Part 16

Yet so true of heart and faithful in duty to _God_ and man that—

“If I ever win the home in heaven For whose sweet rest I ever hope and pray, In the great company of the forgiven I shall be sure to find old Daniel Gray.” Josiah Gilbert Holland, _Old Daniel Gray_ (1879).

_Gray_ (_Duncan_) wooed a young lass called Maggie, but as Duncan looked asklent, Maggie “coost her head” and bade Duncan behave himself. “Duncan fleeched, and Duncan prayed,” but Meg was deaf to his pleadings; so Duncan took himself off in dudgeon. This was more than Maggie meant, so she fell sick and like to die. As Duncan “could na be her death,” he came forward manfully again, and then “they were crouse [_merry_] and canty bath. Ha, ha! the wooing o’t.”—R. Burns, _Duncan Gray_ (1792).

_Gray_ (_Mary_), daughter of a country gentleman of Perth. When the plague broke out in 1668, Mary Gray and her friend Bessy Bell retired to an unfrequented spot called Burn Braes, where they lived in a secluded cottage and saw no one. A young gentleman brought them food, but he caught the plague, communicated it to the two ladies, and all three died.—Allan Ramsay, _Bessy Bell and Mary Gray_.

_Gray_ (_Auld Robin_). Jennie, a Scotch lass, was loved by young Jamie; “but saving a crown, he had naething else besides.” To make that crown a pound, young Jamie went to sea, and both were to be for Jennie. He had not been gone many days when Jennie’s mother fell sick, her father broke his arm, and their cow was stolen; then auld Robin came forward and maintained them both. Auld Robin loved the lass, and “wi’ tears in his ’ee,” said, “Jennie, for their sakes, oh, marry me!” Jennie’s heart said “nay,” for she looked for Jamie back; but her father urged her, and the mother pleaded with her eye, and so she consented. They had not been married above a month when Jamie returned. They met; she gave him one kiss, and though she “gang like a ghaist,” she made up her mind, like a brave good lassie, to be a gude wife, for auld Robin was very kind to her (1772).

This ballad was composed by Lady Anne Lindsay, daughter of the earl of Balcarres (afterwards Lady Barnard). It was written to an old Scotch tune called _The Bridegroom Grat when the Sun went down_. Auld Robin Gray was her father’s herdsman. When Lady Anne was writing the ballad, and was piling distress on Jennie, she told her sister that she had sent Jamie to sea, made the mother sick, and broken the father’s arm, but wanted a fourth calamity. “Steal the cow, sister Anne,” said the little Elizabeth; and so “the cow was stolen awa’,” and the song completed.

=Grayson= (_Mrs._). Brave wife who, weaponless and alone, when an Indian tries to enter the block-house by an upper window, clamps his wrist to the window sill in such a way that, as his foot slips, he is suspended by it. He hangs thus for a moment, and the wrist breaks. She lets him go, and he falls to ground without.—William Gilmore Simms, _The Yemassee_ (1835).

=Graysteel=, the sword of Kol, fatal to its owner. It passed into several hands, and always brought ill-luck with it.—_Icelandic Edda._

=Gray Swan=. Ship in which a sailor-boy sails away, not to return for twenty years, when he comes back to his mother and incites her to defence of the missing son by feigning to blame him for his twenty years’ silence. Her spirited vindication of her darling causes him to discover himself to her.—Alice Cary, _Poems_ (1876).

=Great Captain= (_The_), Gonsalvo de Cor´dova, _el Gran Capitan_ (1453-1515).

Manuel I. [Comnēnus], emperor of Trebizond, is so called also (1120, 1143-1180).

=Great Cham of Literature=, Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784).

=Great Commoner= (_The_), William Pitt (1759-1806).

=Great Dauphin= (_The_), Louis, the son of Louis XIV. (1661-1711).

⁂ The “Little Dauphin” was the duke of Bourgoyne, son of the Great or Grand Dauphin. Both died before Louis XIV.

=Great Duke= (_The_), the duke of Wellington (1769-1852).

Bury the Great Duke With an empire’s lamentation; Let us bury the Great Duke To the noise of the mourning of a mighty nation. Tennyson.

=Great-Head= or CANMORE, Malcolm III. of Scotland (* 1057-1093).

=Great Heart=. The valiant guide reappears in George Wood’s satire. _Modern Pilgrims_, published in 1855.

=Great-heart= (_Mr._), the guide of Christiana and her family to the Celestial City. Bunyan, _Pilgrim’s Progress_, ii. (1685).

=Great Magician= (_The_) or _The Great Magician of the North_, Sir Walter Scott. So called by Professor John Wilson (1771-1832).

=Great Marquis= (_The_), James Graham, marquis of Montrose (1612-1650).

I’ve told thee how we swept Dundee, And tamed the Lindsays’ pride; But never have I told thee yet How the Great Marquis died. Aytoun.

_Great Marquis_ (_The_), Dom Sebastiano Jose de Carvalho, Marquis de Pombal, greatest of all the Portuguese statesmen (1699-1782).

=Great Moralist= (_The_), Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784).

=Great Unknown= (_The_), Sir Walter Scott, who published his _Waverley Novels_ anonymously (1771-1832).

=Great Unwashed= (_The_). The artisan class were first so called by Sir W. Scott.

=Greaves= (_Sir Launcelot_), a well-bred young English squire of the George II. period; handsome, virtuous, and enlightened, but crack-brained. He sets out, attended by an old sea-captain, to detect fraud and treason, abase insolence, mortify pride, discourage slander, disgrace immodesty, and punish ingratitude. Sir Launcelot, in fact, is a modern Don Quixote, and Captain Crow is his Sancho Panza. T. Smollet, _The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves_ (1760).

Smollett became editor of the _Critical Review_, and an attack in that journal on Admiral Knowles led to a trial for libel. The author was sentenced to pay a fine of £100, and suffer three months imprisonment. He consoled himself in prison by writing his novel of _Launcelot Greaves_.—Chambers, _English Literature_, ii. 65.

=Grecian Daughter= (_The_), Euphrasia, daughter of Evander, a Greek who dethroned Dionysius the Elder, and became king of Syracuse. In his old age he was himself dethroned by Dionysius the Younger, and confined in a dungeon in a rock, where he was saved from starvation by his daughter, who fed him with “the milk designed for her own babe.” Timoleon having made himself master of Syracuse, Dionysius accidentally encountered Evander, his prisoner, and was about to kill him, when Euphrasia rushed forward and stabbed the tyrant to the heart.—A. Murphy, _The Grecian Daughter_ (1772).

⁂ As an historical drama, this plot is much the same as if the writer had said that James I. (of England) abdicated and retired to St. Germain, and when his son James II. succeeded to the crown, he was beheaded at White hall; for Murphy makes Dionysius the Elder to have been dethroned, and going to Corinth to live (act i.), and Dionysius the Younger to have been slain by the dagger of Euphrasia; whereas Dionysius the Elder never was dethroned, but died in Syracuse at the age of 63; and Dionysius the Younger was not slain in Syracuse, but being dethroned, went to Corinth, where he lived and died in exile.

=Greedy= (_Justice_), thin as a thread paper, always eating and always hungry. He says to Sir Giles Overreach (act iii. 1), “Oh, I do much honor a chine of beef! Oh, I do reverence a loin of veal!” As a justice, he is most venial—the promise of a turkey will buy him, but the promise of a haunch of venison will out-buy him.—Massinger, _A New Way to Pay Old Debts_ (1628).

=Greek Church= (_Fathers of the_): Eusebius, Athana´sius, Basil “the great,” Gregory Nazianze´nus, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril of Jerusalem, Chrys´ostom, Epipha´nius, Cyril of Alexandria, and Ephraim, deacon of Edessa.

=Greeks= (_Last of the_) Philopœ´men of Megalop´olis, whose great object was to infuse into the Achæans a military spirit, and establish their independence (B.C. 252-183).

_Greeks joined Greeks._ Clytus said to Alexander that Philip was the greater warrior:

I have seen him march, And fought beneath his dreadful banner, where The boldest at this table would have trembled. Nay, frown not, sir, you cannot look me dead; When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war. N. Lee, _Alexander the Great, iv. 2_ (1678).

⁂ Slightly altered into _When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war_. This line of Nathaniel Lee has become a household phrase.

_To play the Greek_, to act like a harlot. When Cressid says of Helen, “Then she’s a merry Greek indeed,” she means that Helen is no better than a _fille publique_. Probably Shakespeare had his eye upon “fair Hiren,” in Peel’s play called _The Turkish Mahomet and Hyren the Fair Greek._ “A fair Greek” was at one time a euphemism for a courtezan.

=Green= (_Mr. Paddington_), clerk at Somerset House.

_Mrs. Paddington Green_, his wife.—T.M. Morton, _If I had a Thousand a Year_.

_Green_ (_Verdant_), a young man of infinite simplicity, who goes to college, and is played upon by all the practical jokers of _alma mater_. After he has bought his knowledge by experience, the butt becomes the “butter” of juveniles greener than himself. Verdant Green wore spectacles, which won for him the nickname of “Gig-lamps.”—Cuthbert Bede [Rev. Edw. Bradley], _Verdant Green_ (1860).

_Green_ (_Widow_), a rich, buxom dame of 40, who married first for money, and intended to choose her second husband “to please her vanity.” She fancied Waller loved her, and meant to make her his wife, but Sir William Fondlove was her adorer. When the politic widow discovered that Waller had fixed his love on another, she gave her hand to the old beau, Sir William; for if the news got wind of her love for Waller, she would become the laughing-stock of all her friends.—S. Knowles, _The Love-Chase_ (1837).

_Green Bird_ (_The_), a bird that told one everything it was asked. An oracular bird, obtained by Fairstar after the failure of Cherry and her two brothers. It was this bird who revealed to the king that Fairstar was his daughter and Cherry his nephew. Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“Fairstar and Prince Cherry,” 1682).

=Green Horse= (_The_), the 5th Dragoon Guards (_not_ the 5th Dragoons). So called from their green velvet facings.

=Green Howard=, (_The_), the 19th Foot. So called from the Hon. Charles Howard, their colonel from 1738 to 1748.

=Green Knight= (_The_), Sir Pertolope (3 _syl_.), called by Tennyson “Evening Star” or “Hesperus.” He was one of the four brothers who kept the passages of Castle Perilous, and was overthrown by Sir Gareth.—Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 127 (1470); Tennyson, _Idylls_ (“Gareth and Lynette”).

⁂ Tennyson in his “Gareth and Lynette” chooses to call the _Green_ Knight “Evening Star,” and the _Blue_ Knight “Morning Star.” In the old romance the combat with the “Green Knight” was at _dawn_, and with the “Blue Knight” at _sunset_.—See _Notes_ and _Queries_ (February 16, 1878).

_Green Knight_ (_The_), a pagan knight, who demanded Fezon in marriage, but being overcome by Orson, was obliged to resign his claim.—_Valentine and Orson_ (fifteenth century).

=Green Linnets=, the 39th Foot. Their facings are green.

=Green Man= (_The_). The man who used to let off fireworks was so called in the reign of James I.

Have you any squibs, any green man in your shows?—John Kirke [R. Johnson], _The Seven Champions of Christendom_ (1617).

_Green Man_ (_The_), a gentleman’s gamekeeper, at one time clad in green.

But the green man shall I pass by unsung?... A squire’s attendant clad in keeper’s green. Crabbe, _Borough_ (1810).

=Greenhalgh=, messenger of the earl of Derby.—Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Greenhorn= (_Mr. Gilbert_), an attorney, in partnership with Mr. Gabriel Grinderson.

_Mr. Gernigo Greenhorn_, father of Mr. Gilbert.—Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

=Greenleaf= (_Gilbert_), the old archer at Douglas Castle.—Sir W. Scott, _Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry I.).

=Gregory=, a faggot-maker of good education, first at a charity school, then as waiter on an Oxford student, and then as the fag of a travelling physician. When compelled to act the doctor, he says the disease of his patient arises from “propria quæ maribus tribuuntur mascula dicas, ut sunt divorum, Mars, Bacchus, Apollo, virorum.” And when Sir Jasper says, “I always thought till now that the heart is on the left side and the liver on the right,” he replies, “Ay, sir, so they were formerly, but we have changed all that.” In Molière’s comedy, _Le Médecin Malgré Lui,_ Gregory is called “Sganarelle,” and all these jokes are in act ii. 6.—Henry Fielding, _The Mock Doctor_.

_Gregory_, father and son, hangmen in the seventeenth century. In the time of the Gregorys, hangmen were termed “esquires.” In France, executioners were termed “monsieur,” even to the breaking out of the Revolution.

=Gregson= (_Widow_), Darsie Latimer’s landlady at Shepherd’s Bush.—Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

_Gregson_ (_Gilbert_), the messenger of Father Buonaventura.—Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

=Gre´mio,= an old man who wishes to marry Bianca, but the lady prefers Lucentio, a young man.—Shakespeare, _Taming of the Shrew_ (1594).

=Grendel=, the monster from which Beowulf delivered Hrothgar, king of Denmark. It was half monster, half man, whose haunt was the marshes among “a monster race.” Night after night it crept stealthily into the palace called Heorot, and slew sometimes as many as thirty of the inmates. At length Beowulf, at the head of a mixed band of warriors, went against it and slew it.—_Beowulf_, an Anglo-Saxon epic (sixth century).

=Grenville= (_Sir Richard_), the commander of _The Revenge_, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Out of his crew, ninety were sick on shore, and only a hundred able-bodied men remained on board. _The Revenge_ was one of the six ships under the command of Lord Thomas Howard. While cruising near the Azores, a Spanish fleet of fifty-three ships made towards the English, and Lord Howard sheered off, saying, “My ships are out of gear, and how can six ships-of-the-line fight with fifty-three?” Sir Richard Grenville, however, resolved to stay and encounter the foe, and “ship after ship the whole night long drew back with her dead; some were sunk, more were shattered;” and the brave hundred still fought on. Sir Richard was wounded and his ship riddled, but his cry was still “Fight on!” When resistance was no longer possible, he cried, “Sink the ship, master gunner! sink her! Split her in twain, nor let her fall into the hands of the foe!” But the Spaniards boarded her and praised Sir Richard for his heroic daring. “I have done my duty for my queen and faith,” he said, and died. The Spaniards sent the prize home, but a tempest came on, and _The Revenge_, shot-shattered, “went down, to be lost evermore in the main.”—Tennyson, _The Revenge_, a ballad of the fleet (1878).

Froude has an essay on the subject. Canon Kingsley, in _Westward Ho_! has drawn Sir Richard Grenville, and alludes to the fight. Arber published three small volumes on Sir Richard’s noble exploit. Gervase Markham has a long poem on the subject. Sir Walter Raleigh says: “If Lord Howard had stood to his guns, the Spanish fleet would have been annihilated.” Probably Browning’s _Hervé Riel_ was present to the mind of Tennyson when he wrote the ballad of _The Revenge_.

=Gresham and the Pearl.= When Queen Elizabeth visited the Exchange, Sir Thomas Gresham pledged her health in a cup of wine containing a precious stone crushed to atoms, and worth £15,000.

Here £15,000 at one clap goes Instead of sugar; Gresham drinks the pearl Unto his queen and mistress. Pledge it lords. Heywood, _If You Know not Me, You Know Nobody_.

⁂ It is devoutly to be hoped that Sir Thomas was above such absurd vanity. Very well for Queen Cleopatra, but more than ridiculous in such an imitation.

_Gresham and the Grasshopper._ There is a vulgar tradition that Sir Thomas Gresham was a foundling, and that the old beldame who brought him up was attracted to the spot where she found him, by the loud chirping of a grasshopper.

⁂ This tale arose from the grasshopper, which forms the crest of Sir Thomas.

_To Sup with Sir Thomas Gresham_, to have no supper. Similarly, “to dine with Duke Humphrey,” is to have nowhere to dine. The Royal Exchange was at one time a common lounging-place for idlers.

Tho’ little coin thy purseless pockets line, Yet with great company thou’rt taken up; For often with Duke Humphrey thou dost dine, And often with Sir Thomas Gresham sup. Hayman, _Quidlibet_ (Epigram on a loafer, 1628).

=Gretchen.= Viragoish wife of _Rip Van Winkle,_ in Washington Irving’s story of that name.

_Gretchen_, a German diminutive of Margaret; the heroine of Goethe’s _Faust_. Faust meets her on her return from church, falls in love with her, and at last seduces her. Overcome with shame, Gretchen destroys the infant to which she gives birth, and is condemned to death. Faust attempts to save her; and, gaining admission to the dungeon, finds her huddled on a bed of straw, singing wild snatches of ballads, quite insane. He tries to induce her to flee with him, but in vain. At daybreak Gretchen dies, and Faust is taken away.

Gretchen is a perfect union of homeliness and simplicity, though her love is strong as death; yet is she a human woman throughout, and never a mere abstraction. No other character ever drawn takes so strong a hold on the heart.

=Greth´el= (_Gammer_), the hypothetical narrator of the tales edited by the brothers Grimm.

⁂ Said to be Frau Viehmänin, wife of a peasant in the suburbs of Hessê Cassel, from whose mouth the brothers transcribed the tales.

=Grey= (_Lady Jane_), a tragedy by N. Rowe, (1715).

In _French_, Laplace (1745), Mde. de Staël (1800), Ch. Brifaut (1812), and Alexandre Soumet (1844), produced tragedies on the same subject. Paul Delaroche has a fine picture called “Le Supplice de Jane Grey” (1835).

=Gribouille=, the wiseacre who threw himself into a river that his clothes might not get wetted by the rain.—_A French Proverbial Saying._

=Gride= (_Arthur_), a mean old usurer, who wished to marry Madeline Bray, but Madeline loved Nicholas Nickleby, and married him. Gride was murdered.—C. Dickens, _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).

=Grier= (_Mrs._), straight-laced pietist, who says “if she didn’t think the heathen would be lost she wouldn’t see the use of the plan of salvation.”—Margaret Deland, _John Ward, Preacher_.

=Grieux= (_le chevalier de_), the hero of a French novel by the Abbé Antoine François Prévost (1697-1763). The passionate love of the hero, the Chevalier de Grieux, for Manon, leads him into a hundred dangers, the consequences of her frivolity and inconstancy. But he dares and suffers all for her sake, and at last, when she is sent into shameful exile by the authorities, he follows her, shares her privations, and remains with her till she dies.

=Grieve= (_Jackie_), landlord of an ale-house near Charlie’s Hope.—Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

=Griffin= (_Allan_), landlord of the Griffin inn, at Perth.—Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).

=Griffin-feet=, the mark by which the Desert Fairy was known in all her metamorphoses.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“The Yellow Dwarf,” 1682).

=Griffiths= (_Old_), steward of the earl of Derby.—Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time Charles II.).

_Griffiths_ (_Samuel_), London agent of Sir Arthur Darsie Redgauntlet.—Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time George III.).

=Griflet= (_Sir_), knighted by King Arthur at the request of Merlin, who told the king that Sir Griflet would prove “one of the best knights of the world, and the strongest man of arms.”—Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 20 (1470).

=Griggsby’s Station.= Old home of a newly-made rich family, for which they pine,—

“In a great big house with cyarpets on the stairs And the pump right in the kitchen.”

“Let’s go a-visitin’ back to Griggsby Station. Back where they’s nothin’ aggervatin’ any more, Shet away safe in the woods around the old location, Back where we ust to be so happy an’ so pore.” James Whitcomb Reilly, _Afterwhiles_ (1888).

=Grildrig=, a mannikin.

She gave me the name “Grildrig,” which the family took up, and afterwards the whole kingdom. The word imports what the Latin calls _manunculus_ the Italian _homunceletion_, and the English _mannikin_.—Dean Swift, _Gulliver’s Travels_ (“Voyage to Brobdingnag,” 1726).

=Grim=, a fisherman who rescued, from a boat turned adrift, an infant named Habloc, whom he adopted and brought up. This infant was the son of the king of Denmark, and when restored to his royal father, the fisherman, laden with rich presents, built the village, which he called after his own name, _Grims-by_ or “Grim’s town.”

⁂ The ancient seal of the town contained the names of “Gryme” and “Habloc.”

_Grim (Giant,)_ a huge giant, who tried to stop pilgrims on their way to the Celestial City. He was slain by Mr. Greatheart.—Bunyan, _Pilgrim’s Progress_, ii. (1684).

=Grimalkin=, a cat, the spirit of a witch. Any witch was permitted to assume the body of a cat nine times. When the “first Witch” (in _Macbeth_) hears a cat mew, she says, “I come, Grimalkin” (act i. sc. 1).

=Grime=, the partner of Item the usurer. It is to Grime that Item appeals when he wants to fudge his clients. “Can we do so, Mr. Grime?” brings the stock answer, “Quite impossible, Mr. Item.”—Holcroft, _The Deserted Daughter_ (1784), altered into _The Steward_.

=Grimes= (_Peter_) the drunken thievish son of a steady fisherman. He had a boy, whom he killed by ill-usage, and two others he made away with; but escaped conviction through defect of evidence. As no one would live with him, he turned mad, was lodged in the parish poor-house, confessed his crimes in delirium, and died.—Crabbe, _Borough_, xxii, (1810).

=Grimes´by= (_Gaffer_), an old farmer at Marlborough.—Sir. W. Scott, _Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).

=Grimwig=, an irascible old gentleman, who hid a very kind heart under a rough exterior. He was Mr. Brownlow’s great friend, and was always declaring himself ready to “eat his head” if he was mistaken on any point on which he passed an opinion.—C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).

=Grinderson= (_Mr. Gabriel_), partner of Mr. Greenhorn. They are the attorneys who press Sir Arthur Wardour for the payment of debts. Sir. W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

=Grip=, the clever raven of Barnaby Rudge. During the Gordon riots it learnt the cry of “No Popery!” Other of its phrases were: “I’m a devil!” “Never say die!” “Polly, put the kettle on!” etc.—C. Dickens, _Barnaby Rudge_ (1841).

=Gripe= (_1 syl._), a scrivener, husband of Clarissa, but with a _tendre_ for Araminta, the wife of his friend Moneytrap. He is a miserly, money-loving, pig-headed hunks, but is duped out of £250 by his foolish liking for his neighbors wife.—Sir John Vanbrugh, _The Confederacy_ (1695).

_Gripe_ (_1 syl._), the English name of Géronte, in Otway’s version of Molière’s comedy of _Les Fourberies de Scapin_. His daughter, called in French, Hyacinthe, is called “Clara,” and his son Leandre is Anglicized into “Leander.”—Th. Otway, _The Cheats of Scapin_.

_Gripe (Sir Francis)_, a man of 64, guardian of Miranda, an heiress, and father of Charles. He wants to marry his ward for the sake of her money, and as she cannot obtain her property without his consent to her marriage, she pretends to be in love with him, and even fixes the day of espousals. “Grady,” quite secure that he is the man of her choice, gives his consent to her marriage, and she marries Sir George Airy, a man of 24. The old man laughs at Sir George, whom he fancies he is duping, but he is himself the dupe all through.—Mrs. Centlivre, _The Busy Body_ (1709).

December 2, 1790, Munden made his bow to the Covent Garden audience as Sir Francis Gripe.”—_Memoir of J.S. Munden_ (1832).