Milton, Paradise Lost, ii. 943, etc. (1665).
The Gryphon, symbolic of the divine and human union of Jesus Christ. The fore part of the gryphon is an eagle, and the hinder part a lion. Thus Dantê saw in purgatory the car of the Church drawn by a gryphon.—Dantê, Purgatory, xxix. (1308).
Guadia´na, the ’squire of Durandartê, changed into a river of the same name. He was so grieved at leaving his master that he plunged instantaneously under ground, and when obliged to appear “where he might be seen, he glided in sullen state to Portugal.”—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. ii. 6 (1615).
Gualber´to (St.), heir of Valdespe´sa, and brought up with the feudal notion that he was to be the avenger of blood. Anselmo was the murderer he was to lie in wait for, and he was to make it the duty of his life to have blood for blood. One day, as he was lying in ambush for Anselmo, the vesper bell rang, and Gualberto (3 syl.) fell in prayer, but somehow could not pray. The thought struck him that if Christ died to forgive sin, it could not be right in man to hold it beyond forgiveness. At this moment Anselmo came up, was attacked, and cried for mercy. Gualberto cast away his dagger, ran to the neighboring convent, thanked God he had been saved from blood-guiltiness, and became a hermit noted for his holiness of life.—Southey, St. Gualberto.
Gua´rini (Philip), the ’squire of Sir Hugo de Lacy.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Guari´nos (Admiral), one of Charlemagne’s paladins, taken captive at Roncesvallês. He fell to the lot of Marlo´tês, a Moslem, who offered him his daughter in marriage, if he would become a disciple of the Arabian prophet. Guarinos refused, and was kept in a dungeon for seven years, when he was liberated, that he might take part in a joust. The admiral then stabbed the Moor to his heart, and, vaulting on his gray horse, Treb´ozond, escaped to France.
Gu´drun, a lady married to Sigurd by the magical arts of her mother; and on the death of Sigurd to Atli, (Attila), whom she hated for his fierce cruelty, and murdered. She then cast herself into the sea, and the waves bore her to the castle of King Jonakun, who became her third husband.—Edda of Sämund Sigfusson (1130).
Gudrun, a model of heroic fortitude and pious resignation. She was the daughter of King Hettel (Attila), and the betrothed of Herwig, king of Heligoland, but was carried off by Harmuth, king of Norway, who killed Hettel. As she refused to marry Harmuth, he put her to all sorts of menial work. One day, Herwig appeared with an army, and having gained a decisive victory, married Gudrun, and at her intercession pardoned Harmuth the cause of her great misery.—A North-Saxon Poem (thirteenth century).
Gud´yill (Old John), butler to Lady Bellenden.—Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).
Guelph´o (3 syl.), son of Actius IV. Marquis d’Este and of Cunigunda (a German). Guelpho was the uncle of Rinaldo, and next in command to Godfrey. He led an army of 5000 men from Carynthia, in Germany, to the siege of Jerusalem, but most of them were cut off by the Persians. Guelpho was noted for his broad shoulders and ample chest.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, iii. (1575).