pretation" the word came to mean the interpretation itself; strictly, of a single word or phrase. In the twelfth century, the comments or annotations of learned jurists on passages in the text of the Roman law were denominated glosses; when these extended to a running com GLEE-MAN, itinerant minstrels were so called by the Saxons: their appella-mentary, they were termed an apparation is translated joculatores by the Latin writers of the middle ages. The name appears to have been supplanted by the Norman minstrel, shortly after the conquest. GLOBE, in practical methematics, an artificial spherical body, on the convex surface of which are represented the countries, seas, &c. of our earth; or the face of the heavens, with the several circles which are conceived. upon them. That with the parts of the earth delineated upon its surface, is called the terrestrial globe; and that with the constellations, &c. the celestial globe. Their principal use, besides serving as maps to distinguish the earth's surface, and the situation of the fixed stars, is to illustrate and explain the phenomena arising from the diurnal motion of the earth. They are consequently of the highest importance in acquiring a knowledge of geography and astronomy. GLOB'ULAR CHART, a name given to the representation of the surface, or of some part of the surface of the terrestrial globe upon a plane, wherein the parallels of latitude are circles, nearly concentric, the meridian curves bending towards the poles, and the rhumb-lines are also curves. GLOB'ULE, a small particle of matter of a spherical form; a word particularly applied to the red particles of blood, which swim in a transparent serum, and may be discovered by the microscope. GLOʻRY, in painting and sculpture, a circle, either plain or radiated, surrounding the heads of saints, &c., and especially of our Saviour. The term glory is used in the sacred writings in various senses, all of which, however, may be easily deduced from the original meaning of its Hebrew equivalent, which signifies weight. Thus the glory of God means all those attributes and qualities which give him weight in our eyes, or inspire us with reverence. GLOSS, in the rhetoric of Aristotle, this word is used in the sense of a foreign, obsolete, or otherwise strange idiom; which, judiciously employed, he reckons among the ornaments of style. From the sense of "something requiring inter tus. The glosses were collected by Accursius in the 13th century, and from that period they formed for a long time a body of authority reckoned equal or even superior to the text itself. GLOSSARY, a dictionary of difficult words and phrases in any language or writer; sometimes used for a dictionary of words in general. GLOVES, well-known articles of dress used for covering the hands. The practice of covering the hands with gloves has prevailed among almost all the nations of the earth from time immen.orial, and is common at once to the rude Tartar, who seeks by their means to protect himself from cold, and to the refined European, with whom their use is an emblem of luxury. emblem of luxury. In the middle ages, gloves constituted a costly article of dress, being often highly decorated with embroidery and richly adorned with precious stones. In the age of chivalry it was usual for the soldiers who had gained the favor of a lady to wear her glove in his helmet; and, as is well known, the throwing of a glove was the most usual mode of challenging to duel. This latter practice prevailed so early as the year 1245. GLYCOʻNIAN, or GLYCON'IC, a kind of verse in Greek and Latin poetry, consisting of three feet, a spondee, a choriamb, and a pyrrhic. GLYPH, in sculpture and architecture, any channel or cavity intended as an or nament. GLYPTOGʻRAPHY, a description of the art of engraving on precious stones. GLYPTOTHE'CA, a building or room for the preservation of works of sculpture; a word adopted by the Germans, as in the instance of the celebrated Glyptothek at Munich. GNOMES, spirits with which the imagination of certain philosophers has peopled the interior parts of the earth, and to whose care mines, quarries, &c. are assigned. GNO'MIC POETS, Greek poets, whose remains chiefly consist of short sententious precepts and reflections, are termed in classical bibliography. The principal writers of this description, of are so whom a few fragments are extant, are Theognis and Solon, who lived in the 6th century before the Christian era. With them Tyrtæus and Simonides are joined by Brunck in his edition, although these writers have little of a gnomic character. The metre of these poets is elegiac. GNOSTICS, a sect of philosophers that arose in the first ages of Christianity, who pretended they were the only men who had a true knowledge of the Christian religion. They formed for themselves a system of theology, agreeable to the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato, and fancied they discovered deeper mysteries in the Scriptures than were perceived by those whom they considered as simple and ignorant. They held that all natures, intelligible, intellectual, and material, are derived by successive emanations from the Deity. In process of time, the name designated sectarians of various descriptions, but who all agreed in certain opinions; and the tenet which seems most particularly to distinguish the Gnostic name, was the existence of two first principles, or deities, the one the author of good, and the other of evil. were supposed to preside over particular? GOD FATHER, and GOD'MOTHER, the man and woman who are sponsors for a child at baptism; who promise to answer for his future conduct, and solemnly promise that he shall follow a life of piety and virtue, by this means laying themselves under an indispensable obligation to instruct the child and watch over his conduct. This practice is of great antiquity in the Christian church, and was probably instituted to prevent children being brought up in idolatry, in case their parents died before they arrived at years of discretion. GOLD, this metal, which in purity and firmness surpasses all others, is employed both in the plastic arts, and to a limited extent in painting. The most varied and beautiful objects extant are the vessels used in religious services; and as it was most properly employed in the sacred vessels and sanctuary of the Old Temple, GOBELINS, or HOTEL-ROYAL DE GOBELINS, a celebrated academy for tapestry-drawing, and manufactory of tapestry, erected in the suburb of St. Marcel, at Paris, by Louis XIV. in the year 1666. so the chalices and tabernacles of the The place was previously famous on ac- Catholic church, and the shrines of the count of the dyeing manufactory estab- saints have been moulded of this precious lished there by Giles and John Gobelins, metal; and in ecclesiastical ornament of in the reign of Francis I. These eminent all kinds, with its multiplied fibres, and dyers discovered a method of producing mingled with silk and purple, it enriches a beautiful scarlet, which has ever since the sacerdotal vestments and the hangbeen known by their name; and so ex-ings of the altar. Gold signifies purity, tensive has been their fame, that not only the color, but the house in which their business was carried on, and the river they made use of, are called gobelins. GOD, the appellation which we give to the Creator and Sovereign of the universe; the Supreme Being.-The words god and goddess are also the appellatives common to the heathen deities; which they divided into dii majorum gentium, and dii minorum gentium; that is, into the superior and inferior gods. Another division was taken from their place of residence; thus there were celestial, terrestrial, infernal, marine, and sylvan gods. They were also divided into animal and natural gods: the animal gods were mortals, who had been raised to divinity by ignorance and superstition; and the natural gods, the parts of nature, such as the stars, the elements, mountains, rivers, &c. There were also deities, who dignity, wisdom, and glory, and it is used in painting for the Nimbi which surround the heads of the saints, and it frequently forms the ground on which sacred subjects are painted, the better to express the majesty of the mystery depicted. It is a proper emblem of brightness and glory. GOLD'EN-FLEECE, in the mythological fables of the ancients, signified the skin or fleece of the ram upon which Phryxus and Hella are supposed to have swum over the sea to Colchis; which being sacrificed to Jupiter, its fleece was hung upon a tree in the grove of Mars, guarded by two brazen-hoofed bulls, and a monstrous dragon that never slept; but was at last taken and carried off by Jason and the Argonauts. GOLD'EN NUM'BER, in chronology, is that number which indicates the year of the lunar cycle, for any given time. It It in was called the Golden Number, because of Gordius, king of Phrygia, so very in the ancient calendar it was written intricate, that there was no finding where letters of gold, on account of its great use- it began or ended. An oracle had defulness in ecclesiastical computations, es- clared that he who should untie this knot pecially in fixing the time of Easter. should be master of Asia. Alexander was likewise called the Prime, because it having undertaken it, and fearing that pointed out the first day of the new moon, his inability to untie it should prove an primum lunæ. To find the Golden Num- ill augury, cut it asunder with his sword, ber, add 1 to the year of our Lord, divide and thus either accomplished or eluded the sum by 19, and the remainder is the the oracle. Hence, in modern language, Golden Number, the quotient at the same to cut the Gordian knot is to remove a time expressing the number of cycles difficulty by bold or unusual means. which have revolved from the beginning of the year preceding the birth of Christ. GON'DOLA, the name given to the pleasure boats used at Venice, where the numerous canals with which it is intersected generally render it necessary to substitute boats for carriages. The gondola is from 25 to 30 feet long, and five feet wide in the centre, in which a sort of cabin is constructed for passengers. They are sharp-pointed both at the prow and stern, and are rowed by two men called gondolieri. The cabins are always furnished with black curtains, which give a sombre appearance to the gondola at a distance. GOOD FRIDAY, the name given in England to the anniversary of our Saviour's crucifixion. The French and most other European nations substitute the epithet holy for good. From the first dawn of Christianity, Good Friday has been regarded as a solemn festival by the great body of the Christian world. GOOD-WILL, in law, the custom of any trade or business. A contract to transfer it is, in general, good at law, though not usually enforced in equity. In what cases the good-will of a partnership can be claimed as property by the representatives of a deceased partner appears doubtful. GOR'DIAN KNOT, in antiquity, a knot made in the harness of the chariot GORGE, in architecture, the narrowest part of the Tuscan and Doric capitals, lying between the astragal, above the shaft of the column and the annulets.-In fortification, the entrance of a bastion, ravelin, or other outwork. GOR GET, in plate-armor, the piece covering the neck attached to the helmet. The old covering for the neck was called camail, made of leather or cloth, and at tached to the hood; on this plates of steel were riveted; and thus the gorget was formed, about the time of Edward II. The name is supposed to have originated in Lombardy. GORGONEI'A, in architecture, carvings of masks imitating the Gorgon or Medusa's head. GOR'GONS, in mythology, three sister deities, fabled by the Greeks to dwell near the Western Ocean. Their heads, which were twined with serpents instead of hair, had the power of turning all who beheld them to stone; of which property Perseus made use after he had, by the help of Minerva, cut off the head of Medusa. GOS'PEL, is used to signify the whole system of the Christian religion, and more particularly, as the term literally implies the good news of the coming of the Messiah. The word was also originally applied to the books which contained an account of the life of Christ, many of which were in circulation in the first century of the Christian era; though only four, those of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, were considered canonical by the fathers. GOTH'IC, pertaining to the Goths; as Gothic customs; Gothic barbarity. In architecture, a term at first applied opprobriously to the architecture of the middle ages, but now in general use as its distinctive appellation. By some the term Gothic is considered to include the Romanesque, Saxon, and Norman styles |