[1] See _La grande Encyclopedie_, vol. viii. (Paris), "Bronze," p.
146a.
[2] _Alte Metalltrommeln aus Sudost-Asien_ (Leipzig, 1902). Bd. i.,
Text; Bd. ii., Tafeln.
GONGORA Y ARGOTE, LUIS DE (1561-1627), Spanish lyric poet, was born at
Cordova on the 11th of July 1561. His father, Francisco de Argote, was
_corregidor_ of that city; the poet early adopted the surname of his
mother, Leonora de Gongora, who was descended from an ancient family.
At the age of fifteen he entered as a student of civil and canon law at
the university of Salamanca; but he obtained no academic distinctions
and was content with an ordinary pass degree. He was already known as a
poet in 1585 when Cervantes praised him in the _Galatea_; in this same
year he took minor orders, and shortly afterwards was nominated to a
canonry at Cordova. About 1605-1606 he was ordained priest, and
thenceforth resided principally at Valladolid and Madrid, where, as a
contemporary remarks, he "noted and stabbed at everything with his
satirical pen." His circle of admirers was now greatly enlarged; but the
acknowledgment accorded to his singular genius was both slight and
tardy. Ultimately indeed, through the influence of the duke of Sandoval,
he obtained an appointment as honorary chaplain to Philip III., but even
this slight honour he was not permitted long to enjoy. In 1626 a severe
illness, which seriously impaired his memory, compelled his retirement
to Cordova, where he died on the 24th of May 1627. An edition of his
poems was published almost immediately after his death by Juan Lopez de
Vicuna; the frequently reprinted edition by Hozes did not appear till
1633. The collection consists of numerous sonnets, odes, ballads, songs
for the guitar, and of certain larger poems, such as the _Soledades_ and
the _Polifemo_. Too many of them exhibit that tortuous elaboration of
style (_estilo culto_) with which the name of Gongora is inseparably
associated; but though Gongora has been justly censured for affected
Latinisms, unnatural transpositions, strained metaphors and frequent
obscurity, it must be admitted that he was a man of rare genius,--a fact
cordially acknowledged by those of his contemporaries who were most
capable of judging. It was only in the hands of those who imitated
Gongora's style without inheriting his genius that _culteranismo_ became
absurd. Besides his lyrical poems Gongora is the author of a play
entitled _Las Firmezas de Isabel_ and of two incomplete dramas, the
_Comedia venatoria_ and _El Doctor Carlino_. The only satisfactory
edition of his works is that published by R. Foulche-Delbose in the
_Bibliotheca Hispanica_.
See Edward Churton, _Gongora_ (London, 1862, 2 vols.); M. Gonzalez y
Frances, _Gongora racionero_ (Cordoba, 1895); M. Gonzalez y Frances,
_Don Luis de Gongora vindicando su fama ante el propio obispo_
(Cordoba, 1899); "Vingt-six Lettres de Gongora" in the _Revue
hispanique_, vol. x. pp. 184-225 (Paris, 1903).
GONIOMETER (from Gr. [Greek: gonia], angle, and [Greek: metron],
measure), an instrument for measuring the angles of crystals; there are
two kinds--the contact goniometer and the reflecting goniometer.
Nicolaus Stena in 1669 determined the interfacial angles of quartz
crystals by cutting sections perpendicular to the edges, the plane
angles of the sections being then the angles between the faces which are
perpendicular to the sections. The earliest instrument was the contact
goniometer devised by Carangeot in 1783.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Contact Goniometer.]
_The Contact Goniometer_ (or _Hand-Goniometer_).--This consists of two
metal rules pivoted together at the centre of a graduated semicircle
(fig. 1). The instrument is placed with its plane perpendicular to an
edge between two faces of the crystal to be measured, and the rules
are brought into contact with the faces; this is best done by holding
the crystal up against the light with the edge in the line of sight.
The angle between the rules, as read on the graduated semicircle, then
gives the angle between the two faces. The rules are slotted, so that
they may be shortened and their tips applied to a crystal partly
embedded in its matrix. The instrument represented in fig. 1 is
practically the same in all its details as that made for Carangeot,
and it is employed at the present day for the approximate measurement
of large crystals with dull and rough faces. S. L. Penfield (1900) has
devised some cheap and simple forms of contact goniometer, consisting
of jointed arms and protractors made of cardboard or celluloid.
_The Reflecting Goniometer._--This is an instrument of far greater
precision, and is always used for the accurate measurement of the
angles when small crystals with bright faces are available. As a rule,
the smaller the crystal the more even are its faces, and when these
are smooth and bright they reflect sharply defined images of a bright
object. By turning the crystal about an axis parallel to the edge
between two faces, the image reflected from a second face may be
brought into the same position as that formerly occupied by the image
reflected from the first face; the angle through which the crystal has
been rotated, as determined by a graduated circle to which the crystal
is fixed, is the angle between the normals to the two faces.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Vertical-Circle Goniometer.]
Several forms of instruments depending on this principle have been
devised, the earliest being the vertical-circle goniometer of W. H.
Wollaston, made in 1809. This consists of a circle m (fig. 2),
graduated to degrees of arc and reading with the vernier h to minutes,
which turns with the milled head t about a horizontal axis. The
crystal is attached with wax (a mixture of beeswax and pitch) to the
holder q, and by means of the pivoted arcs it may be adjusted so that
the edge between two faces (a zone-axis) is parallel to, and
coincident with, the axis of the instrument. The crystal-holder and
adjustment-arcs, together with the milled head s, are carried on an
axis which passes through the hollow axis of the graduated circle, and
may thus be rotated independently of the circle. In use, the
goniometer is placed directly opposite to a window, with its axis
parallel to the horizontal window-bars, and as far distant as
possible. The eye is placed quite close to the crystal, and the image
of an upper window-bar (or better still a slit in a dark screen) as
seen in the crystal-face is made to coincide with a lower window-bar
(or chalk mark on the floor) as seen directly: this is done by turning
the milled head s, the reading of the graduated circle having
previously been observed. Without moving the eye, the milled head t,
together with the crystal, is then rotated until the image from a
second face is brought into the same position; the difference between
the first and second readings of the graduated circle will then give
the angle between the normals of the two faces.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Horizontal-Circle Goniometer.]
Several improvements have been made on Wollaston's goniometer. The
adjustment-arcs have been modified; a mirror of black glass fixed to
the stand beneath the crystal gives a reflected image of the signal,
with which the reflection from the crystal can be more conveniently
made to coincide; a telescope provided with cross-wires gives greater
precision to the direction of the reflected rays of light; and with
the telescope a collimator has sometimes been used.
A still greater improvement was effected by placing the graduated
circle in a horizontal position, as in the instruments of E. L. Malus
(1810), F. C. von Riese (1829) and J. Babinet (1839). Many forms of
the _horizontal-circle goniometer_ have been constructed; they are
provided with a telescope and collimator, and in construction are
essentially the same as a spectrometer, with the addition of
arrangements for adjusting and centring the crystal. The instrument
shown in fig. 3 is made by R. Fuess of Berlin. It has four concentric
axes, which enable the crystal-holder A, together with the
adjustment-arcs B and centring-slides D, to be raised or lowered, or
to be rotated independently of the circle H; further, either the
crystal-holder or the telescope T may be rotated with the circle,
while the other remains fixed. The crystal is placed on the holder
and adjusted so that the edge (zone-axis) between two faces is
coincident with the axis of the instrument. Light from an incandescent
gas-burner passes through the slit of the collimator C, and the image
of the slit (signal) reflected from the crystal face is viewed in the
telescope. The clamp a and slow-motion screw F enable the image to be
brought exactly on the cross-wires of the telescope, and the position
of the circle with respect to the vernier is read through the lens.
The crystal and the circle are then rotated together until the image
from a second face is brought on the cross-wires of the telescope, and
the angle through which they have been turned is the angle between the
normals to the two faces. While measuring the angles between the faces
of crystals the telescope remains fixed by the clamp [beta], but when
this is released the instrument may be used as a spectrometer or
refractometer for determining, by the method of minimum deviation, the
indices of refraction of an artificially cut prism or of a transparent
crystal when the faces are suitably inclined to one another.
With a one-circle goniometer, such as is described above, it is
necessary to mount and re-adjust the crystal afresh for the
measurement of each zone of faces (i.e. each set of faces intersecting
in parallel edges); with very small crystals this operation takes a
considerable time, and the minute faces are not readily identified
again. Further, in certain cases, it is not possible to measure the
angles between zones, nor to determine the position of small faces
which do not lie in prominent zones on the crystal. These difficulties
have been overcome by the use of a two-circle goniometer or
theodolite-goniometer, which as a combination of a vertical-circle
goniometer and one with a horizontal-circle was first employed by W.
H. Miller in 1874. Special forms have been designed by E. S. Fedorov
(1889), V. Goldschmidt (1893). S. Czapski (1893) and F. Stoeber
(1898), which differ mainly in the arrangement of the optical parts.
In these instruments the crystal is set up and adjusted once for all,
with the axis of a prominent zone parallel to the axis of either the
horizontal or the vertical circle. As a rule, only in this zone can
the angles between the faces be measured directly; the positions of
all the other faces, which need be observed only once, are fixed by
the simultaneous readings of the two circles. These readings,
corresponding to the polar distance and azimuth, or latitude and
longitude readings of astronomical telescopes, must be plotted on a
projection before the symmetry of the crystal is apparent; and
laborious calculations are necessary in order to determine the indices
of the faces and the angles between them, and the other constants of
the crystal, or to test whether any three faces are accurately in a
zone.
These disadvantages are overcome by adding still another graduated
circle to the instrument, with its axis perpendicular to the axis of
the vertical circle, thus forming a three-circle goniometer. With such
an instrument measurements may be made in any zone or between any two
faces without re-adjusting the crystal; further the troublesome
calculations are avoided, and, indeed, the instrument may be used for
solving spherical triangles. Different forms of three-circle
goniometers have been designed by G. F. H. Smith (1899 and 1904), E.
S. Fedorov (1900) and J. F. C. Klein (1900). Besides being used as a
one-, two-, or three-circle goniometer for the measurement of the
interfacial angles of crystals, and as a refractometer for determining
refractive indices by the prismatic method or by total reflection,
Klein's instrument, which is called a polymeter, is fitted with
accessory optical apparatus which enables it to be used for examining
a crystal in parallel or convergent polarized light and for measuring
the optic axial angle.
Goniometers of special construction have been devised for certain
purposes; for instance, the inverted horizontal-circle goniometer of
H. A. Miers (1903) for measuring crystals during their growth in the
mother-liquid. A. E. Tutton (1894) has combined a goniometer with
lapidaries' appliances for cutting section-plates and prisms from
crystals accurately in any desired direction. The instrument commonly
employed for measuring the optic axial angle of biaxial crystals is
really a combination of a goniometer with a polariscope. For the
optical investigation of minute crystals under the microscope, various
forms of stage-goniometer with one, two or three graduated circles
have been constructed. An ordinary microscope fitted with cross-wires
and a rotating graduated stage serves the purpose of a goniometer for
measuring the plane angles of a crystal face or section, being the
same in principle as the contact goniometer.
For fuller descriptions of goniometers reference may be made to the
text-books of Crystallography and Mineralogy, especially to P. H.
Groth, _Physikalische Krystallographie_ (4th ed., Leipzig, 1905). See
also C. Leiss, _Die optischen Instrumente der Firma R. Fuess, deren
Beschreibung, Justierung und Anwendung_ (Leipzig, 1899).
(L. J. S.)
GONTAUT, MARIE JOSEPHINE LOUISE, DUCHESSE DE (1773-1857). was born in
Paris on the 3rd of August 1773, daughter of Augustin Francois, comte de
Montaut-Navailles, who had been governor of Louis XVI. and his two
brothers when children. The count of Provence (afterwards Louis XVIII.)
and his wife stood sponsors to Josephine de Montaut, and she shared the
lessons given by Madame de Genlis to the Orleans family, with whom her
mother broke off relations after the outbreak of the Revolution. Mother
and daughter emigrated to Coblenz in 1792; thence they went to
Rotterdam, and finally to England, where Josephine married the marquis
Charles Michel de Gontaut-Saint-Blacard. They returned to France at the
Restoration, and resumed their place at court. Madame de Gontaut became
lady-in-waiting to Caroline, duchess of Berry, and, on the birth of the
princess Louise (Mlle d'Artois, afterwards duchess of Parma), governess
to the children of France. Next year the birth of Henry, duke of
Bordeaux (afterwards known as the comte de Chambord), added to her
charge the heir of the Bourbons. She remained faithful to his cause all
her life. Her husband died in 1822, and in 1827 she was created duchesse
de Gontaut. She followed the exiled royal family in 1830 to Holyrood
Palace, and then to Prague, but in 1834, owing to differences with
Pierre Louis, duc de Blacas, who thought her comparatively liberal views
dangerous for the prince and princess, she received a brusque conge from
Charles X. Her twin daughters, Josephine (1796-1844) and Charlotte
(1796-1818), married respectively Ferdinand de Chabot, prince de Leon
and afterwards duc de Rohan, and Francois, comte de Bourbon-Busset. She
herself wrote in her old age some naive memoirs, which throw an odd
light on the pretensions of the "governess of the children of France."
She died in Paris in 1857.
See her _Memoirs_ (Eng. ed., 2 vols., 1894), and _Lettres inedites_
(1895).
GONVILE, EDMUND (d. 1351), founder of Gonville Hall, now Gonville and
Caius College, at Cambridge, England, is thought to have been the son of
William de Gonvile, and the brother of Sir Nicholas Gonvile. In 1320 he
was rector of Thelnetham, Suffolk, and steward there for William, earl
Warren and the earl of Lancaster. Six years later he was rector of
Rushworth, and in 1342 rector of Terrington St John and commissioner for
the marshlands of Norfolk. In this year he founded and endowed a
collegiate church at Rushworth, suppressed in 1541. The foundation of
Gonville Hall at Cambridge was effected by a charter granted by Edward
III. in 1348. It was called, officially, the Hall of the Annunciation of
the Blessed Virgin, but was usually known as Gunnell or Gonville Hall.
Its original site was in Free-school Lane, where Corpus Christi College
now stands. Gonvile apparently wished it to be devoted to training for
theological study, but after his death the foundation was completed by
William Bateman, bishop of Norwich and founder of Trinity Hall, on a
different site and with considerably altered statutes. (See also CAIUS,
JOHN.)
GONZAGA, an Italian princely family named after the town where it
probably had its origin. Its known history begins with the 13th century,
when Luigi I. (1267-1360), after fierce struggles supplanted his
brother-in-law Rinaldo (nicknamed Passerino) Bonacolsi as lord of Mantua
in August 1328, with the title of captain-genera, and afterwards of
vicar-general of the empire, adding the designation of count of
Mirandola and Concordia, which fief the Gonzagas held from 1328 to 1354.
In July 1335 his son Guido, with the help of Filippino and Feltrino
Gonzaga, wrested Reggio from the Scaligeri and held it until 1371. Luigi
was succeeded by Guido (d. 1369); the latter's son Luigi II. came next
in succession (d. 1382), and then Giovan Francesco I. (d. 1407), who,
although at one time allied with the treacherous Gian Galeazzo Visconti,
incurred the latter's enmity and all but lost his estates and his life
in consequence; eventually he joined the Florentines and Bolognese,
enemies of Visconti. He promoted commerce and wisely developed the
prosperity of his dominions. His son Giovan Francesco II. (d. 1444)
succeeded him under the regency of his uncle Carlo Malatesta and the
protection of the Venetians. He became a famous general, and was
rewarded for his services to the emperor Sigismund with the title of
marquess of Mantua for himself and his descendants (1432), an
investiture which legitimatized the usurpations of the house of Gonzaga.
His son Luigi III. "il Turco" (d. 1478) likewise became a celebrated
soldier, and was also a learned and liberal prince, a patron of
literature and the arts. His son Federigo I. (d. 1484) followed in his
father's footsteps, and served under various foreign sovereigns,
including Bona of Savoy and Lorenzo de' Medici; subsequently he upheld
the rights of the house of Este against Pope Sixtus IV. and the
Venetians, whose ambitious claims were a menace to his own dominions of
Ferrara and Mantova. His son Giovan Francesco III. (d. 1519) continued
the military traditions of the family, and commanded the allied Italian
forces against Charles VIII. at the battle of Fornovo; he afterwards
fought in the kingdom of Naples and in Tuscany, until captured by the
Venetians in 1509. On his liberation he adopted a more peaceful and
conciliatory policy, and with the help of his wife, the famous Isabella
d'Este, he promoted the fine arts and letters, collecting pictures,
statues and other works of art with intelligent discrimination. He was
succeeded by his son Federigo II. (d. 1540), captain-general of the
papal forces. After the peace of Cambrai (1529) his ally and protector,
the emperor Charles V., raised his title to that of duke of Mantua in
1530; in 1536 the emperor decided the controversy for the succession of
Monferrato between Federigo and the house of Savoy in favour of the
former. His son Francesco I. succeeded him, and, being a minor, was
placed under the regency of his uncle Cardinal Ercole; he was
accidentally drowned in 1550, leaving his possessions to his brother
Guglielmo. The latter was an extravagant spendthrift, but having subdued
a revolt in Monferrato was presented with that territory by the emperor
Maximilian II. At his death in 1587 he was succeeded by his son Vincenzo
I. (d. 1612), who was more addicted to amusements than to warfare. Then
followed in succession his sons Francesco II. (d. 1612), Ferdinando (d.
1626), and Vincenzo II. (d. 1627), all three incapable and dissolute
princes. The last named appointed as his successor Charles, the son of
Henriette, the heiress of the French family of Nevers-Rethel, who was
only able to take possession of the ducal throne after a bloody
struggle; his dominions were laid waste by foreign invasions and he
himself was reduced to the sorest straits. He died in 1637, leaving his
possessions to his grandson Charles (Carlo) II. under the regency of the
latter's mother Maria Gonzaga, which lasted until 1647. Charles died in
consequence of his own profligacy and was succeeded by his son Ferdinand
Charles (Ferdinando Carlo), who was likewise for some years under the
regency of his mother Isabella of Austria. Ferdinand Charles, another
extravagant and dissolute prince, acquired the county of Guastalla by
marriage in 1678, but lost it soon afterwards; he involved his country
in useless warfare, with the result that in 1708 Austria annexed the
duchy. On the 5th of July of the same year he died in Venice, and with
him the Gonzagas of Mantua came to an end.
Of the cadet branches of the house one received the lordship of Bozzolo,
another the counties of Novellara and Bagnolo, a third, of which the
founder was Ferrante I. (d. 1557), retained the county of Guastalla,
raised to a duchy in 1621, and came to an end with the death of Giuseppe
Maria on the 16th of August 1746.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--S. Maffei, _Annali di Mantova_ (Tortona, 1675); G.
Veronesi, _Quadro storico della Mirandola_ (Modena, 1847); T. Affo,
_Storia di Guastalla_ (Guastalla, 1875, 4 vols.); Alessandro Luzio, _I
Precattori d'Isabella d'Este_ (Ancona, 1887); A. Luzio and R. Renier,
"Francesco Gonzaga alla battaglia di Fornovo (1495). secondo i
documenti Mantovani" (in _Archivio storico italiano_, ser. v. vol.
vi., 205-246); _id._, _Mantova e Urbino, Isabella d'Este e Elisabeth
Gonzaga nette relazioni famigliari e nelle vicende politiche_ (Turin,
1893); L. G., Pelissier, "Les Relations de Francois de Gonzague,
marquis de Mantoue, avec Ludovico Sforza et Louis XII" (in _Annales de
la faculte de Lettres de Bordeaux_, 1893); Antonino Bertolotti,
"Lettere del duca di Savoia Emanuele Filiberto a Guglielmo Gonzaga,
duca di Mantova" (_Arch. stor. it._, ser. v., vol. ix. pp. 250-283);
Edmondo Solari, _Lettere inedite del card. Gasparo Contarini nel
carteggio del card. Ercole Gonzaga_ (Venice, 1904); Arturo Segre, _Il
Richiamo di Don Ferrante Gonzaga dal governo di Milano, e sue
conseguenze_ (Turin, 1904).
GONZAGA, THOMAZ ANTONIO (1744-1809), Portuguese poet, was a native of
Oporto and the son of a Brazilian-born judge. He spent a part of his
boyhood at Bahia, where his father was _disembargador_ of the appeal
court, and returning to Portugal he went to the university of Coimbra
and took his law degree at the age of twenty-four. He remained on there
for some years and compiled a treatise of natural law on regalist lines,
dedicating it to Pombal, but the fall of the marquis led him to leave
Coimbra and become a candidate for a magistracy, and in 1782 he obtained
the posts of _ouvidor_ and _provedor_ of the goods of deceased and
absent persons at Villa Rica in the province of Minas Geraes in Brazil.
In 1786 he was named _disembargador_ of the appeal court at Bahia, and
three years later, as he was about to marry a young lady of position, D.
Maria de Seixas Brandao, the _Marilia_ of his verses, he suddenly found
himself arrested on the charge of being the principal author of a
Republican conspiracy in Minas. Conducted to Rio, he was imprisoned in a
fortress and interrogated, but constantly asserted his innocence.
However, his friendship with the conspirators compromised him in the
eyes of his absolutist judges, who, on the ground that he had known of
the plot and not denounced it, sentenced him in April 1792 to perpetual
exile in Angola, with the confiscation of his property. Later, this
penalty was commuted into one of ten years of exile to Mozambique, with
a death sentence if he should return to America. After having spent
three years in prison, Gonzaga sailed in May 1792 for Mozambique and
shortly after his arrival a violent fever almost ended his life. A
wealthy Portuguese gentleman, married to a lady of colour, charitably
received him into his house, and when the poet recovered, he married
their young daughter who had nursed him through the attack. He lived in
exile until his death, practising advocacy at intervals, but his last
years were embittered by fits of melancholia, deepening into madness,
which were brought on by the remembrance of his misfortunes. His
reputation as a poet rests on a little volume of bucolics entitled
_Marilia_, which includes all his published verses and is divided into
two parts, corresponding with those of his life. The first extends to
his imprisonment and breathes only love and pleasure, while the main
theme of the second part, written in prison, is his _saudade_ for
_Marilia_ and past happiness. Gonzaga borrowed his forms from the best
models, Anacreon and Theocritus, but the matter, except for an
occasional imitation of Petrarch, the natural, elegant style and the
harmonious metrification, are all his own. The booklet comprises the
most celebrated collection of erotic poetry dedicated to a single person
in the Portuguese tongue; indeed its popularity is so great as to exceed
its intrinsic merit.
Twenty-nine editions had appeared up to 1854, but the Paris edition of
1862 in 2 vols, is in every way the best, although the authenticity of
the verses in its 3rd part, which do not relate to _Marilia_, is
doubtful. A popular edition of the first two parts was published in
1888 (Lisbon, Corazzi). A French version of _Marilia_ by Monglave and
Chalas appeared in Paris in 1825, an Italian by Vegezzi Ruscalla at
Turin in 1844, a Latin by Dr Castro Lopes at Rio in 1868, and there is
a Spanish one by Vedia.
See Innocencio da Silva, _Diccionario bibliographico portuguez_, vol.
vii. p. 320, also Dr T. Braga, _Filinto Elysio e os Dissidentas da
Arcadia_ (Oporto, 1901). (E. Pr.)
GONZALEZ-CARVAJAL, TOMAS JOSE (1753-1834), Spanish, poet and statesman,
was born at Seville in 1753. He studied at the university of Seville,
and took the degree of LL.D. at Madrid. He obtained an office in the
financial department of the government; and in 1795 was made intendant
of the colonies which had just been founded in Sierra Morena and
Andalusia. During 1809-1811 he held an intendancy in the patriot army.
He became, in 1812, director of the university of San Isidro; but having
offended the government by establishing a chair of international law, he
was imprisoned for five years (1815-1820). The revolution of 1820
reinstated him, but the counter-revolution of three years later forced
him into exile. After four years he was allowed to return, and he died,
in 1834, a member of the supreme council of war. Gonzalez-Carvajal
enjoyed European fame as author of metrical translations of the poetical
books of the Bible. To fit himself for this work he commenced the study
of Hebrew at the age of fifty-four. He also wrote other works in verse
and prose, avowedly taking Luis de Leon as his model.
See biographical notice in _Biblioteca de Rivadeneyra_, vol. lxvii.,
_Poetas del siglo 18_.
GONZALO DE BERCEO (c. 1180-c. 1246), the earliest Castilian poet whose
name is known to us, was born at Berceo, a village in the neighbourhood
of Calahorra in the province of Logrono. In 1221 he became a deacon and
was attached, as a secular priest, to the Benedictine monastery of San
Millan de la Cogolla, in the diocese of Calahorra. His name is to be
met with in a number of documents between the years 1237 and 1246. He
wrote upwards of 13,000 verses, all on devotional subjects. His best
work is a life of St Oria; others treat of the life of St Millan, of St
Dominic of Silos, of the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Martyrdom of St
Laurence, the visible signs preceding the Last Judgment, the Praises of
Our Lady, the Miracles of Our Lady and the Lamentations of the Virgin on
the Passion of her Son. He writes in the common tongue, the _roman
paladino_, and his claim to the name of poet rests on his use of the
_cuaderna via_ (single-rhymed quatrains, each verse being of fourteen
syllables). Sometimes, however, he takes the more modest title of
_juglar_ (_jongleur_), when claiming payment for his poems. His literary
attainments are not great, and he lacks imagination and animation of
style, but he has a certain eloquence, and in speaking of the Virgin and
the saints a certain charm, while his verse bears at times the imprint
of a passionate devotion, recalling the lyrical style of the great
Spanish mystics. There is, however, a very strong popular element in his
writings, which explains his long vogue. The great majority of his
legends of the Virgin are obviously borrowed from the collection of a
Frenchman, Gautier de Coinci; but he has succeeded in making this
material entirely his own by reason of a certain conciseness and a
realism in detail which make his work far superior to the tedious and
colourless narrative of his model.
His _Poesias_ are in the _Biblioteca de autores espanoles_ of
Rivadeneyra, vol. lvii. (1864); _La Vida de San Domingo de Silos_ has
been edited by J. D. FitzGerald (Paris, 1904; see the _Bibliotheque de
l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes_, part 149); see also F. Fernandez y
Gonzalez in the _Razon_ (vol. i., Madrid, 1860); N. Hergueta,
"Documentos referentes a Gonzalo de Berceo," in the _Revista de
archivos_, (3rd series, Feb.-March, 1904, pp. 178-179). (P. A.)
GOOCH, SIR DANIEL, Bart. (1816-1889), English mechanical engineer, was
born at Bedlington, in Northumberland, on the 16th of August 1816. At
the age of fifteen, having shown a taste for mechanics, he was put to
work at the Tredegar Ironworks, Monmouthshire. In 1834 he went to
Warrington, where, at the Vulcan foundry, under Robert Stephenson, he
acquired the principles of locomotive design. Subsequently, after
passing a year at Dundee, he was engaged by the Stephensons at their
Gateshead works, where he seems to have conceived that predilection for
the broad gauge for which he was afterwards distinguished, through
having to design some engines for a 6-foot gauge in Russia and noticing
the advantages it offered in allowing greater space for the machinery,
&c., as compared with the standard gauge favoured by Stephenson. In
1837, on I. K. Brunel's recommendation, he was appointed locomotive
superintendent to the Great Western railway at a time when the engines
possessed by the railway were very poor and inefficient. He soon
improved this state of affairs, and gradually provided his employers
with locomotives which were unsurpassed for general excellence and
economy of working. One of the most famous, the "Lord of the Isles," was
awarded a gold medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and when, thirty
years afterwards, it was withdrawn from active service it had run more
than three-quarters of a million miles, all with its original boiler. In
1864 he left the Great Western and interested himself in the problem of
laying a telegraph cable across the Atlantic. At this time the "Great
Eastern" was in the hands of the bondholders, of whom he himself was one
of the most important, and it occurred to him that she might
advantageously be utilized in the enterprise. Accordingly, at his
instance she was chartered by the Telegraph Construction Company, of
which also he was a director, and in 1865 was employed in the attempt to
lay a cable, Gooch himself superintending operations. The cable,
however, broke in mid-ocean, and the attempt was a failure. Next year it
was renewed with more success, for not only was a new cable safely put
in place, but the older one was picked up and spliced, so that there
were two complete lines between England and America. For this
achievement Gooch was created a baronet. Meanwhile the Great Western
railway had fallen on evil days, being indeed on the verge of
bankruptcy, when in 1866 the directors appealed to him to accept the
chairmanship of the board and undertake the rehabilitation of the
company. He agreed to the proposal, and was so successful in restoring
its prosperity that in 1889, at the last meeting over which he presided,
a dividend was declared at the rate of 7-1/2%. Under his administration
the system was greatly enlarged and consolidated by the absorption of
various smaller lines, such as the Bristol and Exeter and the Cornwall
railways; and his appreciation of its strategic value caused him to be a
strenuous supporter of the construction of the Severn Tunnel. His death
occurred on the 15th of October 1889 at his residence, Clewer Park, near
Windsor.
GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827), English writer on medical, religious and
classical subjects, was born on the 25th of May 1764 at Epping, Essex.
After attending a school at Romsey kept by his father, the Rev. Peter
Good, who was a Nonconformist minister, he was, at about the age of
fifteen, apprenticed to a surgeon-apothecary at Gosport. In 1783 he went
to London to prosecute his medical studies, and in the autumn of 1784 he
began to practise as a surgeon at Sudbury in Suffolk. In 1793 he removed
to London, where he entered into partnership with a surgeon and
apothecary. But the partnership was soon dissolved, and to increase his
income he began to devote attention to literary pursuits. Besides
contributing both in prose and verse to the _Analytical_ and _Critical
Reviews_ and the _British_ and _Monthly Magazines_, and other
periodicals, he wrote a large number of works relating chiefly to
medical and religious subjects. In 1794 he became a member of the
British Pharmaceutical Society, and in that connexion, and especially by
the publication of his work, _A History of Medicine_ (1795), he did much
to effect a greatly needed reform in the profession of the apothecary.
In 1820 he took the diploma of M.D. at Marischal College, Aberdeen. He
died at Shepperton, Middlesex, on the 2nd of January 1827. Good was not
only well versed in classical literature, but was acquainted with the
principal European languages, and also with Persian, Arabic and Hebrew.
His prose works display wide erudition; but their style is dull and
tedious. His poetry never rises above pleasant and well-versified
commonplace. His translation of Lucretius, _The Nature of Things_
(1805-1807), contains elaborate philological and explanatory notes,
together with parallel passages and quotations from European and Asiatic
authors.
GOOD FRIDAY (probably "God's Friday"), the English name for the Friday
before Easter, kept as the anniversary of the Crucifixion. In the Greek
Church it has been or is known as [Greek: pascha [staurosimon],
paraskeue, paraskeue megale] or [Greek: hagia, soteria] or [Greek: ta
soteria, hemepa tou staurou], while among the Latins the names of most
frequent occurrence are Pascha Crucis, Dies Dominicae Passionis,
Parasceve, Feria Sexta Paschae, Feria Sexta Major in Hierusalem, Dies
Absolutionis. It was called Long Friday by the Anglo-Saxons[1] and
Danes, possibly in allusion to the length of the services which marked
the day. In Germany it is sometimes designated Stiller Freitag (compare
Greek, [Greek: hebdomas apraktos]; Latin, _hebdomas inofficiosa, non
laboriosa_), but more commonly Charfreitag. The etymology of this last
name has been much disputed, but there seems now to be little doubt that
it is derived from the Old High German _chara_, meaning suffering or
mourning.
The origin of the custom of a yearly commemoration of the Crucifixion is
somewhat obscure. It may be regarded as certain that among Jewish
Christians it almost imperceptibly grew out of the old habit of annually
celebrating the Passover on the 14th of Nisan, and of observing the
"days of unleavened bread" from the 15th to the 21st of that month. In
the Gentile churches, on the other hand, it seems to be well established
that originally no yearly cycle of festivals was known at all. (See
EASTER.)
From its earliest observance, the day was marked by a specially rigorous
fast, and also, on the whole, by a tendency to greater simplicity in the
services of the church. Prior to the 4th century there is no evidence of
non-celebration of the eucharist on Good Friday; but after that date the
prohibition of communion became common. In Spain, indeed, it became
customary to close the churches altogether as a sign of mourning; but
this practice was condemned by the council of Toledo (633). In the Roman
Catholic Church the Good Friday ritual at present observed is marked by
many special features, most of which can be traced back to a date at
least prior to the close of the 8th century (see the Ordo Romanus in
Muratori's _Liturg. Rom. Vet._). The altar and officiating clergy are
draped in black, this being the only day on which that colour is
permitted. Instead of the epistle, sundry passages from Hosea, Habakkuk,
Exodus and the Psalms are read. The gospel for the day consists of the
history of the Passion as recorded by St John. This is often sung in
plain-chaunt by three priests, one representing the "narrator," the
other two the various characters of the story. The singing of this is
followed by bidding prayers for the peace and unity of the church, for
the pope, the clergy, all ranks and conditions of men, the sovereign,
for catechumens, the sick and afflicted, heretics and schismatics, Jews
and heathen. Then follows the "adoration of the cross" (a ceremony
derived from the church of Jerusalem and said to date back to near the
time of Helena's "invention of the cross"); the hymns _Pange lingua_ and
_Vexilla regis_ are sung, and then follows the "Mass of the
Presanctified." The name is derived from the fact that it is celebrated
with elements consecrated the day before, the liturgy being omitted on
this day. The priest merely places the Sacrament on the altar, censes
it, elevates and breaks the host, and communicates, the prayers and
responses interspersed being peculiar to the day. This again is followed
by vespers, with a special anthem; after which the altar is stripped in
silence. In many Roman Catholic countries--in Spain, for example--it is
usual for the faithful to spend much time in the churches in meditation
on the "seven last words" of the Saviour; no carriages are driven
through the streets; the bells and organs are silent; and in every
possible way it is sought to deepen the impression of a profound and
universal grief. In the Greek Church also the Good Friday fast is
excessively strict; as in the Roman Church, the Passion history is read
and the cross adored; towards evening a dramatic representation of the
entombment takes place, amid open demonstrations of contempt for Judas
and the Jews. In Lutheran churches the organ is silent on this day, and
altar, font and pulpit are draped in black, as indeed throughout Holy
Week. In the Church of England the history of the Passion from the
gospel according to John is also read; the collects for the day are
based upon the bidding prayers which are found in the Ordo Romanus. The
"three hours" service, borrowed from Roman Catholic usage and consisting
of prayers, addresses on the "seven last words from the cross" and
intervals for meditation and silent prayer, has become very popular in
the Anglican Church, and the observance of the day is more marked than
formerly among Nonconformist bodies, even in Scotland.