Part 17

=Gripus=, a stupid, venal judge, uncle of Alcmēna, and the betrothed of Phædra (Alcmena’s waiting-maid), in Dryden’s comedy of _Amphitryon_. Neither Gripus nor Phædra is among the _Dramatis personæ_ of Molière’s comedy of _Amphitryon_.

=Grisilda= or =Griselda=, the model of patience and submission, meant to allegorize the submission of a holy mind to the will of God. Grisilda was the daughter of a charcoal-burner, but became the wife of Walter, marquis of Saluzzo. Her husband tried her, as God tried Job, and with the same result: (1) He took away her infant daughter, and secretly conveyed it to the queen of Pa´via to be brought up, while the mother was made to believe that it was murdered. (2) Four years later she had a son, which was also taken from her, and was sent to be brought up with his sister. (3) Eight years later, Grisilda was divorced, and sent back to her native cottage, because her husband, as she was told, intended to marry another. When, however, Lord Walter saw no indication of murmuring or jealousy, he told Grisilda that the supposed rival was her own daughter, and her patience and submission met with their full reward.—Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (“The Clerk’s Tale,” 1388).

=Griskinis´sa=, wife of Artaxaminous, king of Utopia. The king felt in doubt, and asked his minister of state this knotty question:

Shall I my Griskiniss’s charms forego, Compel her to give up the royal chair, And place the rosy Distaffina there?

The minister reminds the king that Distaffina is betrothed to his general.

And would a king his general supplant? I can’t advise, upon my soul I can’t. W.B. Rhodes, _Bombastes Furioso_ (1790).

=Grissel= or =Grizel=. Octavia, the wife of Mark Antony, and sister of Augustus, is called the “patient Grizel of Roman story.” Forms of the name Griselda.

For patience she will prove a second Grissel. Shakespeare, _Taming of the Shrew_, act iii. sc. 1 (1594).

=Griz´el Dal´mahoy= (_Miss_), the seamstress.—Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).

=Griz´zie,= maid-servant to Mrs. Saddletree.—Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).

_Grizzie_, one the servants of the Rev. Josiah Gargill.—Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan’s Well_ (time, George III.).

=Griz´zle=, chambermaid at the Golden Arms inn, at Kippletringan.—Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

_Grizzle (Lord)_, the first peer of the realm in the court of King Arthur. He is in love with the Princess Huncamunca, and as the lady is promised in marriage to the valiant Tom Thumb, he turns traitor, and “leads his rebel rout to the palace gate.” Here Tom Thumb encounters the rebels, and Glumdalca, the giantess, thrusts at the traitor, but misses him. Then the “pigmy giant-killer” runs him through the body. The black cart comes up to drag him off, but the dead man tells the carter he need not trouble himself, as he intends “to bear himself off,” and so he does.—_Tom Thumb_, by Fielding the novelist (1730), altered by Kane O’Hara, author of _Midas_ (1778).

=Groat´settar= (_Miss Clara_), niece of the old lady Glowrowrum, and one of the guests at Burgh Westra.

_Miss Maddie Groatsettar_, niece of the old lady Glowrowrum, and one of the guests at Burgh Westra.—Sir W. Scott, _The Pirate_ (time, William III.).

=Groffar´ius=, king of Aquitania, who resisted Brute, the mythical great-grandson of Æneas, who landed there on his way to Britain.—M. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, i. (1612).

=Gronovius=, father and son, critics and humanists (father, 1611-1671; son, 1645-1716).

I have more satisfaction in beholding you than I should have in conversing with Grævius and Gronovius. I had rather possess your approbation than that of the elder Scaliger.—Mrs. Cowley, _Who’s the Dupe?_ i. 3.

(Scaliger, father (1484-1558), son (1540-1609), critics and humanists).

=Groom= (_Squire_), “a downright, English, Newmarket, stable-bred gentleman-jockey, who, having ruined his finances by dogs, grooms, cocks, and horses ... thinks to retrieve his affairs by a matrimonial alliance with a City fortune.” (canto i. 1). He is one of the suitors of Charlotte Goodchild; but, supposing the report to be true that she has lost her money, he says to her guardian:

“Hark ye! Sir Theodore; I always make my match according to the weight my thing can carry. When I offered to take her into my stable, she was sound and in good case; but I hear her wind is touched. If so, I would not back her for a shilling. Matrimony is a long course, ... and it won’t do.”—C. Macklin, _Love â la Mode_ ii. 1 (1779).

This was Lee Lewes’s great part [1740-1803]. One morning at rehearsal, Lewes said something not in the play. “Hoy, hoy!” cried Macklin; “what’s that? what’s that?” “Oh,” replied Lewes, “’tis only a bit of my nonsense.” “But,” said Macklin, gravely, “I like my nonsense, Mr. Lewes, better than yours.”—J. O’Keefe.

=Grotto of Eph´esus.= Near Ephesus was a grotto containing a statue of Diana, to which was attached a pipe of reeds. If a young woman, charged with dishonor, entered this grotto, and the reed gave forth _musical_ sounds, she was declared to be a pure virgin; but if it gave forth _hideous noises_, she was denounced and never seen more. Corinna put the grotto to the test, at the desire of Glaucon of Lesbos, and was never seen again by the eye of man.—E. Bulwer Lytton, _Tales of Milētus_, iii. (See CHASTITY, for other tests.)

=Groveby= (_Old_), of Gloomstock Hall, aged 65. He is the uncle of Sir Harry Groveby. Brusque, hasty, self-willed, but kind-hearted.

_Sir Harry Groveby_, nephew of old Groveby, engaged to Maria “the maid of the Oaks.”—J. Burgoyne, _The Maid of the Oaks_.

=Groves= (_Jem_), landlord of the Valiant Soldier, to which was attached “a good dry skittle-ground.”—C. Dickens, _The Old Curiosity Shop_, xxix. (1840).

=Grub= (_Jonathan_), a stock broker, weighted with the three plagues of life—a wife, a handsome marriageable daughter, and £100,000 in the Funds, “any one of which is enough to drive a man mad; but all three to be attended to at once is too much.”

_Mrs. Grub_, a wealthy city woman, who has moved from the east to the fashionable west quarter of London, and has abandoned merchants and tradespeople for the gentry.

_Emily Grub_, called _Milly_, the handsome daughter of Jonathan. She marries Captain Bevil of the Guards.—O’Brien, _Cross Purposes_.

=Grub´binol=, a shepherd who sings with Bumkinet a dirge on the death of Blouzelinda.

Thus wailed the louts in melancholy strain, Till bonny Susan sped across the plain; They seized the lass, in apron clean arrayed, And to the ale-house forced the willing maid; In ale and kisses they forgot their cares, And Susan, Blouzelinda’s loss repairs. Gay, _Pastoral_, v. (1714).

(An imitation of Virgil’s _Ecl._, v. “Daphnis.”)

=Gru´dar and Bras´solis.= Cairbar and Grudar both strove for a spotted bull “that lowed on Golbun Heath,” in Ulster. Each claimed it as his own, and at length fought, when Grudar fell. Cairbar took the shield of Grudar to Brassolis, and said to her, “Fix it on high within my hall; ’tis the armor of my foe;” but the maiden, “distracted, flew to the spot, where she found the youth in his blood,” and died.

Fair was Brassolis on the plain. Stately was Grudar on the hill.—Ossian, _Fingal_, I.

=Grueby= (_John_), servant to Lord George Gordon. An honest fellow, who remained faithful to his master to the bitter end. He twice saved Haredale’s life; and, although living under Lord Gordon and loving him, detested the crimes into which his master was betrayed by bad advice and false zeal.—C. Dickens, _Barnaby Rudge_ (1841).

=Grugeon=, one of Fortunio’s seven attendants. His gift was that he could eat any amount of food without satiety. When Fortunio first saw him, he was eating 60,000 loaves for his breakfast.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“Fortunio,” 1682).

=Grum´ball= (_The Rev. Dr._), from Oxford, a papist conspirator with Redgauntlet.—Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.)

=Grumbo=, a giant in the tale of _Tom Thumb_. A raven having picked up Tom Thumb, dropped him on the flat roof of the giant’s castle. When old Grumbo went there to sniff the air, Tom crept up his sleeve; the giant, feeling tickled, shook his sleeve, and Tom fell into the sea below. Here he was swallowed by a fish, and the fish, being caught, was sold for King Arthur’s table. It was thus that Tom got introduced to the great king, by whom he was knighted.

=Grumio=, one of the servants of Petruchio.—Shakespeare, _Taming of the Shrew_ (1594).

=Grundy= (_Mrs._). Dame Ashfield, a farmer’s wife, is jealous of a neighboring farmer named Grundy. She tells her husband that Farmer Grundy got five shillings a quarter more for his wheat than they did; that the sun seemed to shine on purpose for Farmer Grundy; that Dame Grundy’s butter was the crack butter of the market. She then goes into her day-dreams, and says, “If our Nelly were to marry a great baronet, I wonder what Mrs. Grundy would say?” Her husband makes answer:

“Why dan’t thee letten Mrs. Grundy alone? I do verily think when thee goest to t’other world, the vurst question thee’ll ax ’ill be, if Mrs. Grundy’s there?”—Th. Morton, _Speed the Plough_, i. 1 (1798).

=Gryll=, one of those changed by Acras´ia into a hog. He abused Sir Guyon for disenchanting him; whereupon the palmer said to the knight, “Let Gryll be Gryll, and have his hoggish mind.”—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, ii. 12 (1590).

Only a target light upon his arm He careless bore, on which old Gryll was drawn, Transformed into a hog. Phin. Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, vii. (1633).

=Gryphon=, a fabulous monster, having the upper part like a vulture or eagle, and the lower part like a lion. Gryphons were the supposed guardians of goldmines, and were in perpetual strife with the Arimas´pians, a people of Scythia, who rifled the mines for the adornment of their hair.

As when a gryphon thro’ the wilderness, With winged course, o’er hill or moory dale, Pursues the Arimaspian, who, by stealth, Had from his wakeful custody purloined The guarded gold. Milton, _Paradise Lost_, ii. 943, etc. (1665).

_The Gryphon_, symbolic of the divine and human union of Jesus Christ. The fore part of the gryphon is an eagle, and the hinder part a lion. Thus Dantê saw in purgatory the car of the Church drawn by a gryphon.—Dantê, _Purgatory_, xxix. (1308).

=Guadia´na=, the ’squire of Durandartê, changed into a river of the same name. He was so grieved at leaving his master that he plunged instantaneously under ground, and when obliged to appear “where he might be seen, he glided in sullen state to Portugal.”—Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, II. ii. 6 (1615).

=Gualber´to= (_St._), heir of Valdespe´sa, and brought up with the feudal notion that he was to be the avenger of blood. Anselmo was the murderer he was to lie in wait for, and he was to make it the duty of his life to have blood for blood. One day, as he was lying in ambush for Anselmo, the vesper bell rang, and Gualberto (3 _syl._) fell in prayer, but somehow could not pray. The thought struck him that if Christ died to forgive sin, it could not be right in man to hold it beyond forgiveness. At this moment Anselmo came up, was attacked, and cried for mercy. Gualberto cast away his dagger, ran to the neighboring convent, thanked God he had been saved from blood-guiltiness, and became a hermit noted for his holiness of life.—Southey, _St. Gualberto_.

=Gua´rini= (_Philip_), the ’squire of Sir Hugo de Lacy.—Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

=Guari´nos= (_Admiral_), one of Charlemagne’s paladins, taken captive at Roncesvallês. He fell to the lot of Marlo´tês, a Moslem, who offered him his daughter in marriage, if he would become a disciple of the Arabian prophet. Guarinos refused, and was kept in a dungeon for seven years, when he was liberated, that he might take part in a joust. The admiral then stabbed the Moor to his heart, and, vaulting on his gray horse, Treb´ozond, escaped to France.

=Gu´drun=, a lady married to Sigurd by the magical arts of her mother; and on the death of Sigurd to Atli, (_Attila_), whom she hated for his fierce cruelty, and murdered. She then cast herself into the sea, and the waves bore her to the castle of King Jonakun, who became her third husband.—_Edda_ of Sämund Sigfusson (1130).

_Gudrun_, a model of heroic fortitude and pious resignation. She was the daughter of King Hettel (_Attila_), and the betrothed of Herwig, king of Heligoland, but was carried off by Harmuth, king of Norway, who killed Hettel. As she refused to marry Harmuth, he put her to all sorts of menial work. One day, Herwig appeared with an army, and having gained a decisive victory, married Gudrun, and at her intercession pardoned Harmuth the cause of her great misery.—_A North-Saxon Poem_ (thirteenth century).

=Gud´yill= (_Old John_), butler to Lady Bellenden.—Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

=Guelph´o= (3 _syl._), son of Actius IV. Marquis d’Este and of Cunigunda (a German). Guelpho was the uncle of Rinaldo, and next in command to Godfrey. He led an army of 5000 men from Carynthia, in Germany, to the siege of Jerusalem, but most of them were cut off by the Persians. Guelpho was noted for his broad shoulders and ample chest.—Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_, iii. (1575).

=Guen´dolen= (3 _syl._), a fairy whose mother was a human being. King Arthur fell in love with her, and she became the mother of Gyneth. When Arthur deserted the frail fair one, she offered him a parting cup; but as he took it in his hands, a drop of the liquor fell on his horse and burnt it so severely that it “lept twenty feet high,” ran mad, and died. Arthur dashed the cup on the ground, whereupon it set fire to the grass and consumed the fairy palace. As for Guendolen, she was never seen afterwards.—Sir W. Scott, _The Bridal of Triermain_, i. 2 (“Lyulph’s Tales,” 1813).

=Guendolœ´na,= wife of Locrin (eldest son of Brute, whom he succeeded), and daughter of Cori´neus (3 _syl._). Being divorced, she retired to Cornwall, and collected an army, which marched against Locrin, who “was killed by the shot of an arrow.” Guendolœna now assumed the reins of government, and her first act was to throw Estrildis (her rival) and her daughter Sabre, into the Severn, which was called Sabri´na or Sabren from that day.—Geoffrey, _British History_, ii. 4, 5 (1142.)

=Guenever= or =Guinever=, a corrupt form of _Guanhuma´ra_ (4 _syl._), daughter of King Leodegrance, of the land of Camelyard. She was the most beautiful of women, was the wife of King Arthur, but entertained a criminal attachment for Sir Launcelot du Lac. Respecting the latter part of the queen’s history, the greatest diversity occurs. Thus Geoffrey says:

King Arthur was on his way to Rome ... when news was brought him that his nephew Mordred, to whose care he had entrusted Britain had ... set the crown upon his own head; and that the queen Guanhumara had wickedly married him.... When King Arthur returned and put Mordred and his army to flight ... the queen fled from York to the City of Legions [_Newport in South Wales_], where she resolved to lead a chaste life among the nuns of Julius the martyr.—_British History_, xi. 1 (1142).

Another version is, that Arthur, being informed of the adulterous conduct of Launcelot, went with an army to Bentwick (_Brittany_), to punish him. That Mordred (his son by his own sister), left as regent, usurped the crown, proclaimed that Arthur was dead, and tried to marry Guenever, the queen; but she shut herself up in the Tower of London, resolved to die rather than marry the usurper. When she heard of the death of Arthur, she “stole away” to Almesbury, “and there she let make herself a nun, and wore white cloaths and black.” And there lived she “in fasting, prayers and almsdeeds, that all marvelled at her virtuous life.”—Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, iii, 161-170 (1470).

⁂ For Tennyson’s version, see GUINEVERE.

=Guene´vra= (3 _syl._), wife of Necetaba´nus, the dwarf, at the cell of the hermit of Engaddi.—Sir W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).

=Guenn.= Beautiful Breton peasant, haughty and gay, who refuses to sit as a model to the artists who haunt the region, until Hamor prevails over her scruples. Up to now, her love for her deformed brother has been the strongest passion of her strong nature. The love she learns to feel for Hamor masters all else, and when convinced that it is hopeless she grows desperate. She is “found drowned.”—Blanche Willis Howard, _Guenn_.

=Guer´in= or =Gueri´no=, son of Millon, king of Alba´nia. On the day of his birth his father was dethroned, but the child was rescued by a Greek slave, who brought it up and surnamed it _Meschi´no_ or “the Wretched.” When grown to man’s estate Guerin fell in love with the princess Elizena, sister of the Greek emperor, who held his court at Constantinople.—_An Italian Romance._

=Guesclin’s Dust a Talisman.= Guesclin, or rather Du Guesclin, constable of France, laid siege to Châteauneuf-de-Randan, in Auvergne. After several assaults the town promised to surrender if not relieved within fifteen days. Du Guesclin died in this interval, but the governor of the town came and laid the keys of the city on the dead man’s body, saying he resigned the place to the hero’s ashes (1380).

France ... demands his bones [_Napoleon’s_], To carry onward in the battle’s van, To form, like Guesclin’s dust, her talisman. Byron, _Age of Bronze_, iv. (1821).

=Gugner=, Odin’s spear, which never failed to hit. It was made by the dwarf Eitri.—_The Eddas_.

=Guide´rius=, eldest son of Cym´beline, (3 _syl._), king of Britain, and brother of Arvir´agus. They were kidnapped in infancy by Belarius, out of revenge for being unjustly banished, and were brought up by him in a cave. When grown to manhood, Belarius introduced them to the king and told their story; whereupon Cymbeline received them as his sons, and Guiderius succeeded him on the throne.—Shakespeare, _Cymbeline_ (1605).

Geoffrey calls Cymbeline “Kymbelinus, son of Tenuantius;” says that he was brought up by Augustus Cæsar, and adds, “In his days was born our Lord Jesus Christ.” Kymbeline reigned ten years, when he was succeeded by Guiderius. The historian says that Kymbeline _paid_ the tribute to the Romans, and that it was Guiderius who refused to do so, “for which reason Claudius the emperor marched against him, and he was killed by Hamo.”—_British History_, iv. 11, 12, 13 (1142).

=Guido,= “the Savage,” son of Amon and Constantia. He was the younger brother of Rinaldo. Being wrecked on the coast of the Am´azons, he was compelled to fight their ten male champions, and having slain them all, to marry ten of the Amazons. From this thraldom Guido made his escape, and joined the army of Charlemagne.—Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

_Guido_ [FRANCESCHINI], a reduced nobleman, who tried to repair his fortune by marrying Pompilia, the putative child of Pietro and Violantê. When the marriage was accomplished, and the money secure, Guido ill-treated the putative parents; and Violantê, in revenge, declared that Pompilia was not their child at all, but the offspring of a Roman wanton. Having made this declaration, she next applied to the law-courts for the recovery of the money. When Guido heard this tale, he was furious, and so ill-treated his child-wife that she ran away, under the protection of a young canon. Guido pursued the fugitives, overtook them, and had them arrested; whereupon the canon was suspended for three years, and Pompilia sent to a convent. Here her health gave way, and as the birth of a child was expected, she was permitted to leave the convent and live with her putative parents. Guido, having gained admission, murdered all three, and was himself executed for the crime.—R. Browning, _The Ring and the Book_.

=Guild= (_Engineer_), who, in passing through Providence at night, was wont to give a signal to his wife which meant—

“To my trust true, So, love to you! Working or waiting, good night!”

One night the whistle was not heard.

“Guild lay under his engine dead.”—Francis Bret Harte, _Guild’s Signal_.

=Guil´denstern=, one of Hamlet’s companions, employed by the king and queen to divert him, if possible, from his strange and wayward ways.—Shakespeare, _Hamlet_ (1596).

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are favorable examples of the thorough-paced time-serving court knave ... ticketed and to be hired for any hard or dirty work.—Cowden Clarke.

=Guillotine= (3 _syl._). So named from Joseph Ignace Guillotin, a French physician, who proposed its adoption, to prevent unnecessary pain. Dr. Guillotin did not invent the guillotine, but he improved the Italian machine (1791). In 1792 Antoine Louis introduced further improvements, and hence the instrument is sometimes called _Louisette, or Louison_. The original Italian machine was called _mannaja_; it was a clumsy affair, first employed to decapitate Beatrice Cenci, in Rome, A.D. 1600.

It was the popular theme for jests. It was [called _La mère Guillotine_], the “sharp female,” the “best cure for headache.” It “infallibly prevented the hair from turning grey.” It “imparted a peculiar delicacy to the complexion.” It was the “national razor,” which shaved close. Those “who kissed the guillotine, looked through the little window and sneezed into the sack.” It was the sign of “the regeneration of the human race.” It “superseded the cross.” Models were worn[_as ornaments_].—C. Dickens, A _Tale of Two Cities_, iii. 4 (1859).

=Guinart= (_Roque_), whose true name was Pedro Rocha Guinarda, chief of a band of robbers who levied black mail in the mountainous districts of Catalonia. He is introduced by Cervantes in his tale of _Don Quixote._

=Guinea= (_Adventures of a_), a novel by Charles Johnstone (1761). A guinea, as it passes into different hands, is the historian of the follies and vices of its master for the time being; and thus a series of scenes and personages is made to pass before the reader, somewhat in the same manner as in _The Devil upon Two Sticks_ and in _The Chinese Tales_.

=Guin´evere= (_3 syl._). So Tennyson spells the name of Arthur’s queen in his _Idylls_. He tells us of the liaison between her and “Sir Lancelot,” and says that Mordred, having discovered this familiarity, “brought his creatures to the basement of the tower for testimony.” Sir Lancelot flung the fellow to the ground, and instantly took to horse; while Guinevere fled to the nunnery at Almesbury. Here the king took leave of her; and when the abbess died, the queen was appointed her successor, and remained head of the establishment for three years, when she also died.

⁂ It will be seen that Tennyson departs from the _British History_, by Geoffrey, and the _History of Prince Arthur_ as edited by Sir T. Malory. (See GUENEVER.)

=Guiomar=, mother of the vain-glorious Duar´te.—Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Custom of the Country_ (1647).

=Guiscardo=, the ’squire, but previously the page, of Tancred, king of Salerno. Sigismunda, the king’s daughter, loved him, and clandestinely married him. When Tancred discovered it, he ordered the young man to be waylaid and strangled. He then went to his daughter’s chamber, and reproved her for loving a base-born “slave.” Sigismunda boldly defended her choice, but next day received a human heart in a golden casket. It needed no prophet to tell her what had happened, and she drank a draught of poison. Her father entered just in time to hear her dying request that she and Guiscardo might be buried in the same tomb. The royal father

Too late repented of his cruel deed, One common sepulchre for both decreed; Intombed the wretched pair in royal state, And on their monument inscribed their fate. Dryden, _Sigismunda and Guiscardo_ (from Boccaccio).