Drayton, Polyolbion, xiv. (1613.)
Gomez, a rich banker, 60 years of age, married to Elvi´ra, a young wife. He is mean, covetous, and jealous. Elvira has a liaison with Colonel Lorenzo, which Dominick, her father confessor, aids and abets; but the amour is constantly thwarted, and it turns out that Lorenzo and Elvira are brother and sister.—Dryden, The Spanish Fryar (1680).
Gond´ibert (Duke), of the royal line of Lombardy. Prince Oswald of Verona, out of jealousy, stirs up a faction fight against him, which is limited by agreement to four combatants on each side. Oswald is slain by Gondibert, and Gondibert is cured of his wounds by Lord As´tragon, a philosopher and sage. Rhodalind, the only child of Aribert, king of Lombardy, is in love with Gondibert, and Aribert hopes that he will become his son-in-law and heir, but Gondibert is betrothed to Birtha. One day while walking with his affianced Birtha, a messenger from the king comes post haste to tell him that Aribert had publicly proclaimed him his heir, and that Rhodalind was to be his bride. Gondibert still told Birtha he would remain true to her, and gave her an emerald ring, which would turn pale if his love declined. As the tale was never finished, the sequel cannot be given.—Sir W. Davenant, Gondibert (died 1668).
Gon´eril, eldest daughter of King Lear, and wife of the duke of Albany. She treated her aged father with such scant courtesy, that he could not live under her roof; and she induced her sister Regan to follow her example. Subsequently both the sisters fell in love with Edmund, natural son of the earl of Gloucester, whom Regan designed to marry when she became a widow. Goneril, out of jealousy, now poisoned her sister, and “after slew herself.” Her name is proverbial for “filial ingratitude.”—Shakespeare, King Lear (1605).
Gonin, a buffoon of the sixteenth century, who acquired great renown for his clever tricks, and gave rise to the French phrase, Un tour de maître Gonin (“a trick of Master Gonin’s”).
Gonnella, domestic jester to the Margrave Nicolo d’Este, and to his son Borso, duke of Ferrara. The horse he rode on was ossa atque pellis totus, and like Rosinantê, has become proverbial. Gonnella’s jests were printed in 1506.
Gonsalez [Gon.zalley], Fernan Gonsalez or Gonsalvo, a Spanish hero of the tenth century, whose life was twice saved by his wife Sancha. His adventures have given birth to a host of ballads.
(There was a Hernandez Gonsalvo of Cordŏva, called “The great Captain” (1443-1515), to whom some of the ballads refer, and this is the hero of Florian’s historical novel entitled Gonzalve de Cordoue (1791), borrowed from the Spanish romance called The Civil Wars of Granada, by Gines Perez de la Hita).
Gonza´lo, an honest old counsellor of Alonso, King of Naples.—Shakespeare, The Tempest (1609).
Gonzalo, an ambitious but politic lord of Venice.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Laws of Candy (1647.)