[Gladiator], one who fought in the arena at Rome with men or beasts for the amusement of the people, originally in connection with funeral games, under the belief, it is said, that the spirits of the dead were appeased at the sight of blood; exhibitions of the kind were common under the emperors, and held on high occasions; if the gladiator was wounded in the contest, the spectators decided whether he was to live or die by, in the former case, turning their thumbs downwards, and in the latter turning them upwards.
[Gladstone, William Ewart], statesman, orator, and scholar, born at Liverpool, son of a Liverpool merchant, sometime of Leith, and of Ann, daughter of Andrew Robertson, Stornoway; educated at Eton and Oxford; entered Parliament in 1832 as member for Newark in the Tory interest; delivered his maiden speech on slavery emancipation on May 17, 1833; accepted office under Sir Robert Peel in 1834, and again in 1841 and 1846; and as member for Oxford, separating from the Tory party, took office under Lord Aberdeen, and in 1859, under Lord Palmerston, became Chancellor of the Exchequer; elected member for South Lancashire, 1865, he became leader of the Commons under Lord John Russell; elected for Greenwich, he became Premier for the first time in 1869, holding office till 1875; after a brilliant campaign in Midlothian he was returned for that county in 1880, and became Premier for the second time; became Premier a third time in 1886, and a fourth time in 1892. During his tenure of office he introduced and carried a great number of important measures, but failed from desertion in the Liberal ranks to carry his pet measure of Home Rule for Ireland, so he retired from office into private life in 1895; his last days he spent chiefly in literary work, the fruit of which, added to earlier works, gives evidence of the breadth of his sympathies and the extent of his scholarly attainments; but being seized by a fatal malady, his strong constitution gradually sank under it, and he died at Hawarden, May 19, 1898; he was buried in Westminster Abbey at the expense of the nation and amid expressions of sorrow on the part of the whole community; he was a man of high moral character, transcendent ability, and strong will, and from the day he took the lead the acknowledged chief of the Liberal party in the country (1809-1898).
[Glaisher, James], meteorologist and founder of the Royal Meteorological Society, born in London; his first observations in meteorology were done as an officer of the Irish Ordnance Survey; in 1836, after service in the Cambridge Observatory, he went to Greenwich, and from 1840 to 1874 he superintended the meteorological department of the Royal Observatory; in connection with atmospheric investigations he made a series of 28 balloon ascents, rising on one occasion to a height of 7 m., the greatest elevation yet attained: b. 1809.
[Glamorganshire] (687), a maritime county in S. Wales, fronting the Bristol Channel, between Monmouth and Carmarthen; amid the hilly country of the N. lie the rich coal-fields and iron-stone quarries which have made it by far the most populous and wealthiest county of Wales; the S. country—the garden of Wales—is a succession of fertile valleys and wooded slopes; dairy-farming is extensively engaged in, but agriculture is somewhat backward; the large towns are actively engaged in the coal-trade and in the smelting of iron, copper, lead, and tin; some interesting Roman remains exist in the county.
[Glanvill, Joseph], born at Plymouth, graduated at Oxford; was at first an Aristotelian and Puritan in his opinions, but after the Restoration entered the Church, and obtained preferment in various sees; his fame rests upon his eloquent appeal for freedom of thought in "The Vanity of Dogmatising" (1661) and upon his two works in defence of a belief in witches; he was one of the first Fellows of the Royal Society; he seems to have made Sir Thomas Browne his model, though he is not equal to him in the vigour of his thinking or the harmony of his style (1636-1680).
[Glanvill, Ranulf de], Chief-Justiciary of England in the reign of Henry II., born at Stratford, in Suffolk; is the author of the earliest treatise on the laws of England, a work in 14 books; was deposed by Richard I., and, joining the Crusaders, fell before Acre; d. 1190.
[Glasgow] (815, including suburbs), the second city of the empire and the chief centre of industry in Scotland, is situated on the Clyde, in Lanarkshire, 45 m. W. from Edinburgh and 405 from London; it is conjectured that the origin of the name is found in Cleschu ("beloved green spot"), the name of a Celtic village which occupied the site previously, near which St. Mungo, or Kentigern, erected his church about A.D. 560; although a royal burgh in 1636, it was not till after the stimulus to trade occasioned by the Union (1707) that it began to display its now characteristic mercantile activity; since then it has gone forward by leaps and bounds, owing not a little of its success to its exceptionally favourable situation; besides the advantages of waterway derived from the Clyde, it is in the heart of a rich coal and iron district; spinning and weaving, shipbuilding, foundries, chemical and iron works, and all manner of industries, flourish; the city is spaciously and handsomely laid out; the cathedral (1197) is the chief building of historical and architectural interest; there is a university (1451) and a variety of other colleges, besides several public libraries and art schools; Glasgow returns seven members of Parliament.
[Glasse, Mrs.], authoress, real or fictitious, of a cookery book, once in wide-spread repute; credited with the sage prescription, "First catch your hare."
[Glassites], a Christian sect founded in Scotland about 1730 by John Glas (1695-1773), a minister of the Church of Scotland, who in 1730 was deposed for denouncing all national establishments of religion as "inconsistent with the true nature of the Church of Christ," and maintaining that a Church and its office-bearers owed allegiance to none other than Christ; the sect, which developed peculiarities of doctrine and worship in conformity with those of the primitive Church, spread to England and America, where they became known as Sandemanians, after Robert Sandeman (1718-1771), son-in-law to Glas, and his zealous supporter.
[Glastonbury] (4), an ancient town in Somersetshire, 36 m. S. of Bristol, on the Brue; it is associated with many interesting legends and historical traditions that point to its existence in very early times; thus it was the Avalon of Arthurian legend, and the place where Joseph of Arimathea, when he brought the Holy Grail, is said to have founded the first Christian Church; ruins are still extant of the old abbey founded by Henry II., which itself succeeded the ancient abbey of St. Dunstan (946); there is trade in gloves, mats, rugs, &c.