Part 12

TEUTOBOCH´US, a king, whose remains were discovered in 1613, near the river Rhone. His tomb was 30 feet long.—Mazurier, _Histoire Véritable du Géant Teutobochus_ (1618).

THAON, one of the giants who made war with the gods. He was killed by the Parcæ.—Hesiod, _Theogony_.

TITANS, a race of giants.—_Greek Fable_.

TIT´YOS, a giant whose body covered nine acres of land. He tried to defile Latōna, but Apollo cast him into Tartarus, where a vulture fed on his liver, which grew again as fast as it was devoured.—_Greek Fable_.

TYPHŒUS, a giant with a hundred heads, fearful eyes, and most terrible voice. He was the father of the Harpies. Zeus [Jupiter] killed him with a thunderbolt, and he lies buried under Mount Etna.—Hesiod, _Theogony_.

TYPHON, son of Typhœus, a giant with a hundred heads. He was so tall that he touched heaven with his head. His offspring were Gorgon, Geryon, Cerberos, and the hydra of Lernê. He lies buried under Mount Etna.—Homer, _Hymns_.

WIDENOSTRILS, a huge giant, who lived on windmills, and died from eating a lump of fresh butter.—Rabelais, _Pantagruel_ iv. 17.

YOHAK, the giant guardian of the caves of Babylon.—Southey, _Talaba_, v.

⁂ Those who wish to pursue this subject further, should consult the notes of Duchat, bk. ii. 1 of his _Œuvres de Rabelais_.

=Giants in Real Life.=

ANAK, father of the Anakim. The Hebrew spies said they themselves were mere grasshoppers in comparison to these giants.—_Josh._ xv. 14; _Judges_ i. 20; _Numb._ xiii. 33.

ANAK, 7 feet 8 inches at the age of 26. Exhibited in London, 1862-5. Born at Ramonchamp, in the Vosges (1 _syl._), 1840. His real name was Joseph Brice.

ANDRON´ICUS II., 10 feet. Grandson of Alexius Comnēnus. Nicetas asserts that he had seen him.

BAMFORD (_Edward_), 7 feet 4 inches. Died in 1768, and was buried in St. Dunstan’s Churchyard.

BATES (_Captain_), 7 feet 11 inches; of Kentucky. Exhibited in London, 1871.

BLACKER (_Henry_), 7 feet 4 inches, and most symmetrical. Born at Cuckfield, Sussex, in 1724. Generally called “The British Giant.”

BRADLEY, 7 feet 8 inches at death. Born at Market Weighton, in Yorkshire. His right hand is preserved in the museum of the College of Surgeons (1798-1820).

BRICE (_Joseph_), 7 feet 8 inches. His hand could span 15½ inches.

BUSBY (_John_), 7 feet 9 inches; of Darfield. His brother was about the same height.

CHANG-WOO-GOO, 7 feet 6 inches; of Fychou. The Chinese giant. Exhibited in London, 1865-6.

CHARLEMAGNE, 8 feet nearly. He could squeeze together three horse-shoes at once with his hands.

COTTER (_Patrick_), 8 feet 7½ inches. The Irish giant. A cast of his hand is preserved in the museum of the College of Surgeons (died 1802).

ELEA´ZER, 7 cubits (10 feet 6 inches). The Jewish giant mentioned by Josephus. He lived in the reign of Vitellius.

ELEIZEGUE (_Joachim_), 7 feet 10 inches. The Spanish giant. Exhibited in London.

EVANS (_William_), 8 feet at death. Porter to Charles I. (died 1632).

FRANK (_Big_), 7 feet 8 inches; weight 22 stone; girth round the chest, 58 inches. He was an Irishman, whose name was Francis Sheridan (died 1870).

FRENZ (_Louis_), 7 feet 4 inches. The French giant.

GABARA, 9 feet 9 inches. An Arabian giant. Pliny says he was the tallest man seen in the days of Claudius.

GILLY, 8 feet. A Swede; exhibited as a show in the early part of the nineteenth century.

GOLI´ATH, 6 cubits and a span (? 9 feet 4 inches).—1 _Sam._ xvii. 4, etc. His “brother” was also a giant.—2 _Sam._ xxi. 19; 1 _Chron._ xx. 5.

GORDON (_Alice_), 7 feet. An Essex giantess (died 1737).

HALE (_Robert_), 7 feet 6 inches; born at Somerton. Generally called “The Norfolk Giant” (1820-1862).

HAR´DRADA (_Harold_), “5 ells of Norway in height” (nearly 8 feet). The Norway giant.

LA PIERRE, 7 feet 1 inch; of Stratgard, in Denmark.

LOUIS, 7 feet 4 inches. The French giant. His left hand is preserved in the museum of the College of Surgeons.

LOUSHKIN, 8 feet 5 inches. The Russian giant, and drum-major of the Imperial Guards.

M’DONALD (_James_), 7 feet 6 inches; of Cork (died 1760).

M’DONALD (_Samuel_), 6 feet 10 inches. A Scotchman; usually called “Big Sam” (died 1802).

MAGRATH (_Cornelius_), 7 feet 8 inches. He was an orphan, reared by Bishop Berkley, and died at the age of 20 (1740-1760).

MAXIMI´NUS, 8 feet 6 inches. The Roman emperor (235-238).

MELLON (_Edmund_), 7 feet 6 inches. Born at Port Leicester, Ireland (1665-1684).

MIDDLETON (_John_), 9 feet 3 inches. “His hand was 17 inches long, and 8½ inches broad.” He was born at Hale, in Lancashire, in the reign of James I.—Dr. Plott, _History of Staffordshire_.

MILLER (_Maximilian Christopher_), 8 feet. His hand measured 12 inches, and his fore-finger 9 inches long. The Saxon giant. Died in London (1674-1734).

MURPHY, 8 feet 10 inches. An Irish giant, contemporary with O’Brien. Died at Marseilles.

O’BRIEN or _Charles Byrne_, 8 feet 4 inches. The Irish giant. His skeleton is preserved in the museum of the College of Surgeons (1761-1783).

OG, king of Bashan. “His bed was 9 cubits by 4 cubits” (? 13½ feet by 6 feet).—_Deut._ iii. 11.

⁂ The Great Bed of Ware is 12 feet by 12 feet.

OSEN (_Heinrich_), 7 feet 6 inches; weight, 300 lbs. or 37-1/4 stone. Born in Norway.

PORUS, an Indian king who fought against Alexander near the river Hydaspês (B.C. 327). He was a giant “5 cubits in height” [7½ feet], with strength in proportion.—Quintus Curtius, _De rebus gestis Alexandri Magni_.

RIECHART (_J. H._), 8 feet 3 inches, of Friedberg. His father and mother were both giants.

SALMERON (_Martin_), 7 feet 4 inches. A Mexican.

SAM (_Big_), 6 feet 10 inches. (See “M’Donald.”)

SHERIDAN (_Francis_), 7 feet 8 inches. (See “Frank.”)

SWAN (_Miss Anne Hanen_), 7 feet 11 inches; of Nova Scotia.

⁂ In 1682, a giant 7 feet 7 inches was exhibited in Dublin. A Swede 8 feet 6 inches was in the body-guard of a king of Prussia. A human skeleton 8 feet 6 inches is preserved in the museum of Trinity College, Dublin.

Becanus says he had seen a man nearly 10 feet high, and a woman fully 10 feet. Gasper Bauhin speaks of a Swiss 8 feet in height. Del Rio says he saw a Piedmontes in 1572 more than 9 feet in stature. C.S.F. Warren, M.A., says (in _Notes and Queries_, August 14, 1875) that his father knew a lady 9 feet high; “her head touched the ceiling of a good-sized room.” Vanderbrook says he saw a black man, at Congo, 9 feet high.

=Giant of Literature=, Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1783).

=Giant’s Leap= (_Lam Goëmagot_) or “Goëmagot’s Leap.” Now called Haw, near Plymouth. The legend is that Cori´neus (3 _syl._) wrestled with Goëmagot, king of the Albion giants, heaved the monster on his shoulder, carried him to the top of a high rock, and cast him into the sea.

At the beginning of the encounter, Corineus and the giant, standing front to front, held each other strongly in their arms, and panted aloud for breath; but Goëmagot presently grasping Croineus with all his might, broke three of his ribs, two on the right side and one on his left. Corineus, highly enraged, roused up his whole strength, snatched up the giant, ran with him on his shoulders to the neighboring cliff, and heaved him into the sea.... The place where he fell is called Lam Goëmagot to this day.—Geoffrey, _British History_, i. 16 (1142).

=Giaour= [_djow´.er_]. Byron’s tale called _The Giaour_ is supposed to be told by a Turkish fisherman who had been employed all the day in the gulf of Ægi´na, and landed his boat at night-fall on the Piræ´us, now called the harbor of Port Leonê. He was eye-witness of all the incidents, and in one of them a principal agent (see line 352: “I hear the sound of coming feet....”). The tale is this: Leilah, the beautiful concubine of the Caliph Hasson, falls in love with a giaour, flees from the seraglio, is overtaken by an emir, put to death, and cast into the sea. The giaour cleaves Hassan’s skull, flees for his life, and becomes a monk. Six years afterwards he tells his history to his father confessor on his death-bed, and prays him to “lay his body with the humblest dead, and not even to inscribe his name on his tomb.” Accordingly, he is called “the Giaour,” and is known by no other name (1813).

=Giauha´re= (4 _syl._), daughter of the king of Saman´dal, the mightiest of the undersea empires. When her father was made captive by king Saleh, she emerged for safety to a desert island, where she met Bed´er, the young king of Persia, who proposed to make her his wife; but Griauharê “spat on him,” and changed him “into a white bird with red beak and red legs.” The bird was sold to a certain king, and, being disenchanted, resumed the human form. After several marvellous adventures, Beder again met the under-sea princess, proposed to her again, and she became his wife and queen of Persia.—_Arabian Nights_ (“Beder and Griauharê”).

=Gibbet=, a foot-pad and a convict, who “left his country for his country’s good.” He piqued himself on being “the best-behaved man on the road.”

’Twas for the good of my country I should be abroad.—George Farquhar, _The Beaux’ Stratagem_, iii. 3 (1707).

I thought it rather odd ... and said to myself, as Gibbet said when he heard that Aimwell had gone to church, “That looks suspicious.”—James Smith.

_Gibbet_ (Master), secretary to Martin Joshua Bletson (parliamentary commissioner).—Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).

=Gib´bie= (_Guse_), a half-witted lad in the service of Lady Bellenden.—Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

Like Goose Gibbie of famous memory, he first kept the turkeys, and then, as his years advanced, was promoted to the more important office of minding the cows.—Keightley.

=Gibby=, a Scotch Highlander in attendance on Colonel Briton. He marries Inis, the waiting-woman of Isabella.—Mrs. Centlivre, _The Wonder_ (1714).

=Gibou=, (_Madame_), a type of feminine vulgarity. A hard-headed, keen-witted, coarsely clever, and pragmatical _maîtresse femme_, who believes in nothing but a good digestion and money in the Funds.—Henri Monnier, _Scènes Populaires_ (1852.)

Mde. Pochet and Mde. Gibou are the French “Mrs. Gamp and Mrs. Harris.”

=Gibson= (_Janet_), a young dependent on Mrs. Margaret Bertram of Singleside.—Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

=Gifford= (_John_). This pseudonym has been adopted by three authors: (1) John Richards Green, _Blackstone’s Commentaries Abridged_, 1823; (2) Edward Foss, _An Abridgment of Blackstone’s Commentaries_ (1821); (3) Alexander Whellier, _The English Lawyer_.

_Gifford_ (_William_), author of _The Baviad_, a poetical satire, which annihilated the Delia Crusca school of poets (1794). In 1796, Gifford published _The Mœviad_, to expose the low state of dramatic authorship.

He was a man with whom I had no literary sympathies.... He had, however, a heart full of kindness for all living creatures except authors: _them_ he regarded as a fishmonger regards eels, or as Izaak Walton did worms.—Southey.

=Giggleswick Fountain= ebbs and flows eight times a day. The tale is that Giggleswick was once a nymph living with the Oreads on Mount Craven. A satyr chanced to see her, and resolved to win her; but Giggleswick fled to escape her pursuer, and praying to the “topic gods” (the local genii), was converted into a fountain, which still pants with fear. The tale is told by Drayton, in his _Polyolbion_, xxviii. (1622).

=Gilbert=, butler to Sir Patrick Charteris, provost of Perth.—Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).

_Gilbert_ (_Miss_), an ambitious girl with a taste for literary celebrity. She writes one book which is a slight success, another which “takes.” Petted from her childhood, and spoiled by the tolerable measure of adulation she receives subsequently, she needs the discipline of mortification and schooling to tone her down to what an originally fine nature was designed to become. She becomes the happy wife of a self-made man who has done his work well.—Josiah Gilbert Holland, _Miss Gilbert’s Career_ (1859).

_Gilbert_ (_Sir_), noted for the sanative virtue of his sword and cere-cloth. Sir Launcelot touched the wounds of Sir Meliot with Sir Gilbert’s sword and wiped them with a cere-cloth, and “anon a wholer man was he never in all his life”—Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 116 (1470).

=Gilbert with the White Hand=, one of the companions of Robin Hood, mentioned often in _The Lyttell Geste of Robyn Hode_ (fytte v. and vii.).

Thair saw I Maitlaind upon auld Beird Gray Robene Hude and Gilbert “with the quhite hand,” Quhom Hay of Nauchton slew in Madin-land. _Scottish Poems_, i. 122.

=Gil´bertscleugh=, cousin to Lady Margaret Bellenden.—Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

=Gil Blas=, son of Blas of Santilla´ne, ’squire or “escudero” to a lady, and brought up by his uncle, Canon Gil Perês. Gil Blas went to Dr. Godinez’s school, of Oviedo [_O.ve.á.do._] and obtained the reputation of being a great scholar. He had fair abilities, a kind heart, and good inclinations, but was easily led astray by his vanity. Full of wit and humor, but lax in his morals. Duped by others at first, he afterwards played the same devices on those less experienced. As he grew in years, however, his conduct improved, and when his fortune was made he became an honest, steady man.—Lesage, _Gil Blas_ (1715).

(Lesage has borrowed largely from the romance of Espinel, called _Vida del Escudero Marcos de Obregon_ (1618), from which he has taken his prologue, the adventure of the parasite (bk. i. 2), the dispersion of the company of Cacabelos by the muleteer (bk. i. 3),the incident of the robber’s cave (bk. i. 4, 5), the surprise by the corsairs, the contributions levied by Don Raphael and Ambrose (bk. i. 15, 16), the service with the duke of Lerma, the character of Sangrado (called by Espinel _Sagredo_), and even the reply of Don Matthias de Silva when asked to fight a duel early in the morning, “As I never rise before one, even for a party of pleasure, it is unreasonable to expect that I should rise at six to have my throat cut,” bk. iii. 8.)

=Gilda=, beautiful daughter of the jester, Rigoletto. She is beloved by his master, the duke, who abducts her, Rigoletto conniving at the deed under the impression that the wife of his enemy occupies the chamber given without his knowledge to Gilda.—Verdi, _Rigoletto_.

=Gildas de Ruys= (_St._) near Vannes, in France. This monastery was founded in the sixth century, by St. Gildas, “The Wise” (516-565).

For some of us knew a thing or two In the abbey of St. Gildas de Ruys. Longfellow, _The Golden Legend_.

=Gil´deroy=, a famous robber. There were two of the name, both handsome Scotchmen, both robbers and both were hanged. One lived in the seventeenth century and “had the honor” of robbing Cardinal Richelieu and Oliver Cromwell. The other was born in Roslin, in the eighteenth century, and was executed in Edinburgh for “stealing sheep, horses and oxen.” In the Percy _Reliques_, I. iii. 12, is the lament of Gilderoy’s widow at the execution of her “handsome” and “winsome” Gilderoy; and Campbell has a ballad on the same subject. Both are entitled “Gilderoy,” and refer to the latter robber; but in Thomson’s _Orpheus Caledonius_, ii, is a copy of the older ballad.

⁂ Thomson’s ballad places Gilderoy in the reign of Mary, “queen of Scots,” but this is not consistent with the tradition of his robbing Richelieu and Cromwell. We want a third Gilderoy for the reign of Queen Mary—one living in the sixteenth century.

=Gilding a Boy.= A naked boy was gilded all over, to adorn a pageant when Leo X. was made Pope, and died of suffocation.—Vasari, _Life of Puntormo_.

=Gildip´pe= (3 _syl._) wife of Edward, an English baron, who accompanied her husband to Jerusalem, and performed prodigies of valor in the war (bk. ix.). Both she and her husband were slain by Solyman (bk. xx.).—Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

=Giles=, a farmer in love with Patty, “the maid of the mill” and promised to him by her father; but Patty refuses to marry him. Ultimately, “the maid of the mill” marries Lord Aimworth. Giles is a blunt, well-meaning, working farmer, with no education, no refinement, no notion of the amenities of social life.—Bickerstaff, _The Maid of the Mill_.

_Giles_ (1 _syl._), serving-boy to Claud Halcro.—Sir W. Scott, _The Pirate_ (time William III.).

_Giles_ (1 _syl._), warder of the Tower.—Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

_Giles_ (1 _syl._), jailer of Sir Reginald Front de Bœuf.—Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

_Giles (Will)_, apprentice of Gibbie Girder, the cooper at Wolf’s Hope village.—Sir W. Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (time,f William III.).

_Giles_, the “farmer’s boy,” “meek, fatherless, and poor,” the hero of Robert Bloomfield’s principal poem, which is divided into “Spring,” “Summer,” “Autumn,” and “Winter” (1798).

=Giles of Antwerp=, Giles Coignet, the painter (1530-1600).

=Gillfillan= (_Habakkuk_), called “Gifted Gilfillan,” a Camero´nian officer and enthusiast.—Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

=Gill= (_Harry_), a farmer, who forbade old Goody Blake to carry home a few sticks, which she had picked up from his land, to light a wee-bit fire to warm herself by. Old Goody Blake cursed him for his meanness, saying he should never from that moment cease from shivering with cold; and, sure enough, from that hour, a-bed or up, summer or winter, at home or abroad, his teeth went “chatter, chatter, chatter still.” Clothing was of no use, fires of no avail, for, spite of all, he muttered, “Poor Harry Gill is very cold.”—Wordsworth, _Goody Blake and Harry Gill_ (1798).

_Gill_ (_Mrs. Peter_). Bustling matron with a genius for innovation. She conducts her household affairs according to sanitary and sanatory principles; discovers that condiments are pernicious and that beans are excellent for the complexion; is bent upon a water-cure, and finds out and invents so many “must bes” and “don’ts” as to ruin the comfort of husband and children.—Robert B. Roosevelt, _Progressive Petticoats_ (1874).

=Gil´lamore= (3 _syl._) or =Guillamur=, king of Ireland, being slain in battle by Arthur, Ireland was added by the conqueror to his own dominions.

How Gillamore again to Ireland he pursued ... And having slain the king, the country waste he laid. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, iv. (1612).

=Gil´lian=, landlady of Don John and Don Frederic.—Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Chances_ (1620).

_Gillian (Dame)_, tirewoman to Lady Eveline, and wife of Raoul the huntsman.—Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

=Gilliflowers.= A nosegay of these flowers was given by the fairy Amazo´na to Carpil´lona in her flight. The virtue of this nosegay was, that so long as the princess had it about her person, those who knew her before would not recognize her.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“Princess Carpillona,” 1682).

=Gills= (_Solomon_), ship’s instrument maker. A slow, thoughtful old man, uncle of Walter Gay, who was in the house of Mr. Dombey, merchant. Gills was very proud of his stock-in-trade, but never seemed to sell anything.—C. Dickens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).

=Gilpin= (_John_), a linen-draper and train-band captain, living in London. His wife said to him, “Though we have been married twenty years, we have taken no holiday;” and at her advice the well-to-do linen-draper agreed to make a family party, and dine at the Bell, at Edmonton. Mrs. Gilpin, her sister, and four children went in the chaise, and Gilpin promised to follow on horseback. As madam had left the wine behind, Gilpin girded it in two stone bottles to his belt, and started on his way. The horse, being fresh, began to trot, and then to gallop; and John, being a bad rider, grasped the mane with both his hands. On went the horse, off flew John Gilpin’s cloak, together with his hat and wig. The dogs barked, the children screamed, the turnpike men (thinking he was riding for a wager) flung open their gates. He flew through Edmonton, and never stopped till he reached Ware, when his friend the calender gave him welcome, and asked him to dismount. Gilpin, however, declined, saying his wife would be expecting him. So the calender furnished him with another hat and wig, and Gilpin harked back again, when similar disasters occurred, till the horse stopped at his house in London.—W. Cowper, _John Gilpin_ (1786).

⁂ John Gilpin was a Mr. Beyer, of Paternoster Row, who died in 1791, and it was Lady Austin who told the anecdote to the poet. The marriage adventure of Commodore Trunnion in _Peregrine Pickle_ is a similar adventure.

=Gines de Passamonte=, one of the galley-slaves set free by Don Quixote. Gines had written a history of his life and adventures. After being liberated, the slaves set upon the knight; they assaulted him with stones, robbed him and Sancho of everything they valued, broke to pieces “Mambrino’s helmet,” and then made off with all possible speed, taking Sancho’s ass with them. After a time the ass was recovered (pt. I. iv. 3).

“Hark ye, friend,” said the galley-slave, “Gines is my name, and Passamonte the title of my family.”—Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. iii. 8 (1605).

⁂ This Gines re-appears in pt. II. ii. 7 as “Peter the showman,” who exhibits the story of “Melisendra and Don Gayferos.” The helmet also is presented whole and sound at the inn, where it becomes a matter of dispute whether it is a basin or a helmet.

=Gineura=, the troth-plight bride of Ariodantês, falsely accused of infidelity, and doomed to die unless she found within a month a champion to do battle for her honor. The duke who accused her felt confident that no champion would appear, but on the day appointed Ariodantês himself entered the lists. The duke was slain, the lady vindicated, and the champion became Gineura’s husband.—Arisoto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

Shakespeare, in _Much Ado about Nothing_, makes Hero falsely accused of infidelity, through the malice of Don John, who induces Margaret (the lady’s attendant) to give Borachio a rendezvous at the lady’s chamber window. While this was going on, Claudio, the betrothed lover of Hero, was brought to a spot where he might witness the scene, and, believing Margaret to be Hero, was so indignant, that next day at the altar he denounced Hero as unworthy of his love. Benedict challenged Claudio for slander, but the combat was prevented by the arrest and confession of Borachio. Don John, finding his villainy exposed, fled to Messina.

Spencer has introduced a similar story in his _Faëry Queen_, v. 11 (the tale of “Irena,” _q.v._).

=Gin´evra=, the young Italian bride who, playing hide-and-seek, hid herself in a large trunk. The lid accidentally fell down, and was held fast by a spring-lock. Many years afterwards the trunk was sold and the skeleton discovered.—Rogers, _Italy_ (1792).

T. Haynes Bayley wrote a ballad called _The Mistletoe Bough_, on the same tradition. He calls the bridegroom “young Lovell.”

A similar narrative is given by Collet, in his _Causes Célèbres_.

Marwell Old Hall, once the residence of the Seymours, and subsequently of the Dacre family, has a similar tradition attached to it, and “the very chest is now the property of the Rev. J. Haygarth, rector of Upham.”—_Post-Office Directory_.

Bramshall, Hampshire, has a similar tale and chest.

The same tale is also told of the great house at Malsanger, near Basingstoke.

=Gingerbread= (_Giles_), the hero of an English nursery tale.

_Jack the Giant-killer_, _Giles Gingerbread_, and _Tom Thumb_ will flourish in wide-spreading and never-ceasing popularity.—Washington Irving.