, sometimes
by light stretched iron chains. Here there were ledges hanging in
mid-air; there flying bridges across abysses; elsewhere paths cut with
the chisel, or footings to climb by." Yet even in these inaccessible
regions were found great convents, and miraculous images of Buddha. How
old the name of _Gilgit_ is we do not know, but it occurs in the
writings of the great Mahommedan savant al-Biruni, in his notices of
Indian geography. Speaking of Kashmir, he says: "Leaving the ravine by
which you enter Kashmir and entering the plateau, then you have for a
march of two more days on your left the mountains of Bolor and Shamilan,
Turkish tribes who are called _Bhattavaryan_. Their king has the title
Bhatta-Shah. Their towns are _Gilgit_, Aswira and Shiltash, and their
language is the Turkish. Kashmir suffers much from their inroads" (Trs.
Sachau, i. 207). There are difficult matters for discussion here. It is
impossible to say what ground the writer had for calling the people
_Turks_. But it is curious that the _Shins_ say they are all of the same
race as the Moguls of India, whatever they may mean by that. Gilgit, as
far back as tradition goes, was ruled by rajas of a family called
Trakane. When this family became extinct the valley was desolated by
successive invasions of neighbouring rajas, and in the 20 or 30 years
ending with 1842 there had been five dynastic revolutions. The most
prominent character in the history was a certain Gaur Rahman or Gauhar
Aman, chief of Yasin, a cruel savage and man-seller, of whom many evil
deeds are told. Being remonstrated with for selling a _mullah_, he said,
"Why not? The Koran, the word of God, is sold; why not sell the
expounder thereof?" The Sikhs entered Gilgit about 1842, and kept a
garrison there. When Kashmir was made over to Maharaja Gulab Singh of
Jammu in 1846, by Lord Hardinge, the Gilgit claims were transferred with
it. And when a commission was sent to lay down boundaries of the tracts
made over, Mr Vans Agnew (afterwards murdered at Multan) and Lieut.
Ralph Young of the Engineers visited Gilgit, the first Englishmen who
did so. The Dogras (Gulab Singh's race) had much ado to hold their
ground, and in 1852 a catastrophe occurred, parallel on a smaller scale
to that of the English troops at Kabul. Nearly 2000 men of theirs were
exterminated by Gaur Rahman and a combination of the Dards; only one
person, a soldier's wife, escaped, and the Dogras were driven away for
eight years. Gulab Singh would not again cross the Indus, but after his
death (in 1857) Maharaja Ranbir Singh longed to recover lost prestige.
In 1860 he sent a force into Gilgit. Gaur Rahman just then died, and
there was little resistance. The Dogras after that took Yasin twice, but
did not hold it. They also, in 1866, invaded Darel, one of the most
secluded Dard states, to the south of the Gilgit basin, but withdrew
again. In 1889, in order to guard against the advance of Russia, the
British government, acting as the suzerain power of Kashmir, established
the Gilgit agency; in 1901, on the formation of the North-West Frontier
province, the rearrangement was made as stated above.
AUTHORITIES.--Biddulph, _The Tribes of the Hindu Kush_ (Calcutta,
1880); W. Lawrence, _The Kashmir Valley_ (London, 1895); Tanner, "Our
Present Knowledge of the Himalaya," _Proc. R.G.S._ vol. xiii., 1891;
Durand, _Making a Frontier_ (London, 1899); _Report of Lockhart's
Mission_ (Calcutta, 1886); E. F. Knight, _Where Three Empires Meet_
(London, 1892); F. Younghusband, "Journeys in the Pamirs and Adjacent
Countries," _Proc. R.G.S._ vol. xiv., 1892; Curzon, "Pamirs," _Jour.
R.G.S._ vol. viii., 1896; Leitner, _Dardistan_ (1877). (T. H. H.*)
GILL, JOHN (1697-1771), English Nonconformist divine, was born at
Kettering, Northamptonshire. His parents were poor and he owed his
education chiefly to his own perseverance. In November 1716 he was
baptized and began to preach at Higham Ferrers and Kettering, until the
beginning of 1719, when he became pastor of the Baptist congregation at
Horsleydown in Southwark. There he continued till 1757, when he removed
to a chapel near London Bridge. From 1729 to 1756 he was Wednesday
evening lecturer in Great Eastcheap. In 1748 he received the degree of
D.D. from the university of Aberdeen. He died at Camberwell on the 14th
of October 1771. Gill was a great Hebrew scholar, and in his theology a
sturdy Calvinist.
His principal works are _Exposition of the Song of Solomon_ (1728);
_The Prophecies of the Old Testament respecting the Messiah_ (1728);
_The Doctrine of the Trinity_ (1731); _The Cause of God and Truth_ (4
vols., 1731); _Exposition of the Bible_, in 10 vols. (1746-1766), in
preparing which he formed a large collection of Hebrew and Rabbinical
books and MSS.; _The Antiquity of the Hebrew Language--Letters, Vowel
Points, and Accents_ (1767); _A Body of Doctrinal Divinity_ (1767); _A
Body of Practical Divinity_ (1770); and _Sermons and Tracts_, with a
memoir of his life (1773). An edition of his _Exposition of the Bible_
appeared in 1816 with a memoir by John Rippon, which has also appeared
separately.
GILL. (1) One of the _branchiae_ which form the breathing apparatus of
fishes and other animals that live in the water. The word is also
applied to the _branchiae_ of some kinds of worm and arachnids, and by
transference to objects resembling the _branchiae_ of fishes, such as
the wattles of a fowl, or the radiating films on the under side of
fungi. The word is of obscure origin. Danish has _giaelle_, and Swedish
_gal_ with the same meaning. The root which appears in "yawn," "chasm,"
has been suggested. If this be correct, the word will be in origin the
same as "gill," often spelled "ghyll," meaning a glen or ravine, common
in northern English dialects and also in Kent and Surrey. The _g_ in
both these words is hard. (2) A liquid measure usually holding
one-fourth of a pint. The word comes through the O. Fr. _gelle_, from
Low Lat. _gello_ or _gillo_, a measure for wine. It is thus connected
with "gallon." The _g_ is soft. (3) An abbreviation of the feminine name
Gillian, also often spelled Jill, as it is pronounced. Like Jack for a
boy, with which it is often coupled, as in the nursery rhyme, it is used
as a homely generic name for a girl.
GILLES DE ROYE, or EGIDIUS DE ROYA (d. 1478), Flemish chronicler, was
born probably at Montdidier, and became a Cistercian monk. He was
afterwards professor of theology in Paris and abbot of the monastery of
Royaumont at Asnieres-sur-Oise, retiring about 1458 to the convent of
Notre Dame des Dunes, near Furnes, and devoting his time to study.
Gilles wrote the _Chronicon Dunense_ or _Annales Belgici_, a resume and
continuation of the work of another monk, Jean Brandon (d. 1428), which
deals with the history of Flanders, and also with events in Germany,
Italy and England from 792 to 1478.
The Chronicle was published by F. R. Sweert in the _Rerum Belgicarum
annales_ (Frankfort, 1620); and the earlier part of it by C. B. Kervyn
de Lettenhove in the _Chroniques relatives a l'histoire de la
Belgique_ (Brussels, 1870).
GILLES LI MUISIS, or LE MUISET (c. 1272-1352), French chronicler, was
born probably at Tournai, and in 1289 entered the Benedictine abbey of
St Martin in his native city, becoming prior of this house in 1327, and
abbot four years later. He only secured the latter position after a
contest with a competitor, but he appears to have been a wise ruler of
the abbey. Gilles wrote two Latin chronicles, _Chronicon majus_ and
_Chronicon minus_, dealing with the history of the world from the
creation until 1349. This work, which was continued by another writer to
1352, is valuable for the history of northern France, and Flanders
during the first half of the 14th century. It is published by J. J. de
Senet in the _Corpus chronicorum Flandriae_, tome ii. (Brussels, 1841);
Gilles also wrote some French poems, and these _Poesies de Gilles li
Muisis_ have been published by Baron Kervyn de Lettenhove (Louvain,
1882).
See A. Molinier, _Les Sources de l'histoire de France_, tome iii.
(Paris, 1903).
GILLESPIE, GEORGE (1613-1648), Scottish divine, was born at Kirkcaldy,
where his father, John Gillespie, was parish minister, on the 21st of
January 1613, and entered the university of St Andrews as a "presbytery
bursar" in 1629. On the completion of a brilliant student career, he
became domestic chaplain to John Gordon, 1st Viscount Kenmure (d. 1634),
and afterwards to John Kennedy, earl of Cassillis, his conscience not
permitting him to accept the episcopal ordination which was at that time
in Scotland an indispensable condition of induction to a parish. While
with the earl of Cassillis he wrote his first work, _A Dispute against
the English Popish Ceremonies obtruded upon the Church of Scotland_,
which, opportunely published shortly after the "Jenny Geddes" incident
(but without the author's name) in the summer of 1637, attracted
considerable attention, and within a few months had been found by the
privy council to be so damaging that by their orders all available
copies were called in and burnt. In April 1638, soon after the authority
of the bishops had been set aside by the nation, Gillespie was ordained
minister of Wemyss (Fife) by the presbytery of Kirkcaldy, and in the
same year was a member of the famous Glasgow Assembly, before which he
preached (November 21st) a sermon against royal interference in matters
ecclesiastical so pronounced, as to call for some remonstrance on the
part of Argyll, the lord high commissioner. In 1642 Gillespie was
translated to Edinburgh; but the brief remainder of his life was chiefly
spent in the conduct of public business in London. Already, in 1640, he
had accompanied the commissioners of the peace to England as one of
their chaplains; and in 1643 he was appointed by the Scottish Church one
of the four commissioners to the Westminster Assembly. Here, though the
youngest member of the Assembly, he took a prominent part in almost all
the protracted discussions on church government, discipline and worship,
supporting Presbyterianism by numerous controversial writings, as well
as by an unusual fluency and readiness in debate. Tradition long
preserved and probably enhanced the record of his victories in debate,
and especially of his encounter, with John Selden on Matt. xviii.
15-17. In 1645 he returned to Scotland, and is said to have drawn the
act of assembly sanctioning the directory of public worship. On his
return to London he had a hand in drafting the Westminster confession of
faith, especially chap. i. Gillespie was elected moderator of the
Assembly in 1648, but the laborious duties of that office (the court
continued to sit from the 12th of July to the 12th of August) told
fatally on an overtaxed constitution; he fell into consumption, and,
after many weeks of great weakness, he died at Kirkcaldy on the 17th of
December 1648. In acknowledgment of his great public services, a sum of
L1000 Scots was voted, though destined never to be paid, to his widow
and children by the committee of estates. A simple tombstone, which had
been erected to his memory in Kirkcaldy parish church, was in 1661
publicly broken at the cross by the hand of the common hangman, but was
restored in 1746.
His principal publications were controversial and chiefly against
Erastianism: Three sermons against Thomas Coleman; _A Sermon before
the House of Lords_ (August 27th), on Matt. iii. 2, _Nihil Respondem_
and _Male Audis_; _Aaron's Rod Blossoming, or the Divine Ordinance of
Church-government vindicated_ (1646), which is deservedly regarded as
a really able statement of the case for an exclusive spiritual
jurisdiction in the church; _One Hundred and Eleven Propositions
concerning the Ministry and Government of the Church_ (Edinburgh,
1647). The following were posthumously published by his brother: _A
Treatise of Miscellany Questions_ (1649); _The Ark of the New
Testament_ (2 vols., 1661-1667); _Notes of Debates and Proceedings of
the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, from February 1644 to January
1645_. See _Works_, with memoir, published by Hetherington (Edinburgh,
1843-1846).
GILLESPIE, THOMAS (1708-1774), Scottish divine, was born at Clearburn,
in the parish of Duddingston, Midlothian, in 1708. He was educated at
the university of Edinburgh, and studied divinity first at a small
theological seminary at Perth, and afterwards for a brief period under
Philip Doddridge at Northampton, where he received ordination in January
1741. In September of the same year he was admitted minister of the
parish of Carnock, Fife, the presbytery of Dunfermline agreeing not only
to sustain as valid the ordination he had received in England, but also
to allow a qualification of his subscription to the church's doctrinal
symbol, so far as it had reference to the sphere of the civil magistrate
in matters of religion. Having on conscientious grounds persistently
absented himself from the meetings of presbytery held for the purpose of
ordaining one Andrew Richardson, an unacceptable presentee, as minister
of Inverkeithing, he was, after an unobtrusive but useful ministry of
ten years, deposed by the Assembly of 1752 for maintaining that the
refusal of the local presbytery to act in this case was justified. He
continued, however, to preach, first at Carnock, and afterwards in
Dunfermline, where a large congregation gathered round him. His conduct
under the sentence of deposition produced a reaction in his favour, and
an effort was made to have him reinstated; this he declined unless the
policy of the church were reversed. In 1761, in conjunction with Thomas
Boston of Jedburgh and Collier of Colinsburgh, he formed a distinct
communion under the name of "The Presbytery of Relief,"--relief, that is
to say, "from the yoke of patronage and the tyranny of the church
courts." The Relief Church eventually became one of the communions
combining to form the United Presbyterian Church. He died on the 19th of
January 1774. His only literary efforts were an _Essay on the
Continuation of Immediate Revelations in the Church, and a Practical
Treatise on Temptation_. Both works appeared posthumously (1774). In the
former he argues that immediate revelations are no longer vouchsafed to
the church, in the latter he traces temptation to the work of a personal
devil.
See Lindsay's _Life and Times of the Rev. Thomas Gillespie_;
Smithers's _History of the Relief Church_; for the Relief Church see
UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
GILLIE (from the Gael. _gille_, Irish _gille_ or _giolla_, a servant or
boy), an attendant on a Gaelic chieftain; in this sense its use, save
historically, is rare. The name is now applied in the Highlands of
Scotland to the man-servant who attends a sportsman in shooting or
fishing. A _gillie-wetfoot_, a term now obsolete (a translation of
_gillie-casfliuch_, from the Gaelic _cas_, foot, and _fliuch_, wet),
was the gillie whose duty it was to carry his master over streams. It
became a term of contempt among the Lowlanders for the "tail" (as his
attendants were called) of a Highland chief.
GILLIES, JOHN (1747-1836), Scottish historian and classical scholar, was
born at Brechin, in Forfarshire, on the 18th of January 1747. He was
educated at Glasgow University, where, at the age of twenty, he acted
for a short time as substitute for the professor of Greek. In 1784 he
completed his _History of Ancient Greece, its Colonies and Conquests_
(published 1786). This work, valuable at a time when the study of Greek
history was in its infancy, and translated into French and German, was
written from a strong Whig bias, and is now entirely superseded (see
GREECE: _Ancient History_, "Authorities"). On the death of William
Robertson (1721-1793), Gillies was appointed historiographer-royal for
Scotland. In his old age he retired to Clapham, where he died on the
15th of February 1836.
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's _Rhetoric_ (1823) and
_Ethics and Politics_ (1786-1797); of the _Orations_ of Lysias and
Isocrates (1778); and _History 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 decorative _fetes champetres_, 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
L170,000.
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. Gillray lived 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 on the 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"; "Phaethon 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 the _Athenaeum_ for
October 1, 1831, which was successfully refuted by J. Landseer in the
_Athenaeum_ a 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,
entitled _The 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
the _Academy_ (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 the _Quarterly Review_ for April 1874.
See also the _Academy_ for Feb. 21 and May 16, 1874.
There is a good account of Gillray in Wright's _History of Caricature
and Grotesque in Literature and Art_ (1865); See also the article
CARICATURE.
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 his _Flora
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 the _Popular Names of
British Plants_, very distinctly shows the origin of the name. He
remarks that it was "formerly spelt gyllofer and gilofre with the _o_
long, from the French _giroflee_, Italian _garofalo_ (M. Lat.
_gariofilum_), corrupted from the Latin _Caryophyllum_, 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 terms _giroflee_, _oeillet_ and _violette_, 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 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 the Governing 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 his
_University 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 entitled _University Problems in the United
States_ (1888). He wrote, besides, _James Monroe_ (1883), in the
American Statesmen Series; a _Life of James D. Dana_, the geologist
(1899); _Science and Letters at Yale_ (1901), and _The 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
L500, 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 of the 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's _Essays 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's _Vitae 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's _Ecclesiastical 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 also _Dict. Nat. Biog._
GILSONITE (so named after S. H. Gilson of Salt Lake City), or UINTAHITE,
or UINTAITE, 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 them _Yupitatse_,
"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, _Uber die Aino_ (Berlin, 1881); J. Deniker in Revue
d'ethnographie (Paris, 1884); L. Schrenck, _Die Volker 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 of _geminus_, a twin, and appears also in _gimmel_ or
_jimbel_ and as _gemel_, 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 Scandinavian _wammle_, to bore or twist; the modern
French is _gibelet_), 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" (see TOOL).
GIMLI, in Scandinavian mythology, the great hall of heaven whither the
righteous will go to spend eternity.
GIMP, or GYMP. (1) (Of somewhat doubtful origin, but probably a nasal
form of the Fr. _guipure_, from _guiper_, 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.
_genievre_ (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 Dutch _geneva_ or
_hollands_ and 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 termed _double_ (_geneva_, &c.).
There are numerous variations in the process described, wheat being
frequently employed in lieu of rye. In the manufacture of British
gin,[1] a highly rectified spirit (see SPIRITS) 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 and flavouring 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.