It was the “first gentleman in Europe” in whose high presence Mrs. Rawdon passed her examination, and took her degree in reputation; so it must be flat disloyalty to doubt her virtue. What a noble appreciation of character must there not have been in Vanity Fair when that august sovereign was invested with the title of Premier Gentilhomme of all Europe!—Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1843).
Gentleman of Europe (First), Louis d’Artois.
Gentleman Smith, William Smith, actor, noted for his gentlemanly deportment on the stage (1730-1790).
Geoffrey, archbishop of York.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.).
Geoffrey, the old ostler of John Mengs (inn-keeper at Kirchhoff).—Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Geoffrey Crayon, the hypothetical name of the author of the Sketch-Book by Washington Irving (1818-1820).
George (Honest). General Monk, George, duke of Albemarle, was so called by the votaries of Cromwell (1608-1670).
George (Mr.), a stalwart, handsome, simple-hearted fellow, son of Mrs. Rouncewell, the housekeeper at Chesney Wold. He was very wild as a lad, and ran away from his mother to enlist as a soldier; but on his return to England he opened a shooting-gallery in Leicester Square, London. When Sir Leicester Dedlock, in his old age, fell into trouble, George became his faithful attendant.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1853).
George (St.), the patron saint of England. He was born at Lydda, but brought up in Cappadocia, and suffered martyrdom in the reign of Diocletian, April, 23, A.D. 303. Mr. Hogg tells us of a Greek inscription at Ezra, in Syria, dated 346, in which the martyrdom of St. George is referred to. At this date was living George, bishop of Alexandria, with whom Gibbon, in his Decline and Fall, has confounded the patron saint of England; but the bishop died in 362, or fifty-nine years after the prince of Cappadocia. (See Red Cross Knight.)
⁂ Mussulmans revere St. George under the name of “Gherghis.”