[Geoffrey of Monmouth], a celebrated chronicler and ecclesiastic of the 12th century, born in Monmouth, where he was educated in a Benedictine monastery; in 1152 he was made bishop of St. Asaph; his Latin "Chronicon sive Historia Britonum" contains a circumstantial account of British history compiled from Gildas, Nennius, and other early chroniclers, interwoven with current legends and pieced together with additions from his own fertile imagination, the whole professing to be a translation of a chronicle found in Brittany; this remarkable history is the source of the stories of King Lear, Cymbeline, Merlin, and of Arthur and his knights as they have since taken shape in English literature; d. about 1154.
[Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, Étienne], zoologist and biologist, born at Étampes; he was educated for the Church, but while studying theology at Paris his love for natural science was awakened, and the study of it henceforth became the ruling passion of his life; was made professor of Zoology in the Museum of Natural History in Paris; accompanied Napoleon to Egypt as a member of the scientific commission, and returned with rich collections, while his labours were rewarded by his election to the Academy of Sciences; a scientific mission to Portugal in 1808 next engaged him, and a year later he was nominated to the chair of Zoology in the Faculty of Sciences at Paris; the main object of his scientific writing was to establish, in opposition to the theories of his friend Cuvier, his conception of a grand unity of plan pervading the whole organic kingdom (1772-1844).
[Geoffrin, Marie Thérèse], a French patroness of letters, born at Paris, the daughter of a valet-de-chambre; in her fifteenth year she married a wealthy merchant, whose immense fortune she inherited; her love of letters—which she cherished, though but poorly educated herself—and her liberality soon made her salon the most celebrated in Paris; the encyclopédists, Diderot, D'Alembert, and Marmontel, received from her a liberal encouragement in their great undertaking; Walpole, Hume, and Gibbon were among her friends; and Stanislas Poniatowsky, who became king of Poland, acknowledged her generosity to him by styling himself her son and welcoming her royally to his kingdom (1699-1777).
[George I.], king of Great Britain from 1714 to 1727, and first of the Hanoverian line; son of Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover, and of Sophia, granddaughter of James I. of England; born in Hanover; in 1682 he married his cousin, the Princess Sophia Dorothea of Zell, and in 1698 became Elector of Hanover; he co-operated actively with Marlborough in opposing the schemes of Louis XIV., and commanded the Imperial forces; in accordance with the Act of Settlement, he succeeded to the English throne on the death of Queen Anne; his ignorance of English prevented him taking part in Cabinet councils, a circumstance which had important results in the growth of constitutional government, and the management of public affairs during his reign devolved chiefly upon Sir Robert Walpole; the abortive Jacobite rising of 1715, the South Sea Bubble (1720), and the institution of Septennial Parliaments (1716), are among the main events of his reign; in 1694 he divorced his wife on account of an amour with Count Königsmark, and kept her imprisoned abroad till her death in 1724, while he himself during these years lived in open profligacy with his mistresses (1660-1727).
[George II.], king of Great Britain from 1727 to 1760, and Elector of Hanover, born in Hanover, son of preceding; in 1705 he married Caroline of Anspach, and in 1714 was declared Prince of Wales; he joined his father in the struggle with Louis XIV., and distinguished himself on the side of the Allies at the battle of Oudenarde; the period of his reign is one of considerable importance in English history; Walpole and subsequently Pitt were the great ministers of the age; war was waged against Spain and France; the last Jacobite rising was crushed at Culloden (1746); English power was established in Canada by the brilliant victory of Wolfe at Quebec (1759); an empire was won in India by Clive; the victory of Minden (1759) was gained in the Seven Years' War; Methodism sprang up under Wesley and Whitfield; while a great development in literature and art took place; against these, however, must be set the doubling of the National Debt, mainly due to the Seven Years' War, and a defeat by the French at Fontenoy (1745) (1683-1760).
[George III.], king of Great Britain from 1760 to 1820, and king of Hanover (Elector from 1760 to 1815), eldest son of Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales, and grandson of preceding, born in London; in 1761 he married Princess Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, by whom he had fifteen children; more English in sentiment and education than his two predecessors, George's main interest was centred in his English kingdom, and never during his long life did he once set foot in his Hanoverian possessions; the purity of his domestic life, his devotion to England, and the pathos attaching to his frequent fits of insanity, won him the affections of his people, an affection, however, sorely tried by his obstinate blundering; the 60 years of his reign present a succession of domestic episodes, far-reaching in their consequences to England and to the civilised world; the conclusion of the Seven Years' War left England predominant in North America, and with increased colonial possessions in the West Indies, &c., but under the ill-guided and obstinate policy of Lord North she suffered the loss of her American colonies, an event which also involved her in war with France and Spain; in 1787 the famous trial of [Warren Hastings] (q. v.) began, and two years later came the French Revolution; the great struggle with Napoleon followed, and gave occasion for the brilliant achievements of Nelson and Wellington; during these long years of war the commercial prosperity of England never slackened, but through the inventions of Hargreaves, Arkwright, and Compton increased by leaps and bounds; freedom of the press was won by Wilkes; and in 1802 the union with Ireland took place; the majestic figure of Pitt stands out amidst a company of brilliant politicians that included Burke and Fox and Sheridan; literature is represented by a line of brilliant writers that stretches from Johnson to Keats, and includes the names of Burns, Cowper, Shelley, and Byron (1738-1820).
[George IV.], king of Great Britain and of Hanover from 1820 to 1830, eldest son of the preceding, born in London; in consequence of his father's insanity he became Regent in 1810; a tendency to profligacy early displayed itself in an intrigue with Mrs. Robinson, an actress; and two years afterwards in defiance of the Royal Marriage Act he secretly married [Mrs. Fitzherbert] (q. v.), a Roman Catholic; in 1795 he publicly espoused Princess Caroline of Brunswick, whom later he endeavoured to divorce; a Burmese War (1823), the victory of Admiral Codrington at Navarino (1827), the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts (1828), and the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Bill (1829), were occurrences of some importance in an uneventful reign (1762-1830).
[George I.], king of Greece, son of King Christian of Denmark, and brother of the Princess of Wales; became king of Greece in 1864; b. 1845.
[George, Henry], an American writer on social and economic questions, born in Philadelphia; he first tried life on the sea, but in 1858 settled in California as a printer, and there married; in course of time he took to journalism, became an editor, and zealously addressed himself to the discussion of public affairs; his peculiar views on the question of land reform were set forth in "Our Land and Land Policy," published in 1870, and nine years later appeared his more famous and widely popular work "Progress and Poverty," in which he promulgated the theory that to the increase in economic rent and land values is due the lack of increase in wages and interest which the increased productive power of modern times should have ensured; he proposed the levying of a tax on land so as to appropriate economic rent to public uses, and the abolition of all taxes falling upon industry and thrift; he lectured in Great Britain and Ireland, Australia, &c.; in 1887 founded the Standard paper in New York; he died during his candidature for the mayoralty of Greater New York (1839-1897).
[George, St.], the patron saint of chivalry and of England; adopted as such in the reign of Edward III.; believed to have been born in Armorica, and to have suffered martyrdom under Diocletian in A.D. 303; he is represented as mounted on horseback and slaying a [dragon] (q. v.), conceived as an incarnation of the evil one.