The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 225

GRIFFIN or GRIFFON, a chimerical fabulous animal with the body and legs of a lion in symbol of strength, with the wings and beak of an eagle in symbol of swiftness, with the ears of a horse in symbol of watchfulness, and instead of a mane the fin of a fish; figures among heraldic symbols with the significance here indicated.

GRILLPARZER, FRANZ, popular Austrian dramatist, born at Vienna; studied law and then entered the Civil Service, in which he remained from 1813 to 1856; his first notable drama was the tragedy "Die Ahnfrau," the _motif_ of which is an extreme fatalism; "Sappho," "Das goldene Vliess,"

and many others followed, all of which are marked by dramatic power and lyric grace; he stands in the front rank of Austrian poets (1791-1872).

GRIMALDI, JOSEPH, a famous English clown, son of an Italian dancing-master, born in London; was bred to the stage from his infancy, appearing on the boards when not yet two years old; his Memoirs were edited by d.i.c.kens, who describes him as "the genuine droll, the grimacing, filching, irresistible clown" (1779-1837).

GRIMM, BARON, a German litterateur and critic, born at Ratisbon; a man of versatile powers and vast attainments; settled in Paris and became acquainted with Rousseau and the leading Encyclopedists and Madame d'Epinay; on the breaking out of the Revolution he retired to the court of Gotha and afterwards to that of Catharine II. of Russia, who made him her minister at Hamburg; his correspondence is full of interest, and abounds in piquant literary criticism (1723-1807).

GRIMM, JACOB LUDWIG, German philologist, born at Hanau; held office as librarian to Jerome Bonaparte, king of Westphalia, and afterwards to Gottingen University, as well as a professors.h.i.+p there, devoting himself the while chiefly to studies in early German lore, and afterwards with his brother settled in Berlin; his princ.i.p.al works were, "Deutsche Grammatik," "Deutsche Mythologie," "Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache,"

and the "Kinder-und-Haus-Marchen" in collaboration with his brother (1785-1863).

GRIMM, WILHELM KARL, philologist, younger brother of the preceding, born at Hanau; was a.s.sociated both in his appointments and work with his brother, the two being known as the Brothers Grimm; edited several old German poems, his princ.i.p.al work "Die Deutsche Heldensage" (1786-1859).

GRIMM'S LAW, as enunciated by J. L. Grimm, is the law regulating the interchange of mute consonants in languages of Aryan origin, aspirates, flats, and sharps in the cla.s.sical languages corresponding respectively to flats, sharps, and aspirates in Low German, and to sharps, aspirates, and flats in High German tongues.

GRIMSBY or GREAT GRIMSBY (59), a seaport of Lincolns.h.i.+re, on the S. sh.o.r.e of the Humber, opposite Spurn Head, 20 m. SE. of Hull; was a port of importance in Edward III.'s time; is now noted as the largest fis.h.i.+ng-port in the kingdom; has extensive docks, s.h.i.+pbuilding, tanning, brewing, and other industries.

GRINDAL, EDMUND, archbishop of Canterbury; was suspended for respecting his conscience more than the Queen (Elizabeth), but restored; offered to resign, but the Queen would not accept his resignation; became in the end blind from grief (1519-1583).

GRINDELWALD, a winter resort in Bernese Oberland, in Switzerland, in a beautiful valley 12 m. long and 4 m. broad, and nearly 3500 ft. above sea-level.

GRINGO, a name of contempt in Mexico and South America for interlopers of English descent or speech.

GRINGORE, a French poet; flourished in the reigns of Louis XII. and Francis I.; was received with favour at court for political reasons, though he lashed its vices and those of the clergy; wrote satirical farces, and one especially at the instance of Louis against Pope Julius II., ent.i.tled "Le Jeu du Prince des Sots" (1476-1544).

GRIQUALAND, WEST AND EAST, British territories in South Africa. The former (83, 30 whites) lies to the N.E. of Cape Colony, between the Orange River on the S. and Bechua.n.a.land on the N.; the diamond industry, of which Kimberley is the centre, is the chief source of wealth, and was begun in 1867; Kimberley is also the seat of government. The latter (153, 4 whites), situated in No-Man's-Land, between the Kaffir country and S.

Natal, is chiefly inhabited by Griquas and Basutos. The first has been part of Cape Colony since 1881, and the second was annexed to that colony in 1871, though it is controlled by a chief-magistrate. Griqua is a name given to half-bloods of Dutch fathers and Hottentot mothers.

GRISELDA or GRISELDIS, a famous heroine of mediaeval tradition; figures in Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Chaucer, and in later dramatists of England, Germany, and Spain; the beautiful daughter of a Piedmontese peasant, she was loved and married by the Marquis Walter of Saluzzo; his jealous affection subjected her to several cruel tests of love, which she bore with "wyfly pacience," and in the end "love was aye between them twa."

GRISI, GIULIA, a celebrated singer, born in Milan; Paris and London were the chief scenes of her triumphs; her greatest triumph was in playing the part of "Norma," in the opera of the name; she was famous alike for the beauty of her person and the quality of her voice (1811-1869).

GRISNEZ, CAPE, a headland with a lighthouse on the French coast opposite Dover, and the nearest point in France to England.

GRISONS (95), the largest of the Swiss cantons, lies in the SE.

between Tyrol and Lombardy; consists of high mountains and valleys, amongst which are some of the most noted Alpine glaciers; the Engadine Valley, through which flows the Inn, is a celebrated health resort, as also the Davos Valley in the E.; some cereals are raised, but pasture and forest land occupy a large part of the canton, and supply the cattle and timber export trade; the population, which is small for the extent of territory, is a mixture of German, Romanic, and Italian elements.

GROCYN, WILLIAM, cla.s.sical scholar, born at Bristol; was the first to teach Greek at Oxford, and the tutor in that department of Sir Thomas More and Erasmus (1442-1519).

GRODNO, a province and town of Russia; the latter (51) is on the Niemen, 148 m. NE. of Warsaw; has a Polish palace and medical school. The former (1,556) is a wide, pine-covered, swampy, yet fertile district, which produces good crops of cereals, and is a centre of the woollen industry.

GROLIER, JEAN, a famous bibliophile, whose library was dispersed in 1675; the bindings of the books being ornamented with geometric patterns, have given name to bindings in this style; they bore the inscription, "Io. Grolieri et Amicorum" (the property of Jean Grolier and his friends).

GRoNINGEN (286), a low-lying province in the NE. of Holland, fronting the German Ocean on the N., and having Hanover on its eastern border; its fertile soil favours extensive farming and grazing; s.h.i.+pbuilding is an important industry. The capital (58) is situated on the Hunse, 94 m. NE. of Amsterdam; has several handsome buildings, a university (1614), botanic gardens, s.h.i.+pbuilding yards, and tobacco and linen factories.

GRONOVIUS, the name of two Dutch scholars, father and son, professors successively of belles-lettres at Leyden; John died 1671, and Jacob 1716.

GROS, ANTOINE JEAN, BARON, a French historical painter, born at Paris; his subjects were taken from events in the history of France, and especially in the career of Napoleon; his first work, received with unbounded enthusiasm, was "Pestifere's de Jaffa," and his latest, a picture in the cupola of the Church of Genevieve, in Paris (1771-1835).

GROSE, CAPTAIN FRANCIS, an English antiquary, born at Greenford, Middles.e.x; was educated for an artist, and exhibited; proved a good draughtsman; became captain of Suss.e.x militia; published the "Antiquities of England and Wales" (1773-1787); came to Scotland in 1789 on an antiquarian tour, and made the acquaintance of Burns, who celebrated him in his "Hear, Land o' Cakes and Brither Scots," as "a chield's amang you takin' notes, and faith he'll prent it"; was an easy-going man, with a corpulent figure, a smack of humour, and a hearty boon companion; lived to publish his "Antiquities of Scotland and Ireland"; died at Dublin in an apoplectic fit (1731-1791).

GROSSMITH, GEORGE, actor, famous for leading parts in Gilbert and Sullivan's operas, and since as giving single-handed dramatic sketches and songs, written by himself and set to music by himself; _b._ 1847.

GROSSMITH, WEEDON, actor, artist, and contributor to _Art Magazine_ and _Punch_; brother of preceding.

GROSSETESTE, ROBERT, a famous bishop of Lincoln, born at Stradbroke, Suffolk, of peasant parents; a man of rare learning, he became a lecturer in the Franciscan school at Oxford, and rose through various stages to be bishop of Lincoln in 1235; he was an active Parliamentarian, and gave valuable a.s.sistance to his friend Simon de Montfort in the struggle with Henry III., and headed the Church reform party against the nepotism of Innocent IV.; according to Stubbs, "he was the most learned, the most acute, and most holy man of his time" (1175-1253).

GROTE, GEORGE, historian and politician, born at Clay Hill, near Beckenham, of German descent; was a banker to business; spent his leisure time in the study of philosophy and history; contributed to the _Westminster Review_, a philosophical Radical organ at that time; represented the City of London in that interest from 1833 to 1841, when he retired to devote all his time to his "History of Greece," of which the first volumes appeared In 1846 and the last in 1856, making 12 volumes in all; this work contributed to dispel many erroneous impressions, in regard particularly to Athens and its political const.i.tution; wrote on Plato and Aristotle, but his philosophical creed made it impossible for him to do justice to the Greek metaphysics (1791-1871).

GROTEFEND, GEORG FRIEDRICH, antiquary and philologist, born at Minden, Hanover; was director of the Lyceum, Hanover; was the first to decipher the cuneiform inscriptions, a discovery which he gave to the world in 1802 (1775-1853).

GROTESQUE, THE, the combination in art of heterogeneous parts, suggested by some whimsically designed paintings in the artificial grottoes of Roman houses.

GROTIUS, HUGO, or HUIG VAN GROOT, a celebrated Dutch jurist and theologian, born at Delft; studied at Leyden under Scaliger, and displayed an extraordinary precocity in learning; won the patronage of Henri IV. while on an emba.s.sy to France; practised at the bar in Leyden, and in 1613 was appointed pensionary of Rotterdam; he became embroiled in a religious dispute, and for supporting the Arminians was sentenced to imprisonment for life; escaped in a book chest (a device of his wife), fled to Paris, and was pensioned by Louis XIII.; in 1625 he published his famous work on international law, "De Jure Belli et Pacis"; from 1634 to 1645 he acted as Swedish amba.s.sador at Paris; his acute scholars.h.i.+p is manifested in various theological, historical, and legal treatises; his work "De Veritate Religionis Christiana;" is well known (1583-1645).

GROUCHY, EMMANUEL, MARQUIS DE, a French marshal, born at Paris; entered the army in 1780, and later gave enthusiastic support to the Revolution, laying aside his t.i.tle; took part in the Vendean campaign, the abortive attempt on Ireland, and, under Joubert, in the conquest of Italy; was a gallant and daring commander in the Piedmontese, Austrian, and Russian campaigns of Napoleon, and by skilful generals.h.i.+p covered the retreat of the French at Leipzig; he was among the first to welcome Napoleon back from Elba, defeated Blucher at Ligny, but failed to be forward in the field of Waterloo; led the remnants of the French army back to Paris afterwards, and then retired to the United States; in 1819 he returned, and in 1831 was reinstated as marshal (1766-1847).