tual execution of their offices; or of inferior officers of justice, as constables, &c. being in the actual execution of their office; but it seems that rash, quarrelsome, or unmannerly words, spoken by one private person to another, unless they directly tend to a breach of the peace, are not sufficient cause to bind a man to his good behaviour.

GOOGINGS, in naval affairs, certain clamps of iron or other metal, bolted on the stern post, on which to hang the rudder; for this purpose there is a hole in each of them to receive a correspondent spindle, bolted on the back of the rudder, which turns thereby as on hinges. There are several googings on a ship's posts and rudder, according to her size, and on these the rudder is supported and

traverses.

GOOLE, in law books, signifies a breach in a sea-bank, or wall.

GOOSE. See ANAS.

GOOSE berry. See RIBES.

Goose neck, in a ship, a piece of iron fixed on the end of the tiller, to which the laniard of the whip-staff, or the wheel rope, comes, for steering the ship.

GOOSE wing, in the sea language. When a ship sails before, or with a quarter wind on a fresh gale, to make the more haste, they launch out a boom, and sail on the lee-side; and a sail so fitted is called a goose-wing.

GORDIUS, in natural history, hairworm, a genus of the Vermes Intestina class and order. Body round, filiform, equal, smooth. There are five species. G. aquaticus is from four to six inches long, of a pale brown colour, bnt darker at the extremities: it is found in stagnant waters, and twists itself into various contortions and knots, and it is said that, if it is handled without caution, it will inflict a bite that occasions the whitlow. A worm analagous to this species is often found in many parts of the United States, and from its great resemblance to a hair plucked from the tail of a horse, many ignorant persons have entertained the absurd notion of its being no other than a horse hair, reorganized and animated into a complete and separate animal. G. filum is found in the bark of old wooden water-pipes. G. lacteus is white and opaque; found in stagnant waters; when touched it contracts itself in a moment, and afterwards expands as suddenly.

GORDONIA, in botany, loblolly bay, so called from Mr. James Gordon, an eminent nursery man, a genus of the Mona

delphia Polyandria class and order. Natural order of Columniferaz. Malvacea, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx fiveleaved; petals five, united at the base by means of the nectary; filament inserted into the nectary; capsule superior, fivecelled; seeds winged. There are three species. There are two American spe

cies.

GORE, in heraldry, one of the abatements, which, according to Guillim, denotes a coward. It is a figure consisting of two arch lines drawn one from the sinister chief, and the other from the sinister base, both meeting in an acute angle in the middle of the fess point.

GOREING, in the sea-language, sloping. A sail is cut goreing, when it is cut sloping by degrees, and is broader at the clue than at the earing, as all top-sails and top-gallant sails are.

GORGE, in fortification, the entrance of the platform of any work.

GORGED, in heraldry, the bearing of a crown, coronet, or the like, about the neck of a lion, a swan, &c. and in that case it is said, the lion or cygnet is gorg ed with a ducal coronet, &c. Gorged is also used when the gorge, or neck of a peacock, swan, or the like bird, is of a different colour or metal from the rest.

GORGONIA, in natural history, a ge nus of the Vermes Zoophyta class and order. Animal growing in the form of a plant; stem coriaceous, corky, woody, horny, or bony, composed of glassy fi bres, or, like stone, striate, tapering, dilated at the base, covered with a vascular or cellular flesh or bark, and becoming spongy and friable when dry; mouths or florets covering the surface of the stem and polype bearing. There are about forty species, of which the following are found in the Eurupean seas, viz. G. placomus; branching both ways, with flexuous, rarely anastomosing branches, covered with conic florets. The stem is erect, the branches flattish, bending towards each other: florets surrounded at the top with small spines. G. Anceps; slightly branched, with compressed stem and branches, each with rows of florets along both margins. It inhabits the American and British coasts; nearly two feet high; flesh calcareous; bone of horny leathery texture; when recent, of a fine violet colour, but when dry, yellowish or white. G. flabellum, Venus's fan; reticulate, with the branches compressed on the inner side; bark yellow or purplish; bone black and horny. It inha

bits most seas, and is often several feet high, and expanded into a large surface; trunk and branches pinnate, and by means of the smaller branches blending together, forming an elegant kind of network; polype with eight claws. See ZOOPHYTES.

GORTERIA, in botany, so named in honour of David de Gorter, a genus of the Syngenesia Polygamia Frustranea class and order. Natural order of Composite Capitatæ. Corymbiferæ, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx imbricate, with spiny scales; corolla of the ray ligulate; down woolly; receptacle naked.There are thirteen species, mostly shrubby plants from the Cape of Good Hope.

GOSHAWK, the English name of the yellow-legged falcon, with a brown back, and a white variegated breast. FALCO.

See

GOSSAMER is the name of a fine filmy substance, like cob-web, which is seen to float in the air in clear days in autumn, and is more observable in stubble-fields, and upon furze and other low bushes. This is probably formed by the fying spider, which, in traversing the air for food, shoots out these threads from its anus, which are borne down by the dew, &c.

GOSSIPIUM, in botany, English cotton, a genus of the Monodelphia Polyandria class and order. Natural order of Columniferæ. Malvaceæ, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx double, outer trifid; capsule four-celled; seeds wrapped in cotton. There are six species. See MANUFACTURE of cotton.

GOTHIC style, in architecture. The characteristics of this mannner of building are pointed arches, greater height than breadth in the proportions, and profuse ornament, chiefly derived from an imitation of the leaves and flowers of plants. The word gothic, by which it has long been distinguished in England, has lately been considered by its admirers as a term of reproach, applied by architects who were at a loss how to imitate its excellence, in order to bring it into disrepute; the former therefore now call it the pointed style. If we were to judge wholly from the complete oblivion which involves the origin of gothic architecture, it must follow, that architects were held in as little estimation about the time of Henry III. as common masons are at present; but this inference is doubtful, and the cause that the names of the most eminent have not reached us may be more

correctly attributed to the then and subz sequent neglect of literature. Writing was almost exclusively confined to the cloister, yet the monks, who could best inform us of their architects and the changes in their styles, were unaccountably silent on the subject; an instance may be cited from Malcolm's "Londinium Redivivum," in which that author introduces a legend of the building of the priory of St. Bartholomew, Smithfield, written immediately after the death of Rahere, the founder, by a monk resident there. This person describes the manner in which the money was raised, and many miracles performed, but not a word occurs relating to the architect: Rahere died in 1174, and the monk adds, "and with moor ampliant buildings were the skynnys of our tabernaculys dylatid;" we may therefore suppose that the arches under the tower, which are partly circular in the Saxon style, and partly pointed, were some of the first essays in the new mode of building, and erected about 1200.

Westminster Abbey was begun by Henry III. in 1245; this beautiful edifice is a complete and regular specimen of the purest pointed style; it is consequently perfectly fair to suppose, that the interval between the above dates was the period when gothic architecture superceded its heavy and tasteless predecessor. That it soon became the favourite mode may be concluded, from its adoption in all the additions made to old churches at that time, which is discoverable in an instant by the total disagreement of the proportions and ornaments. There is every probability that the first principles of the style in question were derived from the eastern nations, now partially under the dominion of the East India Company, where there are many buildings dedicated to their mode of worship that might almost be called gothic, and those are certainly very ancient. The Romans had explored the coasts of those countries, and their remote descendants may have been representations of the structures alluded to, left by their ancestors, and adopted them with alterations in some few of the earliest specimens of Christian churches. When a people of so much importance in the history of the world, as the successors of its conquerors, introduced any peculiarity in their manners or buildings, it is reasonable to suppose that they were eagerly imitated throughout Europe; hence we find that a few centuries produced a vast number

of churches, in the pointed style, in the Italian states, Germany, France, Spain, &c. &c. though it must be admitted that the latter country being conquered by the Moors may have, in some measure, operated to introduce an imitation of their mosques, which are very like gothic architecture.

Such are the conjectures which naturally follow the consideration of this subject, and yet they may be altogether erroneous, as much might be said to induce a supposition, that the pointed style was gradually invented by the abberration of the pencil and compasses, or similar instruments of ingenious architects, who, having observed intersected arches in some very ancient Roman buildings, of Grecian architecture, admired their effect, and followed them as fundamental principles in new designs. This speculation may be supported by referring to an engraving by Marco Sadeler, representing the ruins of the Terme di Diocletiano, which shows the perspective of a long passage, very similar to the aisle of a church, where the roof is made completely and decidedly gothic by the intersection of arches throughout.

Some enquirers as to the origin of the style have thought that the first idea of high pointed ailes was taken from avenues of lofty trees, the branches of which interweaving, suggested the rich ribs and tracery of the later specimens of the art, but this is mere conjecture and fancied resemblance.

One of the most plausible reasons for supposing the invention gradual is, the finding of interlaced arcades on the sides of Saxon buildings, intimating an inclination to deviate from the semicircle of that style. (See plate GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, fig. 1.) The pointed arch, as has been mentioned, intermingled with the circular in the ribs or groins of the roof, and lastly occurred the plain and positive pointed manner, the earliest instances of which have very little decoration, compared with the more modern; indeed the rapid increase of ornament may be traced in our numerous and magnificent cathedrals, till their introduction operated to render the gothic style too expensive for continuance.

That this taste was imported into Eng. land from the continent will not admit of a doubt, but it is absurd to suppose that architects and masons were imported with it, as certain authors have imagined.

It is impossible to treat this subject me.

thodically, as the principles of the gothic are simply those mentioned at the commencement of the article; indeed the varieties and caprices often obervable in the same building set all rules at defi ance, and yet there are numbers of regu lar structures, the parts of which correspond exactly.

One of the arcades in the choir of Gloucester cathedral is seventeen feet wide, the columns on its sides are fiftyseven feet high, and the arch from the capitals to the point twenty-one feet; a circular arch, aperture, or window into another part of the church, in the same arcade, has the following proportions, width twelve feet, and the height fifteen feet. The west front of the same church has a great central window, and two lateral; those certainly should be of the same dimensions, to preserve the necessary uniformity, but that is not the fact, one being sixteen feet wide and thirtyone high, and the other twenty-nine feet high and twelve wide.

Two segments of a circle meeting at the tops make the pointed arch, (see fig. 2.) To improve the nakedness of this figure, the inventors introduced the section of a quatrefoil, or figure formed of four leaves, within the arch, (see fig. 3.) and ribs or borders, sometimes raised, and at others excavated; each of those were afterwards enriched by pierced tracery, see fig. 4.

The windows were bounded by numerous pillars with beautiful capitals of foliage, and intersected by perpendicular and horizontal bars or mullions, the former of which turned into delicate ramifications and filled the arch, (see fig. 5); painted glass rendered those extremely grand when viewed within the structure, mouldings or cornices almost universally divided the different ranges of windows, the doors of the casement nearly reached the lower, and the angles above the arch are adorned with tracery, see fig. 6.

The windows are separated by but tresses, which vary in breadth, depth, and solidity, according to the fancy of the ar chitect, and are frequently very magnificent, as they admit of being pierced into an arch, (as in fig. 7.) in order that they may contribute to the support of two walls on different lines, and are decorated with niches under fretted canopies, statues and pinnacles, see fig. 8.

Battlements extend along the summits of the walls, those are of different kinds, see fig. 9, 10.

The interior generally exhibits three ranges of arches in each arcade, the lowest are bounded by a strong pillar, with others more slender filleted round it; from the capitals of those arise the first arch, three of the small pillars ascend to the spring of the roof; the second range of arches open into a gallery, and the upper are windows (see fig. 11.) which exhibit the tracery or ribs from the pil. lars on the roof. Fig. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, shew a variety of ornaments peculiar to the gothic or pointed style of architecture.

GOUANIA, in botany, so called in honour of Antoine Gouan, M D. a ge nus of the Polygamia Monoecia class and order. Natural order of Rhamni, Jus sieu. Essential character: hermaphro. dite, calyx five-cleft; corolla none; anthers five, under a veil; style threecleft; fruit inferior, tripartite male, similar, but without germ and stigma. There is only one species, viz. G. domingensis, chavstick, a native of St. Domingo in the woods.

GOVERNMENT, in general, is the polity of a state, or an orderly power constituted for the public good.

Civil government was instituted for the preservation and advancement of men's civil interests, and for the better securi. ty of their lives, liberties, and properties. The use and necessity of govern ment is such, that here never was an age or country without some sort of civil authority; but as men are seldom unanimous in the means of attaining their ends, so their difference in opinion, in relation to government, has produced a variety of forms of it. To enumerate them would be to recapitulate the history of the whole earth. But they may, in general, be reduced to one of these heads; either the civil authority is delegated to one, or more, or else it is still reserved to the whole body of the people; whence arises the known distinction of government into monarchy, aristrocacy, and democracy. See ARISTOCRACY, CONSTITUTION, DEMOCRACY, &c.

A mixed government is composed by the combination of the simple forms of government, which have already been, or will hereafter be, described; and, in whatever proportion each form enters into the constitution of a government, in the same proportion may both the advantages and evils, which have been attributed to that form, be expected. The government of England is unques tionably a mixed government, though by

some writers it is denominated a limited monarchy. It is formed by a combination of the three regular species of go vernment; the monarchy residing in the King, the aristocracy in the House of Peers, and the republic being represented by the House of Commons The perfection intended, and, with regard to the United Kingdoms, in a considerable degree effected, is, to unite the advantages of the several simple forms, and to exclude the inconveniences. ་་ For, as with us," says Sir William Blackstone, "the executive power of the Laws is lodged in a single person, they have all the advantages of strength and dispatch that are to be found in the most absolute monarchy; and as the legislature of the kingdom is entrusted to three distinct powers, entirely independent of each other: first, the King; secondly, the Lords, spiritual and temporal, which is an aristocratical assembly of persons selected for their piety, their birth, their wisdom, their valour, or their property; and, thirdly, the House of Commons, freely chosen by the people from among themselves, which makes it a kind of democracy as this aggregate body, actuated by different springs, and attentive to different interests, composes the British Parliament, and has the supreme disposal of every thing, there can be no inconvenience attempted by either of the three branches, but will be withstood by one of the other two; each branch being armed with a negative power, sufficient to repel any innovation which it shall think inexpedient or dangerous." See MoNARCHY.

GOUGE, an instrument or tool used by divers artificers, being a sort of round hollow chisel for cutting holes, channels, grooves, &c. either in wood or

stone.

GOUST, or Gour, signifies taste or skill in poetry, painting, &c.

GOUT. See MEDICINE.

GRACE, in music, either in vocal or instrumental performances, consists not only in giving due place to the decorative additions, but in that easy, smooth, and natural expression of the passages, which best conveys the beauties of the composition, and forms one of the principal attributes of a good performer.

GRADUATE, a person who has taken a degree in the university. See DEGREE. GRADUATION, in mathematics, the act of graduating or dividing any thing into degrees, or equal parts.

GRAFT, or GRAFF, in gardening, a

scion or shoot of a tree inserted into another, so as to make it yield fruit of the same nature with that of the tree from whence the graft was taken. DENING, BUDBING, &c.

See GAR

GRACULA, the grakle, in natural history, a genus of birds of the order Picæ. Generic character: the bill convex, thick, sharp-edged, somewhat naked at the base; nostrils small, near the base of the bill; tongue entire, rather sharp at the end; claws hooked and sharp. No species of this bird is found in Europe. There are thirteen species, of which we shall notice the following: G. kelegiosa, or the minor grakle, is of the size of a blackbird, is found in various districts of the East Indies, and almost in every island beyond the Ganges. It is rendered familiar with the greatest ease, and taught to speak with greater facility than even the parrot, and also enounces its words with more distinctness. It feeds on berries and fruits, and is particularly partial to cherries. When refused its wishes, it is stated to express sounds of disappointment and vexation extremely like the crying of a child.

The paradisca tristis is rather larger than the former, and inhabits the Philip pine Islands. It is exceedingly voracious, and has been known to swallow a young rat nearly two inches long, after beating it against the wires of its cage to soften it. It alights on the backs of oxen in its unconfined state, and devours the vermin which annoy them. These birds are particularly fond of grasshoppers, and are stated to have been imported into the Isle of Bourbon purposely to extirpate those consuming insects, which they have effectually accomplished. Being as they are, however, highly prolific birds, devouring every species of fruits and grain, and occasionally entering pigeon-houses and destroying the young, the inhabitants of the island have often found their depredations greater than those of the enemy which they were called in to extirpate.

G. quiscula, or the purple grakle, inhabits North America, and also the Island of Jamaica. It is a very considerable nuisance to the farmers of those countries, by scratching up the maize seed almost as soon as it is put into the ground. When the leaf appears, these purple daws, as they are called, will of ten tear up the plant by the roots; and when the maize is ripe they commit their depredations upon it in immense flocks, insomuch that premiums have been oc

casionally given for the destruction of them. They are, however, extremely serviceable by devouring insects. They pass the greatest part of the winter in swamps, overhung with woods; from which, on days of fine weather, they make their appearance abroad. Their flesh is far from being excellent, but their notes are melodious.

GRAIN, the name of a small weight, the twentieth part of a scruple in apothe caries weight, and the twenty-fourth of a penny-weight troy. See Weight.

A grain-weight of gold bullion is worth about two-pence, and that of silver half a farthing.

GRAIN also denotes the component particles of stones and metals, the veins of wood, &c. Hence cross-grained, or against the grain, is contrary to the fibres of wood, &c.

GRAINING board, among curriers, an instrument called also a pummel, used to give a grain to their leather. See CUR.

RYING.

GRAMMAR. 1. The grammar of any language is a set of rules and observations, directing to the proper use of the sorts of words composing that language. These rules are founded upon the general usage of good writers; and after this is ascertained, it is customary for those, who are desirous of speaking and writing correctly, to be uniformly guided by it. Grammarians, then, do not make a language: but they are formed by an enlightened view of the language, and afterwards direct the employment of it.

2. The art of grammar is sometimes divided into four parts: Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody. The first and last of these have nothing to do with grammar, except so far as they relate to the grammatical changes made on different sorts of words. Etymology refers to the arrangements of the sorts of words, and to the various changes which are made upon them. Syntax directs the employment of those changes, and the situation of the different sorts of words in a sentence.

3. Hitherto grammar has been spoken of as an art, but it is in no way our intention to enlarge upon it in this view. Those who wish to study it, in order to guide their use of the English language, we refer to Mr. 'Murray's "Grammar,' and Dr. Crombie's work on "Etymology and Syntax;" and in the latter, many valuable remarks will be found respecting scientific grammar. Considered as a science, grammar has for its object those