The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 214

GENGHIS KHAN (i. e. Very Mighty Ruler), a celebrated Mongol conqueror, born near Lake Baikal, the son of a Mongol chief; his career as a soldier began at the age of 13, an age at which he boldly a.s.sumed the reins of government in succession to his father; by his military skill and daring example he gradually raised his people to a position of supremacy in Asia, and established by means of them a kingdom which, at his death, stretched from the Volga to the Pacific, and from Siberia to the Persian Gulf; he regarded himself as commissioned by Heaven to conquer the world, a destiny which he almost fulfilled (1162-1227).

GENLIS, STEPHANIE FeLICITe, COMTESSE DE, a celebrated French novelist, born at Champceri, near Autun, Burgundy; at the age of 16 she was married to the Comte de Genlis, who eventually fell a victim to the fury of the Revolution; in 1770 she was a lady-in-waiting to the d.u.c.h.esse de Chartres, and 12 years later became governess to the children of the Duc d'Orleans, amongst whom was the future king of the French, Louis-Philippe; the Revolution drove her to Switzerland, but on the elevation of Napoleon she returned to Paris, and received from him a pension, which continued to be paid her even under the restored Bourbon dynasty: she was a voluminous writer of moral tales, comedies, &c., and her works amount to about 90 vols., among them the celebrated "Memoirs"

of her life and times; she was ill-natured, and in her "Memoirs"

inaccurate, as well as prejudiced (1746-1830).

GEN'OA (138), a city and chief commercial seaport of Italy, built at the foot of the Apennines as they slope down to the gulf of the name. The encircling hills behind, which are strongly fortified, form a fine background to the picturesquely laid-out city. There is excellent harbourage for the extensive shipping, and an active export and import trade is carried on. In the city are iron-works, cotton and cloth mills, match factories, &c.; the streets are narrow and irregular, but many of the buildings, especially the ducal palaces and the cathedral, are of great historical and architectural interest; there is an excellent university, a public library, and an Academy of Fine Arts; Columbus was born here.

GENRE PAINTING, name given to paintings embracing figures as they appear in ordinary life and in ordinary situations.

GENS, the name among the Romans for what we understand by the word clan as consisting of families.

GENS BRACCATA, the Gauls, from wearing _braccae_ or breeches.

GENS TOGATA, the Roman, from wearing the TOGA (q. v.) as their distinguishing dress.

GEN'SERIC, king of the Vandals, son of G.o.digiselus, founder of the Vandal kingdom in Spain, and b.a.s.t.a.r.d brother of Gunderic, whom he succeeded in A.D. 429; from Spain he crossed to Africa, and in conjunction with the Moors added to his kingdom the land lying W. of Carthage, ultimately gaining possession of Carthage itself; he next set himself to organise a naval force, with which he systematically from year to year pillaged Spain, Italy, Greece, and the opposite lands of Asia Minor, sacking Rome in 455; until his death in 477 he continued master of the seas, despite strenuous efforts of the Roman emperors to crush his power.

GENTILLY, a southern suburb of Paris, once a village beyond the fortifications.

GENTLE SHEPHERD, a famous pastoral by Allan Ramsay, with some happy descriptive scenes and a pleasant delineation of manners, published in 1723.

GENTLE SHEPHERD, a nickname George Grenville bore from a retort of the elder Pitt one day in Parliament.

GENTLEMEN-AT-ARMS, next to the yeomen of the guard the oldest corps in the British army, is the bodyguard of the sovereign; was formed by Henry VIII. in 1509; now consists of a captain, lieutenant, standard-bearer, adjutant, and 40 members, whose duties are limited to attendance at State ceremonies.

GENTZ, FRIEDRICH VON, German politician and author, born at Breslau; while in the Prussian civil service he warmly sympathised with the French Revolution, but his zeal was greatly modified by perusal of Burke's "Reflections," a treatise he subsequently translated, and in 1802 entered the Austrian public service; in the capacity of a political writer he bitterly opposed Napoleon, but for other purposes his pen and support were at the service of the highest bidder; he was secretary at the Congress of Vienna, and held a similar post in many of the subsequent congresses (1764-1832).

GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH, a celebrated chronicler and ecclesiastic of the 12th century, born in Monmouth, where he was educated in a Benedictine monastery; in 1152 he was made bishop of St. Asaph; his Latin "Chronicon sive Historia Britonum" contains a circ.u.mstantial account of British history compiled from Gildas, Nennius, and other early chroniclers, interwoven with current legends and pieced together with additions from his own fertile imagination, the whole professing to be a translation of a chronicle found in Brittany; this remarkable history is the source of the stories of King Lear, Cymbeline, Merlin, and of Arthur and his knights as they have since taken shape in English literature; _d_. about 1154.

GEOFFREY SAINT-HILAIRE, eTIENNE, zoologist and biologist, born at etampes; he was educated for the Church, but while studying theology at Paris his love for natural science was awakened, and the study of it henceforth became the ruling pa.s.sion of his life; was made professor of Zoology in the Museum of Natural History in Paris; accompanied Napoleon to Egypt as a member of the scientific commission, and returned with rich collections, while his labours were rewarded by his election to the Academy of Sciences; a scientific mission to Portugal in 1808 next engaged him, and a year later he was nominated to the chair of Zoology in the Faculty of Sciences at Paris; the main object of his scientific writing was to establish, in opposition to the theories of his friend Cuvier, his conception of a grand unity of plan pervading the whole organic kingdom (1772-1844).

GEOFFRIN, MARIE THeReSE, a French patroness of letters, born at Paris, the daughter of a _valet-de-chambre_; in her fifteenth year she married a wealthy merchant, whose immense fortune she inherited; her love of letters--which she cherished, though but poorly educated herself--and her liberality soon made her _salon_ the most celebrated in Paris; the _encyclopedists_, Diderot, D'Alembert, and Marmontel, received from her a liberal encouragement in their great undertaking; Walpole, Hume, and Gibbon were among her friends; and Stanislas Poniatowsky, who became king of Poland, acknowledged her generosity to him by styling himself her son and welcoming her royally to his kingdom (1699-1777).

GEORGE I., king of Great Britain from 1714 to 1727, and first of the Hanoverian line; son of Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover, and of Sophia, granddaughter of James I. of England; born in Hanover; in 1682 he married his cousin, the Princess Sophia Dorothea of Zell, and in 1698 became Elector of Hanover; he co-operated actively with Marlborough in opposing the schemes of Louis XIV., and commanded the Imperial forces; in accordance with the Act of Settlement, he succeeded to the English throne on the death of Queen Anne; his ignorance of English prevented him taking part in Cabinet councils, a circ.u.mstance which had important results in the growth of const.i.tutional government, and the management of public affairs during his reign devolved chiefly upon Sir Robert Walpole; the abortive Jacobite rising of 1715, the South Sea Bubble (1720), and the inst.i.tution of Septennial Parliaments (1716), are among the main events of his reign; in 1694 he divorced his wife on account of an amour with Count Konigsmark, and kept her imprisoned abroad till her death in 1724, while he himself during these years lived in open profligacy with his mistresses (1660-1727).

GEORGE II., king of Great Britain from 1727 to 1760, and Elector of Hanover, born in Hanover, son of preceding; in 1705 he married Caroline of Ans.p.a.ch, and in 1714 was declared Prince of Wales; he joined his father in the struggle with Louis XIV., and distinguished himself on the side of the Allies at the battle of Oudenarde; the period of his reign is one of considerable importance in English history; Walpole and subsequently Pitt were the great ministers of the age; war was waged against Spain and France; the last Jacobite rising was crushed at Culloden (1746); English power was established in Canada by the brilliant victory of Wolfe at Quebec (1759); an empire was won in India by Clive; the victory of Minden (1759) was gained in the Seven Years' War; Methodism sprang up under Wesley and Whitfield; while a great development in literature and art took place; against these, however, must be set the doubling of the National Debt, mainly due to the Seven Years' War, and a defeat by the French at Fontenoy (1745) (1683-1760).

GEORGE III., king of Great Britain from 1760 to 1820, and king of Hanover (Elector from 1760 to 1815), eldest son of Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales, and grandson of preceding, born in London; in 1761 he married Princess Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, by whom he had fifteen children; more English in sentiment and education than his two predecessors, George's main interest was centred in his English kingdom, and never during his long life did he once set foot in his Hanoverian possessions; the purity of his domestic life, his devotion to England, and the pathos attaching to his frequent fits of insanity, won him the affections of his people, an affection, however, sorely tried by his obstinate blundering; the 60 years of his reign present a succession of domestic episodes, far-reaching in their consequences to England and to the civilised world; the conclusion of the Seven Years' War left England predominant in North America, and with increased colonial possessions in the West Indies, &c., but under the ill-guided and obstinate policy of Lord North she suffered the loss of her American colonies, an event which also involved her in war with France and Spain; in 1787 the famous trial of WARREN HASTINGS (q. v.) began, and two years later came the French Revolution; the great struggle with Napoleon followed, and gave occasion for the brilliant achievements of Nelson and Wellington; during these long years of war the commercial prosperity of England never slackened, but through the inventions of Hargreaves, Arkwright, and Compton increased by leaps and bounds; freedom of the press was won by Wilkes; and in 1802 the union with Ireland took place; the majestic figure of Pitt stands out amidst a company of brilliant politicians that included Burke and Fox and Sheridan; literature is represented by a line of brilliant writers that stretches from Johnson to Keats, and includes the names of Burns, Cowper, Sh.e.l.ley, and Byron (1738-1820).

GEORGE IV., king of Great Britain and of Hanover from 1820 to 1830, eldest son of the preceding, born in London; in consequence of his father's insanity he became Regent in 1810; a tendency to profligacy early displayed itself in an intrigue with Mrs. Robinson, an actress; and two years afterwards in defiance of the Royal Marriage Act he secretly married MRS. FITZHERBERT (q. v.), a Roman Catholic; in 1795 he publicly espoused Princess Caroline of Brunswick, whom later he endeavoured to divorce; a Burmese War (1823), the victory of Admiral Codrington at Navarino (1827), the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts (1828), and the pa.s.sing of the Catholic Emanc.i.p.ation Bill (1829), were occurrences of some importance in an uneventful reign (1762-1830).

GEORGE I., king of Greece, son of King Christian of Denmark, and brother of the Princess of Wales; became king of Greece in 1864; _b_.

1845.

GEORGE, HENRY, an American writer on social and economic questions, born in Philadelphia; he first tried life on the sea, but in 1858 settled in California as a printer, and there married; in course of time he took to journalism, became an editor, and zealously addressed himself to the discussion of public affairs; his peculiar views on the question of land reform were set forth in "Our Land and Land Policy," published in 1870, and nine years later appeared his more famous and widely popular work "Progress and Poverty," in which he promulgated the theory that to the increase in economic rent and land values is due the lack of increase in wages and interest which the increased productive power of modern times should have ensured; he proposed the levying of a tax on land so as to appropriate economic rent to public uses, and the abolition of all taxes falling upon industry and thrift; he lectured in Great Britain and Ireland, Australia, &c.; in 1887 founded the _Standard_ paper in New York; he died during his candidature for the mayoralty of Greater New York (1839-1897).

GEORGE, ST., the patron saint of chivalry and of England; adopted as such in the reign of Edward III.; believed to have been born in Armorica, and to have suffered martyrdom under Diocletian in A.D. 303; he is represented as mounted on horseback and slaying a DRAGON (q. v.), conceived as an incarnation of the evil one.

GEORGETOWN: 1 (53), capital of British Guiana, at the mouth of the Demerara River; is the see of an Anglican bishop; is neatly laid out, and has some handsome buildings, but is considered unhealthy; the staple industries are sugar and coffee. 2 (14), a port of entry in the District of Columbia, on the Potomac, 2 m. NW. of Washington; is a terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Ca.n.a.l.

GEORGIA: 1 (1,837), one of the 13 original States of the American Union, lies to the S., fronting the Atlantic between Florida and S.

Carolina; is divided into 136 counties, Atlanta being the capital and Savannah the chief port; it is well watered with rivers; is low and swampy for some miles inland, but it rises into plateaux in the interior, and the Appalachians and Blue Mountains intersect it in the NW.; excellent crops of wheat and fruit are grown among the hills, rice in the lowlands, while immense quant.i.ties of cotton are raised on the islands skirting the coast; the vast forests of pitch-pine supply an increasing lumber trade; the mountain lands are rich in minerals; the State was named after George II. in 1733 by the founder, James Oglethorpe. 2, The former name of an independent kingdom, which extended along the southern slopes of the Caucasus, and which, since the beginning of the century, has belonged to Russia under the name of Gruzia, and now forms the central portion of Russian Transcaucasia; the Georgians number at present about a million; they are a people of splendid physique, whose history reaches back to the time of Alexander the Great, and who attained their zenith in the 12th century; subsequently they suffered from Persian and Turkish invasion, and eventually, as we have said, fell into the hands of Russia; at present there is a Georgian literature growing, especially in Tiflis, if that is any sign of advance.

GERA (30), a thriving city on the White Elster, 35 m. SW. of Leipzig; has broad streets and fine buildings, with a castle; chief manufactures woollen.

GERAINT, SIR, one of the Knights of the Round Table, the husband of Enid, whose fidelity he for a time distrusted, but who proved herself a true wife by the care with which she nursed him when he was wounded.

GeRARD, eTIENNE MAURICE, COMTE, marshal of France, born at Damvillers, Lorraine; in 1791 he entered the army and fought under Bernadotte in various campaigns; at Austerlitz he won his brigade, and subsequently fought at Jena, Erfurt, and Wagram; he joined Napoleon after his flight from Elba, and was wounded at Wavre; on the downfall of the Emperor he quitted France, but returned in 1817; in 1822 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, and in 1831 a.s.sisted in driving the Dutch out of Flanders; he was War Minister under Louis Philippe (1773-1855).

GeRARD, FRANcOIS PASCAL SIMON, BARON, painter, born at Rome, of French and Italian parentage; came to Paris when a youth, where he studied painting under David; in 1795 his "Blind Belisarius" brought him to the front, whilst subsequent work as a portrait-painter raised him above all his contemporaries; his masterpiece, "Entry of Henri IV. into Paris," brought him a barony at the hands of Louis XVIII.; his historical paintings, characterised by minute accuracy of detail, include "Napoleon in his Coronation Robes," "Battle of Austerlitz," &c. (1770-1837).

GERHARDT, KARL FRIEDRICH, chemist, born at Strasburg; after a training at Carlsruhe and Leipzig, worked in Liebig's laboratory at Giessen; in 1838 he began lecturing in Paris, and made experiments along with Cahours on essential oils, which bore fruit in an important treatise; in 1844 he received the chair of Chemistry at Montpellier, but returned to Paris four years later; there he matured and published his theories of types, h.o.m.ologous series, &c., which have greatly influenced the science of chemistry; in 1855 he became professor of Chemistry in Strasburg (1816-1856).

GERHARDT, PAUL, a celebrated German hymn-writer of the Lutheran Church, born at Grafenhainichen, in Saxony; in 1657 he became dean of St.

Nicholas in Berlin, an appointment he held till 1666, when he was deposed for his embittered opposition to the union of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches; he was subsequently pastor at Lubben; his hymns, 123 in number, rank amongst the finest of their cla.s.s (1607-1676).